Every Tuesday morning at work, the Rehab Team gets together to plan a Fun Friday activity.  Some days we take the kids to the park and on other days we stay in and play games.  We have a great group of kids right now and they’re mobile and healthy enough to do some really cool things.  This Friday, we made pot stickers and the kids had great time.  I prepared the ingredients the night before and left the carrots, chives, and cilantro for them to shred and cut.

They had a choice of meat, cabbage, water chestnut, mushrooms, chives, and many others.  Each child made their own stuffing for their individual pot stickers and then wrapped it all up with the wonton skin that I bought.  Once they finished a batch, I fried up their creations and they got to roll back to their rooms with a tasty treat.  So fun!

There’s something really cool about seeing kids participate in cooking activities.  They always seem to get excited about doing the “grown up” things like cutting, shredding, and stirring.  This is truly occupational therapy in action.  Play is every kid’s occupation but so is brushing your teeth and meal preparation.  The kids are doing something functional, building hand strength and social skills, and it’s therapeutic both physically and cognitively.  This is one of those time when I can say that I love my job.