This Christmas Suncatcher craft has been something we’ve been thinking about for a while. This Christmas craft for kids is a fun one to add to your holiday line-up. With the sun streaming in through the dining room window, it’s the perfect place for sun catchers. And this Christmas themed craft is the perfect addition to our big dining room window. We went a little crazy with the sequins on this craft. Our Christmas suncatcher craft is very sparkly, and just right for the season! Big Sister loved making this project and the fine motor work involved was just right for her age.
Christmas Tree Sun Catcher
This Christmas fine motor activity is a fun craft for working on specific fine motor skills such as pincer grasp, in-hand manipulation, and precision, including distal mobility. While we used sequins for our Christmas tree suncatcher, you could use practically any crafting material, from tissue paper, to foam stickers, to pressed flowers or pine needles. Use your imagination and make it an open-ended craft for the kids.
How pretty are these sequins?? LOVE the colors and sparkles in this Christmas craft!
I cut two triangles of Clear Contact Paper, just slightly smaller than the green triangles. Big Sister started placing the sequins on the contact paper.
This was such a great fine motor activity for that Neat Pincer Grasp. To pick up the sequins from the table surface and place them onto the contact paper requires tip to tip grasp of the index finger and thumb. All of those sequins was a great workout! She did a ton of them, but we ended up sprinkling even more sequins on to the contact paper to give our sun catcher a REALLY sparkly look.
Next came Big Sister’s favorite part. Do all Kindergarteners love tape as much as she does? This girl loooooooves tape! We stuck the two pieces of contact paper together to sandwich the sequins in the middle. Then we taped the contact paper onto on of the green triangles.
A little glue held the top triangle in place and our sun catcher was complete! Let us know if you do this craft. We love to see our projects come to life with your kids!
Colleen Beck, OTR/L has been an occupational therapist since 2000, working in school-based, hand therapy, outpatient peds, EI, and SNF. Colleen created The OT Toolbox to inspire therapists, teachers, and parents with easy and fun tools to help children thrive. Read her story about going from an OT making $3/hour (after paying for kids’ childcare) to a full-time OT resource creator for millions of readers. Want to collaborate? Send an email to contact@theottoolbox.com.
This is a tag craft we made one year after making Christmas tree art with homemade stamps. I love these homemade gift tags that the kids made last year, and so did everyone on our Christmas shopping list! The process to make the personalized bag tags is super easy, and once the Christmas tree stamps are done, it’s an exercise in scissor skills, too. When the gift tags are made by kids, they are extra special. The fun part about these Christmas Tree Stamps are that you can use them for so many things besides gift tags: wrapping paper, Christmas art, or just for fun!
Tag Craft
This tag craft starts with Christmas tree stamps, and is one of a series of toilet paper art activities we did. First, we made the Christmas Tree toilet paper stamps as shown below. Then, once they dried, my kids cut out the Christmas trees and we turned them into holiday tags!
You’ll need just a few materials to make this tag craft.
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To make your gift tags, you’ll need a few supplies:
When children make these Christmas tree name tags, they are also building fine motor skills.
Christmas Tree Name Tags
To start out, bend your paper tube into a triangle shape. Dip it into a plate of green poster paint. Stamp this onto the paper in rows.
Next, use the cotton swabs to stamp red paint onto the Christmas trees. You can dab ornaments onto the trees or paint garland with the red paint. …or color the whole tree red, like Little Guy did. It’s creative expression, here!
This is a great way to work on tripod grasp with the cotton swab. It’s also an exercise in separation of the sides of the hand, and eye-hand coordination.
Cut the cotton swab into a smaller piece to really work on hand strength and tripod grasp.
We used the brown paint to paint little trunks on each tree. This part of the craft is a great way to sneak in some fine motor skills. Work on pre-handwriting skills with the cotton swab by encouraging a tripod grasp, neutral or extended wrist, and pinkie and ring fingers tucked up into the palm for support. This is a fun way to encourage an appropriate grasp on writing utensils.
Make Christmas tree name tags using the tree stamps.
Next allow the Christmas tree stamps to dry overnight or for several hours. Admire the cuteness.
Cut tag shapes from the crafting paper. Punch a hole at the top and strengthen it with hole reinforcement stickers. Cut the Christmas trees from the white paper with a little edge. Glue onto tags. I threaded the tags onto ribbon with help from Big Sister. This part is a little difficult for younger kids, but older children can assist.
We used a variety of ribbon types to package up our gifts. The Gift tags made the presents!
Let us know if you make these gift tags, or Christmas Tree stamps this season. We would love to see them!
Colleen Beck, OTR/L has been an occupational therapist since 2000, working in school-based, hand therapy, outpatient peds, EI, and SNF. Colleen created The OT Toolbox to inspire therapists, teachers, and parents with easy and fun tools to help children thrive. Read her story about going from an OT making $3/hour (after paying for kids’ childcare) to a full-time OT resource creator for millions of readers. Want to collaborate? Send an email to contact@theottoolbox.com.
This pretzel rod snack is one of those Thanksgiving treats kids will love. By getting kids active in cooking, children can develop so many skills. So, why not combine the excitement of Thanksgiving cooking with the task of helping kids develop motor skills. These turkey pretzel rod snacks are kid-created and will be a Thanksgiving dessert kids will love this year!
We made these turkey pretzel rod treats with the kids one afternoon as a cooking with kids project to get us in the Thanksgiving mood. Thanksgiving treats kids make get the whole family involved in the cooking process, and make holiday cooking fun. An easy turkey themed snack like these turkey pretzel rod snacks are a thanksgiving dessert made by kids that also help them build fine motor skills, executive functioning, and other essential skills.
Start by covering one half of a pretzel rod with peanut butter.
The kids loved doing this part. It was very messy, but very fun. Lots of giggles happened. Lots of hand wiping, but lots of smiles 🙂 We used a knife from our plastic cutlery set for kids for spreading the peanut butter.
Roll the peanut butter in sprinkles. You’ll need to pour more sprinkles over the pretzel rods to get all of the peanut butter coated in brown. Watch for sneaky fingers stealing sprinkles. It happens.
“Glue” on the candy eyes with a bit of peanut butter. You can use melted chocolate in these turkey snacks need to be transported.
Cute Thanksgiving Treat
Take the cute Thanksgiving treat factor up a notch with the details.
Press a yellow m&m into the peanut butter between the candy eyes. Asking children to gently press the treats into the pretzel rod snack is an opportunity to work on precision, dexterity, pincer grasp, and proprioception.
Snip a small sliver of the Twizzler for the turkey’s gobbler. Use a pair of child friendly scissors and ask the kiddos to cut the licorice for a scissor skills activity they will get a kick out of. The kids thought this part was genius! “It looks just right, mom!”
Use the melted chocolate to stick the candy corn feathers into place on the back of the turkey. We just stuck the candy corns into the peanut butter since we were letting the snacks sit out until later to try them. But, you’ll want to definitely use the chocolate “glue” to keep the candy corn feathers in place.
Colleen Beck, OTR/L has been an occupational therapist since 2000, working in school-based, hand therapy, outpatient peds, EI, and SNF. Colleen created The OT Toolbox to inspire therapists, teachers, and parents with easy and fun tools to help children thrive. Read her story about going from an OT making $3/hour (after paying for kids’ childcare) to a full-time OT resource creator for millions of readers. Want to collaborate? Send an email to contact@theottoolbox.com.
Turkey Activities are the theme here today, and boy, do I have some fun turkey themed ways to play and help kids build skills! Check out the Thanksgiving occupational therapy activities and different ideas listed below for fun Turkey activities to keep the kiddos occupied up through Thanksgiving! Some of these may be just the craft or activity you are looking for to help children develop fine motor skills or visual motor skills. Need a turkey craft for a play date or preschool party? How about an easy little activity on Thanksgiving while the dinner is cooking? So many options here for turkey inspired fun!
Turkey Activities
Be sure to stop by the following pages first, and fill your toolbox with turkey themed activities:
If you are looking for quick turkey crafts to use in teletherapy or in the classroom or home, check out these quick and easy turkey crafts.
You’ll also love this turkey slide deck for teletherapy or distance learning. It’s a free interactive slide deck with a Thanksgiving theme.
And, this turkey mindfulness activity is a free printable that you can use with kids to help them discover the benefits of deep breathing as a coping mechanism for self-regulation.
Plus, recently added to The OT Toolbox shop is this Thanksgiving Fine Motor Kit. It’s loaded with fine motor activities, scissor skills activities, handwriting activities, pencil control cards, lacing cards, glue activities, and much more…all with a turkey and Thanksgiving theme.
Turkey Activities for Kids
1. Fine Motor Turkey for Tots from Twodaloo (website no longer exists) Work on fine motor skills including pincer grasp and an extended wrist to create bead feathers. Try this turkey activity with play dough, spaghetti noodles, and beads.
2. Turkey Felt Board Matching from Teach Beside Me helps with visual discrimination, scanning, and eye-hand coordination.
4. Pine Cone Turkey Place Cards from Homegrown Friends can help kids with tactile sensory exploration and direction following.
5. Turkey Tissue Paper By Number Craft by Crayon Box Chronicles (website no longer exists)- Crumble tissue paper to work on fine motor skills and hand strength.
6. Thanksgiving Turkey Play Dough from Fantastic Fun and Learning uses play dough to build hand strength and fine motor endurance, as well as precision and tripod grasp.
7. Fine Motor Turkey Craft is a great way to work on scissor skills, pincer grasp, tripod grasp, and eye-hand coordination.
9. Our printable Thankful Turkey Templates are turkey crafts you can modify based on the individual’s skills and abilities. Plus, it includes a thankful turkey craft, too to help with handwriting.
10. Handmade Turkey Puzzle from KCEdventures is a fun way to work on visual discrimination, visual memory, and other visual perceptual skills.
11. Recycled Paper Roll Turkey Stamp Craft is one of our favorite turkey crafts that doubles as turkey art! Work on eye-hand coordination with a preschool turkey craft the kiddos will love.
12. Turkey Print Crafts from House of Burke is another fun preschool turkey art activity that is great for the younger age range.
13. Turkey Cardboard Tube Juicebox Cover is one of our favorite ways to work on fine motor skill, oral motor skills, and oral sensory processing. Use proprioception as a calming and organizing tool for kids with this cute turkey activity.
14. Soda Bottle Turkey from Stir The Wonder helps children develop fine motor skills and bilateral coordination as well as eye-hand coordination with turkey fun.
16. Clothespin Feathers Turkey from Stir The Wonder develops hand strength arch development, separation of the sides of the hand, and more.
17. Turkey Fine Motor Craft and Activity from Fantastic Fun and Learning is a fine motor powerhouse with cute results in this Thanksgiving activity that would look great at the kids Thanksgiving table!
19. Thanksgiving Turkey Silverware Napkin Ring is my personal favorite for a turkey activity that helps kids build fine motor skills, including precision, tripod grasp, eye-hand coordination, bilateral coordination, and more.
For even MORE turkey activities
Grab the new Thanksgiving fine motor kit. It’s a huge resource for occupational therapists, parents, and teachers looking to help kids develop fine motor skills, work on handwriting, scissor skills, cursive writing, letter formation, and so much more.
This 40 page digital file includes everything you need to help kids develop fine motor skills. The printable sheets are designed to work on themed Thanksgiving fine motor activities and can be used over and over again. Print off all of them or just the pages you need. With this Thanksgiving theme fine motor kit, children can develop the following areas:
Pencil control
Scissor skills
Hand strength
Pinch strength
Bilateral coordination
Eye-hand coordination
Visual motor skills
Handwriting and letter formation
Precision and dexterity
Separation of the sides of the hand
Coloring accuracy and endurance
Pre-writing line accuracy
Precision and dexterity
Pincer grasp
This festive Fall packet is designed to cover a variety of areas and skills. Toddlers can use the coloring and shape pages. Preschool children can work on pre-writing lines, cutting strips, coloring pages, I Spy activity, counting, fine motor pinch activities, lacing cards, and more. Kindergarten children can work on letter formation and copying skills along with the other fine motor activities. Elementary aged students can use all of the fine motor activities as well as the handwriting activities and lined writing pages.
Colleen Beck, OTR/L has been an occupational therapist since 2000, working in school-based, hand therapy, outpatient peds, EI, and SNF. Colleen created The OT Toolbox to inspire therapists, teachers, and parents with easy and fun tools to help children thrive. Read her story about going from an OT making $3/hour (after paying for kids’ childcare) to a full-time OT resource creator for millions of readers. Want to collaborate? Send an email to contact@theottoolbox.com.
