Tricks and Trinkets

“Within the framework, occupational therapy is defined as the therapeutic use of everyday life activities (occupations) with individuals or groups for the purpose of enhancing or enabling participation in roles, habits, and routines in home, school, workplace, communities, and other settings.”1

“Occupational therapy services may include comprehensive evaluations of the clients home and other environments, recommendations for adaptive equipment and training in its use, training in how to modify a task or activity to facilitate participation, and guidance and education for family members and caregivers.”2

What if I told you, you could save you a lot of money by buying small trinkets from places like the dollar store to help the patients in your practice with everyday tasks? Who doesn’t like to save money?! If you’re looking for low cost or free items to help with your clients, you have come to the right place! Let me help you.

Below is a list of fifteen items that cost a dollar or less and may be used for occupational therapy purposes in the pediatric and geriatric populations. Also, a list of how the items may be used.

This blog is dedicated to any students or professionals who want to help/benefit  their clients and only spend a dollar or less on each item.

Items include:

• Straws- May be used for cutting into different sized pieces
• Pompoms- May be used to sort into specific colors
• Golf tees- Patients can use to balance objects on top of
• Hair elastics- Come in different sizes and can be stretched to strengthen fingers
• Bubble wrap- Good for squeezing snaps with fingers
• Q-tips- Good for dipping and painting, or tracing objects such as letters or shapes
• Chopsticks- Can be used for fine mortar and eye hand coordination tasks such as picking up small items like popcorn, pom poms etc.…
• Playing cards- May be used for memory games or sorting
• Rubber bands- Can be stretched or placed around objects
• Clothes pins- Can be used to grasp, strengthen fingers, or reaching for objects
• Marbles- Can be rolled, counted, grouped, or sorted.
• Bubbles- Clients can work on coordination by blowing bubbles
• Coins- Used for memory by having them hand you the correct coin
• Cheerios/Candy- Can be used for counting, color sorting, also make for a great snack!
• Makeup containers- Have the client open, twist, close, etc.

I chose these specific resources to cheaply supplement exercises and create ideas for students or therapists. These products may be easily purchased and used at home with parents, at schools by teachers, or by therapists during client's therapy sessions. If you have any questions, comments, or ideas feel free to contact me anytime!

References

1Adams, N. G. (1981). Ladder to Proffesional Certification. The Career Mobility Program, 35. Retrieved February 7, 2017, from file:///C:/Users/raega/Downloads/328.pdf.

2Occupational Therapy: Improving Function While Controlling Costs. (2017). Retrieved February 17, 2017, from www.aota.org