Occupational Therapy Institute Providing Virtual Summer Camp

The Occupational Therapy Institute of Salus University (OTI) is providing a virtual summer camp for children entering kindergarten and first grade, beginning the week of July 5 and running through the week of August 9. This camp offers one daily activity, six days per week, to encourage the use of occupation-based skills through play. These activities will be fun for the whole family, but are designed specifically to support children who are entering kindergarten and first grade in obtaining and strengthening skills they will use in school. 

Each of the six weeks is centered around fun themes to increase engagement. Movement Mondays focuses on gross motor coordination and motor planning. How-To Tuesdays concentrates on following visual and verbal directions to complete a task from beginning to end. Wellness Wednesdays will target sensory integration and emotional regulation through sensory-based activities. Sweet Treat Thursdays encourage involvement in simple snack planning and preparation. To wrap up the week, Motor Fridays focuses on the use of fine motor skills necessary for increased independence at home and in the classroom, targeting handwriting, use of developmentally appropriate grasp patterns, and hand strength and coordination. 

Additionally, each week’s resources will include an informational handout (Self Care Saturdays) for parents/caregivers pertaining to skills and approaches used in the activities. The resources will be posted in a semi-structured sequence that can be built into a schedule. There will be no “live” or synchronous meetings. Below is the theme for each week.

• Ocean/Under the Sea (July 5-10)
• Nature/STEM (July 12-17)
• Gardening and Bugs (July 19-24)
• Barnyard (July 26-31)
• Space (August 2-7)
• Superhero (August 9-14)

Activities will be posted for the week each Monday morning, beginning July 5.