My Favorite Theraputty™ Activities
Theraputty™ is the bright, colorful, squishy putty that you often see in therapy clinics. It is typically used to help with hand strengthening. Theraputty™ is wonderful because it doesn’t dry out and it comes in many different resistances.
It is one of my favorite interventions for children because it can be used to address a number of issues with various skill levels. It is great for hand strengthening and sensory tolerance. I like to include a “just right” cognitive challenge, as well. I like to use the green (medium) and blue (hard) putties with children because I want to provide a significant enough challenge. Below you will find some of my favorite theraputty™ activities for children. Enjoy!
Safety and Sanity First
Theraputty™ doesn’t stick to many things but for the few things it sticks to, it can be very difficult to remove. Tip #1: Keep it away from carpets, rugs, and clothing. Play with it at a table or countertop that is over a hard surface floor. Make sure your child is wearing play clothes.
Because of its bright colors, some children may try to put it in their mouths. Tip #2: Always use theraputty™ with adult supervision.
Two things we know about theraputty™ - it bounces and it could be mistaken for a lint-brush. Tip #3: Tell your children that we already know it can bounce and we are not trying to clean the house with it. Please make sure it stays on the tabletop.
Tip #4: Replace your theraputty™ regularly or when it appears dirty, and always after cold and flu season.
Favorite Theraputty™ Activities
Make shapes like a ball, cube, pyramid, octagon, hot dog, or hamburger. You may start by assisting them or giving them hand-over-hand assistance, move to just modeling (I make one, you make one), and then graduate to your child being able to independently make one.
Using letter beads, hide a word in the theraputty™ and have your child find the beads and unscramble them to make the word. This is particularly great for studying spelling words.
If you are studying the “at” “an” or “am” family words. Hide various letter beads in the putty and have your child find them and then place them in front of the ending sound to make words. Use some beads that make real words and some beads that make non-sense words and have your child determine the difference.
For children learning letter sounds, hide beads in the putty and when your child finds them, have them identify the sound each letter makes.
If your child is working on letter recognition (for example, the letter C), hide 5 C beads along with various other beads in the putty. Tell your child there are 5 C’s in the putty. Have them find and remove the 5 C beads and if they come across a different letter they put it back in the putty and keep looking.
Practice cutting by rolling it out into a long snake and cutting it into various lengths. You can teach size by having them cut half, quarter, eighth, etc.
Make it into different letters on a flat surface and then cover your child’s eyes and have them touch it and try to figure out what letter it is.
In a classroom, have theraputty™ be a learning station. Hide spelling words in it, make letters with it, practice cutting skills, make shapes. The uses are truly endless.
My favorite place to purchase theraputty™ is ptmart.com.
Enjoy the many uses of theraputty™ and as always, please contact me with any questions!
Have Fun!