March 14 is National Bubble Week!
In therapy sessions at Collaborative OT Solutions you may see us using one of our favorite therapy interventions during Occupational Therapy and Physical Therapy… Bubbles!
ORAL MOTOR: Blowing bubbles improves your child’s oral motor skill development. Oral motor skills are required to coordinate our lips/tongue/jaw in order to chew, move food in our mouth, drink from a cup or a straw, and overall eat and drink safely and without spilling. Puckering the lips will strengthen the muscles in the mouth.
Let’s switch it up! Although we encourage families to blow bubbles through a bubble wand, there are other fun methods as well.
- Blow through a straw to make a “Bubble Tower” by putting the straw inside soapy water (as long as your child will not drink the liquid through the straw).
- Have a “race” or “obstacle course” with a cotton ball or piece of paper by blowing the item across the table. This can be done with or without a straw. How far can you blow your item? Can we make it a race?
SENSORY PROCESSING & CALMING: You may find that your child shows a calm demeanor after these activities, and that is because we are incorporating deep breathing within our bubble games.
GROSS MOTOR: Bubbles are a great and cheap motivator to get your kids moving and working on gross motor skills! Bubbles are good for kids of all ages and skill levels. Here are some fun ideas to work on at home:
- Use bubbles as a distraction while your baby does tummy time. Blow bubbles in all directions to encourage pivoting, reaching, rolling and turning of the head
- Challenge sitting with reaching for bubbles away from the body and to facilitate crossing midline
- Encourage crawling by blowing bubbles just out of your baby’s reach while they are on the floor
- Reaching for bubbles in standing will work on balance for your newly standing toddler
- Strengthen legs and work on balance by squatting down to pop bubbles
- Work on single leg balance by lifting foot up to pop bubbles
- Encourage pre-jumping skills by reaching up on tip toes to pop bubbles
- Jumping on or over bubbles will help with coordination and strengthening.
- Run in and out of bubbles to work on agility
What BUBBLE fun will you have this week? Take a picture of your child having BUBBLE fun and share it with us @collaborativeOTsolutions on Facebook or Instagram!
