Current Course Schedule

Motor Play to Enhance Growth in the Classroom (Ages 1-6)

This course will demystify developmental concepts such as Sensory Processing, Regulation, and Sensory Integration. You will learn how motor play can impact energy level, attention, and a child’s ability to improve organizational skills. You will complete the course with a toolbox of activities to enhance fine and gross motor development along with strategies to keep children alert, energized, and in control in the classroom setting. Discussions will include how to collaborate with families and caretakers in using motor play to extend skill building to the home environment, along with neuroscience research underscoring the importance of sensory motor play for brain organization and building the foundation for lifelong learning.
Term(s) offered: Summer
Format: online
  • Course Number
    TEWS715N
  • Focus On
    Ages 1 - 6
  • Category
    Childhood / Elementary School, Early Childhood, Online
  • Registration Options and Cost
    $295 7.0 CTLE or 0.7 CEU

Sections

Summer 2 2025

  • Section 1:
    Date(s)
    July 17 and 18 | Online
    Day and Time
    Thursday and Friday, 10:30 AM–2:30 PM ET
    Registration Deadline
    Jul 10, 2025
    Register
    • Jill Mays
      Jill Mays
      Jill Mays, MS, has been an Occupational Therapist for over 30 years and consults with schools and facilitates workshops related to sensory motor development and the important role these play in the classroom and at home. Her published book, Your Child's Motor Development Story: Understanding and Enhancing Development from Birth to Their First Sport (Sensory World, 2011) addresses the how’s and why’s of sensory motor development, concentrating on the preschool years. In addition, she has created www.TheMotorStory.com, a website that is a resource for parents and early childhood educators related to sensory motor development and sensory integration. Ms. Mays currently is exploring the importance of natural environments and the impact on child development, and has advanced children’s and special needs adult garden groups. The culmination of this work has led to the publication of her new book: Nurturing Nature: A Guide to Gardening for Special Needs (Future Horizons, December 2024). She was a Teaching Fellow at New York University, earned an MS in Counseling and Human Relations from Villanova University and a BA in Occupational Therapy from University of Pennsylvania.
"This class was very helpful to help me deal with impulsive children in my class! Jill had many great suggestions on how to implement movement into various routines."

I took away "great examples of some tools and movement activities to incorporate into a classroom or working with children and how this affects their focus, attention, behaviors etc."

I learned "Proprioception exercises can be used to calm children down."

I am "able to now confidently assess a child's motor planning abilities and support them much more if I see they need it."