Wellesley Pediatric Occupational Therapy

10/17/2026

06/26/2026

Great way to end the school year and kick off the summer with our amazing staff and families! Added bonus was meeting all the new babies in the WPSOT family 👶🏻! Looking forward to a fun summer ahead! ☀️

06/01/2026

We had a blast last month doing yoga (and snuggling) with the cutest puppies! 🧘‍♀️ 🐶

05/26/2026

TUESDAY TOY OF THE DAY!

Scooter boards are a staple at WPOT that work on so many great skills! You can work on:

🌀Core strength
🌀Vestibular input
🌀Proprioceptive input
🌀Balance
🌀Leg strength and endurance

Scooter boards are a great way to provide your kiddos with movement if they’re stuck inside on a rainy or cold day. 🌧️

Place puzzle pieces on one side of the room. Have your kid sit on the scooter board and drive it with their feet to get a puzzle piece. Then drive back to place it into the puzzle. 🧩

Does your kiddo seek more proprioceptive input? Have your kiddo lay on their belly and pull themselves forward with their hands while keeping a Superman position.

Level ⬆️: Have your kid hold onto a rolled up towel, jump rope, etc. while on their belly on the board and pull them around the house! Make is social 👫 and practice turn taking by switching off who rides the board and who pulls.

If transitions are hard, scooter boards are a great way to hide a transition! Your kiddo can ride from room to room, giving them more input to help regulate themselves during transition times.

Don’t have a scooter board? No problem! Use a pillow on hardwood or tile surface for the same idea! 😊

04/28/2026

TUESDAY TOY OF THE DAY!

Almost everyone has shaving cream at their house. Did you know that shaving cream is also a simple and fun way to target many OT skills such as:

🖐️Messy play
🖐️Pre-writing and handwriting skills
🖐️Self-regulation
🖐️Visual perceptual skills
🖐️Hand strength and endurance

Grab a cookie sheet or sensory tray, spray some shaving cream, and have your kid’s imagination go wild! 🧠

Kids can practice writing their letters and shapes in the shaving cream as a fun and multi-sensory activity. Involving more senses fires more neurons in your child’s brain and helps them remember the motor plan of different letters and shapes rather than using paper and crayons.

Make it social 👭! Play Pictionary in the shaving cream. One person can draw a picture while the other guesses. Then erase with your hands and switch players!

Level ⬆️: place the shaving cream on a window, easel or bathroom wall and play. Drawing on a vertical surface will increase your child’s whole arm strength since they are working against gravity. 💪🏻

Does your kiddo get upset when getting messy? No problem! Start exploring the shaving cream with a paint brush. With time and exposure your kiddo will get more comfortable exploring and tolerating the shaving cream on their fingertips.

You can also make it fun! Place some cars on a tray or cookie sheet and use the shaving cream as snow. ❄️ Drive the cars through the snow. Add extra hand strengthening by spraying the cars with a sq**rt bottle to give them a car wash 🧼.

You can also use shaving cream during bath time! 🛁 Place it on the wall and explore with your hands. If your kiddo doesn’t like the feeling, no problem! They’re in a bathtub! They can place their hands in the bath and it goes away.

Is your kiddo overstimulated and dysregulated? Turn off the lights, place some shaving cream in a tray, play some calming music and let them explore without any demands. The wet, cool sensation can be incredibly calming and regulating to our nervous system.

04/06/2026

When co-workers become rivals! 〽️🐺 Having some fun at the office cheering on our teams for the championship game tonight. 🏀 Good luck to all those playing!

03/24/2026

Once a kid, always a kid ✨

03/19/2026

Still looking for something to fill your child’s schedule this summer? Check out our bike riding group held at Warren Park! 🚲 Your child will practice social skills while having fun in the sun and working on bike skills, sensory integration, executive functioning, coordination and more!

Sign up using the link in our bio or contacting us as @wellesleyot.com. You can sign up for one class, purchase a 10-pack or unlimited group pass. ☀️

03/17/2026

TUESDAY TOY OF THE DAY!

Warmer weather is coming and spring is just around the corner! 🌸 Have your kiddo hop on their trike/bike to practice

🚲 Overall strength
🚲 Motor coordination
🚲 Bilateral integration
🚲 Motor planning
🚲 Body awareness

Riding a trike/bike is a great way to work on so many skills as well as providing your kiddo with great propriocetive and vestibular input.

Does your child have difficulty coordinating pushing the pedals? Place different stickers on your kiddos shoes (ex: blue sticker on one foot and red on the other). Tell them to push down with red, then blue, then red, etc.

Does your child have difficulty learning to ride a bike without training wheels? Take the wheels off and make your own balance bike! Have you kiddo practice sitting on the bike and pushing off with his/her feet. This will help them get comfortable sitting and balancing on the bike while it is moving.

Make it a game! See if they can keep their feet off the ground for more seconds each time. 👍🏻

Does your child have difficulty with bike riding and needs more support and encouragement? Stay tuned for more information coming this week about our Ride with Me bike riding group for summer 2026! ☀️

🏍️

02/26/2026

For our next Learning with WPOT post, we’re talking all about self care skills! 🍴🪥👚🚽 Scroll through to learn more about what types of self care skills there are, difficulties to look out for and self-care milestones for every age!