Wednesday, January 23, 2013

The Possibilities Are Endless...With a Blanket and Pillow

Deanna Macioce, MS, OTR/L

Who isn’t looking for some new and exciting treatment activities and ideas for a sensory diet?  It feels as if we are always being challenged to keep things fun and exciting.   And with a quick scan around our house, many times we overlook the things staring us right in our face.  So, let’s pull out those blankets and pillows and see what fun we can have, while working on some key areas.

Climbing aboard the Magic Carpet children can work on core stability in the upright sitting position while receiving some vestibular input.  This is also a great way to work on dynamic sitting balance.  Children can also lay on their bellies working on head and neck extension, or use a pillow for additional support.  And if you want to provide some proprioceptive input, have children pull peers for a little bit of heavy work.

The possibilities are endless when it comes to designing obstacle courses with both blankets and pillows.  Blankets can be rolled up to be logs or snakes to jump over working on coordination and propriocpetive input.   Or by placing some weighted objects on a blanket, children can pull along their treasure  (for a bit of heavy work and shoulder/core strengthening) to their hide out.  Using chairs or other pieces of furniture it is easy to cover them to make a tunnel that children have to crawl through.  Test their motor planning skill by having them have to get trough the tunnel in different ways, such as “coming through so that their feet exit first”.  Pillows can be used as rocks or lilypads to walk on or over working on balance and coordination.  Pile up a mountain of blankets and pillows to crawl or bear walk over, and increase the challenge by having them belly crawl.  What a fun way to work on trunk stability and bilateral coordination with no expensive piece of equipment.

Using a blanket as a swing is ideal for toddlers and small children to get some great vestibular input, but with the tactile and propriocpetive feedback given to the whole body, this is an ideal activity for those with body awareness difficulties.  With one adult, you can hold the four corners of a large blanket up high, giving children the feeling they are in a cocoon getting some gently linear movement.  When possible, having two adults (one on each end) children can lay inside the blanket and be swung side-to-side, making it is easier to provide more speed and input.  CAUTION:  This activity needs to be done with care, making sure the blankets being used are durable and large enough. Also, pay attention to the area around you making sure it is free from objects that can be hit.

Blankets make great burritos and hot dogs, working on body awareness, tactile and proprioceptive input when children are tightly rolled up to make sure favorite meal. Then topping them with your favorite condiments by rolling a ball over their body or just providing some deep pressure by providing deep pressure down their limbs.  Increases the fun and the input…they will come back asking for more.

Many of our childhoods included hours of play designing our own forts and castles with a couple of blankets, a table, chair, couch, whatever we could find to attach them to.  This activity not only provides the finished product of a small space for children to use a calming area or to do work with less distractions, it also inspires creativity, problem solving and works on sequencing skills.  So, with a little spark of imagination, this can keep them entertained for hours.

Pillows and couch cushions can be used an ideal balance board for sitting or standing.  Stack them to the ideal height and then put them into your activity as needed.  They can also be used to help work on trunk stability in sitting, as well as achieving proper hip and trunk alignment in sitting.

Attach a pillow to a child’s back with a belt for some slight extra input and let them be a turtle to crawl through to the finish line of the race against the hare.  To help improve positioning in crab walking activities, the use of a small pillow on the tummy is great as both a tactile and visual guide.

When working on boundaries and space issues, blankets provide an ideal play area.  Set up activities in the space provided and children have to remain there for a given time.  This is also effective when working on attention and sitting skills needed in school, especially for the younger ones required to be part of circle time.  And when made to the right size, it is a great way to visually cue children on personal space during game playing or doing an activity.

Blankets can bring out any child’s imagination as a cape of his favorite super hero or gown of her favorite princess.  It can be the wrap for a mummy or the veil of a bride.  The possibilities are endless.

And wouldn’t it be good to know that in your treatment and play you are using a toy from the National Toy Hall of Fame?  Yes, the blanket was inducted in 2011 (www.toyhalloffame.org)  So, pull out that pile of blankets and pillows, and let the fun and therapeutic play begin!

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