Participation in meaningful life activities plays an important role in the development of our children’s physical skills, social skills, and well-being, laying the foundations for their interpersonal development and school performance (Cosbey, 2010). SPD’s occupational therapist, Gracie Lim, shares some activities and strategies that you can adopt to help you better connect and engage your child at home.

1. Involve your child in household chores

Involving your child in household chores can be a fun way to engage them at home. It also teaches your child responsibility and help them learn to be more independent in their daily living skills. Do consider your child’s skills and the complexity of the task when determining which household chores they could help out with.

You may involve younger children in simpler household chores, or by getting them involved in some parts of the task instead of the entire task. These are examples of some daily routines you can involve your child in:

• Putting away groceries
• Part of a meal preparation such as, obtaining
  ingredients from the fridge, pouring milk, whisking eggs in a mixing bowl
• Wiping the table
• Putting away utensils and plates after mealtime
  
  

Older children can also be involved in these more complex household chores involving multiple steps:

• Preparing own meals under parents’ supervision e.g. making a cup of Milo, or slicing fruits e.g. banana
• Setting table for dinner
• Cleaning up after dinner using a spritz bottle and cloth  
• Pegging clothes, folding or sorting laundry
• Watering plants with a spritz bottle
  
  

Possible skills that can be developed:

• Fine motor skills e.g. strengthening of their hand muscles, using both hands in a coordinated manner
• Concepts such as colours, numbers, name of fruits and vegetables
• Categorisation i.e. separating items according to different properties
• Problem solving i.e. recognising a problem and finding alternative plan
• Planning
• Sequencing i.e. performing steps in an effective and logical order

2. Create a simple obstacle course at home

An obstacle course provides your child with opportunities to develop and improve their motor skills. You can build an indoor obstacle course with common household items.

For younger children, it would be helpful to make the objective of the obstacle course clearer by including a specific goal at the end of the obstacle course. For example, the child would take a puzzle piece at the beginning of the obstacle course, go through and place the puzzle piece at the end of the obstacle course, and repeat the entire process until the puzzle is completed. You may also incorporate pretend-play skills where the child can make-pretend that the obstacle course is his favourite cartoon or game, where he would have to overcome various physical obstacles to rescue his favourite cartoon or game character.

Similarly, for older children, they can be involved in pretend play. Provide opportunities for them to tap on their imagination and interests as you engage them to plan and build their own obstacle course. Older children can also be encouraged to decide on the items that they wish to incorporate into their obstacle course.

Below are some ideas to get you started on designing your indoor obstacle course:

• Walk or crawl on uneven surfaces such as cushion or blankets
• Crawl under a row of chairs
• Jump from hula hoop to hula hoop or on non-slip mats
• Throw beanbag into a laundry basket
• Squat to retrieve or transfer items e.g. socks, clothes pegs, bottles, from one point to another
• Stick duct tape or masking tape on the floor for child to walk on and balance along the line

Possible skills that can be developed:

• Gross motor skills required to complete the various obstacle course e.g. standing balance, strengthening of muscles in the leg, hand, and body, coordination of upper and lower body
• Introducing and strengthening concepts such as colours, size, shapes, name of the household items
• Pretend-play
• Planning
• Sequencing i.e. performing steps in an effective and logical order
• Communication skills such as following instructions, making requests or expressing ideas in words

3. Choose the right activities

Begin with activities that your child prefers. A child can focus and engage better in activities that they are interested in. Short activities with a clear end or goal also provide your child with a better understanding of what is expected.

For example, if your child likes animals, you may start with an animal puzzle that has been completed except for the last piece. Get your child to help complete the last piece. You can praise your child when the puzzle is completed, and gradually increase your child’s ability to remain engaged by increasing the number of pieces he has to complete by himself.

Another activity that you could explore with your child is sorting animals into pretend land, sea and sky that are made up of various textures, for example, water mixed with paint, clay etc. Instead of using their hands to sort the animals, you can get your child to use a tong or tweezer, which can help to work the little muscles of their hands.

For older children, you may consider more complex close-ended activities such as simple meal preparation or art and craft activities. These activities have a clear end as they involve making a specific end-product such as a pizza bread or an airplane. These activities help children to realise that they need to complete all the necessary steps to create the end-product. For example, for children who have an interest in vehicles, you can engage them meaningfully by getting them to construct an airplane using recycled materials found at home. You can also encourage your child to plan and explore the different materials they wish to use in creating their own airplane.

Possible skills that can be developed:

• Fine motor skills e.g. strengthening of muscles in their hands, using both hands in a coordinated manner
• Categorisation such as separating items according to different properties
• Sensory exploration of different textures
• Problem solving i.e. recognising a problem and finding alternative plans
• Planning
• Sequencing i.e. performing steps in an effective and logical order

Additional tip: Allow for movement break
If your child has difficulties in sustaining their attention in the activities throughout the day, or if you observe that your child is losing focus on the task for example, getting restless, having difficulty sitting still or looking around, fiddling with objects on the table instead of doing the task, you may wish to give your child a movement break.

A movement break is an opportunity to move instead of sitting still. Research has shown that children can learn and attend to tasks better with movement breaks. Movement breaks can be incorporated at home to help children increase their attention and engagement in the activities that follow (Marzano, 2012).

When you tell your child that it is time for a movement break, it is helpful to establish clear expectations on what to do, how long the movement break will be and remind them of the task that they need to get back to. A timer can also be used to indicate the end of the movement break.

Get started with these easy movement break ideas that your child can do at home:

• Animal walks e.g. frog jump, duck walk, bear walk, slither on belly like a snake
• Different variations of push-up e.g. wall or chair push-up
• Planking for 10 to 20 seconds
• Jumping / marching on the spot
• Pushing something heavy e.g. box filled with toys, laundry basket

References

Cosbey, J., Dunn, M.L., & Johnston, S.S. (2010). Sensory processing disorders and social participation. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 64(3), 462-473.

Establishing Mealtime Routines for Children. (n.d.). Retrieved November 27, 2020, from https://www.aota.org/About-Occupational-Therapy/Patients-Clients/ChildrenAndYouth/Mealtime.aspx

Marzano, R. J. (2012). A Moving Proposal. Educational Leadership, 69(7), 88.