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Children learn through play. As an occupational therapist who works with children and youth, I use games and toys almost every day to help develop important cognitive, visual perceptual, motor, sensory, social, play and leisure skills. While many different types of activities can be used in therapy, this blog focuses on off-the-shelf games and toys that are accessible to most. Whether you are a therapist, parent, teacher, or a game lover like me, I hope you discover something useful while you are here. Learn a different way to play a game you already own or discover a new game for your next family game night. Either way, just go play. It's good for you!

The OT Magazine named The Playful Otter one of the Top 5 Pediatric OT Blogs.


Feb 10, 2019

Mix & Match Farm Animals

Mix & Match Farm Animals


Mix & Match Farm Animals is just a simple set of six 2-piece plastic animals from Lakeshore Learning. You can see from the blue and purple animal in the image above that the back end of the animal has a kind of plug sticking out and the front part has an empty space to push it into. These take hand strength to put together and pull apart. They are hard, and slightly flexible, plastic. The six animals are cow, donkey, pig, lamb, goat, dog. 
 
Size in child's hands.
 
Try this:
  • Put two different animal pieces together and make up a funny name for your new creation (a pig and a lamb might be called Pam). Make up a sound for your new hybrid.
  • Take apart all the animals and put the pieces in a pile on the table. Call for the animals, one at a time, to be assembled. Try calling by animal name, then color, then by animal sound.
  • Put all the back end pieces in a pile on the table. Give the individual one animal head at a time and ask him to find the part that completes it and assemble it.
  • Call two colors and ask the individual to make up two different animals for each set (yellow donkey head, green goat back, green goat head, yellow donkey back).
  • Place the animals in different orientations on the table. Ask the individual to line up a parade of animals. Call each animal and ask the child to pick up that animal and turn it so that all the animals end up facing the same direction.
  • Sing Old McDonald as you play, reinforcing animal sounds to animals. 
  • Work on visual discrimination, hand strength, color recognition, front/back, manual dexterity, spatial relations, animals names and sounds, process skills, executive functioning skills, play and leisure exploration and participation

  •  In the box: 12 pieces (6 animals total)

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