Play Doh Hide and Seek

                                                          

This activity has been originally taken from one of the most popular and user-friendly guides, the Out of Sync Child Has Fun. I have done a couple of modifications according to own working experience. You may follow the book link to know more about Sensory Activities where there are great fun and learning activities have been described. 

This is a fantastic activity especially for little ones however teens would also enjoy it. It improves motor planning, fine motor skills as well as bilateral coordination (ability to synchronise both right and left sides of the body, for example, making a sandwich or playing throw ball). 

It improves the ability to discriminate objects with and without vision (tactile discrimination), proprioception sensory processing skills, midline crossing, and fine motor control, along with visual perception skills. Mainly it improves sensory awareness in the fingers required to provide information about the grasp of the tools, toys and surface. Reduced sensory awareness will require greater visual monitoring. 

The activity also improves attention span and concentration on the given task, along with hand and intrinsic fingers strength. Feeling, recognising and understanding about physical characteristics of objects (size, shape, density, texture, and weight) is an integral part of tactile discrimination which can be difficult for our kids with sensory issues.

We aim to make their fingers ‘feel’ of different textures in a fun way and improve their learning about various objects even when they are not seeing them! So let’s start!

Activity Requirements:

Play-Doh

Plastic or rubber toys (such as Lego, plastic apple, small-sized ball)

Large and small buttons

Safety pin or hairpin

Different size coins

Rice or Lentil Box 

Container for sorting- Cup or jewellery box

    

Procedure:

1. Wrap the Play-Doh around the toy to make and make sure that it is not completely covered. The child should be able to see the colour of the toy which will work as a clue for her to recognise it easily. Once the toy is covered you may ask the child, “Do you know which toy is it.

2. Once the child is master in the above-mentioned task we can switch to the next level of effort. This time to increase the level of difficulty, pack the toy thicker and leave a small portion unpacked to grade the activity to the next level. Once the toy is packed you may ask the child, to recognise the toy using his fingertips and visual sense. 

3. The further variation could include covering small objects in the Play-doh such as coins, hairpins, beads, buttons and asking the child to feel the shape of the object covered with Play-doh and guess what it could be. These objects can be,

• Different sized buttons
• Safety or hairpins (make sure it does not injure him)
• Different sized coins
• Rubber
• Small Lego pieces
• Pen caps

• Pack these objects fully. Now we can play treasure hunt. Hide the packed things in a box of rice or lentils. Initially, he can recognise and discriminate them without being time farmed or blindfolded. Later, on mastery of task gradation of activity will be great fun and challenge too! 

Activity Gradation:

Time Framed:

The activity can be challenged by grading it according to time. An adult may ask the child to recognise the toy within a set time limit such as 60 seconds or two minutes. Time should be allotted depending on the child’s abilities and needs. It is important to understand that activity should enhance his level of motivation to peruse and complete the given task successfully.

Target should be achievable. The child might lose interest in activity if she is unable to complete the task within the time frame. So make during the first attempt child should be provided sufficient time to complete the activity successfully. This will increase his level of motivation and self-confidence.

Time can be reduced, gradually, say, from 3 minutes to 30 seconds.

Blindfold: 

Once the toy is packed, leaving a small portion as a clue, ask the child whether she would like to do this activity being blindfolded.

If both child and parent think, it will be achievable, to recognise the toy, then go further and blindfold him. The child might take longer than usual time to recognise since his visual sense has been occluded. Parents should encourage her to use his fingertips sliding them around the edges and corners of the toy, to learn about shape, and size of it.

Help her to feel the toy where it is unpacked. This will help in improving tactile recognition and discrimination of the object. On the repeated practice of feeling different shapes, sizes, textures, density and weight (physical characteristics of objects) child’s touch discriminating abilities will improve to the maximal possible extent. At this level, pack the toy completely and thicker to increase the level of challenge.

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Benefits:

· Tactile Discrimination: Playing with different textures which have varying viscosities increase tactile perception, exploration and discriminatory sense as well as visualisation skill along with In-Hand-Manipulations skills which involve translation.
·  Vast Tactile experience = Improvement in Tactile perception + discrimination 
·   Visualisation Skills
·    Body Scheme
·  Speed, Accuracy and Precision 
·  Fine Motor Skills
· Self-Esteem

What is Motor planning?

Running, hopping, jumping requires a high level of Motor Planning 

Picture Credit: Google 

The ability to order, plan, sequence and execute a series of intentional motor actions. It is the ability to learn a new task, following all its sequential steps. It requires a person to be attentive.

Consider, when we try a new recipe for the first time, how much attention is needed to follow all steps. We are conscious about ingredients, water, salt, baking duration and all the other aspects to make the perfect dish. The way we react towards the above process is called as motor planning. Our brain is learning a new task, therefore, we need to pay more attention as compared to doing it for a second or third time.

We can frequently see infants doing motor planning process. A child perceives, hold, and explores spoon or rattle at 7 months, mouths it at 8 months and bangs it on different surfaces (table, floor) to hear different sounds. So here, the brain first learns to hold the spoon than to put it in the mouth and later banging. This process needs attention. More he learns to move his body in different directions, better is motor planning. Since planning involves conscious attention, therefore, it is connected to metal and logical functions.

A child initiates crawling at 7 -8 months and starts to enjoy it as soon as he masters it. He uses large joints which are essential for the development of higher brain centre’s functioning and motor planning abilities. Crawling, kneeling, standing, walking are all components of developmental milestones that require a child’s attention to developing postural balance and control. Initially, child plans and then executes actions slowly in sequential order, which is later called as developmental progression and locomotion.

Brain prepares messages and sends them to a different group of muscles in the upper and lower body. This causes muscles to contract and relax. Further to this, the joint movement takes place to perform the desired action. Different day to day chores which we perform without thinking much needed a lot of attention when we learned in childhood. Putting on clothes, holding knife or spoon, making a cup of coffee, doing laces or ties, time-telling are examples of tasks which a person learns in childhood with much attention and practice, however, once understood it becomes the neural memory for future times. On repeated practice, it is called as Motor Skill.

If the child has poor motor planning, he may be Dyspraxic.
He might not able to get an idea to perform, plan, and execute any task on his own. In such cases, teachers and parents need to provide cues for given tasks. Encouragement, supervision, and consistent practice are key to teach any tasks, such as handwriting and tooth brushing. Following all the steps in a sequential manner is important for a child to learn this task.

Handwriting skill requires a high level of motor planning, planning and execution of actions.

Let’s contemplate an example of poor motor planning, during one of my OT sessions, I asked a pupil to take off his shoes and sit on the mat. I got engaged in other tasks and observed him from another corner of the room. He untied the laces with hit and trial method and then stopped. I asked, “you okay?” He politely responded, “what do I need to do now?”

The poor little lad did not have any idea, how to take off his shoe from the foot. His brain couldn’t do the sequencing of actions, that after untying lace he needs to pull off the shoe from feet.

Climbing and descending stairs need complex motor planning and children with poor skill show anxiety to use staircase or escalators. Fear of falling or tripping makes them avoid stairway. Doing practice on climber frames is one of the ways to reduce anxiety. Making staircase of different size mattresses can be safe, appropriate and fun ways. 

Classroom Strategies for a child with poor body planning Intervention Strategies:

Star Jumps: These are good to involve whole-body coordination.

Animal Walks: Walking like bear, the elephant will improve body sense

Marching: This also involves coordination between both sides of the body, can be difficult. Initially start with feet marching, once mastered, then include arms.

Play Hopscotch: This will give distance and space judgement.

Commando Crawling: Involving both hands and feet.

Body Paint: Ask the child to paint his particular body parts such as a right-hand or left-hand index finger.

Body Image: Ask the child to draw around his partner’s body on the large sheet and label body parts.

Swimming: Will give tactile and proprioceptive input.

Obstacle courses: Make obstacle courses and ask the child to complete them in different positions (supine, prone, kneeling) while sitting on a scooter board.

Target Games: Activities involving trunk rotation and both sides of the body should be incorporated such as throwing bean bags while picking from the left and throwing them to the right side. Throwing them in hoops, buckets or bags can be done.

Hiding Objects Games: Hide different objects in the room and ask the child to find them. Two things can be hidden together such as lock and key.

Involve in-home chores: an Involving child in kitchen activities asking him to give you different items needed will help to develop under-over, left-right concept. You may ask him to put the cake for baking in a lower-most shelf of the oven.

Tunnel Games: Crawling in the tunnel is a

fun activity.

Climbing Activities: Climbing frames, monkey bars, ladders, ropes or slopes.