[Source:  The Inspired Treehouse]

This year I've been lucky enough to have lots of time at home with my 16-month-old.  And while I try to cherish every single minute with him, I'll be honest.  Sometimes the days can feel kind of long and boring.

He's a super active little guy, so I'm always looking for ideas for physical activities for kids that will keep us entertained (while also tiring him out in hopes of a long, glorious nap time for both of us) 

[Source:  Crazy Speech World]

Every new class of preschool students brings new vocabulary that we need to teach, and this year I have had a lot of kids who are working on identifying and labeling body parts.  I have been trying to find many different ways to incorporate these goals into various kinds 

Editor's Note:  This article is directed at parents and is a great article for sharing.

[Source:  North Shore Pediatric]

As babies grow and develop certain milestones are often celebrated, such as rolling, sitting, crawling, and walking. As a pediatric occupational therapist, one of the milestones I always celebrate might not be visible to the untrained eye. Crossing midline, defined as the ability to reach across the body's invisible midline with your arms or legs to perform tasks on the opposite side of the body, is a required skill for many higher level coordination activities.

[Source:  Sensory Smarts.com]

by Lindsey Biel, MA, OTR/L

When it comes to self-care tasks, as with everything sensory, you'll need to analyze the underlying sensory challenges, determine what can and needs to be changed, and increase the ability to handle a wide variety of experiences. Self-care tasks such as brushing teeth, washing hair, shaving, and applying makeup can be profoundly difficult or even painful if your child-or you- have sensory issues, but fortunately you can usually change some of the variables to make the experience much more "sensory smart."

[Source:  The Washington Post]

Why is he so tired, Jackie Mann wondered, not for the first time, as Evan, the middle of her three children, wandered off to his bedroom to take an after-school nap.

Small for his age, the 12-year-old seemed to fall asleep easily and anywhere: in the car on the way to soccer or gymnastics, on the afternoons he came straight home from school, while doing his homework and, once, while waiting to see the pediatrician.

But his parents noticed that Evan seemed decidedly more energetic on the weekends in the semirural community outside Oakland, Calif., where the family lives. Then he went fishing, hunting and hiking with little difficulty.