Pediatric Playthings Giveaway!

I never would have imagined when starting school, or even ending school, that I would someday consider myself a primarily pediatric practitioner. But it has largely become my OT identity and something that I really enjoy. Now I get to share some great pediatric related items with you!
The friendly folks at Maddak have been very generous in providing many items for all the giveaways. I have always liked Maddak because they provide a lot of unique tools that are very useful and they really respect the therapy professionals that use their tools. I love the awards they give out at the AOTA annual conference for therapist and student inventions that fill a new need, and now they have started a special "OT Circle" for therapists to provide feedback on their products.

Pediatric practitioners should get a lot of use out of a large roll of Tenura non-slip. Great for keeping games and materials from sliding off desks and slant boards, adapting toys for easier holding, and sometimes making it easier for little bottoms to stay in their chairs!

The Pencil Grip company makes more than just grips, but they have included standard, jumbo, and crossover grips for you to try. Their standard grip is my favorite for kiddos (and myself) and the jumbo version takes those teeny tiny hard to grip pens and makes them into comfortable arthritis-friendly writing tools. I haven't gotten a chance to try the crossover grip but the quality is quite nice. They have also donated some terrific Tri-Write crayons, which I love to use for the little ones who are just starting to color.

In the "intangibles" file is a great gift from Tactus Therapy. They will be donating a free download of their Visual Attention TherAppy app, a great tool for therapists working on cognition, attention, and scanning. This can be used on any iOS device, I'm anxiously awaiting their android versions.

There are two of the best blog resources for pediatric practitioners that I want to highlight. Karen blogs her school OT adventures at Miss Awesomeness and always comes up with terrific ideas for working with kiddos. I'm passing along some of her great tools for developing fine and visual motor skills- it's a great party pack to start or freshen your OT kit. She also developed the fun and exciting Lava Paper in conjunction with Tonya from Therapy Fun Zone. Tonya has started highlighting activities each week that therapists submit, so I'd definitely encourage you to check that out and stay fresh.

Remember that AOTA is always your best resource no matter your practice area. They have sent items to promote OT in your clinic, including a T-shirt, brand posters, and pens. For your everyday life, they've include a great tote bag, umbrella, and car decal that I'm sure will have great usefulness no matter your job site.

This pack also has some of my own personal items that I've used and enjoyed and pass along to you. This includes small travel versions of Spot It, Cranium, and Puzzominos. I've also thrown in a super toy for working on motor planning- the Astrojax.

I serendipitously found golf-sized colored pencils and my most favorite writing implements (for personal and professional use) the Bic Grips Mini. There are also a few extra sensory and learning surprises thrown in (including bubble wrap!!).

If you're a practitioner in this area, enter now by leaving a comment below. Comments must be received before 11:59pm EST on January 31. Good Luck!