I decided to call my blog "Miss Donna's OT Tips and Tricks" because when I began my OT career in New Orleans the kids always called me Miss Donna. I found it sweet and endearing. Once in a while kids in NYC will call me that as well. I love it because it reminds me of where I started and how much I have learned since I began this amazing career.

Fall is my favorite time of the year. I love the changing leaves and my favorite holidays are in the Fall (including my birthday). The smells of pumpkin treat, the apple picking and cider donuts all make me so happy!

This week I began creating Halloween crafts with my clients. Crafting is fun and therapeutic. It  addresses many OT related goals including:
executive functioning
fine motor skills
attention to task
tactile exploration
feeling a sense of pride and accomplishment

Here are some of the most successful Fall crafts I did this week:

Kids love to cook and especially bake and who doesn't?! This week I made some Halloween themed cupcakes and Spooky houses with my own children. They loved it. The spooky house was purchased at Trader Joes.

 Another fun activity this week was exploring "gross" items to improve tactile exploration. You can find some rubber eyes balls and creatures at Michael's craft store. Its fun to stretch and pull on their limbs. Use those "pincher" fingers to pull and twist. Sometimes I use tweezers to pick up the creatures and work on grasp.

 Remember these magnetic drawing boards from the 80's? Kids still enjoy them and it motivates them to hold a writing tool.

                                  

 My daughter found this fun bat shadow painting craft online. The kids loved it and the result was cool and creepy. Many times Pinterest is my friend, there are so many great ideas on there! Here is the link to the  project https://www.pinterest.com/pin/74872412532930011/

This Jack--o-lantern was another great Pinterest find and so easy! Here is the link to the instructions https://www.pinterest.com/pin/189925309265081759/

The kids LOVED throwing this Wacky crawler "spider". Its supposed to be an octopus but I got creative. Throw it on the wall and watch it "crawl down".  They didn't even realize they were working on throwing skills and visual tracking! Its creepy too!

                                

I have linked where to buy and find all the activities mentioned above for you! What are your favorite Halloween and Fall activities? I would love to hear from you.