Skill: Proprioception

Proprioception is how your body knows what position it is in. It is the sense that enables us to know where the different parts of our body are, how they are moving, and how much strength our muscles need to use. Our muscles, joints, and skin all contain sensory receptors that contribute to proprioceptive input.

Birthday Cake

1. Prep the Cake Dough Start by having your child “knead” the dough. Encourage them to use both hands to squash, roll, and flatten the play-dough into a thick cake shape. If you have a rolling pin, this is a great time to use it. Pressing down firmly provides calming sensory input to the joints and helps build the hand strength needed for tasks like opening containers or using scissors.

2. Decorate the Cake Once the cake is “baked” (flattened and shaped), it is time to decorate.

  • The Candles: Have your child push the cut straws into the dough. This requires a nice “pincer grasp” (using the thumb and index finger) and a bit of focus to get them standing upright.

  • The Sprinkles: Use the rice or sequins to decorate. Picking up these tiny items is excellent for developing precision and coordination.

3. The Birthday Celebration Take a moment to sing a favorite song and let your child “blow out” the candles. This adds a sweet social element to the activity and makes the hard work feel like a game.

4. The Straw Cleanup Challenge After the celebration, have your child pull the straws out. You will notice that some play-dough often gets stuck inside the straw. Give your child an unbent paper clip or a pipe cleaner and show them how to poke the “cake” out from the other end. This is a very focused fine motor task that requires steady hands and patience.

5. Cut and Serve If your child is working on using a knife and fork, use this time to practice. Have them hold the “cake” still with one hand (or a fork) while they use a plastic knife to cut slices. They can then practice the social steps of placing a slice on a plate and “serving” it to you or a favorite stuffed animal.

Why This Helps

This activity covers a lot of ground in one sitting. The initial rolling and squishing provide heavy work that can be very grounding for children. The decorating and straw-cleaning phases focus on fine motor control, while the cutting and serving portion builds independence with utensils and encourages imaginative social play.

Spelling Push Ups

Use the construction paper, the pen and the scissors to cut out letters of the alpha-bet. You will need more than 1 of each letter. You can also use pre-cut letters.

Spread the letters on the floor or a mat in a random order. Help the child lay prone on the therapy ball. The child should be able to touch the floor. Instruct the child to use his hands and reach out to grab one letter at a time, then to walk back and place the letter in front of them. After the child gets all the letters he needed, he can spell the word.

You can also use magnetic letters and a magnetic board, or use math equations where the child has to walk out and grab the correct answer.

Holiday Gifts

For this activity, all the materials should be green colored and spread across the room.

Hang the stockings at different corners of the room at a child reach level.

If using a scooter board, have the child lay prone and propel the scooter board around the room to collect the different items and place them in the stockings.

If you do not have a scooter board available, ask the child the perform different animal walks to collect the items and to receive the sensory input (i.e. bear walk, crab walk, frog jumps, etc.)

Crab Walk Soccer

Set up goals approximately ten feet apart using the boxes, the masking tape, or the chalk.

Instruct the child to assume a crab-walk position.

Assume a similar position.

Each one of you needs to try to get the ball to the goal by bumping it with your body or kicking it with your foot.

Hands may not be used.