Hand Activities while on a Horse motivates, provides sensory-motor stimulation and is Fun!
My Early Intervention hippotherapy clients were super motivated to attempt challenging visual-perceptual and sensory-motor activities, even ones that they had previously avoided- because they loved being on a horse. Facing backwards on a horse enables the croup (rear end) to function as a table-top while working. The following post shows the 3 shape- shape sorter with blocks attached with Velcro and a motor inside. This little guy on the spectrum loved the vibration as well as the motor hum. Pulling one shape off at a time made the activity much more manageable, using force to pull provided proprioceptive stimulation and I didn’t have to chase down any runaway shapes!
Below is a post that I came across on Instagram. Notice how the woman hands the blocks one at a time for the little girl to insert. However, in my client’s photo shown above, you see the folding basket holding the blocks…. and that glorious TRUNK ROTATION and expanded visual field as he reaches for them. That flimsy yogurt container that he is inserting blocks into must be stabilized or else it will fly away. Sometimes, I put a vibrating object in it, making it even more necessary to work at stabilization.
We, occupational therapists not only love trunk rotation, but the picture of a toddler squatting while inserting flat plastic shapes and blocks into this 2 shape sorter- warms my heart…. Its so easy to make and inexpensive to give to early intervention families on a budget….