Part of the thrill of being an occupational therapist (OT), is the daily challenge to be ever-more resourceful. Paint swatches is a product of creativity-on-a-budget. I do admit, I obtain paint swatches by going to Menard's and smuggling out a stack of 20-30 once a month. I dread the day someone will question "why do you have so many paint swatches?" Paint swatches work awesome in combination with Di-cuts, or the stamps. I can take no credit for this however, as Pinterest is the leading source of this idea. A Christmas card activity. Cards don't have to be christmas themed however, one could make a variety of cards with paper shapers. If your wondering what paper shapers are, they are like hole punches except in a variety of shapes. What I believe makes paint swatches appealing, is that it seems to be an unfamiliar art supply. There is a certain amount of novelty, even though practically everyone passes by them at the store. Paint Swatches in GroupsOne of the most common groups I lead is a sensory group reviewing the sensory resources available on the unit.
I am constantly changing up the way I use paint swatches. Especially because there is always that one participant who says "I've already done this." Another way I change this activity is by having the opposing categories as "social" versus "alone". Often the group activity is not necessarily centralized around using the paint swatches. There might be a group discussion on activities available on the unit, or as a group creating a poster first. One group I've facilitated is making coping skills or positive affirmation boxes. I will begin with a short discussion then provide handouts and resources. I have pre-made/pre-written prompts for those patients who have difficulty brainstorming their own or just need prompts to get started. I use the long and thin paint swatches that tear off for this activity. Grading the Activity
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I worked at a state hospital, inpatient mental health, for my first Level II fieldwork (3 months rotation). While I was there, I created a group treatment plan to target a need; anti-social personality disorder and/or isolating behaviors. Whooooah! That is a difficult crowd; but I knew I was the one for the job. How do you get people who don't like to participate, avoid crafts, people, and fun like a plague? Origami Airplanes! Origami is associated with crafts, which I have found, can have a negative stigma. Paper airplanes is a sly way of introducing people into the joy of origami. A theme that remains among the treatments and activities I do, is that I focus on low-cost or easily accessible activities. I was led to focus on this due to the state hospital setting being under-funded, high security, and high level of safety risk. Also, the majority of this patient population is from poverty if not homeless. An example in contrast to origami airplanes is painting birdhouses. This is still a great activity, the weakness with painting a birdhouse is, it's over with quickly and many will not engage in this activity frequently on their own time. I say this from personal experience, not empirical research. The value of paper airplanes, especially complex paper airplanes, is it can become a long-term engaging hobby with a broad range of difficulty that requires only paper.
One patient remarked "This is making me feel depressed, I can't even fold a piece of paper." My heart sank as my grand vision of joy and excitement faded away behind poorly folded squares of paper.
I got started with this activity when browsing the crafts book aisle at the library. I brought the book home and became engaged for hours making airplanes. Two years later, I purchased the book for myself.
It is also important to know that I find the difficulty of complex designs is teaching en masse; in a group setting. Lower functioning patients could likely still learn the art of paper folding with one-to-one treatment in a variety of ways. Grading the Activity
Something that I would like to develop in the future; facilitate the social participation element by having a paper airplane throwing distance competition down a long Unit hallway. Adding EducationAside from the crafting element of teaching and engaging patients in a new art form, I often like to mix a relatable educational element into my groups as well. Sometimes this can be a bit of a stretch; but I have Favorited addressing the topic of goal setting with paper airplanes. Using a goal setting method such as S.M.A.R.T (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-Bound) or RHUMBA (Relevant, How Long, Understandable, Measurable, Behavioral, Achievable). ResourcesThere are likely other great books out there with simple designs, I would of course love suggestions.
However, there are also FREE resources online, PDFs and YouTube videos. Here is a few suggestions to get started: The classic stereotypical paper airplane "The Classic Dart" http://makercamp.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/W5D1.pdf 35 Page Booklet with Several Designs: http://paper-life.ru/images/origami-book/Advanced_Paper_Aircraft_Construction/Advanced-Paper-Aircraft-Construction.pdf A website with several downloadable PDFs http://www.funpaperairplanes.com/ And for the overacheivers who want to learn about a paper Boomerang https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kprLtErg8U&t=334s |
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AuthorA Master's of Occupational Therapy (MOT), working in mental health; husband and father; dreamer and thinker; with an interest in reading, writing, talking, and learning. Archives |