10 Ideas to Celebrate OT Month in 2017

Occupational Therapy Month Poster

Start to get ready for OT Month coming in April.  Print and hang up this sign to get started.  You can download the FREE OT month sign at http://yourtherapysource.com/otmonth3.html or check out the signs from previous years.

Need ideas to celebrate?  Check out previous blog posts:

10 Things to Do to Celebrate OT Month at http://yourtherapysource.com/blog1/2009/04/07/10-things-to-do-to-celebrate-ot-month/

Minute It To Win It Games to Celebrate OT Month at http://yourtherapysource.com/blog1/2011/03/31/minute-to-win-it-for-ot-month/

Another sign for OT Month

Here is another sign to hang up to celebrate OT Month in April.  Want a different one?  Try this one to celebrate OT month or this one I Love OT Because...

Minute to Win It for OT Month

Here is a fun idea to celebrate occupational therapy month this April. Have you heard of the hit television show Minute to Win It on NBC? Basically, the contestants are given challenges that they must complete in 60 seconds. The challenges usually involve sensory motor skills of varying degrees of difficulties. The materials for the challenges are common household items. Why not have your very own Occupational Therapy Minute to Win It challenges? You can vary the challenges to reflect different areas of occupational therapy. Have some prizes on hand for your contestants. Our local school is doing a fund raiser with Minute to Win It and charging admission to the show. Why not try and raise some money for occupational therapy supplies or your favorite charity. You can view all the "blue prints" (basically the directions for the challenges) at the Minute to Win It website.

Here are some ideas specific to occupational therapy:
1. Fine Motor Challenges

How high can you build a tower of marshmallows and toothpicks in one one minute?
How many paper clips can you chain together in one minute?
How many coins can you flip over from heads to tails in one minute?
How many stacks of 10 pennies can you build in one minute?

2. Sensory Challenges

From the show - unroll two rolls of toilet paper and wrap it around yourself in under one minute
How many times can you push a therapy ball through a tunnel in one minute?

3. Activities of Daily Living Challenges

How many times can you tie and untie your shoe in one minute?
How many times can you put on and take off your coat completely in one minute?

You get the idea. Vary the challenges as necessary based on the motor skills of the children at your school. And, if you still don't get it, visit the Minute to Win It website for loads of ideas! Have fun.

Here is an old blog post entitled 10 Things to Do to Celebrate Occupational Therapy Month

10 Things to Do to Celebrate OT Month

There is a lot of buzz going around about OT Month. Here are 10 suggestions to celebrate OT Month in a school or pediatric setting:

1. Host the Occupational Therapy Olympics - invite school staff, parents and students to participate in the OT Olympics. Try relay races to get dressed, get down objects using reachers, wheelchair obstacle courses, scooterboard races, sculpt objects with clay and more.

2. Have an OT Art Exhibit - showcase OT projects that the children have made. Hang up signs next to each projects describing what skills the child worked on to complete the project.

3. Create an OT Contest - For example - Put a bunch of beads in a jar. Guess how many beads are in the jar. The closest to the number of beads wins an OT t-shirt.

4. Create an OT Quiz - Distribute an OT quiz with many questions regarding what OT is and how it helps children. Every person who fills out the quiz gets a small prize.

5. Do an in-service on the benefits of OT to the school staff and parents.

6. Plan an OT Month Party! - Allow the kids to vote on a party theme such as fine motor, sensory or activities of daily living. Create games around that theme.

7. Volunteer for the Career Fair at the school. Educate prospective college students on what OT is.

8. Have an Adaptive Equipment and Assistive Technology Fair - demonstrate different types of equipment that OT's recommend for students to school staff and parents.

9. Hang up a large poster in the hallway about occupational therapy.

10. If you do not have time for any of the above ideas here is the easiest - just ask to make an announcement over the loudspeaker of the school about OT month. Inform the school in a few sentences about occupational therapy.

Check out our motivational section on our website for certificates, awards and signs for occupational therapy.

Any one else have any ideas? Please comment.