Cotton Ball Snowflake

OT Activity of the Day:

Cotton Ball Snowflake

Target Age Range: 3 and up

Today's activity is perfect for your Preschoolers, both young and old.  This craft focuses on scissor skill development and fine motor grasping skills.

First you have to cut strips of paper to make the snowflake.  This can be pre made for your younger kiddos, 2 years old or young 3.  Or for your older kiddos, you can make guidelines on the paper so they can practice cutting on a line, a skill developed between 3 and 4 years of age.  I used blue paper, but as always, you can use whatever color your child wants.  Next, you criss cross the paper so it looks like a snowflake.  Then you get the paint ready!  Again, I used white, but the options are limitless.  I used a cotton ball to dip into the paint and put on the snowflake, a great way to work on grasp development.  You can also use a wine cork, a q-tip, or even a paint brush.  It's whatever you have available!

Have fun and enjoy!

Snow Box

OT Activity of the Day:

Snow Box

Target Age Range: 2 years and up

If you have a shredder, then you have all you need to make a "snow box"!  In celebration of the less than 1 inch of snow on the ground, I grabbed some shredder bits and created a themed sensory box.  

In today's sensory box, I've added scissor tongs (perfect for those just beginning to cut), regular tongs (fine motor strength and manipulation) and magnetic letters.  Placing letters in your sensory box is the perfect way to introduce your young child to the alphabet.  You can place the sensory box and letters by the fridge so your child can place them on the fridge.  Or you can make the sensory box more mobile and bring out a cookie sheet for the letters.  For your older kiddos, those 4 and up, you can have them write a word that starts with the letter they found!

Enjoy!

Bristle Buddies!

OT Activity of the Day:

Bristle Buddies

Target Age Range: 5 and up

I'm often asked where I get some of my toys and most parents are happily surprised when I say the dollar store.  This goodie I found in the dollar section at Target.  These are amazing, run, don't walk, to your nearest Target and find these!  These "bristle buddies" are great for your older Preschoolers and Kindergarteners and target those ever important fine motor manipulation skills.  

Not only are they great for your child's fine motor skills, but they also challenge your child's motor planning or problem solving to build an animal or object.    

Enjoy!

Beaded Snowflake

OT Activity of the Day:

Beaded Snowflake

Target Age Range: 3 and up

So I just looked at the 15 day weather forecast and there are no chances for snow.  While I'm sad that I don't get to sit on the couch and watch the snow fall, at least I can make a snowflake craft, right?!

This craft is great for your preschoolers and Kindergarteners.  Twisting the pipe cleaners and putting beads on them is wonderful fine motor manipulation and visual motor practice.  Two skills that will help support those writing muscles.

Grab a couple of pipe cleaners, I chose white and blue to go along with a winter theme, however you can use whatever colors you would like.  Twist the middle of the pipe cleaners together until you're happy with the size of the snowflake and then start beading!  I only did a few beads for the model, however you and your child can put as many beads on as you would like.

Enjoy!

Ice Tray

OT Activity of the Day:

Ice Tray

Target Age Range: 2 and up

This is a great activity for your toddler or preschooler. (I would suggest laying a towel on the floor first and then putting the tray of ice on top just to catch any excess ice or water that may escape!)  This activity can occupy your child while you're cooking dinner, or folding laundry, or catching up on some work.

Just grab a rimmed pan/cookie sheet, some ice and any manipulatives that you'd like!  In my ice tray I'm focusing on fine motor skills with kitchen tongs, scissor tongs, and a spoon.  This is a great tray idea for your 2-3 year old. They can build hand strength with the kitchen tongs, practice scissor use with the scissor tongs and even practice wrist/forearm rotation with the spoon! 

Enjoy!

Shaving Cream Snowman

OT Activity of the Day:

Shaving Cream Snowman

Target Age Range: 3 and up

This is a fun no-mess sensory activity for all those preschoolers out there.  All you'll need is a sealable plastic bag (the size is up to you), shaving cream, and construction paper/scissors or anything else you would like to use to decorate!

First you can have the child open up the plastic bag, a great way to work on grip stability and fine motor manipulation.  Then spray the shaving cream into the bag (hand strength), you don't have to fill the bag up, it will all spread out once it's in the bag.  Then you can seal the bag, and decorate and create a snowman!  I used construction paper and scissors (scissor skills), however if you have a younger kid, you can always find some stickers for them to use instead, another great fine motor manipulation activity.

Have fun and enjoy!

Cotton Ball Snowman

OT Activity of the Day:

Cotton Ball Snowman

Target Age Range: 5 and up

I'm posting this activity with wishful thinking.  I am one of those rare people who like snow and so far this winter I have not seen much.  That doesn't mean we can do "snow" activities though!

All you need to do is grab some cotton balls and anything you'd like to use to decorate the snowman (glitter, sequins, markers, paint, etc...).  The tricky part to this activity is gently stretching a cotton ball without tearing it.  This requires fine motor control and manipulation.  Important skills that make writing easier.  If for some reason this becomes very tricky for your child, or you have a much younger child, you can always just tear the cotton ball apart and glue the pieces to the paper as a "snow storm".

With either craft option, you can use markers/crayons to decorate the paper, you can use other pieces of construction paper to add details to a snowman or snow storm, or even use some paint!  In any way you choose, your child is using their fine motor skills which is a benefit!

Enjoy!

Multisensory Writing

OT Activity of the Day:

"Snow" Writing

Target Age Range: 3 and up

By the age of 4 your child has the visual and fine motor capacity to write their first name.  For some, this ability comes easily, for others sometimes a multi sensory approach does the trick.  What does this mean?  A multi sensory approach is one that activates and registers in more than one area of the brain, promoting better learning.  Meaning, not only the visual portion of the brain, but the tactile portion is targeted as well.    

Here I'm using coarse salt and some blue sequins to look like "snow".  The idea is that your child can use their finger to draw the letters in the salt.  Again, this targets multiple areas of the brain which should help your child when it comes to writing letters.  Not only is this educational, but it's fun as well.

Now, if using salt is not your thing, fear not, you can use just about anything.  You can writing letters in shaving, pudding, whipped cream, play doh, lotion, rice, etc...  

Happy writing, enjoy!

Snowflakes!

OT Activity of the Day:

Snowflakes!

Target Age Range: 3 and up

I've been doing this activity all week, it's quick, fun and a great way to work on scissor skills!

All you need is a piece of paper and some scissors.  The paper can be white, however sometimes kids just want to make a pink, or blue, or green snowflake.  Once you've settled on a piece of paper, start folding!  This is a great way to work on your child's visual motor skills.  The ability to fold paper and have the ends match is something that is developed by the age of 4. Have your child fold the paper in half and then in half again.  Once you have a square, begin to cut!  You and your child can snip off the corners, cut small triangles or half circles into the paper or just snip the paper all around.  

So grab those scissors and start snipping! Enjoy! 

Bubble Wrap Fun!

OT Activity of the Day:

Bubble Wrap Fun!

Target Age Range: 2 and up

As with other posts this week, this activity is perfect for your movers and shakers during these cold months.  All you need is some bubble wrap and space.

I've set up the bubble wrap in a long hallway, but feel free to cut up the bubble wrap and spread them out like lily pads.  My intention is to have kiddos run back and forth, do animal walks, and jump on the bubble wrap (I will be taping the bubble wrap down to the carpet to prevent skidding).  If your bubble wrap is cut up into squares and spread around the room you can have your child hop like a frog from one "pad" to another.  Either way, this is a great way to burn off excess energy and provide sensory/movement input to your child!

Enjoy!

Build A Snowman

OT Activity of the Day:

Build a Snowman

Target Age Range: 3 and up

Today we're building a snowman inside!  This is a great way to occupy your kiddos inside during these cold winter months.  All you'll need is some construction paper, white paper or even paper plates (for the body).

This can be set up in one of several ways.  You can have your child cut out all the pieces or you can have them pre made.  I've actually made half of the pieces and will be having my clients identify what's missing and then make those extra pieces.  I'm also going to add movement to the activity by having the children animal walk to pick up the pieces.  If you do not want to add extra movement, walking to gather these pieces will be just fine!  You can talk about the steps to building a snowman and collect the items in order, or you can use dice and assign each body part with a number. 

Today's activity targets your child's sequencing, body awareness and provides movement input. Enjoy! 

Sensory Activities for Cold Days

Sensory Activities for Cold Days

During this time of year I'm often asked for indoor sensory/movement activities.  So today I thought I'd share some of my ideas with everyone!  Enjoy!

1. Rice and Bean bin (as seen in the picture).  Just buy an "under the bed" storage container and fill it with rice, beans, and any fine motor activity that your child likes.  It can include small animals, tongs, twist top containers (like old spice containers), and beads.  You can eliminate the rice and just have beans, or you can even use sand.  I often put a blanket underneath to catch any rice that escapes, it makes for quick clean up.  A great way for tactile input and fine motor work.

2. Crash mat (as seen in the picture).  If you look past the rice and bean box in the picture you'll see a large pillow (old duvet or fitted sheet stuffed with pillows) and two bean bags.  These are my crash pillows.  I often let kids jump from the couch into the pillows.  Endless fun for hours.  I would always recommend monitoring your child if they are jumping off a couch or chair!  This is a great way to get deep touch/proprioceptive input!

3. Small obstacle course.  In the picture you'll also see a folded up tunnel.  This can be used to create a small obstacle course.  The obstacle course could include going up or down stairs, crawling through the tunnel or under a table, animal walks, jumps (try to touch the top of a door frame), somersaults, cartwheels, crashing into pillows, and even jumps on a hippity hop or trampoline.  This is a great way to get your child moving and burning off any excess energy after school or over the weekend. 

4. Laundry basket.  Have your child sit in a laundry basket while you push them on a carpeted surface.  Switch and have your child push you or another sibling.  Set up cones or other markers and have races.  A great way to get movement and deep touch pressure!

Enjoy!

Fizzy Ice

OT Activity of the Day:

Fizzy Ice!

Target Age Range: 3 and up

Today's activity is a fun winter science experiment.  All you'll need is some ice, baking soda, vinegar, food coloring, and spray bottle/pipette/spoon.

First, place all your ice in a tray.  Then sprinkle the ice with baking soda.  Next, add some food coloring to the vinegar and use either a spray bottle, pipette, or a spoon to spray the ice.  Listen closely and you'll hear the ice fizz!  Not only will you hear the ice, but you'll get to see the ice turn color as well!  The spray bottle or pipette will work on improving your child's hand strength, while, the spoon targets simple wrist/forearm rotation for the younger children.  Fun and functional!

To add an element of writing you can have your child write down the steps to the activity (a great way to also work on short term recall and sequencing).

Enjoy!

Hole Punch Snow Flake

OT Activity of the Day:

Snow Flake

Target Age Range: 4 and up

Today's activity focuses on improving your child's hand strength and visual motor skills.  All you need is a paper plate, a hole puncher, yarn and markers.

First, take the paper plate and have your child draw their version of a snow flake.  Next, take the hole puncher and punch a few holes around the plate.  Last take a long piece of yarn and start threading it through in any which way.

This is a fun activity and perfect for whenever we get a snow day!  Enjoy!

Snow Globe

OT Activity of the Day:

Paper Tearing Snowman

Target Age Range: 4 and up

This is the perfect fine motor activity for your older preschoolers and Kindergartners.  This activity focuses on cutting and paper tearing, two tasks that help improve your child's fine motor manipulation, bilateral coordination and visual motor skills.

All you need is some construction paper, scissors, glue, and markers/crayons.  First I created a circle guideline on blue paper to help the kiddos cut out a circle.  Once the circle is cut out you can start tearing white paper for the snowman.  This activity calls for smaller paper shreds which really targets your child's fine motor manipulation.  After all the paper is torn, you can start building your snowman!  Feel free to create any type of snowman you would like, the snowman can even look "melted"!  

As an added challenge you can then talk about the actual sequence to building a snowman.  For your Kindergartners, you can even have them copy the directions to work on writing.

Enjoy!

Reindeer Boot Camp

OT Activity of the Day:

Reindeer Boot Camp

Target Age Range: 3 and up

This is a great activity for kiddos who are super excited about the upcoming holiday and need to burn some energy.  You can name this "Reindeer Boot Camp" to entice your children into participation and tell them that they need to be "ready" should Santa need some extra help on Christmas Eve.  But the idea is just to get your kids up and moving!

Some ideas for movement:  

1. Small obstacle course full of crawling, jumping, animal walks, and crashing.  This can be done through play with a tunnel, jumping in hula hoops, crashing into a pile of pillows, etc...

2. Adapted forms of burpees, jumping jacks, push ups, and planks.

3.  Running laps around the house  or up and down the side walk.

4. Pushing a heavy laundry basket across a carpeted area.

And anything else you can think of that your child enjoys doing!  Just remember to pair this with a calming activity like play doh or reading a book!

Happy holidays and enjoy!

Drawing with a Blindfold

OT Activity of the Day:

Drawing with a Blindfold

Target Age Range: 4 and up

This is such a funny group activity and perfect for those holiday gatherings.  There are a few ways to participate in this activity and no one has to be blindfolded if they do not want to.

First I took a paper plate and I held it on my head.  Then I took a pencil and began to attempt to draw a snowman (you can draw anything holiday related though) while the plate was still on my head.  This is targeting my proprioceptive sense (my muscle/ body awareness sense).  Without seeing I need to rely on my muscles to accurately move and draw a snowman.  This ability is important for kiddos because it helps them to feel a sense of self, aides in self regulation and helps a child to be more aware of their "personal space".

If drawing on top of your child's head is too complicated, you can always use a blindfold instead.  If you opt for the blindfold, you don't need to use a paper plate, regular paper on a table would be fine. 

Once everyone has drawn their picture, compare and get ready to laugh! Enjoy!  

Pipe Cleaner Holiday Tree

OT Activity of the Day:

Pipe Cleaner Holiday Tree

Target Age Range: 4 and up

This is the perfect activity for those kiddos who struggle with fine motor manipulation and hand strength.  All you need are some pipe cleaners, popsicle stick, pom, glue and scissors.

First cut up some pipe cleaners into different sizes.  I used red and green, however feel free to use any colors you would like.  Next take your popsicle stick and begin to wrap the pipe cleaners around the stick (this is the fine motor manipulation challenge).  When you're finished with that step you can glue the pom to the top as the "star".  Feel free to add any detail you may want, like coloring in the bottom on the popsicle stick with a marker.

For the older kiddos you can have them write a sentence or two describing their tree.  Enjoy!

Holiday Toss

OT Activity of the Day:

Holiday Toss

Target Age Range: 4 and up

Here's a fun hand/eye coordination activity for kiddos of all ages.  All you need are some cups and poms.  If you do not have poms you can easily use paper.  In fact, for an added fine motor manipulation challenge, you can always tear paper and squish it up into a ball and use that instead of poms!

I have small cups featured which would be a good challenge for the older kiddos, but for the younger kiddos, the bigger the cup the better!

If you would like to add some writing to this, you can always assign a letter or number to each cup.  Have the child write the number or letter of the cup they make to help keep track.  Need to practice spelling words?  Assign a spelling word to each cup!

Happy holidays and enjoy!

Holiday Printables!

OT Activity of the Day:

Holiday Printables

Target Age Range:  4 and up

If you're looking for fun holiday printables, look no further.  We found the website for you!

http://www.squishycutedesigns.com/free-kids-printable-activities-christmas/

Just visit this website and then scroll down to the holiday printables section (you'll pass some sewing designs first).  You'll find coloring pages and fun writing/visual scanning worksheets like the one I have displayed.

Enjoy!

Enjoy!