Cut up a kitchen sponge into whatever shapes you want, then show your child how to dip them in paint and use them as stamps. Push beads into play dough.
25 Fine Motor Activities Using Household Items
My go-to recipe that ingredients from the cupboard, takes 5 minutes to make, and can be found HERE. Make shapes in play dough with cookie cutters. Flatten the dough, push down the shapes, and pinch to pull up out of the dough. So much fine motor power! Smash play dough with a potato smasher. Or, you know, smash some real potatoes. Paint with pom poms. Make a play dough puzzle. Squeeze chip clips onto the rim of a plastic container.
31 Days of Occupational Therapy with Free Materials | The OT Toolbox
Then take them off. Then put them back on again. And so on and so forth. To really strengthen those little fingers and hands, encourage your kiddo to squeeze and pinch with their fingertips, as opposed to squeezing with their palm or the side of their thumb as pictured below. Transfer marbles or water beads between bowls. Use fingers for pinching or add in spoons, tongs, or muffin tins! Put pipe cleaners in the holes of a colander. Another incredibly simple yet repetitive and engaging activity! Put Cheerios on pipe cleaners. This is a great skill for older toddlers to start practicing, and is safer for the little ones who still want to put real beads in their mouths.
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Stack beads on dry spaghetti. It can actually be pretty tricky to put the beads on without breaking the noodles! Drop pipe cleaners into a plastic container. Punch some holes in a plastic lid or, for beginners, simply give them pipe cleaners and an empty water bottle or parmesan cheese container to drop them in.
Bend a straw in half and use it as tongs for crumpled napkin bits. Especially useful when trying to entertain your kids while waiting for your food at a restaurant. Drop toothpicks through a straw. I have shared a video of this one in action on the Facebook page HERE and have used it many a time while waiting for food with an antsy toddler!
Paint outside on the ground, the walls, the tricycle! All you need is an old paintbrush and a bowl, bucket, or cup of water. Work on hand and finger skills with this range of fine motor Christmas activities.
Simple, effective scissor cutting practice templates that you can use to help improve your child's scissor skills! A sensory box can be very helpful for a child who has sensory processing disorder.
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Here are some tips on how to put one together! All activities should take place under close adult supervision. Some activities use small items which may cause choking. Please read my disclaimer before you use any of the activities. If you click on these links and make a purchase, I may receive a small commission. This does not cost you any more, and it helps cover costs associated with building and maintaining this website.
OT Mom Learning Activities. Christmas Fine Motor Ideas. Gifts To Help Kids. Fine Motor Activities And Information. Proprioceptive Sensory Diet Activities The proprioceptive system is responsible for helping us understand where we are in relation to the space around us. Our proprioceptive receptors exist in our muscles, joints, and ligaments, and these receptors are what enable us to sit, stand, stretch, bend over, climb stairs, run, etc.
Here are some simple ideas to get you started:.
It allows us to coordinate balance with movement and, when performing correctly, it works in conjunction with our other senses to ensure we feel safe in our environment. A child with vestibular processing challenges may avoid or seek vestibular input. Tactile Sensory Diet Activities If your child has tactile sensitivities think: Here are some of our favorite tactile activities:.
31 Days of Occupational Therapy with Free Materials
Some children with auditory processing disorder may be hypersensitive to sounds, causing them to become upset in the face of loud noises and cover their ears in public settings, while others may be hyposensitive and seek out loud noises. If your child has auditory processing challenges, consider some of these simple, yet fun auditory activities:. Oral Sensory Diet Activities Our oral system allows us to communicate with others, and also allows us to chew, swallow, and experience different textures and tastes, but what few of us realize is that our oral system is also closely related to our proprioceptive system.
For example, you might notice that your child is constantly chewing and biting things oral seeking behaviors , or your child might avoid certain food textures, have problems swallowing, and be very reluctant to try new foods oral avoiding behaviors. If this sounds like your child, consider some of these fun oral activities! The good news is that there are tons of things that can be done to help develop fine motor skills, and early intervention is key. Visual Motor Activities Also known as hand-eye coordination and visual motor integration, visual motor skills enable our hands and eyes to communicate effectively so we can write, draw, cut, etc.
If your child struggles with handwriting or other activities that require hand-eye coordination, these activities offer a fun way to strengthen their skills:. Most teachers and occupational therapists prefer to teach children how to write without the aid of pencil grips as they serve as a bandaid rather than a solution to poor pencil grip and have a tendency to get lost!!!!
The secret of getting started is breaking down complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one. I hope this collection of occupational therapy activities inspires you to help the exceptional children in your life! If you found this collection of occupational therapy activities helpful, please share this post on Pinterest! Sensory Activities Proprioceptive Sensory Diet Activities The proprioceptive system is responsible for helping us understand where we are in relation to the space around us.
Here are some simple ideas to get you started: Here are some of our favorite tactile activities: If your child has auditory processing challenges, consider some of these simple, yet fun auditory activities: Simon Says Scavenger hunt with sounds instead of looking for objects, listen for sounds! Scissor Cutting with Play Dough. The OT Toolbox gives step-by-step instructions on how to set this activity up in such a way as to teach your child correct scissor cutting techniques. Pipe Cleaner and Colander Activity.