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Day: November 29, 2020

Gingerbread Man Virtual Activity

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Gingerbread man virtual activities

This gingerbread man virtual activity is perfect for occupational therapy teletherapy activities, and just one more teletherapy activity that we’ve got lined up for you here on The OT Toolbox. Add this Christmas activity to your therapy plans, along with some gingerbread man activities and maybe making a little gingerbread salt dough for holiday fun with gingerbread themed development and learning!

This is a fun addition to our weekly therapy themes for themed occupational therapy sessions.

Gingerbread Man Virtual Activity

This slide deck covers various areas with a gingerbread theme:

  • Mindfulness
  • Fine Motor Skills
  • Handwriting
  • Gross Motor
  • Self-Regulation Check In

Use this list and the gingerbread man activities on this slide deck to help kids develop certain skills in virtual therapy sessions.

CGingerbread man Therapy SLIDE DECK

If you’ve been following The OT Toolbox, then you may have seen a few of our other interactive slide decks. Therapists are LOVING these therapy slide decks for their themed activities that help kids build skills, while in virtual or hybrid environments.

This gingerbread man therapy activity can be adjusted to meet the needs of your clients or students. Use it as an outline and add prompts, or adjust the activities as you need.

Gingerbread Themed Mindfulness Activity

Students can use the gingerbread man image with deep breathing activity to work on deep breaths in and deep breaths out as a mindfulness activity with a gingerbread man theme.

Gingerbread Man Writing Prompts

Included in this therapy slide deck are gingerbread words writing prompts. These are set up as a copying activity for students. Work on letter formation, legibility, and copying skills. Kids can use this to work on printed or cursive writing, based on their specific needs.

Gingerbread man Visual Perception Activity

Children will love the gingerbread man visual perception activity as they visually scan to count the number of each cookie. Kids can type right into the Google slide deck when they find the correct number of each gingerbread man.

Gingerbread Man Fine Motor Activity

The no-prep gingerbread man fine motor activity asks children to work on fine motor skills such as finger isolation, dexterity, motor planning, and eye-hand coordination as they spell the word “gingerbread man” in sign language.

Gingerbread man Gross Motor Activity

Next, kids can work on core strength, gross motor skills, balance, and motor planning with a gingerbread man gross motor activity. This activity asks children to move the movable slide pieces into the correct order. They can then act out the images and work on gross motor skills as well as sequencing.

Gingerbread Man Self-Regulation Activity

The final activity in this interactive slide deck is the self-regulation activity where children can move the gingerbread man to identify and match their body’s feelings. Work on self-regulation strategies and coping tools as needed.

Does this looks like a fun way to spend a therapy session while working on skills?

You can grab a copy of this Google slide deck and use it to work on specific skills.

Enter your email address below and you will receive a PDF containing a link to copy the slide deck onto your Google drive. Save that PDF file, because you can come back to it again and again and send it to the kids on your caseload (or classroom) so they can make their own copy on their Google drive.

Please use the copy of the slide deck and do not change the link.

Get this Gingerbread Man Therapy Activities Slide Deck

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    MORE VIRTUAL LEARNING SLIDE DECKS?

    Would you like more therapy slide decks? Grab the others to add to your therapy toolbox!

    Here is a Community Helpers Theme Slide Deck.

    Here is a Football Theme Slide Deck.

    Here is a slide deck for a Social Story for Wearing a Mask.

    Here is a Space Theme Therapy Slide Deck.

    Here is a Therapy Planning Interactive Slide Deck.

    Here is a Back to School Writing Activity Slide Deck.

    Here is an Alphabet Exercises Slide Deck.

    Here is a Self-Awareness Activities Slide Deck.

    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.

    Growth Mindset

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    mindset strategies

    Tools to support growth mindset can come in all shapes and sizes. From journals, to coping toolkits, to targeting self-awareness, putting growth mindset strategies into action supports self-regulation, learning, and everyday functioning! Understanding when and how to use growth mindset strategies is the beginning of self reflection. A lot of this has to do with metacognition!

    If there’s one thing that we all need, it’s a positive outlook and a growth mindset. Our children especially, would benefit from resilience, coping skills, and coping with big life changes. Supporting kids of all ages with growth mindset tools such as a growth mindset sorting activity can help to put those tools into action.

    Growth Mindset

    Amazon affiliate links are included in this post.

    Since we are talking all things growth mindset, and and resilience…and resilience seems to be a common topic this year, I thought I would run through some common terms when it comes to growth mindset and developing the skills of resilience in children.

    mindset definitions and other skills such as empathy, mindfulness, resilience,

    Growth Mindset Definitions

    Let’s start with a definition of growth mindset and then break it down.

    A growth mindset refers to the belief that one’s abilities and intelligence can be developed through dedication, hard work, and learning. Individuals with a growth mindset perceive challenges as opportunities to learn and improve rather than as obstacles that define their capabilities. This concept, popularized by psychologist Carol Dweck, contrasts with a fixed mindset, where individuals believe their abilities are innate and unchangeable.

    Embracing a growth mindset fosters resilience, a love for learning, and a willingness to face challenges, making it a valuable perspective in various aspects of life, including education, career, and personal development.

    Empathy– Empathy is the ability to recognize and understand the feelings and perspective of others.

    Mindset– Our mindset is the way that we think about ourselves and the world around us. It’s the attitude that we have about ourselves and the world. It’s our mood and the way with think about problems or tasks that we need to accomplish. Mindset is a way of looking at the problems or situations in front of us. Addressing difficult tasks and mistakes is part of mindset. Executive functioning skills play a part in mindset.

    Growth Mindset– Growth mindset is the ability to confront challenges, view hard tasks as an oppourtunity and a process. Someone with a growth mindset believes they are not limited by their abilites or intelligence. When we use a growth mindset, we believe our abilities or our ability to learn new things can improve given effort.

    Fixed mindset– Fixed mindset is a limiting belief that impacts our ability to solve promblems, learn new skills, react to situations, and respond to daily situations. Fixed mindset can impact wellness and well-being, as well as learning and task completion.

    Mindfulness– Mindfulness is our ability to focus on our awareness and presence in any given moment. It’s our ability to acknowledge and accept our feelings, thoughts, body sensations and the world around us in any given task or activity.

    Resilience– resilence refers to one’s ability to have a mental toughness, and the ability to recover quickly from difficult tasks or situations. Resilience offers the ability to bounce back or respond and react in the event of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats, or stessful situations.

    Coping Skills– Coping skills are the specific steps one might take to react and respond to events, internal thouhgts, emotions, and daily tasks. It’s the strategies a person can use to consciousely solve personal or interpersonal problems. Coping skills can be physical methods, self-talk, sensory strategies, and other specific skills that allow for wellness and wellbeing.

    Self-talk– Self-talk is that internal dialogue that is constantly running in your mind. Self-talk can be a coping skill, and it can impact mindset. This internal dialogue is influenced by your subconscious thoughts as well as conscious thoughts.  Self-talk can be both positive and negative and has the ability to impact resilience and mindfulness.

    You can see how all of these terms are inter-related and how they all impact one another. When these skills are growing and developing children can accomplish tasks and not limit themselves in learning and developing as an indiviual.

    All of these mindset definitions can be strengthened, using tools and specific strategies. And, by working on these various areas, children (and ourselves) can respond to challenging situations (like distance learning, for example) that require us to pivot and change.

    Also connected to all of these areas are social emotional learning, executive functioning skills, and the emotional regulation part of executive functioning skills.

    Critical thinking plays a big part in development of mindset and the other growth areas listed above.

    So how to work on these areas to foster a growth mindset, positive self-talk, coping tools, and resilience in kids?

    Mindset strategies for kids

    Strategies for Mindset

    Specific strategies can help, along with a plan. Below are some strategies to address mindset and the other areas listed above.

    • Work on wellness and wellbeing- Check out these wellness strategies
    • Practice mindfulness
    • Help others
    • Focus on positive self-talk
    • Identify goals and work on those areas
    • Breaking down goals into smaller, achievable steps
    • Work on perspective
    • Create a toolbox of strategies
    • Foster a positive outlook
    • Practice working memory strategies and learn from mistakes
    • Focus on the present and mindfulness

    One method for working through these skills is with the (Amazon affiliate link) Big Life Journal.

    Children can use the journal as a working tool to foster specific strategies and methods for developing persistnece, growth mindset, and a positive perspective. These stragies can be a powerful way to help kids accomplish tasks, believe in themselves, and grow and develop as a person.

    You can get a copy of the Big Life Journal here. (Ages 7-10)

    And the resource for older kids: Big Life Journal for Teens and Tweens (Ages 11+)

    As well as the adult-version: Big Life Journal for Adults (Ages 18-99)

    Big Life Journal PRintables

    Want to add a Big Life Journal to your toolbox? Let’s get kids developing resilience, social emotional learning, and mindset.

    I love that the Big Life Journal is available as a printable PDF on the company’s website, making the printables easy to print off and use with your students or children.

    OT providers often support students and clients with mindset, and we know that Mindset is everything! The Big Life Journals help your child, tween/teen, or even YOU to develop the mindset of growth, resilience, gratitude, and positivity.

    Check out the blog comments below for ideas to help kids to develop skills in empathy, resilience, mindset, self-talk, and mindfulness.

    This product was featured in our Therapy Toys and Tools Giveaway Series. (Giveaway now closed.)

    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.

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