Autism Resource #3: A Strategy for Picky Eaters

Picky eating is coming with kids with autism. My child isn’t the pickiest eater, but he eats a limited number of fruits and vegetables and a history of dropping foods from his diet (ie pasta). I came across an article on the UCSB website, so I decided to put it to the test. We started with granny smith apples. This is because he says he likes them, but when you give it to him, he won’t eat them. He had to take a nibble and got to choose between two sweet treats. After 3 days, he had to eat half of a thin apple slice. Three tries later a whole slice. Now he eats apples (albeit still with a sweet treat following). You can start lower down on the hierarchy if needed (touches food and motions it to mouth). The publication and link to the article follows (scroll down to 2012).

Koegel, R., Bharoocha, A., Ribnick, C., Ribnick, R., Bucio, M., Fredeen, R., & Koegel, L. (2012). Using Individualized Reinforcers and Hierarchical Exposure to Increase Food Flexibility in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders.Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. Vol. 42, No. 8, 1574-1581

Activity #30: Put on sock puppet show

Description: Use your new sock puppet to make a puppet show. We crouched behind the side of the bed to make the show. The show you put on does not have to be overly creative. Telling a story of an event that happened during the day works well. This may get your child so excited that they want to put on their own puppet show.
Age: Any
Purpose:
Story telling
Recalling past events
Prep time: minimal
What you’ll need: a sock puppet. If you don’t have a sock puppet you can use stuffed animals
Fun Factor: This was a big hit with the children. They laughed and really enjoyed the story telling. My son on the spectrum got so excited about it, he wanted to tell a story too.

Tip: You can use the sock puppet to make other parts of you day fun as well. Here are some ideas:
Read a story with the sock puppet as the narrator
Use the sock puppet to count down when you are turning off the lights at bedtime
Use the sock puppet to sing silly song during teeth brushing

Activity #29: Make a sock puppet (and a craft box)

Description: We used Dad’s old sock to make a sock puppet. I did all of the sewing, but they chose they eyes and nose. We used buttons for eyes and a piece of foam for a nose. While I sewed on their choices they explored our craft box (see tip). See tomorrow’s activity to see how we used the sock puppet to work on story telling.
Age: 3+
Purpose:
Creativity
Labelling
Expanding adjectives
Learning about different materials
Prep time: moderate to extensive, depending on how extravagant you want your puppet to be.
What you’ll need: an old sock, items for eyes, nose and ears (optional), needle and thread
Fun Factor: Once the kids made their choices they weren’t really interested in watching me sew. However, they enjoyed exploring the different materials in our craft box. It lead to a really nice learning opportunity. My son asked, “Why do grown-ups use sharp things”. I set up a nice little experiment with a styrofoam ball. I asked him to poke a toothpick and a popsicle stick through it. Now he understands, that sharp tools make some jobs easier.

Tip: make a craft box
We have a craft box with a number of odds and ends, so you can be ready if the kids want to do a craft. I have it organized in little containers and ziploc bags (not like the picture). The kids enjoy looking through the box and exploring the materials (and making a big mess). Some items in my craft box (felt, pom-poms, pipe cleaners, styrofoam balls, google eyes, buttons, toothpicks, popsicle sticks and a few other odds and ends). Most dollar stores and big box stores have nice craft materials.

Activity #28: Have a food flexibility meal

Description: Our occupation therapist encouraged us to serve meals on a platter in the middle of the table. Then, everyone takes food and puts it on their plate. This is supposed to encourage trying new things in a non-threatening way. We have never been very good about doing this. So, we had a picnic where we tried this out. We had plates of different types and presentations of cheeses, one with different types of crackers and one with different fruits and vegetables. Each platter had something that was liked by the children as well as some new foods (but nothing too scary). We all sat down and ate off the platters.
Age: any
Purpose:
Food flexibility
Expanding food preferences
Eating a meal together
Prep time: moderate to prepare the platters
What you’ll need: platters with various foods, you can customize to your family’s likes
Fun Factor: Everyone enjoyed this. My son made a cracker sandwich of two or three different types of cheeses and chips. Although he may not of tried anything new, mixing food together for someone with food inflexibility is a major win. The kids said a number of times that the meal was fun.

Parenting Tip#3: Offer choice throughout the day

Offering choice is a good strategy to create language opportunities, and to give children a sense of control. Choices should be specific and it is not the same as asking what they want. For example, instead of asking “what do you want for snack?” you can ask, “Do you want, raspberries or cucumbers?”. Offering choice can also work when your child doesn’t want to do something. For example, “Do you want to go on the big toilet or the potty?”. There is always an opportunity to provide a choice if you think outside the box.

Other Examples:
Give a choice between two shirts when getting dressed
Toothbrushing: choice of toothpaste, toothbrush, choose who will help brush, choose where to brush
“Would you like 6 pieces of grapefruit or 8?”
“Would you like to play cars and marker for 10 minutes or 15 minutes?” (My son’s repetitive interest.

Child choice is a large component of PRT. For further reading: Read Overcoming Autism by Lynn Koegel and Claire LeZebnik

Activity #27: How are the same game

Description: I used to play this game called Tribond. They would give you three words or phrases and you had to figure out how they were related. It was a really hard game. I created the child version of this game. I had 3 sections: things that go, food & treats and math & science. They had to pick a category and then say how the three items were related.
Age: 4+
Purpose:
Categorizing
Answering questions
Prep time: extensive to think of clues and put them on a game board
What you’ll need: pieces of paper with three related words on them
Fun Factor: They weren’t really into the game show theme. We did finish all of the clues and there was no escape behaviours, but I wouldn’t say it was their favourite activity.

Activity #26: Colour obstacle scavenger hunt

Description: For this activity, I combined an obstacle course and a scavenger hunt. They had to run through a series of obstacles, and grab a piece of paper with a colour on it. Then, they had to find an object in the house of the same colour. They would put it in a coloured circle on a large piece of paper. I also added some rules to prevent them from grabbing only markers: “you cannot pick the same object for two colours”. Some new obstacle ideas: have them roll a train along a wooden train track. Grab a piece of Lego from the top of one couch and put it on a Lego base on another couch. The latter was to get them doing some climbing.
Age: 3-4+
Purpose:
Gross motor
Colour matching
Search and find
Following directions
Prep time: moderate to extensive, you have to set up the obstacle course, make coloured pieces of paper and coloured circles for them to put the objects in
What you’ll need: Pieces of paper, markers to make the colours, and items for the obstacle course
Fun Factor: This was a motivating course. They went through and found objects for every colour and did not need encouragement. However, they did try to use markers for every colour. So I had to remind them to pick a variety of objects. The train portion of the obstacle was well liked, but was a little distracting for my little Thomas fan. Moving Lego from couch to couch was also a favourite part of the course.

Products we love: Watch Minder 3

This is a great watch that can help your child remember to do things. It was designed for kids with ADHD, but it is very applicable for ASD as well. It can be customized to your child's needs. We used it to help our son independently toilet train. He would often forget to go the bathroom when he was involved in his favourite activity. We set the watch to vibrate every hour and it would say "bathroom" on the watch screen. This also reduced any battles when we would ask him if he had to go the bathroom. It also taught him how to tell time. Thus, we could say to him "time to clean up at 10:00am" and he would monitor his watch and immediately clean up his toys. A few other examples of its uses could be: leaving for school, meal time etc.

Check out the Watchminder website for more information

Activity #25: Cookie story

Description: Have your child tell as story about the process of making cookies. You can print out the photos to make a book or you can just flip through the pictures on your camera or phone. This can help your child to sequence the events to make cookies and recall past events. We had a pretty big spill which was a bonus to our story.
Age: 3+
Purpose:
Story telling
Sequencing
Recalling past events
Prep time: moderate (you have to remember to take the pictures)
What you'll need: pictures of a past event
Fun Factor: So making the cookies is probably more fun than telling the story afterwards. However, the pictures are motivating to look at for a second time. We had fun talking about the sprinkles on the floor at the end.
Tip: This can be used for any activity not just making cookies.

Activity #24: Baking and decorating cookies

Description: Lots of people bake with their kids without getting the idea from a blog, but this is a set up for tomorrow’s activity (see tip). Baking cookies is a great activity to do with children because there are so many learning opportunities. I like making sugar cookies, because you can use cookie cutters to cut out fun shapes, and then you can decorate them after. You can vary how involved your child is depending on their age, skill level (and your tolerance for mess)
Age: any
Purpose:
Following directions (from a book and an adult)
Measuring
Fractions
Fine motor: pouring, stirring, rolling, cutting, decorating
Prep time: moderate, lots of time required for clean up
What you’ll need: Ingredients to make sugar cookies (you can also buy a mix at the store), various cookie cutters, icing tubes, sprinkles
Fun Factor: The kids love baking cookies. The enjoy using the cookie cutters and decorating most. I usually only decorate what they can eat, and we save the rest of cookies to decorate each day until their gone. But I’m not going to lie, the adults require a lot of patients.
Tip: Take a picture of each stage of making the cookies (mixing, rolling, cutting, baking, decorating etc).

Activity #23: One of these things is not like the others

One of lego people is a child, her legs are shorter


All cupcake cups, but one is made out of paper

Description: When I was a kid, Sesame Street had a segment where they would sing this song: ”one of these things is not like the others, one of these things just doesn’t belong”. This game is based on that. I would put four items in each box and the kids would have to figure out which one was different. I started with easy ones (three yellow blocks and one blue block, and it got harder). Afterwards they had to explain why the item was different.
Age: 3 and up
Purpose:
Discrimination of colour size, features, function etc
Expanding language
Prep time: pretty minimal, I went and gathered new items after each round (rather than all at once at the beginning).
What you’ll need: I used a serving tray and painter’s tape to divide into 4 boxes, but this is optional. Otherwise various household items and toys.
Fun Factor: I expected this to be somewhat boring, so I made a piece of paper so they could check off 1 to 12 rounds. But, actually they enjoyed the activity and I had no problem sustaining their attention. Try to use motivating and fun items.

Activity #22: The blends game

Description: My children are very familiar with blends and digraphs from watching the preschool prep company DVD’s (see the tip if you’ve forgotten what blend and digraph are). So we made an activity of it. I added a lot of choice to make it fun. They took turns choosing which blend or digraph, which colour paper to write on, which colour marker to use. Once we chose a blend or digraph we would roll a large foam die. Then they had to come up with that number of words that started with the blend or digraph. I also drew pictures (if possible), to make it fun. Age: Whenever they are familiar with blends and/or digraphs
Purpose:
Early reading
Turn taking
Prep time: minimal
What you’ll need: coloured paper and markers, large die (optional)
Fun Factor: This activity sustained their interest, but wasn’t as fun as some of our other activities. They also required a few reminders to sit still. But, they still participated quite well.
Tip: A blend is two consonants together that still retain their phonic sound (Bl, Cr, Dr, Sc, Sk, Sn, etc). A digraph is two consonants together that produce an entirely new sound (Sh, Ch, Ph, Wr etc).

Videos we love: Preschool prep company

Our kids love watching these DVD's. They are available on DVD from the company's website or short clips on YouTube. They have simple cartoons, fun songs and phrases to help kids learn early literacy and math skills. Video topics include: letters, numbers, blends, digraphs, sight words and simple addition. Adults can learn too (or perhaps re-learn). I learned what a digraph was. I am pretty sure I learned this for the first time. Remember that educational DVD's are not recommended as a way to have children learn. However, you can play them within the 2 hour screen time limit for kids over two. Although, my 3 year old can now read sight words consistently and generalizably, and he definitely didn't learn that from me.

Activity #21: Making soup

Description: Kids love to play with real kitchen items. Take a large pot and use play food to cook a big batch of soup. They can request the food they want to put in the soup. Then, they can stir, pretend to put it on the stove, blow on it to cool it down and spoon it into bowls and hand it out to others.
Age: all ages
Purpose:
Pretend play
Object labelling
Extending verbs (stir, blow, give etc)
Prep time: minimal
What you’ll need: a pot, a spoon and some play food (or imagination)
Fun Factor: All kids enjoy using real household items. They enjoyed the sounds of dropping food in the pot and stirring it. It also resulted in a lot of pretend play scenarios.
Tip: The picture also shows noodles in the pot. If you use this in your play, make sure your child knows the difference between using noodles for play and for eating. If they don't know the difference or might put them in their mouth, stick with play food.

Activity #20: Animal rescue obstacle course

This will be our last obstacle course for a little while, but don't worry there will still be more



Description: We used one of the those chunky knob puzzles with animals on it. I placed the animals at one end of the course, and the puzzle board at the other end. They had to rescue the animals one at a time and put it back in the puzzle board. More obstacle course ideas: throw a ball into a bin, jump backwards over a line, jump sideways over a line multiple times, jump up to touch an object high on the wall (a noise maker preferably), walk on heels
Age: 3+
Purpose:
Gross motor
Puzzles
Prep time: minimal, just the obstacle course stations
What you’ll need: a chunky knob type puzzle
Fun Factor: This was the first of this sort of obstacle courses I did with the kids. I anticipated they would rescue all the animals (8 of them) and we would be done. They had so much fun they wanted to do it again. I think we rescued the animals 10 times. It was also the first time we went over the course and rolled onto the mattress. This also may have contributed to the fun factor.

Activity #19: Word obstacle course

Description: At the beginning of the course they picked a piece of folded paper with a word on it. They then had to run through the course and pick one letter at a time to complete the word. Obstacle suggestions: up and over the couch, roll down on to a mattress, jump over 3 lines, figure 8 round pylons, walk on tip toes around an object. You could simplify this by picking a letter rather than a word
Age: 4+
Purpose:
Gross motor
Letter recognition
Spelling Prep time: moderate for set up
What you’ll need: foam letters (or other), pieces of paper with motivating words on them (slide, swing, pizza, favourite animal or colour etc)
Fun Factor: This one was also a big hit. We spelled about six words (4 or 5 letter), so we ran through the course about 24 times. If I were to run the course again I would probably, have him get all the letters in one go versus one at a time. However, we only had 3 of each letter so I was trying to make pick words using a variety of letters. We taped the letters to the wall so they could see the finished product which was also fun.
Tip: We have a piece of acrylic over the TV which is why we can tape the letters to the TV. You can tape the letters to a wall or lay them out on the floor.

Activity #18: Colour stair course

Description: I made a sheet with 16 different colours on it. Then, I put the matching markers upstairs in a pile (we have a set with 64 different marker colours). I added a few decoys (but this was optional). They had to run up the stairs, grab the right marker, and then colour in the matching circle with the marker.
Age: 3+ (for younger kids, use less colours, and require them to only grab the marker)
Purpose:
Gross motor
Fine motor
Colours
Matching
Prep time: moderate: to prepare the sheet of colours
What you’ll need: a piece of paper with circle colours, and coloured markers or pencil crayons.
Fun Factor: So admittedly, I didn’t have the energy to come up with obstacle course stations and I wanted to change things up. My son really loves markers, so he really liked the activity. He said it was his favourite activity of the day. Safety tip: For little ones, you may have to watch them on the stairs, especially if they get excited. But, at least you'll get some exercise too.

Parenting Tip #2: Try being Silly

You are tired at the end of the day or in a rush to get out of the house in the morning and your child is not cooperating. Often, the first instinct is to yell to get them to get them to do it. Instead, try being silly. Here are some examples (all tried and tested):

Your child is taking a long time to put on his pyjamas: try having a race.
Your child doesn’t want to brush his teeth: try singing a silly song. Sometimes we’ll sing “brush your hamburgers” or whatever we had for dinner.
Your child won’t get into bed: try being a fork lift and making fork lift noises.

Activity #17: Duplo ice cream obstacle course

Description: At the start, the kids choose a piece of paper with a Duple ice cream pattern on it. They then run through the obstacle course. At the end is the Duple blocks they need to make their pattern. They need to use the blocks to make the pattern. You can use any obstacle in the middle: tunnel, jumping off stools, bounce a ball against a wall, walk on a line, crab walk (just to name a few).
Age: 3+
Purpose:
Gross motor
Fine motor
Memory
Matching
Prep time: moderate: you have to set up the course and draw the Duple patterns
What you’ll need: Duple ice cream set. If you don’t have this you can use any kind of building block.
Fun Factor: This was a pretty fun one. They enjoyed building the ice creams to match the pictures. My son on the spectrum tried to change the patterns to his flavour likings, but it still worked out. He also asked to do it again the next day.

Activity #16: Sticker obstacle course

Description: Set up an obstacle course with the goal of putting a sticker on a grid of paper. My son set up this obstacle course. He came up with the stations and wrote the descriptions on the floor. As a result it was a simple course: reach up, touch the floor, walk forward and backwards on a line, walk right and left on a line.
Age: 3+
Purpose:
Gross motor
Fine Motor
Writing
Spelling
Prep time: moderate
What you’ll need: paper and painter's tape for labelling stations, a piece of paper with a grid, fun stickers
Fun Factor: Because my son made up the stations (and thus they were simple) they went through the course several times. All kids love stickers. You can see from the grid the number of times they ran through the course. The pictures also show the station number as a highway sign. This is owing to our love of highways.

All about obstacle courses

I have mentioned in a previous post, that I love obstacles courses. As such the postings for the next week will be all about obstacle courses: ideas for set up, and ways to use obstacle courses to work on multiple skills at the same time.

Activity #15: What I am bringing to the picnic game

Description: We used to play this game when I was a kid at summer camp. We would go around in the circle and say “I’m going to a picnic and I’m going to bring…” If you said a food that started with the first letter of your name, you got to come to picnic. If you didn’t, you couldn’t come until you figured it out. It wasn’t a very inclusive game - they probably don’t play it anymore. Anyways, I modified it so we would choose a letter of alphabet and then, they had to bring a food, that started with that letter. It’s a nice activity to do with the indoor picnic.
Age: 4-5 and up
Purpose:
Letters
Matching letters to words
Categorizing
Prep-time: minimal
What you’ll need: paper and pen (or markers to make it more colourful)
Fun Factor: This was actually more of a difficult task for my 6 year old than I had expected. As a result there was some escape behaviours (squirming on the spot, asking to move on to a new activity), but we did finish 10 letters with hints. To make it easier you can choose letters that start with the snacks that you have provided so they have a visual cue. You can also pick the letters that start with their favourite foods.

Activity #14: Snack indoor picnic

Description: One way to get your kids to sit down to a meal is to change it up by having a picnic inside the house. Lay a blanket or a towel on the kitchen floor and set out the snacks or meal.
Age: any
Purpose:
Varying routine
Motivating them to eat
Prep time: same as regular snack time
What you’ll need: a blanket or towel (maybe something more colourful than my picture) and some snacks
Fun Factor: The kids love to have picnics inside the house, where they don’t feel like their constrained to the dinner table (they’re not actually restrained, they just feel that way). They will usually immediately come to the picnic without the usual transition warnings. Just don't overdo this activity or it my loose its effectiveness.

Activity #13: Pipe cleaner letters

My son made these letters on his own, with help for about 5 of them

Matching some animals to the letters (M for monkey, P for pig, S for sheep)

Words made out of our letters

Description: Use pipe cleaners to form letters of the alphabet.
Age: 4 or 5 and up
Purpose:
Letters
Problem solving
Spelling
Matching to letters
Prep time: minimal
What you’ll need: a package of pipe cleaners
Fun Factor: This turned out to be a great activity. We spent a long time forming letters with the pipe and they were pretty motivated by the activity. My younger child went around the house to find objects and animals and put them near the letter that they started with (maybe a future scavenger hunt idea). Then we made words out of the letters we formed.

Autism Resource #2: Use a fear chart for overcoming fears.

For older kids (5 years +) writing down their fears and comparing them to reality can help them to manage them. Jed Baker has an example of a fear chart in the in February-April 2016 Edition of Autism and Asperger’s Digest. My ASD child is afraid of automatic toilets. My child did not even want to go to places that had automatic toilets (ie the shopping mall). We wrote out a fear chart together with my child contributing to the content (see example). It is helpful to write it out so you can refer to it. While my child still won’t go anywhere near an automatic toilet at least we can visit the mall and know that automatic toilets don’t have legs, and can’t come after you.


Baker, J. Overcoming fear and anxiety in children and teens. Autism Asperger’s Digest 2016 February-April: 14-17

Activity #12: Noodle Play

Description: If you don’t like the idea of letting your kids play with a tub of water in your house, you can try noodles. Use a large shallow container or a serving tray and pour in small noodles. There are so many ways to play with noodles. Here are a few ideas: 1) Have cars and trucks drive through them 2) use measuring cups and spoons for pouring and measuring 3) if you buy noodles with a hole, you can string them on shoelaces 4) put them through a gum ball machine.
Age: Officially 3+, but when ever you can trust your kids not to eat them
Purpose:
Sensory
Measuring
Pretend play
Fine motor
Prep time: minimal
What you’ll need: a shallow container or serving tray and a bag of noodles and any other items
Fun Factor: My kids love to play with noodles, probably because the play is so variable. Their favourite thing to do is to fill up a gum ball machine with noodles and then get the noodles out by turning the dial. Although the noodles will get out of the tray, the clean up is easy with a broom.

Activity #11: Indoor (or outdoor) water play

Description: Fill a tub of water and let the kids play. This can be an outdoor or an indoor activity (if you can handle the potential for water on the floor, as spills will happen). The kids can play in there with bath toys or other toys that may be water appropriate. Or you can just use cups, bowls, measuring cups and even syringes.
Age: any
Purpose:
Measuring
Fine motor (pouring)
Pretend play
Prep time: minimal to start (perhaps more time to clean up)
What you’ll need: small tub or container, various measuring cups and/or bath toys
Fun Factor: So there is no marks for creativity for coming up with this activity, but the kids have a great time and it can keep them occupied for a long time. As long as you change up the toys, you can do this over and over.
Tip: put towels on the floor to catch any spills, make the clean up easier, and avoid slippery floors.

Activity #10: Road sign scavenger hunt

Description: I came up with this activity to work on reading comprehension. I created 9 clues, that had a favourite place (like a restaurant or a park) and a description of where it was hidden in the house. The clue led them to a street sign where the favourite place was located. My son likes street signs, but you could substitute other things to hide (like shapes or animals). You can also read the clue aloud if your child can’t read yet. I also placed the clue all over the house so they would have to go up and down the stairs multiple times.
Age: 3+ (use verbal clues for kids that can’t read yet).
Purpose:
Reading comprehension
Verbal comprehension
Multistep commands
Prep time: moderate, you have to make up the clues and hide the signs (or objects)
What you’ll need: paper and makers to make up the clues
Fun Factor: My son loves street signs, so he loved this activity. He even asked to do this the next day (which meant that I had to come up with 9 more favourite places and clues). He enjoyed matching the street sign to the favourite place (and correcting me a few times). This specific activity may only appeal to kids that like street signs, but it can be modified for other kids. For example, a colour and finding an object that is that colour.

Activity #9: Pillow sandwiches

Description: Use couch cushions, throw cushions and blankets to make a giant sandwich with your child as "the meat". Get your child to lie down on the “bread”, and ask them what meat they want to be and what toppings they would like to have on them. Then put the top slice of bread on and grill the sandwich by pushing down on the pillows. They will also enjoy putting toppings on the parents.
Age: 2 and up
Purpose:
Proprioception
Pretend play
Turn taking
Labelling (toppings)
Prep time: minimal to moderate (depending on your search for pillows)
What you’ll need: Couch cushions and various colours of throw pillows and blankets
Fun Factor: This was a big hit. The kids like to be squished in between all the pillows and climb on top to grill. It was such a big hit, I will be putting my sewing skills to the test, to try to make some more realistic toppings (stay tuned for that pic).
Safety tip: Make sure the child who is being squished has their face visible at all times. Also, the sandwich can get pretty high, so make sure you watch the child doing the “grilling” closely.

Toys we Love: Artzooka Sketcher Tape

Our children love anything to do with roads and trains: road signs, drawing roads, train tracks, you name it. We love this toy because you can make your own maps with various tape rolls: paved roads, dirt roads, train tracks and water. It also comes with stickers of vehicles, trains, buildings, trees etc so you can add details and creativity. Our little cartographers spent a lot of time designing maps and putting on stickers to add details (including labelling the roads).

Activity #8: Get to know a new friend

Description: Draw a picture of a boy or a girl (or print one out). Have your child ask questions about this new friend to help them practice getting to know someone new. Make sure they ask their questions as they would if they were talking to someone.
Age: preschool and up
Purpose:
Question asking
Social skills
Prep time: minimal
What you’ll need: A piece of paper and something to draw with
Fun Factor: This is more to teach a specific skill rather than a fun activity. However, my children were able to maintain interest in the activity to ask many questions.
Tip: Make the drawing while your child is watching (or beside you doing his/her own drawing). This will generate interest. I also drew some objects around the boy to give them hints on what questions to ask. Draw things you know your child likes to increase his/her motivation to ask questions.

Activity #7: Bounce it or toss it?

Description: We started this activity to motivate my child to play catch. This was a skill that needed practice. We added choices to make it more fun. There are endless choices you could pick:, bounce, throw, spin it, overhand, underhand, left hand, right hand, roll, through the legs, etc.
Age: 3 and up
Purpose:
Catching and throwing,
Extending verbs,
Extending vocabulary
Prep time: minimal
What you’ll need: a large bouncy ball (or a smaller one for older children)
Fun Factor: We can play this activity for a long period of time, as long as you can continue to come up with new and funny ways to pass a ball. The variety is what makes this activity motivating. However, you can still repeat the choices.