Fun App to Use for Motor Skill Practice
Here is an app I came across called Spinnerz. This app is only $0.99 and you can customize the spinners with your choices. There are some fun graphics to spin with as well – Holiday themes (i.e. Santa’s arm spinning), a fish spinning around and lots of mesmerizing images.
There are many preinstalled spinners that basically work like a magic 8 ball. Ask a question and it will give you a prediction or answer which does not exactly pertain to therapy but…you can make your own lists. Here are some suggestions for make your own lists:
1. warm up activities before handwriting tasks
2. gross motor skills to wake the body up
3. calming activities
4. proprioceptive input activities
5. different colors – spin a color and run to find an item that is that color
Obviously there are many more ideas that you could come up with to suit the children that you work with.
One more bonus – you can actually activate the spinner by blowing on it like a pinwheel too! It is a little difficult but it does work. Go into the settings and turn on the breath control. Now slide the weight all the way to the left and the friction should be low. Just blow right over the center of the spinner and it will start the spinning action. (I could not get the blowing action to work on the iPad only the iPhone)
I really like this app because it allows you to customize it. Plus, I like any app that I can add physical activity to. You can download it for $0.99 at the app store.
If you need simple activity ideas check out our Mini Movement Breaks and Fine Motor Breaks .