As an Occupational Therapist working 15 years in the Philadelphia metro area, I was immersed in my clients' ethnic, cultural, gender, and economic diversity. I crave novelty for my sessions. I want theme-based, low-prep materials beyond favorites like Valentines in February, St. Patrick’s Day in March, and Easter in April. I wanted to find things that were neutral or become well-versed enough to use materials that supported the home/life of my clients.
The Beauty of Theme-based therapy
Although July 4th is exciting to celebrate, there are many other summer activities you can make a theme around in addition to July 4. I think summer has so much more to offer together with July 4th. In fact, summer is for Summer Lovers who are experiencing wildlife at the ocean, talking about exciting water sports, going on a nature walk with friends, and experiencing a cookout while camping. This is how we — the Ambiki team — gathered and created resources around various inspirational year-around themes to add more scenes and different perspectives into the sessions.
Sure, we talk about Back to School in therapy in August and September, but we also celebrate joyous celebrations like National Happy Cat Month and Kids Take Over Kitchen Day.
In October, we can talk about Halloween and National Fossil Day. In November, we can move beyond Thanksgiving and talk about National Button Day as we unbutton the top button of our pants after a Thanksgiving Day feast.
I find myself moving beyond the typical holidays in December and January and celebrating National Horse Day and National Penguin Day. Although we’ll write some letters and talk about Valentine’s Day in February, we will also celebrate Putting Your Socks on Inside Out for Good Luck (February 1)!!
In March, I’ll be talking about Pandas, April discussions will be about April Fool's Day, and by the time May rolls around, I will be excited to talk about pets and to teach my students the chicken dance (Dance like a Chicken Day is May 14). There is also inspiration in nature’s cycles, changes in our environment and communities, the sky, and the people around us.
Ambiki’s Resource Calendar
Ambiki resources follow academic standards, but for fun, we sprinkle in folklore (dragons! fairy tales! unicorns!), common scientific knowledge, fun facts, and information about reusability and sustainability. We like to use worksheets, activities, unique reading passages, visuals, recipes, crafts, games, and more – all the things you need to keep your sessions lively.
This is the strategy used when determining the topics for the Ambiki Resource Calendar:
- Every month has weekly themes such as Back to School, All About Me, My Chores, Personal Hygiene, and Body Parts.
- Most weeks have holidays or daily themes to celebrate things like noodles, moths, emojis, s’mores, saying something nice, and underdogs. These National Days officially exist, so we use them to enrich our clients’ knowledge (and make it more interesting for us as therapists).
- Additionally, we have monthly themes that are relevant anytime that month. In September, you’ll find materials for friendship, sports, weather, forest animals, school special events, and food.
The Ambiki Calendar of resources and activity lists were themed carefully to specifically fit each discipline: OTs, PTs, and SLPs. However, they can be (re)used and shared across all disciplines. For example, Speech Therapists benefit most from the Baseball Comprehension Questions Activity List. Still, these could be helpful for Occupational and Physical Therapists to use for body movements and exercises to go with it.
Ambiki emphasizes the inclusion paradigm. The “Celebration for All” concept is dedicated to every child, family, and therapist involved in the session. Our resources touch base on emotions, anxiety, needs, mental health, emergencies, and personal hygiene -- we don’t shy away from creating resources related to sensitive topics.
We invite you to explore the resource calendar and see what you find this month.
