Water Bottle Peg Board

Check out my newest video to learn how to make a peg board out of the plastic bottles used for contact lens saline water and cardboard boxes. Enjoy!



Source: Sensory Pegboard for Children with Autism and other Developmental Disabilities by RecyclingOT

Trash 2 Treasure Video

Here is a video that explains how Trash 2 Treasure, a non-profit in Florida, collects recycling products to make crafts and other projects. A lot of the supplies can be used by teachers and students. Some of the treasures include: paper, wire, fabric,tile,wood scraps, glass for mosaics, paint, notebook binders, pens from out of business supply companies,foam, styrofoam, tins, prescription bottles, corks, containers, envelopes, tubes and Cd spindles. People can join, paying a membership fee and then take whatever they need. What I love best about such an enterprise is the recyclist doesn't have to store all this trash in one's own home!





Barbara Smith, M.S., OTR/L, author of The Recycling Occupational Therapist
RecyclingOT.com

Make a Button Board

It is easier to learn how to open and close buttons using a board rather than on your clothing. For one thing, the child is often in a hurry to button up a sweater and needs to get it done quickly in order to go out and play. It is also easier to learn how to manipulate buttons when they are in front of you and not on your body.

This board makes it easy to practice the button manipulation six times. Start out first teaching the child how to remove what I will call the "hole in fabric". It is more challenging to attach it back onto the buttons. Here is how I made this buttoning board:

• Cut the six pink plastic circles out of a laundry detergent bottle.
• Punch two holes in each plastic piece
• Sew the pink buttons to a large piece of blue fabric.
• Cut a round piece of fabric and cut a hole in the center. Reinforce the sides with duct tape.
• Wrap the large fabric (here it is blue) around a sturdy piece of cardboard. Sew or tape the fabric in place on the back of the cardboard.

Teach children how to work in the left to right and top to bottom direction while either attaching or removing the "hole in fabric" pieces.
I plan on using the board during a hippotherapy session. I will ask the children to remove the "hole in fabric" pieces and then insert them in a basket.

RecyclingOT.com
Source: Fun Activities that Develop Buttoning Skills by RecyclingOT on Rumble

This buttoning board involves attaching plush, soft strips of fleece with 3 button holes cut into them. Again it is easier to remove them than attach. Some children or clients with developmental disabilities may enjoy color matching the strips. However, everyone will enjoy the tactile, sensory experience.

Source: Sensory Buttoning Board by RecyclingOT

Plastic Bag Basket

Here it is! Inspired by the plastic bag knitting video I came across on youtube- I followed directions and knit a basket or bag, I'm not sure what it is. I am going to try attaching it to horse tack and use it for hippotherapy activities. I am thinking that the kids could take squeaky toys out of it and drop them into a box on the other side, so I can work on trunk rotation and crossing midline. I've been adding more entries to my horseot blog than on the recycling blog, but if you check it out you will find some fun activities that use recycled stuff, mainly plastic. You know how I love making things out of plastic bottles!

Source: Make-Your-Own Yarn for Plastic Bag Knitting by RecyclingOT

Art from Recycled Toys

Beautiful Art from Recycled Toys - Ryan McElhinney (GALLERY)

(TREND HUNTER) Making your house chic and elegant while saving the environment is always good in my book, so I was happy to stumble upon Ryan McElhinney's site. McElhinney makes artistic yet practical pieces of recycled… [More]

Vibrating Candy Cane

The previously described candy cane ring stack can have a sensory component added to it by placing a vibrating toy (such as the Squiggle Wiggle Pen) or part of an electric toothbrush inside the tube. You can also make the ring stack vibrate by attaching it to the massager pictured below. I describe how to do this in the video that follows.

Remove the pen points and insert inside the tube.

Barbara Smith, M.S. OTR/L, author of The Recycling Occupational Therapist

RecyclingOT.COM

Candy Cane for Motor Planning

I rescued this plastic candy cane from the trash barrel at work. It was filled with a food treat for horses. After cleaning and scaping off the label it is perfect for an eye-hand coordination activity. It is used like a ring stack, except children need to do a little bit more motor planning to fit the ring over the curve of the cane. I can either hold the bottom so that the rings don't fall off or attach some type of barrier at the bottom with tape. This candy is thick enough to hold a vibrating squiggle wiggle pen (throw away the pen points) so that the activity becomes even more fun. Children are rewarded with holding the cane at the end of the activity.

Squiggle Wiggle Writer by Hart Toys, Colors may vary

Barbara Smith, M.S., OTR/L, author of The Recycling Occupational Therapist

Horseot.com