When Occupational Therapist Marci Kreiner is helping a child with sensory challenges, she gets creative to keep the process fun.

“The key is to make therapeutic activities playful and engaging by building on things that a child already enjoys,” Marci said.

At a recent session, Marci asked 3-year-old Ava* to help create a winter scene using whipped cream as snow, marshmallows and pretzel sticks for snowmen, yogurt as a pond and gummy bears as polar bears. Although Ava eagerly helped prepare the scene by spraying the whipped cream on the tray and scooping the yogurt into a bowl, she declined to directly touch any of the sticky substances.

Play continued as the two created storylines, built snowmen and hid “polar bears” to swim in the pond. The activity served to create a positive experience while allowing Ava to interact with the novel textures in whatever way she was comfortable doing.

Based on prior sessions, Marci knew Ava enjoyed the clean-up process, so she used that knowledge to help get her more involved.

“I told her that if she wanted to clean the whipped cream off the tray, she needed to first help me remove all of the food that needed to be thrown away,” Marci said. “Once she was intrinsically motivated, Ava readily picked up the food items that had become coated in the whipped cream and yogurt without expressing discomfort. Although her hands were coated in the sticky textures, I think it felt safer for her because we were positioned right by a sink.”

Throughout this activity, Ava was given the opportunity to remain in control of her body and to make choices about how and when to engage in play.

“The true win was that she experienced the activity as a positive one, and it led to her being able to take small steps into uncomfortable territory,” Marci said.

During another session, Marci worked with a girl who has a strong aversion to touching cold things. To build on her love of painting, Marci froze four colors of paint into ice cube trays, creating frozen paint cubes.

“The child had to hold the cubes in her hand to paint with them,” she said. “Ultimately, she enjoyed the process enough that she was able to tolerate holding the cold objects for longer periods of time.

“The path to success in helping a child meet a challenging goal is to tap into what motivates them and to set them up to feel successful in accomplishing each new task. Success ultimately builds on success.”

*Name changed for Anonymity