Polar Bear Therapy Slide Deck

Polar bear therapy activities

This week, we’re all about the polar bears. You’re going to love this polar bear therapy slide deck, and actually, my kids are loving it, too! The polar bear gross motor activities go well with an arctic animal theme. We’ve been using the gross motor activities as a warm-up for the Winter Fine Motor Kit and all of the winter activities in that resource. You’ll want to grab this therapy slide deck to get your new year off to a great start and get the kids moving with whole-body movements.

Free gross motor therapy slide deck with a polar bear theme. Use in virtual therapy sessions or as a polar bear brain break.

Be sure to grab the free polar bear deep self-regulation activity. It’s a wintery breathing exercise that went up earlier today. You’ll find a bunch of other polar bear activities listed in that blog post, so that your therapy theme for the week is full of movement-based activities that help kids develop skills.

Included are some slides to incorporate propriocepetion and vestibular input as well.

Because incorporating gross motor skills in teletherapy is sometimes a challenge, this gross motor slide deck was designed for teletherapy in a way that instructs kids to copy various positions as they balance and strengthen their core. All of these skills can be addressed with this gross motor slide deck in teletherapy sessions:

  • Core strength
  • Stability
  • Balance and equilibrium skills
  • Coordination
  • Range of motion
  • Flexibility
  • Motor planning
  • Crossing midline
  • Movement patterns
  • Posture and postural control
  • Muscle tone
  • Proprioceptive input
  • Vestibular input

Polar Bear Resource: DON’T MISS IT:

Grab the Winter Fine Motor Kit, with 100 pages of done-for-you therapy activities, including polar bear themes. Grab it now before January 9th and you get a bonus of 3 fine motor slide deck activities.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE WINTER FINE MOTOR KIT.

winter fine motor kit

More therapy slide decks


Be sure to check out these other slide decks to use in OT teletherapy sessions, distance learning, or homeschooling:

Try this Alphabet Gross Motor Slide Deck.

Here is a Space Theme Therapy Slide Deck.

Here is a Strait Line Letters Slide Deck.

Try this self-awareness slide deck with an animal theme.

Kids love this football theme slide deck.

There are gross motor activities in this outer space slide deck, too.

Polar Bear Therapy Slide Deck

Use this polar bear theme therapy slide deck in virtual therapy sessions or as a brain break.

Be sure to make a copy of this slide deck and not change the url to indicate “edit” at the end. When you make a copy of the slide deck onto your Google drive, you will end up with your own version that you are free to adjust in order to meet your student’s needs. By changing the url to “edit”, you can potentially mess up the original version that many other therapists and The OT Toolbox users are given.

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 url.

FREE Polar Bear Gross Motor Therapy Activities!

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    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.

    Polar Bear Self-Regulation Activity

    Polar bear theme deep breathing exercise for kids

    Back by popular demand, this polar bear themed self-regulation activity is designed to be used with other polar bear activities here on The OT Toolbox. Add this deep breathing activity to others in your toolkit and work on self-regulation skills with deep breathing exercises. You can print this free resource off and use it all winter long as a self regulation strategy.

    Be sure to check out our other deep breathing exercises as well as our Winter Fine Motor Kit for more polar bear activities and other arctic animal themes.

    Polar bear self regulation activity has a polar bear theme deep breathing exercise for kids

    Polar Bear Self Regulation Activity

    This deep breathing activity is an idea originally created on this website, (and you’ll now find copies on other sites, unfortunately without giving credit for their replications). At any rate, this is a fun way to offer self-regulation strategies to cope with big emotions, sensory needs, and calming strategies through deep breaths in and out. We explain a lot about how this works in our blog post on the Zones of Regulation.

    Deep breathing adds heavy work through the mouth and nose, adding calming proprioceptive input that can calm.

    Holding a deep breath in full lungs or empty lungs offers an opportunity to integrate interoception and talk about how the body feels with that deep breathing.

    These are mindfulness strategies at work! There are many benefits of mindfulness work and deep breathing exercises are one way to incorporate those techniques.

    Here are additional winter mindfulness activities.

    More polar bear activities

    Try these hands-on activities with a polar bear theme:

    Polar bear math activity– This doubles as a polar bear craft with fine motor benefits. We used the polar bear crafts as math manipulatives, combining fine motor and math.

    Polar bear science– This is an OLD activity here on the website, but a classic! Learn about how polar bears stay warm in the arctic temperatures. You’ll love the polar bear craft here, too.

    Polar Bear Gross Motor Activity– This is an indoor gross motor activity that challenges balance, coordination, strength, and mobility. All you need is some space and a few blankets.

    Polar Bear Activities– Here you’ll find polar bear books, a polar bear themed snack, and much more. Fun stuff to add to your polar bear theme!

    Polar Bear Sensory Craft– We made homemade puffy paint and turned it into a polar bear craft with tactile sensory benefits.

    Grab the Winter Fine Motor Kit, with 100 pages of done-for-you therapy activities, including polar bear themes. Grab it now before January 9th and you get a bonus of 3 fine motor slide deck activities.

    Click here to get the Winter Fine Motor Kit.

    winter fine motor kit

    Polar Bear Deep Breathing Exercise

    Use this polar bear deep breathing exercise in print out version or use on a tablet screen while working on these deep breathing exercises. It’s a great way to use the strategies while on the go as well.

    Want to grab your copy of this printable deep breathing activity to add to your therapy toolbox? Enter your email address below and grab the printable.

    Free Polar Bear Theme Deep Breathing Exercise

      We respect your privacy. Unsubscribe at anytime.

      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.