Carmen Knight, MAT, Early Childhood & Special Education

Play is such an important part of child development and is a crucial part of occupational, physical and speech therapy.  Therapists and Early Interventionists can use interactive play to help a child express their feelings, deal with stress, improve behavior, improve communication skills, resolve conflict and more.  Having the right tools for play therapy will promote an effective, fun session for your patients.

Kids love animals, so using them as part of interactive play is a fun way to get results.  Using animal toys, a therapist can work with a patient on sounds, recognition, imagination, socialization and more.  SmileMakers has a selection of farm animal items that would be a great addition to your therapy toolbox.

For your patients that struggle with thumb sucking or nail biting (stress or boredom related), SmileMakers DIGit Tape is a wonderful and inexpensive item to aid with these problems.  The tape is a fun, gentle reminder to keep fingers out of their mouth.

These small pieces of tape (24 to a pack) can also be used in other ways. Early interventionists and therapists can use DIGit Tape for language development. Preschool children can identify the sound the animal makes, the name of the animal, as well as the color of the animal. Put animals on your fingers and ask the child to tap or point to the finger with a certain animal.  This helps develop the patient's hand-eye coordination and recognition skills. 

Older children can use them for counting, recognition and matching. Lay the small pieces of tape face down and let the child turn over 2 pieces at a time for a fun game of match that will help develop memory skills.  Older aged children can expand on recognition by placing the animals that belong on a farm on one section of a piece of paper and animals that belong in a jungle on another section. The possibilities are endless with this inexpensive item and can be left with the patient for continuing education after the visit is complete.

Another interactive play item that kids will love is Farm Animal Puppet Craft Kits. Older children can get creative and imaginative by creating farm animal friends with this puppet craft kit. Children can demonstrate their skills by creating the puppet while the therapist or early interventionist requests the child follow multi-step directions. Patients can show their knowledge with the placement of the eyes, nose, mouth, and other accessories. Everything is included in the kit to create the puppet except for glue. SmileMakers even includes a few extra items in case a child makes a mistake in the process. Once puppets are completed, the early interventionist or therapist can use them for imaginative play. Everyone loves a good puppet show!  There are 12 Farm Animal Friend Puppets in each order so why not leave one or more for the child to use for days of interactive fun!

Play therapy educates in a fun way and enhances children's imagination and creativity. SmileMakers has a nice selection of items that will allow early interventionists and therapists to assess the cognitive abilities of their children and develop treatment through play. These items are great for a fun, effective session and affordable enough to leave with the family to encourage working on skills long after your visit is over.