Book Review: Active Imagination Activity Book

Review by Lorna d’Entremont

Looking for the perfect gift for special needs parents? Know that overwhelmed parents cannot deal with more preparation, equipment, or time consuming reading of how-to books? Active Imagination Activity Book: 50 Sensorimotor Activities for Children to Improve Focus, Attention, Strength, and Coordination by Kelly Tilley, MCISc, OTR/L has all the features to please busy parents. The fifty sensorimotor activities will definitely please any child, not only children who need help improving strength, coordination, focus, and attention. Kelly Tilley’s unique book is the best resource for fun, effective and fuss-free movement activities I have seen. If you have a child, student, or client who could benefit from getting exercise, or who needs specific movement activities for calming, energizing, or strengthening, Active Imagination Activity Book has to be on at arm’s length.

Who Benefits from this Book?  

What is the purpose of this book? Fun and play for all children come first to mind.  A book, to help the child under your care, to improve his overall functioning.  It also fosters lots of bonding and interaction moments with the adult. For the busy teacher, this book provides entertaining and meaningful movement breaks for the whole class. These well thought-out activities are great to add to obstacle courses, treasure hunts, and group activities like birthday parties or family gatherings. Therapist can use the book to plan sensory diets and make follow-through easy for the parents. But who benefits most of all? The children!

How do you know you are getting your money’s worth when buying Active Imagination Activity Book? Its qualities stand out the moment you hold it!

• Sturdy, Colorful, Glossy Cover: Will withstand wiping after sticky little hands have chosen their favorite activity.

• High Grade, Laminated Paper: Kid friendly book assures many years with NO “wear and tear”.

• Easel Book Format: Spiral-bound book so pages fold over easily and the book forms an easel so children see the directions and drawing while they participate.

• Small, Compact, and Light: Handy for educators and therapists to store in their travelling “bag of tricks”.

• Color Coded: Tabs with text along the border of each page indicate if the activity is Energizing, For Upper-Body Strengthening, Core Strengthening, or Calming.

• Concise Descriptions: In the first five pages, Kelly Tilley skillfully and in parent-friendly- language introduces the book, highlights the features, and explains her selection of activities.

• Clear Drawings: Every Activity page has a colorful, amusing, easy-to-follow picture that is enhanced by movement arrows.

• Quick Reference Chart: At the end, for an Index but much better, is a 2 page chart with columns for the page number of the activity, its name, and the four categories of activities. At a glance the user can locate an activity and see the benefit or benefits of each. Some activities fall under more than one category.

From cover to cover Active Imagination Activity Book is a must buy and a keeper… so buy more than one if you needed a gift that will “keep-on-giving”.

About the Author

Originally from Canada, Kelly Tilley, MCISc, OTR/L works at a pediatric clinic in the Chicago area. Her two children and her clients are the inspiration for the activities and illustrations in her book.

Lorna d'Entremont

I am a retired teacher with 30 years experience in French elementary classroom and more years as a mother and grandmother of Tourette syndrome and sensory sensitive offsprings. Upon retirement, I embarked on an interesting project with my daughter who undertook the challenge of creating a safe, wearable or attachable, effective chewable fidget for special needs individuals.