Brittany OT

Kmart top 3 toy picks for 18 Months Old! 🎉

🎤Musical Microphone:
✅Encourages language development: Singing and talking into the microphone helps build vocabulary and expressive skills.
✅Social engagement: A toy microphone encourages shared play experiences, turn-taking, role-playing, and group singing, supporting cooperation, communication, and emotional expression.

🔶Wooden Shape Sorter:
✅Develops fine motor skills: Grasping and fitting shapes into the sorter strengthens hand-eye coordination and dexterity.
✅Teaches problem-solving: Encourages exploration and cognitive skills as toddlers figure out how to match shapes with the corresponding holes.

📦What's in the Box Playset:
✅Supports fine motor skills: The various components, such as posting wooden coins and manipulating the open-and-close door, enhance hand-eye coordination, dexterity, and strength.
✅Cognitive development & problem solving: The diverse activities in the box, such as posting coins, fitting cylinders through holes, and exploring the tissue box, encourage critical thinking, shape and colour recognition, and spatial awareness as children experiment with different ways to interact with each element.

Comment ‘toys’ for my FREE toy guide which includes more ideas and tips!

Looking for pretend play/open-ended play toys that your 2 year old child will enjoy.

Here are my 2 top toy picks from Officeworks as a pediatric occupational therapist. I will forever be recommending pretend play and open-ended play, if it's something your child enjoys because there's so many developmental benefits and the toys can be used in several different ways, meaning you're going to get lots and lots of play out of them.

Wooden Sandwich Set: I found this set where you stack up all the ingredients to make your sandwich and thought it would be really great to play pretend cafes where you can put different orders in.

Wooden Healthy Eating Set: I love the look of this wooden food set, not only is there a great variety, there's a mix of whole items and the ones that you can practice chopping with.

Comment the word ‘toys’ to get a free copy of my developmental toy guide.

Kmart birthday gift ideas for a 3-Year-Old! 🎉

At age 3, kids are often exploring play scenarios outside the home, such as visiting the doctor, going to the shops, or spending time at the park. Here are some great options to expand and advance their pretend play scenes:

👩‍⚕️ Wooden Doctor Kit

This set is great for role play and can help prepare kids for real-life doctor's visits.

🏙️ Wooden Town Set

Such a cute set! This set is perfect for enhancing an existing block set or adding to train track or road setups. Kids can use their creativity to build their own little towns.

🔧 Wooden Tool Tray

This set is ideal for role play as a mechanic or tradie! Great to work in a ‘problem’ into pretend play like a car breakdown, crash or something breaking and needing to be fixed.

Comment ‘toys’ to grab your free toy guide.

Here's two of my current favourite toys that have been a hit in my therapy sessions!

🐊 Crocodile/Hippo Toy

This toy is a fantastic tool for building hand strength and improving hand-eye coordination. Kids love squeezing the handle to close the mouth, making it an engaging way to promote those essential skills.

It’s perfect for puppet style pretend play and movement-based activities! I often use it to create fun challenges, like finding items around the room or incorporating it into a relay or obstacle course. Every child I’ve tried this toy with has loved it!

🪵 Wooden Block Set

Another essential in my kit – a durable block set. It’s suitable for all ages, which makes it a fantastic resource for different developmental levels.

I’ve used the blocks recently for collaborative challenges where siblings work together to build a tower. They’re also great for object substitution in pretend play—I've used them to build a shop, kitchen, car, and as food items during sessions!

These toys not only support various developmental skills but keep play and joy in focus as the main goal.

Comment 'toys' to grab your copy of my free toy guide for more ideas and tips!

Searching for the perfect gift for a 2-year-old’s birthday? Check out these options that promote creativity and development:

1. Duplo Train & Truck sets: These sets include Duplo characters that are perfect for open-ended pretend play! Kids can build their own adventures while using their creativity and fine motor skills.

2. Wooden Construction Set: Ideal for little vehicle lovers! This set features wooden vehicles, cones, and stop signs that can be used with toy cars, trucks, or trains. It sparks imaginative play and helps develop problem-solving skills.

3. Kindred Folk Doll & Nappy Bag/Accessory Set: Doll play is a favourite at this age! Kids will love feeding, caring for, and putting their doll to bed, and pretend play supports language development, problem-solving, and social-emotional growth.

Comment ‘toys’ to grab your free toy guide

Looking for the perfect gift for a 1-year-old’s birthday? Here are some fun, affordable options that are developmentally beneficial:

1. Sensory Tiles: These are great for little hands and feet! Kids love pressing them, walking, and jumping on them for a fun sensory and motor experience.
2. Ball Tower: As kids drop the ball, they practice controlled release, hand-eye coordination, and learn about cause and effect.
3. VTech Race Along Bear: Push down the bear’s head, and watch the car zoom off with fun sounds whilst learning about cause and effect.
4. Pop & Surprise: Another great cause-and-effect toy! Kids navigate different buttons, which helps develop fine motor skills while keeping them entertained.
5. Wooden Hammer Pound Cube: Helps with hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills.
6. Shape Sorter: A classic that builds problem-solving and understanding shapes and sizes.

Comment ‘toys’ to get a copy of my free toy guide for more ideas and tips.

Over the last few months, I’ve had the amazing opportunity to work 1:1 with Lance from Ninja Digital, mastering digital marketing strategies to transform my business. 🚀

From growing my email list and enhancing my social media presence to reaching more families with valuable education on early childhood development, toys, and play – the impact has been profound. I've expanded my online reach by over 2,500 followers and connected with fantastic local businesses. 🤝

A huge thank you to Lance for his expert guidance and to the City of Cockburn for making this growth possible through a generous business grant. Here’s to more opportunities and collaborations ahead! 🌟

You can follow along on TikTok or Facebook or Instagram
io City of Cockburn

Here are my top 4 tips for toy selection for your kids:

1. Prioritize joy and engagement - choose toys that spark joy and keep your child engaged, making playtime enjoyable. Make sure play time doesn’t feel forced or like a chore, if you sense this switch up the activity. This will help in nurturing your child's imagination and ensure play remains a positive, fulfilling experience

2. Match toys to your child’s interests and strengths – choose toys that match your child's interests and strengths. This will cause a deeper engagement with your child as well as boost confidence and foster a sense of accomplishment and joy.

3. Ensure appropriate challenge level - Offer a balanced challenge– neither too easy nor too hard. This will encourage problem-solving, skill development, and opportunities for success and mastery. It also helps kids build confidence, a positive sense of self, and motivates your child for future growth.

4. Aim for balance of skill areas and choose open-ended toys– offer a balanced mix of toys to support different skill areas. This could include open-ending toys like building blocks, which can target multiple skill areas such as pretend play, fine motor skills and social emotional development.


Want my free developmental toy guide for 1-6 year olds? Comment 'Toys' below! 🧸✨.

We have a new face joining us for a while! We're excited to have Molly (fourth year OT student) on an 8 week placement with us. Here is a little intro from Molly.

"I have done several other placements during my course; I also do support work for a young boy with high needs and a teenage girl with an intellectual disability.

I recently volunteered in Vietnam at a social support centre for a month, where I worked with a range of residents with varying diagnoses to improve their quality of life.

In my free time I enjoy swimming, such as recently I completed the Busselton jetty swim and am due to do the Rottnest channel swim.

I am looking forward to gaining knowledge and experience whilst working alongside the wonderful Brittany!"

Playgroup is on tomorrow!

Excited for a mostly outdoor session with 6 stations targeting different developmental areas ☀️ There will be sand & water play, sensory trays, bubbles, chalk & more!

Walk ins welcome.
1-5year olds
$15 per child
9.30-10.30am at the Coolbellup Community Hub

Good morning all! A reminder there is no playgroup today - we are back every Tuesday from next week 😊

Fam-ally Fam-ally is an occupational therapy service for children aged 2-13 in Fremantle, WA.

It's tomorrow! Come and check out our playgroup at Coolbellup Community Hub.

1-5year olds
$15 per child
9.30am

🌞 New playgroup venue 🌞 We now have a huge outdoor area to play in!
Coolbellup Community Hub
Every Tuesday 9.30am-10.15am
OT run with activities to support development for kids aged 1-5
$15 per child
Register at https://www.fam-ally.com.au/wanderplay

Come and join us at our Wander Play group! Starting our new term from tomorrow 😊

Happy school holidays!

A reminder that there is no Wander Play group on tomorrow 26th September, whilst Brittany spends some time in the Gold Coast with family. We are back from next Tuesday 3rd October 😊

We have a full playgroup for tomorrow morning! See everyone at 9am at the Beeliar Community Centre 😊

3 spots left!
We have a few spots left at our free Wander Play OT group next Tuesday at Beeliar Community Centre! Open to children aged 1-6, come join us