June 2020

Research on Screen Time for Kids

October 4, 2023June 30, 2020 by Colleen Beck OTR/L

In this blog post, we’re talking research on screen time. Kids are exposed to screens, tablets, smartphones, laptops, etc. more and more, especially as education turns to online learning. What is the added screen time doing for our young kids? What does the science say about screen time limits. What exactly are the effects of screen time? Here, you’ll see just some of the facts about screens…and how to move forward to a more balanced life with screens.

Research on Screen Time for Kids

Getting familiar with what science says about the impact of screens on child development and the whole family is a great start in becoming a tech wise family.

We’ve done the research on wellness. We know that an unbalanced life leads to overload in physical, mental, or emotional health (as in other areas). Unbalanced screen use leads to so much more and the research is telling!

You’ll also want to check out our recent post on the symptoms of too much screen time. It’s astonishing how our kids are impacted!

Smartphones and tablets have only been around for about a decade or so…but we are at the point where our elementary school-aged children have been around screens for their entire life. Many have constant access to screens, whether it’s through entertaining apps or by watching videos or by observing the adults in their life have a screen device within arms reach as they communicate, work, play, manage the home, play, navigate the vehicle…the list goes on and on.

Occupational therapists who work with children everyday on areas like balance, coordination, regulation, sensory integration, motor skills. All of these areas are necessary for completion of functional tasks. It’s through play that OT professionals work on these much-needed areas. And, it’s play and activity in real-life activities that the balance of screen time needs to occur.

Research oN the Symptoms of Screen Time

The research is telling us even more devastating facts about screen time in kids:

Things like the increasing occurrence of toddlers and preschoolers who have poor achievement of developmental milestones in the areas of communication, motor skills, problem solving, and social skills.

Things like the direct association between screen time and child development.

Symptoms of screen use in kids and research on screens and development in children and teens.

There is research telling us that more hours per day spent on screens is linked to lower psychological well-being, in a way that presents in executive functioning skills as well as social/emotional development. Connections between lower self control, more distractibility, less emotional stability, difficulty making friends, and inability to finish tasks are all depicted.

There is research telling us that increased time spent with digital media in teenagers associated with higher odds of symptoms of ADHD. This may show up as some of they symptoms of too much screen time.

There are reports of increased mental health concerns and mental well-being. There are findings on the overall functioning of the brain that looks like distractibility, frustration, moodiness, and irritability.

You may have heard of the blue light emitted by personal electronic devices. Because children’s eyes absorb less short-wavelength light, more blue light reaches a child’s retina. Children, therefore, may be at higher risk for blue light retinal damage than adults. Blue light emitted from smartphones, tablets, and personal computers before bedtime can delay sleep onset, degrade sleep quality and impair alertness the following day. Limiting those devices before bedtime not only address sleep issues, but can help with overall wellness.

Our teenagers are impacted as well. Hours spent on screens leads to less sleep adequacy, which impacts learning, well-being, and development. Less adequate sleep impacts learning and cognitive skill-building. This occurs right during the age that social-emotional skills develop, executive functioning skill development is occurring, and communication skills are set to develop.

There have been studies completed that show increased depression symptoms, suicide-related outcomes, and suicide rates coinciding with screen use levels.

There is research revealing that brain scans of children who spend more than 7 hours per day on screens show premature cortical thinning of the brain. This is especially significant for our young children who often times, hold phones right up to their face, in a slouched position.

In one study with 18 year-old college students, individuals with internet gaming addiction showed less gray matter volume in several parts of the brain (bilateral anterior cingulate cortex, precuneus, supplementary motor area, superior parietal cortex, left dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex, left insula, and bilateral cerebellum) (Wang et al., 2015)

There are so many more devastating facts and figures that should make us terrified for the future of our children.

How to use research on screens to create a balance

Things are not hopeless. We are at a point where we must learn, work, communicate using devices. Screen time is inevitable. But, what we can control is the balance of real activities, movement, and play.

All of this information on the research being done on the impact of screens on development, is covered and explained in easy-to-understand language in the therapist-created course and 12-step program, Digital Devastation Solutions.

Digital Devastation Solutions is a tool created by an occupational therapist that can make a true impact on our kids. This course provides the means to balance screens while providing the framework to help kids thrive and master emotions, physical health, mental well-being. It is a formula for helping kids establish skills they need for executive functioning, learning, motor milestones, and so much more.

Digital Devastation Solutions is a way for families to balance excessive screen time use and improve their child’s development. The course covers everything you need to know about the astonishing research that’s been done on screen use in kids and gives a step-by-step plan.

You’ll gain a knowledge of exactly what happens to the brain on screens. You’ll be able to use this information so you can give kids what they really need to grow and develop.

Digital Devastation Solutions is an informative course AND 12 Step Plan for raising a happy, healthy child in the digital age. Kids and families can use that 12 step solution to balance screen time in this new COVID era.

Therapists can access a workshop and program that can be duplicated in your practice. You can use the workshop as a class for parents and share this powerful research and step-by-step program with those in your community.

Therapists can help balance screen time

As therapists, we are experts in wellness. We know the power of occupational balance. Having too much screen time throws that balance off in a way that impacts performance, task completion, mental health, emotional health, and physical well being. Occupational therapy professionals strive to empower clients and families with resources to combat screen overload.

Digital Devastation Solutions offers a therapist resource to use in practice. This is a tool to build a workshop for sale or community building while building a practice. Not only will this workshop educate your community and offer great value, it will position yourself as the expert to offer solutions which will build your OT business.

An already done for you marketing and education system. All you have to do is set up the class and then press play on the PowerPoint. It will come with a script so you will know exactly what to say. This will save you about 40 hours of time. (Value $4000)
Parent handouts including: Screen Survey, Technology Agreement, When to Get Professional Help and Chores Chart by Age (Value $500)
Marketing ideas and a Pre-Made flyer you can use to market your class (Value $300)
Developmental Screening Form (Value $500)
Access to a private Facebook group to share ideas and support
Added Bonus when you Pre-Order “Quick Start Guide: The Step by Step Checklist to Set Up your First Class”

Click here to read more about Digital Destination Solutions Program for use in therapy sessions and practice.

bonus for Digital Devastation Solutions course

>>Free Ways to Add Sensory Motor Activities to the Classroom

>>Scree Research Printable

>>Classroom Sensory Strategies Toolkit

>>Indoor Recess Sensory Diet Activities

>>Outdoor Sensory Diet Activities and Outdoor Challenges

>>School Sensory Checklist

>>How Play Builds Child Development Printable

When you purchase Digital Devastation Solutions through a link on this website, email contact@theottoolbox.com with your receipt and you will be sent this bonus pack.

Wang H, Jin C, Yuan K, Shakir TM, Mao C, Niu X, Niu C, Guo L, Zhang MFront Behav Neurosci. 2015; 9():64.

Infant & Children’s Vision Resources supported by The American Optometric Association and Optometry Cares – The AOA Foundation . Blue Light Impact in Children [White paper]. https://www.aoa.org/Documents/OptometryCares/Blue%20Light%20Impact%20in%20Children.pdf

Screen Time Checklist

October 4, 2023June 29, 2020 by Colleen Beck OTR/L

How to balance screen time in a digital age is a HUGE question that therapists, teachers, and parents wonder about. Our kids are struggling. They are impacted by increased time on screens in ways that we may have not ever imagined. The research on screen time is profound. So how do we balance screen time when it seems to be everywhere: schools, distance learning requirements, social media, communication apps, games, television and movie streaming, and so much more? Today, I’m excited to share with you screen time checklist to use to help kids balance screen use with activity and responsibilities. This is a great tool to have in your toolbox as a tech wise family.

Screen Time Checklist

This free printable checklist can be customized to include tasks each child needs to complete before they have access to screens.

Add chores, homework, or other responsibilities to the list.

Add reading time, creative play such as journaling or art creation to the screen checklist.

Add household responsibilities such as making the bed, getting dressed, brushing teeth, or cleaning up the breakfast plates.

Add physical activity requirements such as outdoor play, exercise, going for a walk, or playing in the yard.

Open ended checklist for screen time

The task requirements were intentionally left blank so that you can add the time constrictions and activity requirements. Perhaps you would like to see face-to-face interactions to work on emotional well being.

Maybe your specific child or client needs sensory play in the way of tactile exploration or vestibular input. These activities can be written on the checklist so they have exposure each day.

Maybe your child needs to have heavy work in their sensory lifestyle. This can be added in the form of heavy work chores or sensory coping activities.

If executive functioning is a concern, maybe adding a cooking activity for each day would be a good requirement before screens.

If reading is important to add to your child’s day, try adding a book related activity to the list.

I wanted to make this checklist a motivating way to accomplish individual goals while also adding balance to digital time.

Becoming more aware of how much time a child spends in the way of face-to-face interaction, creative play, physical activity compared to screen time is one of the first steps in helping kids balance screens and address some of those symptoms of too much screen time.

Screen Time Checklist for Home and therapy

Enter your email address below to access this free printable. If you are already on my newsletter list, you will still need to enter your email so the printable can be delivered to your inbox.

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.

Digital Devastation Solutions Offer and Bonus

October 4, 2023June 29, 2020 by Colleen Beck OTR/L

I am SO excited to share a huge resource with you. As a therapist, I can see the change in our kids of today. Students and clients are different than they were 20 years ago when I started out as an OT. As a mom of four, I can see the day-to-day impact that screens have on children. I can see how much screen time is required for school (distance learning or traditional classroom education). I can see the lack of focus in kids when they are not on screens. I can see the meltdowns when asked to get off of a tablet. The outbursts, visual tracking issues, and threat to boundaries that screen time overload has truly impacts kids and families.

All of this is why I am elated to bring you the Digital Devastation Solutions course and 12 step program to balanced digital life.

This course is a great resource in becoming a tech wise family.

Digital Devastation Solutions Resource

We are required to work and learn online. Kids are playing, learning, communicating, and interacting with peers via screens day and night. As a result, we see frustration. We see meltdowns, inactivity, and kids pushing the time limits of screen use. They want to be on screens constantly! And when they aren’t they are stressed, overwhelmed, and frustrated by learning and social interactions.

We can do something about this!

>>It is really possible to balance digital entertainment and screen use with play, real activities, in-person responsibilities so kids can thrive in meeting developmental milestones.

>>It is possible to offer tools for a balanced lifestyle so kids can transition off screens to have personal interactions and flourish in emotional, mental, and physical well-being.

>>We can help kids move from a sedentary lifestyle to one that is active, imaginative, and thriving.

Does any of this sound familiar:

Kids that are hyper or lack focus and have no sitting tolerance, a short attention span
Students that are barely getting by and functioning on sensory overload, with emotional breakdowns
Kids that are constantly bored and only want screen-based entertainment
Clients that are delayed in fine motor skills, core strength, emotional regulation, and in a constant state of sensory overload

You are in the right place!

We CAN manage screen time in a balance, and effective way that makes a true difference in the development and functioning of our kids in today’s digital world.

Digital Devastation Solutions is a course and a tool created by an occupational therapist that can make a true impact on our kids. This course offers an in-depth explanation of the research behind screens. It shows us as parents, therapists, and educators exactly what is happening to the development of children with screen overuse.

It uses easy-to-understand language to balance screens while providing the framework to help kids thrive and master emotions, physical health, mental well-being. It is a formula for helping kids establish skills they need for executive functioning, learning, motor milestones, and so much more.

The course offers actionable strategies to impact our kid’s nervous systems so they get the activity they need, and it explains this in a way that is easy to understand.

This course is a cost-effective way to get the research and understand it in a parent-friendly way. What’s more, you’ll be able to explain to others what the research tells us, so you can understand the impact screens are having on so many areas of development in children.

You’ll gain a knowledge of exactly what happens to the brain on screens. You’ll be able to use this information so you can give kids what they really need to grow and develop.

Now is the time to battle the beast of screen time overload. There are easy action steps that you can do to balance out the excessive screen time kids are experiencing due to mandatory online schooling. You can use this information and step-by-step plan to improve your child’s readiness for school in the fall.

This is an investment in your family and your child’s development and overall health and well being.

This course and program is for therapists, parents, teachers, or anyone who works with or strives to raise functioning, balanced, and healthy kids.

If you struggle with setting limits on screen time…
If you are tired of trying trying to get kids to be active when they just want to play online…
If you are overwhelmed and don’t know where to start with helping kids balance boundaries around screen use…
If you are a therapist struggling to help kids achieve goals that just can’t sit still and lack focus, attention span, and sensory overload…
If you are looking for actionable strategies to set up a digital detox that fits your family’s needs…
If you are striving to create a balanced and lasting impact on your home and family…
If you are a therapist wanting to create a workshop designed to educate current and potential clients with a step-by-step program…

Digital Devastation Solutions is for you!

The Digital Devastation Solutions course can be purchased here for just $29.

Therapists can access a full, done-for-you workshop so you can replicate this course for clients and your community to truly make an impact.

RESOURCE FOR THERAPISTS CONCERNED ABOUT SCREEN USE IN KIDS

Therapists: I fell in love with this program and am using it’s 12 step plan in my own family. This course, created by a pediatric occupational therapist is not only a powerful tool for you own family…it’s the potential to make an impact on kids in your community and practice.

Therapists educate and address occupational imbalance (or overload on one are of life or another that impacts functioning and overall well being). We do this by helping our clients achieve functional goals, by addressing lifestyle habits like sleep, nutrition, and exercise. But what about the balance of screens?

In this course and program, therapists will get:

An already done for you marketing and education system. All you have to do is set up the class and then press play on the PowerPoint. It will come with a script so you will know exactly what to say. This will save you about 40 hours of time. (Value $4000)
Parent handouts including: Screen Survey, Technology Agreement, When to Get Professional Help and Chores Chart by Age (Value $500)
Marketing ideas and a Pre-Made flyer you can use to market your class (Value $300)
Developmental Screening Form (Value $500)
Access to a private Facebook group to share ideas and support
Added Bonus when you Pre-Order “Quick Start Guide: The Step by Step Checklist to Set Up your First Class”

Click here to read more about Digital Destination Solutions Program for use in therapy sessions and practice.

BOnus for parents and therapists

>>Free Ways to Add Sensory Motor Activities to the Classroom

>>Scree Research Printable

>>Classroom Sensory Strategies Toolkit

>>Indoor Recess Sensory Diet Activities

>>Outdoor Sensory Diet Activities and Outdoor Challenges

>>School Sensory Checklist

>>How Play Builds Child Development Printable

When you purchase Digital Devastation Solutions through a link on this website, email contact@theottoolbox.com with your receipt and you will be sent this bonus pack.

Free Social Emotional Learning Worksheets

February 21, 2024June 25, 2020 by Colleen Beck OTR/L

I offered these free social emotional learning worksheets to my newsletter subscribers last week and I wanted to put it on the website so you could access it to. Here’s the thing: when kids are developing their social emotional learning skills, starting with emotional skills is very important in social development in children.

Kids who have a good baseline understanding of emotions offers a means to better understand emotional growth. Kids can use social emotional activities like this worksheet to better understand emotions, including how they feel at different times, or how their emotions change in different situations.

They can understand social situations and the emotions that others might exhibit with empathy and compassion. Add this social emotional skills worksheet to your friendship activities.

While there are many uses for this emotions worksheet, one way we like to use it is in an emotions check in task. This can be used as part of a curriculum or to support overall self regulation needs by first becoming more aware of emotions, mood and affect.

I love this emotions worksheet because it is a starting point for covering social emotional development in kids. It’s a great activity for children who are just beginning to understand emotions and how they respond, or to identify what leads up to a certain emotion.

As therapists, we cover a lot on self-regulation. We talk about what’s happening “below the surface” of behaviors and meltdowns. We discuss underlying factors such as social-emotional skills, and self-awareness.

We address those trigger points by providing self-regulation tools, coping strategies, and mindfulness activities. We help kids and families master an improved quality of life so that completion of daily tasks and everyday occupations are easier and more functional.

This social emotional learning worksheet does just that!

emotions worksheet

To help kids better understand various emotions, they can use this tool to draw and color faces to match the various types of emotions.

They can then write in the given spaces to complete the sentence and identify a time when they felt that emotion.

This is a great tool for helping kids understand emotions, and foster emotional development by offering coping tools or regulation strategies if needed. It’s a great way to help kids talk about emotions and know that it’s ok to feel all of those emotions, and that everyone else does, too.

More emotions activities

This free social emotional learning worksheet makes a nice addition to play-based emotions activities. In the resource, Exploring Books Through Play, you’ll do just that.

This digital, E-BOOK is an amazing resource for anyone helping kids learn about acceptance, empathy, compassion, and friendship. In Exploring Books through Play, you’ll find therapist-approved resources, activities, crafts, projects, and play ideas based on 10 popular children’s books. Each book covered contains activities designed to develop fine motor skills, gross motor skills, sensory exploration, handwriting, and more. Help kids understand complex topics of social/emotional skills, empathy, compassion, and friendship through books and hands-on play.

Click here to get your copy of Exploring Books Through Play.

I hope this social emotional worksheet is helpful to you and those you serve!

To get your printable copy of this FREE SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING WORKSHEETs, enter your email into the form below:

Goodnight Moon PDF Printable Memory Game

October 13, 2020June 25, 2020 by Colleen Beck OTR/L

Goodnight Moon activity and Goodnight Moon pdf printable

Goodnight Moon is a classic book by Margaret Wise Brown that teaches so many skills, making it the perfect children’s book to use in therapy activities. We used this book activity and a DIY Goodnight Moon printable PDF memory game. It’s a calming book that inspires sleepy contentment with it’s rhyming text and simple images. The book is a fantastic tools to build visual perceptual skills including figure ground, form constancy, and visual memory. Those skills carryover with our memory game printable you can access below. However, for my own kids, I loved the calming tone that the book offers. It’s a great way to calm down before bed.

For more calm down activities before bed, try these bedtime relaxation stretches.

Our Goodnight Moon activity has been played almost as many times as we’ve read the book! We decided to create a free printable to go along with our memory skills game, so you can play, too.

Goodnight Moon activity for kids and Goodnight Moon pdf printable game.

Goodnight Moon activity with a Memory game inspired by the book, Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown.

Goodnight Moon Activity…Memory Game!

Goodnight Moon teaches kids that fear can be caused my our imagination. I loved this explanation of what exactly Goodnight Moon teaches and how this book can be used to help kids build skills.

This post contains affiliate links.

Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown is one of those books that we read over and over again. Each time, the kids will sit mesmerized as I read the quiet rhyming words. This is definitely a bedtime book that is loved at all times of the day! When we read through the book, my kids love to look for each item on the pages and find it’s rhyme. It’s almost like a memory game as you read through the book, especially as the mouse moves around the room in the book.

Margaret Wise Brown Book, Goodnight Moon activity for kids.

To make your Goodnight Moon memory game, grab a couple of pieces of card stock. We chose brightly colors based on the colors of the book. Because the setting occurs in a green room, we used green paper for our playing board.

You could certainly play this memory game right on a table or floor, but my kids got a kick out of our “green room” and the green paper contained the game for our matches.

Goodnight Moon learning Activities

Make a list of all of the rhyming words as you go through the book. This is a great preschool book activity, but a powerful visual perception activity for all ages. Kids can build visual memory skills as they recall each item and the way it looks throughout the book. Some objects change slightly, such as the position of the mouse. So, when kids look for that image on each page, they are building visual discrimination and form constancy. As you read the book, ask them what rhymes with each word. They can use the book pages as a visual cue to the matching rhyme.

Goodnight Moon book activity for kids that builds visual perceptual skills.

Goodnight Moon PDF

Fill in your game pieces with your own drawings (or kid-drawings!) or use our free printable. You’ll need these three sheets:

>>Draw your own pictures on the blank picture card printable.

>>OR, use our picture word card printable.

>>Printable word cards here. We drew a picture for each rhyme and filled in another card sheet with the written words.

Memory game inspired by the book, Goodnight Moon

Memory game inspired by the book, Goodnight Moon-FREE printable!

Cut out each block and get ready to play.

Kids can play this Goodnight Moon activity and work on visual perceptual skills as well as other skills and learning opportunities in Goodnight Moon

We started with a few matching games. I placed the written word on our green room paper and had the kids scan the pile of pictures for the matching image. This is a great way to work on literacy skills as the child matches the picture to a written word, as well as on visual scanning. Arrange the cards from left to right as a pre-reading skill.

Play this Memory Game for kids with the classic preschool book by Margaret Wise Brown.

We also matched rhyming words. Arrange a few pictures on the left side of the page and have your child place the rhyming match to the right.

We then arranged the words in a block formation on the green paper. The kids scanned the pile of pictures and placed the matches together.

Goodnight Mouse activity for Goodnight Moon book.

After all of our rhyming games, we played an actual Memory game. You can also modify the memory game to extend out the activity. Match word to picture, rhyming pictures, and rhyming words. This DIY Memory game can be played in so many ways!

This is such a fun book activity for kids based on the book, Goodnight Moon

GoodNight Moon Activities

First, don’t forget to grab the Goodnight Moon pdf sheets to play this memory game.

Goodnight Moon inspired memory game blank game pieces.

Goodnight Moon inspired picture game pieces.

Goodnight Moon inspired word game pieces.

Then, check out these other Goodnight Moon activities. They are great to help kids understand that sometimes scary things are in our minds and that the thoughts we think are not always as scary as things really are.

Be sure to visit the other bloggers in the Preschool Book Club to see their takes on Goodnight Moon:

This I Spy Bottle from Mama Pappa Bubba is another fantastic visual perceptual skills activity and a calming one at that. Check out these sensory bottles and WHY sensory bottles are so calming for kids as well as HOW to make sensory bottles that make an impact.

This red balloon Art Activity from Buggy and Buddy uses Goodnight Moon’s red balloon with a creative painting activity. Kids can work on fine motor skills and tool use to paint a creative take on the book. Foster scissor use and scissor skills to, meeting therapy goals as well.

Here are more scissor skills activities kids will love.

This Goodnight Moon Scavenger Hunt from Frogs and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails is a gross motor activity that builds skills in visual perception and visual scanning. Love this idea to encourage core strength and stability!

This Goodnight Moon activity with a Lavender Play Dough kit from Homegrown Friends is a calming olfactory activity that adds sensory play and fine motor skills. Kids will love to pair the preschool book with a play dough activity.

Here is another purple play dough recipe that use crayons. How fun!

Books to Build Awareness Skills

Goodnight Moon and the concepts introduced in the book goes well with this resource for parents, teachers, and therapists. It’s a huge collection of 50 activities based on children’s books and it helps to teach children about empathy, acceptance, awareness of others, and friendship. The social emotional development that kids can gain through play based on popular children’s books is amazing!

Grab the resource, Exploring Books Through Play: 50 Activities based on Books About Friendship, Acceptance, and Empathy, that explores friendship, acceptance, and empathy through popular (and amazing) children’s books! It’s 50 hands-on activities that use math, fine motor skills, movement, art, crafts, and creativity to support social emotional development.

GET THE DIGITAL E-BOOK

Get the PRINT BOOK

hands-on activities to explore social emotional development through children's books.

Elmer the Elephant Activities

August 22, 2020June 23, 2020 by Colleen Beck OTR/L

Elmer the patchwork elephant looks different than his friends. Through stories and colorful pictures that depict everyday elephant life, Elmer the elephant teaches us about diversity and differences. Elmer teaches us about acceptance, friendship, and empathy. Check out the Elmer the Elephant activity below that builds a baseline for these important skills, but also helps kids with fine motor skills, visual perceptual skills, and visual motor skills.

If you love the Elmer books as much as we do, then you will adore this Elmer the Elephant activity. We LOVE Elmer the Elephant…and all of the Elmer books. Every time we go to the library, we are sure to check the shelf for a new Elmer book that we may have missed. This week’s book activity was so much fun to do with the kids, because it involved one of our favorite books (ever) and a great visual perception activity. Add this book activity to your list of crafts based on children’s books that build skills through reading.

Elmer the Elephant Activity

This fine motor craft is a powerful one because it not only builds essential visual perceptual, visual motor, and fine motor skills, but it teaches as well. This Elmer the elephant activity can be used to illustrate differences, empathy, and friendship. Here are more books that teach empathy and friendship that can be used in therapy sessions or in the classroom or home.

They loved creating and building our very own Elmer craft. Elmer’s colors made for a great way to help kids build fine motor skills and visual motor skills, too. I loved throwing in the scissor work portion of the activity and working on a few important skills. My youngest daughter worked on her color identification and sorting. The colors in Elmer’s patchwork skin are perfect for Toddlers to practice naming colors. Little Guy was loving the puzzle-building portion of our activity. The lines were a great way to work on a few visual perceptual skills needed for handwriting.

Elmer the elephant activity that uses the Elmer children's book as a guide and activity to help kids understand acceptance, differences, and diversity while building fine motor skills.

Elmer the Patchwork Elephant Activity

This post contains affiliate links.

If you haven’t read Elmer by David McKee, this is definitely a book you need to check out. Elmer is a patchwork elephant with many colors. He sticks out from the crowd of gray elephants. By exploring and interacting with his community of elephants, Elmer and the other elephants learn to accept and value his unique characteristics. Elmer is not only a colorful patchwork elephant. He is funny, smart, caring, and an individual. The book teaches us to accept differences because those differences are what make us who we are.

Elmer teaches us about diversity. He teaches us about identity and tolerance. We all have different colors, shapes, interests, abilities, talents, and ideas. Those differences are what make us special. Let’s see those differences, accept them, and celebrate them!

We made our own patchwork elephant with lots of colors and had a great time building and creating while talking about color names. This was such a great activity for both Little Guy and Baby Girl.

Try this Elmer the Elephant activity to teach children skills like scissor use and fine motor development with a wonderful children's book.

We started with Foam Sheets in lots of different colors. You might have seen our color sorting scissor activity post where we practiced our scissor skills. These squares came in handy for this Elmer activity.

Create an Elmer the Elephant activity using foam pieces to teach children about empathy and acceptance of differences in others while building fine motor and visual motor skills.

I found a picture frame at the Dollar Store that has an acrylic front, instead of glass. This is a great writing surface using a white board marker. I drew an outline of Elmer with the marker. We had a little bowl of water and started sticking the foam squares onto the surface to build our Elmer. When the foam pieces are dunked into water, they stick really well to the picture frame surface. We did a version of this way back when our blog began with our rainbow building activity.

Fine motor activity for the book, Elmer the Elephant.

Visual Perception Activity for Kids

There were fingers everywhere, adding patchwork squares! Little Guy and I quizzed Baby Girl on her colors as we worked. It was a fun puzzle to get the squares fitting into the outline. What a great way to work on visual perceptual skills, fine motor precision, dexterity, and line awareness!

Visual perceptual skills in kids are necessary for so many things…from self-care to fine motor skills, to gross motor skills…all parts of a child’s development require visual perception. There are many pieces to the giant term of “visual perception”. This Elmer building activity works on quite a few of these areas:

Visual Discrimination is determining differences in color, form, size, shape…Finding different sized squares to fit into the outline of our Elmer, discriminating the different colors, and shapes are a great way to work on this area.

Visual Closure is the ability to fill in parts of a form in the mind’s eye to determine shape or a whole object. Filling in the missing parts of our Elmer works on this area.

Visual Spatial Relations is organizing the body in relation to objects or spatial awareness. This is an important part of handwriting. Spacing those pieces amongst the others and in relation to the lines is one way to work on this skill.

Visual Figure Ground is the ability to locate objects within a cluttered area (think “I Spy”). Finding a red square among the pile of foam pieces is one fun way to work on this area of visual perception.

Use this fine motor activity with the book Elmer the Elephant to help kids learn abstract concepts while building visual perception.

Little Guy was really into this activity. He loved lining up the squares to make our Elmer.

Elmer the Elephant puzzle that kids can do to build skills in occupational therapy sessions or in the classroom or home.

We loved how our Elmer turned out! We’ll be using our frame again, soon. I can think of so many fun ways to learn and play with this dollar store frame and a marker!

Elmer the Elephant book and Elmer activity for kids

More Elmer the Elephant Activities

Elmer the elephant activities for kids based on the children's book, Elmer the Elephant

Check out some of these Elmer the Elephant activities for kids. They are powerful ways to build awareness, acceptance, and friendship through the book and activity.

Elmer the Elephant activity with facepaint

Use face paint to celebrate friendship with a face painting party based on the Elmer the Elephant book.

Make an Elmer craft using puppets to celebrate differences, diversity, and uniqueness in a great lesson for kids, while building fine motor skills.

Create an Elmer craft using stamp painting.

Create an Elmer the patchwork elephant craft using paint to make a paint stamped elephant craft. What a great way to build fine motor skills!

Kids can trace their bodies with large pieces of paper and then fill the space with colorful paper squares to celebrate uniqueness in this Elmer the Elephant preschool activity.

Teach Acceptance, Differences, and Diversity

Want to take complex and abstract concepts like empathy, acceptance, uniqueness, and diversity to the next level with kids? This digital, E-BOOK, Exploring Books Through Play: 50 Activities Based on Books About Friendship, Acceptance and Empathy is filled with hands-on activities rooted in interactive, hands-on, sensory play that focus on creating a well-rounded early childhood education supporting growth in literacy, mathematics, science, emotional and social development, artistic expression, sensory exploration, gross motor development and fine motor skills.

Kids can explore books while building specific skills in therapy sessions, as part of home programs, or in the home. is an amazing resource for anyone helping kids learn about acceptance, empathy, compassion, and friendship.

In this book, you’ll find therapist-approved resources, activities, crafts, projects, and play ideas based on 10 popular children’s books. Each book covered contains activities designed to develop fine motor skills, gross motor skills, sensory exploration, handwriting, and more. Help kids understand complex topics of social/emotional skills, empathy, compassion, and friendship through books and hands-on play.

Click here to get the book and add children’s books based on social emotional learning to your therapy practice, home activities, or classroom.

Exploring books through play is a guide to using children's books in therapy and while building developmental skills.

More books to teach social emotional skills

Check out our other posts in the Preschool Book Club Series for activities based on favorite books:

Pete the Cat activity for kids — **Pete the Cat Activity**

Little Blue and Little Yellow color mixing activity — **Little Blue and Little Yellow sensory activity**

The Mixed Up Chameleon activity — **The Mixed Up Chameleon Activity**

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom activity — **Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Activity**

Social Emotional Development with Books

July 24, 2023June 18, 2020 by Colleen Beck OTR/L

Want to help kids learn about empathy? Striving to make gains in social emotional development? Want to teach kids acceptance? Want to work with children on friendship? Want to celebrate differences? I have a valuable tool to share with you! The great news is that guiding children to social development and emotional development as well as emotional literacy and social fluency is easy and fun! In this post, I’m sharing book activities to help kids develop skills in these very abstract concepts. Read a popular children’s book, talk about concepts, and do the play activity. It’s a powerful way to help kids thrive!

Exploring Books Through Play: 50 Activites Based on Books about Friendship, Acceptance, and Empathy

Exploring Books Through Play is a guide to using books to help kids develop social emotional skills as well as other essential developmental areas (fine motor, gross motor, sensory exploration, handwriting, etc.) The book celebrates play-based learning with 50 unique, hands-on activities that explore social and emotional development, literacy, art, science, mathematics, sensory exploration, gross motor development and fine motor skills.

One of the aspects of this developmental progression is the stages of empathy development that are learned through experience. This book supports that skill.

Books and activities about empathy, love, friendship for kids

Social Emotional Activities for Preschool

This post contains affiliate links.

You probably have seen book-related activities that I’ve shared in the past. It all started with a group of amazing women who are the most inspiring and creative bunch out there. Together, we shared hands-on learning and play activities that were inspired by simply awesome children’s books.

Here are just some of the great books we’ve read in the Preschool Book Club. Each book contains activities to support social emotional developmental milestones through play activities for preschool (and older ages!) By using books to build socio-emotional development, kids can use concrete activities to develop abstract concepts.

social emotional development activities for kids through book activities.

Beautiful Oops– Use this book activity to help kids explore differences, acceptance, and individualism. In this book activity, we worked on visual motor skills, eye-hand coordination, fine motor work, and strengthening.

I Ain’t Gonna Paint No More – This book celebrates emotions and is a great starting point to emotional development. In this activity, we used sensory play to create art while working on eye-hand coordination, fine motor skills, and more.

The Day The Crayons Quit– Kids can explore self-identity and self awareness in this children’s book. The book covers concepts such as differences, acceptance, and social norms. We explored the book with a fine motor activity that built awareness of self as well.

Freight Train – This mesmerizing book teaches basic concepts of shapes and colors. We used it in a food activity for kids to prepare a healthy snack. The book is a great one for identifying differences in shapes and colors and is a wonderful building block to awareness.

Ish – In this children’s book activity, we used blocks to work on various motor skills such as eye-hand coordination, visual motor skills, visual perception, and fine motor work. The book is a fan favorite and teaches kids to accept themselves and not to be so self-critical. What a great starting point to social development!

Goodnight Moon – This classic book for kids teaches kids about focus and imagination in a rhyming and calming manner. The book helps kids understand the imagination and addresses self-awareness and awareness of one’s surroundings. In our book activity, we worked on visual memory and concentration with a themed Memory game.

Little Blue and Little Yellow – This book helps kids understand color and builds fine motor skills when paired with play dough to act out the book. However, there are bigger social emotional development concepts at hand as well. Kids can discover emotional development awareness in the concepts of friendship, awareness of self and others, and identity. We used DIY puffy paint for an interactive book activity.

Elmer – This book helps kids understand differences, acceptance, and social roles. The book can be used to work on social development in children as they talk about things that make them and others special or different. The book is a tool in building empathy. We used the book to work on fine motor skills, visual perception, and visual motor skill development in a fun book activity.

The Kissing Hand– This book is a building block in helping kids understand emotions. They can read the book and become more aware of how others might be feeling, helping them to develop empathy as well. We created a key chain craft to use as a grounding tool for emotions kids might have.

There are so many more!

The group of us bloggers decided that we wanted to come up with a better way to share our book-related ideas. With a real book of our own!

Exploring Books Through Play: 50 Activities Based on Books about Friendship, Acceptance, and Empathy

This book is full of creative learning and play ideas for kids and is based on amazing children’s books. These activities will inspire acceptance of those around us, enhance friendship, and provoke empathy.

Social Emotional Development through Play

Check out the description on Amazon:

“Exploring Books Through Play: Friendship, Acceptance and Empathy celebrates play-based learning with 50 unique, hands-on activities that explore social and emotional development, literacy, art, science, mathematics, sensory exploration, gross motor development and fine motor skills. The activities are inspired by 10 children’s books including “A Sick Day for Amos McGee”, “The Adventures of Beekle”, “Little Blue and Little Yellow” and “The Day the Crayons Quit.” Focusing on high quality children’s literature centered on friendship, acceptance and empathy, this book is designed to be used in home and school settings and is perfect for large or small groups. Ideal for children ages 3-8 years old, the activities can be adapted for multiple skill levels and developmental stages. As you work through the activities in the book children will naturally be discussing the characters, delving deeper into the lessons, bringing the stories to life and falling further in love with literature.”

The books that are explored in this resource were intentionally chosen for their social emotional aspects. Activities were designed that inspire learning and play through hands-on involvement.

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GET THE E-BOOK

Get the PRINT BOOK is available on Amazon for $26.99

This is a book that, if I saw it on the shelves of a bookstore, I would grab it up and totally buy it. The images are bright and colorful and the creative ideas are inspiring. Not only are the hands-on play and learning activities easy and fun to do, but they each inspire children and families to think about actions, how others feel, and how small acts of kindness and thoughtfulness can make a big difference in the lives of others.

The special launch prices will run for only one week, so be sure to grab the deals today!

E-book:
Exploring Books Through Play: 50 Activities Based on Books about Friendship, Acceptance, and Empathy

Printed Book: Exploring Books Through Play: 50 Activities Based on Books about Friendship, Acceptance, and Empathy

Critical Thinking Skills

June 14, 2021June 15, 2020 by Colleen Beck OTR/L

Critical thinking is a big term that encompasses many skills including executive functioning, thinking, doing, and regulation.

Critical thinking is intentional thinking that is involved in the process of completing tasks. In this post, we will dissect critical thinking. This essential executive functioning skill helps us accomplish complex tasks. Let’s talk critical thinking for kids!

What is Critical Thinking

Let’s start with executive function. Executive function encompasses the critical thinking skills of planning, organizing, prioritization, time management, working memory, attention, and other skills. Critical thinking is similar and requires the use of executive functioning. Critical thinking includes observing and analyzing, self-reflection, interpretation of available information, evaluation and inference (based on working memory), problem solving (metacognition), and decision making.

Within the aspects of critically thinking are many thinking and doing processes that allow us to follow through with the completion of tasks.

We’ve discussed previously that executive function does not fully mature until adulthood. It is important to recognize that fact because many times, we expect kids and teenagers to exhibit maturity in their decision-making and meta cognition.

Critical thinking or strategic thinking? Which is it?

Strategic Thinking and Critical Thinking

Strategic thinking may be commonly known as a business term that describes savvy business decisions to lead a business to success. But, there are similarities between the strategic planning of a business and critical thinking involved in executive functioning tasks. In business, strategic thinking involves using a business plan as well as past successes and failures in order to reach business goals. Strategic thinking requires initiation, planning, prioritization, observation, and self-assessment.

Similarly, critical thinking in order to self-analyze, create goals, initiate tasks, and plan out a task follows along with the same process.

Critical thinking for kids

Critically analyzing given information so we can strategize a plan and follow through with that plan based on what we know sounds a lot like executive functioning, right? We know that executive functioning doesn’t fully develop until early adulthood. But, we ask a lot of our kids when it comes to integrating critical thinking/executive functioning/regulation.

These skills, together, allow us to integrate the areas of strategic thinking that we need to accomplish tasks:

-Regulate emotions and behaviors

-Pay attention during tasks

-Complete tasks with an awareness of working memory

-Initiate tasks when it can be hard to decide on the best “first step”

-Transition between tasks

Some of our kids really struggle with this process on a daily basis! Critical thinking in kids can be a real struggle, but we can help by breaking things down into bite-sized steps.

Critical thinking skills involves integration of thinking, doing, and regulation to analyze and make decisions.

Critical Thinking Broken Down

When it comes to accomplishing a task, there are two parts that we need to separate. The first is the thinking of the task. The second is the actual doing of the task.

We’ll break down all of the specific pieces of critical thinking by dissecting the task of writing a book report.

Say you know a child who has a book report to write and it’s due on Monday. They’ve known about this project for some time and have read the book (mainly in class), but haven’t actually done any of the actual book report work. They have this weekend to get it completely finished to turn in on Monday morning, while going through the routine of a typical weekend: activities, events, chores, relaxation/down time…(sound like a familiar situation, parents?)

Let’s pull apart the process of knowing there is a book report due on Monday to the completion of that assignment. Talk about executive functioning skills and critical thinking, right??

Think of it this way: When a child has a book report to do, they know they need to do it. It’s been talked about in the classroom for a few days. The assignment might be in the back of their mind. So, when the child has the weekend to complete the book report, they know they need to start thinking about actually sitting down to do it. But, what about the Friday night time with friends? And the Saturday morning sleep-in time? And the baseball practice Saturday afternoon? And the family party that’s planed for Saturday evening? And, and, and? We are all well aware of exactly HOW FAST a weekend can slip away from us in the blink of an eye. There is a lot going on during a typical weekend! So pulling out time to actually break away from the “fun” and initiate a book report?? It’s not easy. It takes some skills: planning, prioritization, and task initiation. Then, they need to consider other things they have on their schedule during that weekend so they can plan ahead. (More Planning Skills)

Next, They need to plan out what they are going to write about. (Planning Skills)

They need to gather all of the materials they need to complete the task, like pencils, paper, and the book. (Organization Skills)

They need to recall important facts from the book and pull out that information. They need to recall how they’ve written a book report in the past or the assignments they’ve done in preparation for this project that will help them. They need to gather their thoughts to know where to even begin on this report and start thinking about a topic or a viewpoint they are taking with this report. (Working Memory)

Finally, they need to think about how they can use those facts and prior experiences to write statements that make sense in their book report. They need to think about what they’ve written in if they might need more information. They need to be self-reflective in their writing. (Metacognition Skills)

All of those tasks involved thinking about actually writing the book report. It didn’t involve the writing portion and accomplishing the task to fruition.

The next part of accomplishing the task of writing a book report involves the “doing”.

The child needs to regulate behaviors and emotions so they can stay on task without having an attitude or tantrum. They need to inhibit the desire to refuse to write the book report because they would rather check their phone or go play video games. (Response Inhibition)

They need to start the process of writing the report by sitting down and getting started on the book report and not get angry or upset by the task at hand. (Emotional Control)

They need to maintain attention during the entire task. (Sustained Attention)

There is a need to be flexible, as well. The student needs to adjust to other tasks that need accomplished during that weekend, and be flexible in their thinking and task completion. (Flexibility)

Finally, they need to actually complete the report to completion while retaining focused on their goal of getting that book report done so it can be turned in on Monday morning. (Goal Oriented Activity)

Critical Thinking Examples

It’s a lot to process, right? That project, when broken down, has some major skill building lessons within the assignment. Here are those specific skills again:

The thinking skills:

Planning
Organization
Time Management
Working Memory
Metacognition

The doing skills:

Response Inhibition
Emotional Control
Sustained Attention
Task Initiation
Flexibility
Goal-directed Activity

How to develop critical thinking in kids and teens using real strategies that work.

How to improve critical thinking

So, how can we take a major project like a book report and make it an assignment that helps kids build each of these critical thinking skills? By breaking down that assignment into bite sized pieces and working on each area!

Critical thinking activities for kids and teenagers to help with executive functioning needed for multi-step tasks like completing a book report.

Kids with executive functioning skill challenges really struggle with critical thinking. And vice versa. Here are some ways to help teach kids impulse control for improved attention, self-regulation, and learning so they can do hard things:

Goal tracker
Reduce clutter
Make goals
Break big tasks or projects into smaller steps
Make a schedule (picture-based or list)
Social stories
Act out situations beforehand
Count to three before answering/responding
Self-rewards
Self-talk
Reduce time to complete tasks
Increase time to complete tasks
Think through and predict social interactions before going into a situation
Control buddy
Ask for help
Habit tracker
Use a strategy checklist
Carry a goal list
Positive thought notebook

All of these strategies are built and monitored in our resource, The Impulse Control Journal.

The Impulse Control Journal has been totally revamped to include 79 pages of tools to address the habits, mindset, routines, and strategies to address impulse control in kids. More about the Impulse Control Journal:

30 Drawing Journal Pages to reflect and pinpoint individual strategies
28 Journal Lists so kids can write quick checklists regarding strengths, qualities, supports, areas of need, and insights
8 Journal worksheets to pinpoint coping skills, feelings, emotions, and strategies that work for the individual
Daily and Weekly tracking sheets for keeping track of tasks and goals
Mindset,Vision, and Habit pages for helping kids make an impact
Self-evaluation sheets to self-reflect and identify when inhibition is hard and what choices look like
Daily tracker pages so your child can keep track of their day
Task lists to monitor chores and daily tasks so it gets done everyday
Journal pages to help improve new habits
Charts and guides for monitoring impulse control so your child can improve their self-confidence
Strategy journal pages to help kids use self-reflection and self-regulation so they can succeed at home and in the classroom
Goal sheets for setting goals and working to meet those goals while improving persistence
Tools for improving mindset to help kids create a set of coping strategies that work for their needs

This is a HUGE digital resource that you can print to use over and over again.

Read more about The Impulse Control Journal HERE. There are so many strategies to address attention in kids and activities that can help address attention needs. One tactic that can be a big help is analyzing precursors to behaviors related to attention and addressing underlying needs.

Wellness Research

October 13, 2020June 14, 2020 by Colleen Beck OTR/L

Well, there is one thing for sure. When it comes to practice, occupational therapists need evidence. Today, we’re talking about wellness research. We’re discussing aspects of wellness and well being based on the studies and the research that is out there. This wellness information will be a resource for anyone looking to serve and create a wellness plan..whether it be for a clinic, a classroom, an individual, or a family. I’ve dissected various health and wellness articles to bring you the evidence! Grab a cup of coffee or a big glass of ice water, relax, and check out these wellness studies. This post is part of our Wellness Challenge, where we cover all things health and wellbeing for kids and families.

Be sure to check out this post on the wellness wheel to discover the subcategories of wellbeing as well as balance/imbalance and how to determine a state of being.

This post on Family Wellness is a good read, too. Discover wellbeing in the family as a unit or individual.

Wellness Research on Child well being

Occupational therapy practitioners can play a valuable and effective role in influencing the outcomes of child development supporting the health and well-being of families. A healthy family unit has an effect on positive child outcomes, development, and overall health.

Parent Resources for Wellness- We know that child well being is dependent on various factors. There are wellness articles that covers in depth, all of the factors that play into overall child health. This article discusses considerations such as parental resources, parental mental health, parental relationship quality, parenting quality, and father involvement play an important role in child well being. Likewise, the different family types also likely plays a role, as does family stability and instability.

Socioeconomic Factors- Similarly, one study looked at socioeconomic considerations and location as a prediction of well being. It was determined that residing in rural and remote communities may predict the psychological wellness of children and adolescents. The findings from this study (conducted in Australia) concluded that affordable, universal, and accessible services, such as early intervention is needed for children and families living in rural and remote communities is warranted particularly for low income families. These services may balance the discrepancy of mental wellness scores between rural and urban communities.

wellness TOOLS

Wellness studies have been conducted on specific wellness strategies. Components of wellness such as emotional wellness, physical wellness, etc. can be addressed using holistic or psychological interventions such as deep breathing, sensory-based coping tools, or mindfulness. Complementary integrative and holistic therapy approaches may include music, massage, guided imagery, or deep breathing to minimize stress.

Deep Breathing- This study addressed the impact of deep breathing on stress. Imbalance on various aspects of health and well being can result in stress or overload. The results from the study indicate that deep breathing techniques are capable to create an improvement in mood and stress. This has been found in both self-reported evaluations, as well as objective parameters including heart rate and salivary cortisol levels.

Mindfulness- While not a research study or wellness article, this video on mindfulness shares examples of mindfulness-based interventions for children. One study explored whether implementing a mindfulness-based program in kindergarten classrooms influenced self-regulation and
behaviors related to social and emotional competence. It showed that children from classrooms that had participated in a mindfulness-based program showed significant gains in self-regulation and became more prosocial and less hyperactive. Additionally, children that had participated in the mindfulness-based program showed more empathy. The mindfulness-based program also made an impact on children’s maladaptive behaviors related to difficulties in self-regulation (i.e., hyperactivity)

Brain Breaks– This study assessed the use of brain breaks in the classroom to determine effectiveness in the learning experience, self-awareness, self-efficacy, and self-confidence through physical activity. Students participated by using video exercises. The study indicates that exercise habits and holistic wellness tools of brain break activities, along with personal motivation and motivation provided by others impact children’s attitudes for physical activity, motivation, internalization of movement habits as well as self-awareness, self-confidence, and self-efficacy. The study recommends frequent use of classroom based brain breaks as a positive impact on several developmental aspects, as a tool for active break and motivation for physical activity, and as a meaningful tool for establishing cross-subject relations, integration, holistic learning and development.

Deep Breathing– This study assessed the use of yoga deep breathing strategies to impact anxiety and attention in pre-teens. There are several deep breathing strategies that were analyzed while they ere used during the beginning of each school day. The study found that high frequency yoga breathing can improve the ability to focus and shift attention, while reducing anxiety.

Yoga studies

Yoga is known to impact health and wellbeing on many facets. One study found that people who practiced yoga were more likely to do so for wellness reasons than to treat a specific health condition and report better health and wellness as a result. Yoga has many benefits when used in the classroom, including improved psychological well-being, reduced rates of being overweight or obese, children being calmer and more attentive, more at ease, and completing assigned tasks successfully.

This study on yoga found that chronic pain and yoga have significant but opposite effects on the physical structure of the brain.

Discover the research on wellness programs that can be used to promote health and well being in kids and famililies.

wellness plans and Programs

Thinking of setting up a wellness program? It’s a fantastic idea! Creating a structured and reproducible wellness plan is an option for intervention, consultation, or coaching. Here is what the research says about wellness plans:

Wellness Plans- In creating a workplace wellness plan, the involvement of leadership matters. This study determined that employees’ perceptions of leadership and their involvement in supporting health promotion impacts employee involvement. Factors such as perceived job stress levels and health behaviors are related to leadership participation in wellness activities.

Wellness in Schools- Wellness programs in the schools benefit employees, too. One study was conducted based on the fact that promotion of wellbeing among employees in the elementary school setting can support students’ health and academic success. In the case of school wellness, teachers and school employees can serve as role models for students. Between busy schedules, exhaustion and high job demands, poor food options, and limitations in time for movement or exercise, there is a high need for school wellness plans.

Classroom Wellness- While this study examined a wellness strategy among college students, the findings are interesting. The study combined wellness education and extra time to practice, reflect on, discuss, and assess wellness skills. Students were led through meditative practice (e.g., yoga, tai chi, sensory nature walks), and workshops on nutrition, sleep, and other wellness topics. By gaining first hand experience in wellness strategies, students were able to fulfill aspects of overall wellbeing, including mental, physical, and intellectual subcategories.

Wellness Rooms– While this study looked at wellness rooms as a tool for surgical nurses in order to reduce workplace stress. Like nurses, occupational therapists and teachers tend to feel a lot of burn out in their professions. The term occupational stress predicts “burn out”. Occupational stress refers to high demands of the job related to work rhythm and intensity), lack of control over the work process, and low social support from managers and peers, all of which may lead to distress and sickness. The “wellness room” included space for rest, physical activity, aesthetic care such as makeup, body massage and skin cleansing, breakfast, free moment for conversation and workers’ interaction, Auricular acupuncture, and lectures and workshops on stress management and coping. This sounds like a wellness program that could be hosted by and created by occupational therapy practitioners!

Wellness via Teletherapy- This article describes a wellness program designed to support families and caregivers of children with Autism spectrum disorder. The unique telehealth program addresses the higher stress levels occurring among caregivers of children with ASD and other developmental disorders by offering effective coping strategies to improve overall health. Through interviews and virtual sessions, caregivers were able to come up with health goals, reflect on needs, and develop strategies alongside an occupational therapist. Wellness strategies were integrated into daily routines to improve motivation, meaning, and follow-through. By participating in the program, mothers were able to consider their own wellbeing and implement wellness strategies while supporting the unique needs of their child.

Workplace Wellness Programs- Do they work? How does wellness in the workplace look? Employee health and wellness programs can be a powerful tool in workplace wellbeing. This study analyzed whether workplace health promotion programs work and how to design a plan that makes for a well-executed program and found that wellness programs that are based on evidence-based principles can achieve positive health and financial outcomes. The study concluded that a favorable workplace culture fosters effectiveness and use of best practice can maximize workplace well being activities. What’s more is that this study found that medical costs fall by about $3.27 for every dollar spent on wellness programs and that absenteeism costs fall by about $2.73 for every dollar spent. These are interesting findings, aren’t they?

This wellness research covers health and wellness programs, wellness tools, wellbeing in schools, and much more.

So, how can you use this information to design a wellness program or a plan to promote health and well being in kids, families, or in the classroom? There is a lot to think about!

Be sure to join us in the Wellness Challenge here on the website as we go through all things health and wellbeing for kids and those who serve them.

Wellness Research References:

Baicker K, Cutler D, Song Z. Workplace wellness programs can generate savings. Health Aff (Millwood). 2010;29(2):304‐311. doi:10.1377/hlthaff.2009.0626

Goetzel RZ, Henke RM, Tabrizi M, et al. Do workplace health promotion (wellness) programs work?. J Occup Environ Med. 2014;56(9):927‐934. doi:10.1097/JOM.0000000000000276

Hoert J, Herd AM, Hambrick M. The Role of Leadership Support for Health Promotion in Employee Wellness Program Participation, Perceived Job Stress, and Health Behaviors. Am J Health Promot. 2018;32(4):1054‐1061. doi:10.1177/0890117116677798

Jacques, João Paulo Belini, Ribeiro, Renata Perfeito, Scholze, Alessandro Rolim, Galdino, Maria José Quina, Martins, Júlia Trevisan, & Ribeiro, Benedita Gonçalves de Assis. (2018). Wellness room as a strategy to reduce occupational stress: quasi-experimental study. Revista Brasileira de Enfermagem, 71(Suppl. 1), 483-489. https://dx.doi.org/10.1590/0034-7167-2017-0572

Johnson, Jeannine & Bauman, Connie & Pociask, Sarah. (2019). Teaching the Whole Student: Integrating Wellness Education into the Academic Classroom. Student Success. 10. 92-103. 10.5204/ssj.v10i3.1418.

Perciavalle V, Blandini M, Fecarotta P, et al. The role of deep breathing on stress. Neurol Sci. 2017;38(3):451‐458. doi:10.1007/s10072-016-2790-8

Peters, I., Handley, T., Oakley, K., Lutkin, S., & Perkins, D. (2019). Social determinants of psychological wellness for children and adolescents in rural NSW. BMC public health, 19(1), 1616. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-019-7961-0

Popeska, B., Jovanova-Mitkovska, S., Chin, M. K., Edginton, C. R., Mo Ching Mok, M., & Gontarev, S. (2018). Implementation of Brain Breaks^® in the Classroom and Effects on Attitudes toward Physical Activity in a Macedonian School Setting. International journal of environmental research and public health, 15(6), 1127. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15061127

Schultz, N. S., Chui, K., Economos, C. D., Lichtenstein, A. H., Volpe, S. L., & Sacheck, J. M. (2019). A Qualitative Investigation of Factors that Influence School Employee Health Behaviors: Implications for Wellness Programming. The Journal of school health, 89(11), 890–898. https://doi.org/10.1111/josh.12831

Sood, D., Comer-HaGans, D., Barnec, A., Dowling, K., Kozy, K., Pranske, L., … & Tietz, A. (2018). An innovative approach to promote health and well-being of caregivers of children with autism spectrum disorder. SIS Quarterly Practice Connections, 3(3), 14–15.

Viglas, M. (2015). Benefits of a mindfulness-based program in early childhood classrooms (Order No. 3709578). Available from Health Research Premium Collection. (1699340731). Retrieved from https://search.proquest.com/docview/1699340731?accountid=143111

Waldfogel, J., Craigie, T. A., & Brooks-Gunn, J. (2010). Fragile families and child wellbeing. The Future of children, 20(2), 87–112. https://doi.org/10.1353/foc.2010.0002

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Research on Screen Time for Kids

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Therapists can help balance screen time

Screen Time Checklist

Open ended checklist for screen time

Screen Time Checklist for Home and therapy

Grab the Screen Time Checklist

Digital Devastation Solutions Resource

RESOURCE FOR THERAPISTS CONCERNED ABOUT SCREEN USE IN KIDS

BOnus for parents and therapists

Free Social Emotional Learning Worksheet

emotions worksheet

More emotions activities

Get this social emotional learning worksheet!

Goodnight Moon Activity…Memory Game!

Goodnight Moon learning Activities

Goodnight Moon PDF

GoodNight Moon Activities

Books to Build Awareness Skills

Elmer the Elephant Activity

Elmer the Patchwork Elephant Activity

Visual Perception Activity for Kids

More Elmer the Elephant Activities

Teach Acceptance, Differences, and Diversity

More books to teach social emotional skills

Social Emotional Activities for Preschool

Social Emotional Development through Play

What is Critical Thinking

Strategic Thinking and Critical Thinking

Critical thinking for kids

Critical Thinking Broken Down

Critical Thinking Examples

How to improve critical thinking

Wellness Research on Child well being

wellness TOOLS

Yoga studies

wellness plans and Programs

Wellness Research References:

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