June 27, 2016 - The OT Toolbox

I wanted to update this old Greek turkey burger recipe because it’s one of our favorite recipes that kids can help to make some of the steps. As an occupational therapist, I definitely love cooking with kids because of the developmental benefits. Plus, when kids are involved in making dinner, even more complex recipes like cooking this Greek turkey burger, they get a sense of autonomy and independence that they can carry over to other life skills.

This is a great cooking life skills recipe because it has different levels of tasks:

Our Greek Turkey Burger recipe has chopping, stirring, slicing, cooking the burger, spreading the ingredients. You can see how different steps require different levels of motor skill as well as safety and cognition. You could alter this recipe depending on the level and age of the kids who are helping you make it!

Greek Turkey Burger Recipe

Is there anything that says “Summer” more than a burger hot off the grill? Burgers, sun, and good times with friends and family are what summer is all about. When families go to Fourth of July picnics or grill out, it is fun to make delicious foods that help to celebrate summer. This Greek Turkey Burger recipe is a great addition to your summer grilling, and uses fresh ingredients.

Greek Turkey Burger Recipe

I love a good burger. There is no denying that. It’s my go-to meal when I need to get dinner on the table in a hurry. One of my favorite ways to add variety to burgers is by trying new combinations of toppings and mixed-in ingredients. These turkey burgers were a new spin on the classic hamburger and they were a huge hit in our house. (One that we’ll be making again very soon!)

It’s a Greek-style turkey burger with a juicy cucumber sauce topping and basil and tomato feta that is mixed right into the ground turkey.

Anytime cheese is mixed into the burger meat, it’s a win in my book! The flavored feta adds a nice pop of taste, but what really makes this turkey burger flavorful is the cucumber sauce. It’s an easy sauce to whip up. (So easy in fact, that my two year old helped me make it!).

Anytime a shopping trip is made easier when there are four kids aged 8 and under in tow, it makes this mama smile. When we hit the grocery store, I usually have all four attached in some variety to the shopping cart so it can be a bit of a spectacle to see us troop through the produce aisles.

Fresh veggies go well on a Greek Turkey Burger Recipe, perfect for summer cooking and barbecues

This recipe is nice because it has a healthy addition of extra veggies.

Ingredients for Greek Turkey Burger

Gather your ingredients:

1/2 cup yogurt (you can also replace the yogurt with a ranch dressing)
1/4 cup peeled and minced cucumber
1 lb ground turkey
3/4 cup crumbled basil and tomato feta cheese, divided
1/4 tsp black pepper
4 onion rolls

It’s a place where you can save time and money while getting fresh ingredients to help you celebrate summer!

yogurt sauce for turkey burgers

The yogurt sauce for the Greek Turkey Burger is the main flavor ingredient. The sauce uses:

1/2 cup yogurt (you can also replace the yogurt with a ranch dressing)
1/4 cup peeled and minced cucumber

Cucumber ranch sauce to go with this Greek Turkey Burger Recipe, perfect for summer cooking and barbecues

To make the yogurt sauce for the turkey burgers, you’ll need to:

Chop the cucumber into small pieces.
Mix the ranch dressing and chopped cucumber in a bowl and place to the side.

My two year old helped me mix up the cucumber sauce. We love cooking together. Cooking with kids is such a great way to add learning into the kitchen as they read and follow recipes, problem solve, motor plan, and build executive functioning skills. I think that getting the kids involved in making the foods that they eat really encourages them to try new things like these turkey burgers.

When kids scoop and stir with real ingredients, it develops the visual motor skills that they use in everyday tasks. It’s great to offer a task like this one to young kids because they can really get involved in making dinner. They are a huge help!

Prepare the turkey burger

Next, you’ll prepare the turkey burger.

Combine the ground turkey with 1/2 cup feta cheese and the black paper. Shape the ground turkey into 4 oz. patties and flatten them slightly.

2. Grill or broil the turkey burgers, using direct medium heat for 6-8 minutes per side or until the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees.

Get that feta cheese ready. We used a feta mixed with crumbled basil and tomato.

3. Meanwhile, heat the onion rolls only until they are warm. For each burger, spread 2 tablespoons of the cucumber and yogurt sauce onto each roll. Place the burgers on the rolls and top each burger with 1 tbsp of feta.

4. Add slivered onions and lettuce.

Enjoy!

This recipe has many tasks that require precision and fine motor control. You can have older kids slice the onions and chop the cucumbers. We covered how cooking improves fine motor skills in a previous post.

Let us know if you try this Greek Turkey Burger at your summer picnics this year. What are your favorite Fourth of July foods?

Colleen Beck, OTR/L has been an occupational therapist since 2000, working in school-based, hand therapy, outpatient peds, EI, and SNF. Colleen created The OT Toolbox to inspire therapists, teachers, and parents with easy and fun tools to help children thrive. Read her story about going from an OT making $3/hour (after paying for kids’ childcare) to a full-time OT resource creator for millions of readers. Want to collaborate? Send an email to contact@theottoolbox.com.

This glow in the dark chalk sensory bottle is one that is added to some of our favorite sensory bottles.
SO, if you’ve seen sensory bottles before, you might be surprised to see this calming sensory tool is made with CHALK. Yep, chalk!

Glow in the dark chalk sensory bottle: how to make a sensory bottle and why sensory bottles are great for self-regulation needs.

This post contains affiliate links.

But first,

Why use sensory bottles?

Sensory bottles are a tool for calming and self-regulation in kids with sensory needs. Some children (and adults) use them as a tool in their sensory diet. Just like kids with motor planning issues NEED modifications or children with visual motor integration concerns NEED to use certain accommodations in order to write legible, there are kids who NEED self-regulation in their sensory diet in order to function in their day. They are not just another blog post that you might see out there in your Facebook feed.

TIP: Add a DIY sensory bottle to your on-the-go sensory diet bag!

Self regulation is essential skill that allows us to keep emotions in check and think before acting.

Here are some of the benefits of using a sensory bottle as a self-regulation tool:

Calms
Helps with focusing
Helps with attention
Allows clear thinking
Keep calm under pressure
Provides proprioceptive feedback
Provides a “just right” level of sensory feedback
Relaxes the mind

Can you imagine a child with sensory processing issues or social emotional concerns who could not regulate their emotions on their own or step back and make the “right” response in situations because of their self-regulation needs? Can you imagine if this was your child who had these needs and there was a simple DIY (and often times quite inexpensive) tool that could help? Why not explore all of the sensory bottles out there on the internet to find one that meets your child’s interests? It’s a sensory bottle no-brainer!

Now that I’ve stepped off my soapbox, on to the glow in the dark chalk sensory bottle fun!

Glow in the Dark Chalk Sensory Bottle

We’ve been making a bunch of sensory bottles this year along with a team of bloggers. Each month, we’ve had a specific theme in mind. This month is all about Glow In The Dark. How fun is that? I don’t know a kid who doesn’t get excited about glow in the dark toys, shirts, or glow sticks, do you?

When I was trying to brainstorm materials to make our glow-in-the-dark sensory bottle, I remembered a set of glow in the dark chalk that I bought on clearance at the end of last summer. After a quick glow-check, I was excited to find that the chalk still glowed after 6 months in a storage bin. We used the chalk for a cool sensory bottle that could calm and regulate in the dark!

Materials you’ll need for a CHALK Glow in the Dark Sensory Bottle

Clear plastic bottle with lid
Green liquid dish soap
Warm water
Glow-in-the-dark chalk
Kitchen mallet
plastic baggie
3-4 Marbles
Silver Glitter and Star sparkles (optional)

Other glow in the dark materials that would work for a glowing sensory bottle:

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To make the calming sensory tool:
Place the chalk in a plastic baggie and use a kitchen mallet to pound the chalk. Try to get it as fine as possible. This is a GREAT proprioceptive workout for kids and a lot like our ice pounding activity, so get the kids involved in this step!

Next, mix together the chalk dust, one cup of liquid dish soap, and one cup of warm water.

Drop in the marbles (You will definitely need the marbles to break up the chalk dust as it will settle in the bottle of the bottle.) A benefit of the marbles is that it adds weight to the bottle, making this an even more effective sensory tool.

Next, pinch in glitter and sparkles.

Glue on the lid and start shaking!