Horticulture therapy is great for fostering social skills as well as exercising coordination and muscle strengthening.
Many children get bored of doing the same repetitive exercises in a therapy center. That is why Connections Therapy offers recreational therapy! This type of therapy engages children through play while also helping them to practice valuable mental, physical, and emotional skills. It is a holistic approach to therapy and wellness. Children participate in creative arts, dance, sports, and puzzles or logic games that help them to value exercise, well-balanced eating, building relationships, and safety throughout the community. Here are a few types of recreational therapy that we utilize at The Connections Therapy Center.
Nature Therapy
Nature therapy is a type of recreational therapy that involves walking through a natural setting, like a park or a trail in the woods, with the therapist. Simply being surrounded by and interacting with nature is a great way to reduce stress levels and increase self awareness.
Recreational Music
Music is a great motivator to help children with fine motor manipulation, conversational exchanges, verbal requests, and eye contact. Learning how to play an instrument helps to improve fine motor manipulation, matching pitch and rhythm improves conversational exchanges and verbal requests, and following music on the page and watching the therapist for cues is great for practicing eye contact.
Recreational Art
Art therapy enhances a child’s self-awareness and physical and mental well-being by helping them to harness their innate expressive artistic impulses. Creating art is a great way for children to develop self-awareness and social skills for managing emotional behavior.
Dance or Movement Therapy
The physical challenge and sensory integration of music and dance makes dance and creative movement feel less like therapy and more like play. Children express their creativity through movement and music.
Horticulture Therapy
Much like Nature Therapy, Horticulture Therapy offers the benefit of reducing stress by interacting with nature. Horticulture Therapy has the added benefit of coordination and muscle strengthening through the motions of handling plants, cognitive and memory benefits of learning about plants and the gardening structure, and socialization benefits from working with others.
The Connections Therapy Center
The Connections Therapy Center is a top therapy center serving families of children and adolescents with disabilities. Our team consists of the leading experts in the fields of pediatric speech, occupational therapy, speech-language pathology, and behavior sciences. We offer intensive, hands-on therapy for children and adolescents as well as resources for families. We are real therapists helping real families with real issues. If you are concerned about your child’s behavior, take a moment to fill out our quick questionnaire. If you’d like to schedule an appointment, call 202-561-1110 (Washington, D.C. office) or 301-577-4333 (Lanham office) or contact us via our website. Want to keep up with our latest news and blog posts? Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and Pinterest.