September 5, 2024 - The OT Toolbox

Dyed Rainbow Lollipop Sticks

September 17, 2024September 5, 2024 by Colleen Beck OTR/L

We made these dyed lollipop sticks many moons ago, (2015!) as a fine motor and visual motor tool to use in color sorting and other fine motor activities. The colorful sticks are fun and provide countless opportunities in your OT sessions for creative exploration, problem-solving, and hands-on learning.

We made these dyed lollipop sticks last month and have been playing with them a lot. Counting, patterns, fine motor play, art, visual perceptual work, and imagination are fun with these colorful rainbow sticks. They are so easy to dye with just a little food coloring, and very fun. We’ve used these rainbow sticks in a few different ways recently and will be sharing soon on the blog!

Rainbow lollipop sticks dyed with coloring for play, counting, busy bags, math with kids

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Dyed Lollipop Sticks for play and learning

How gorgeous are rainbow lollipop sticks? Don’t you want to play with them?

How to dye lollipop sticks

We had a ton of extra lollipop sticks left over from various parties. The idea to color them in rainbow shades came to me after seeing them in the baking bin next to food coloring. A rainbow of manipulatives would be fun for all kinds of play. I put a handful of sticks into small plastic baggies and added a few drops of liquid food coloring. More food coloring will bring out brighter colors.

Shake the baggies around to coat the sticks.

Spread the lollipop sticks out on wax paper and allow them to dry.

Use rainbow lollipop sticks for play, math, patterns and colorful learning with kids!

Once dry, you are ready to play! These things are completely gorgeous and we had fun just naming all of the colors, rolling them back and forth, and sorting.

Dye lollipop sticks with food coloring for colorful play!

Practice fine motor skills with kids using DIY dyed lollipop sticks

Fine Motor Skills with Dyed Rainbow Lollipop Sticks

We pulled a plastic bottle from the recycle bin and practiced fine motor skills by dropping the rainbow sticks into the plastic bottle one by one. Drop by colors and work on color identification. Practice beginner math skills by counting one-to-one correspondence as the child names the number of each color. Practice a tripod grasp on the lollipop sticks and pre-handwriting skills.

Fine motor rainbow play was never so much fun!

More rainbow activities that you will love:

Rainbow Foam Sheets on the Window

Painting Rainbows

FIne Motor With Crafting Pom Poms

Color Matching Play Dough

Rainbow Snacks

Rainbow Fine Motor Play

3 Rainbow Sensory Bins

Home Made Play Dough

Other Ways to Use Dyed Lollipop Sticks

We shared just a couple of ways to use dyed lollipop sticks in developing sensory motor skills. Here are more ideas:

Color Sorting: Have children sort the dyed lollipop sticks by color into matching containers or on a color mat.
Pattern Making: Create and replicate patterns with the sticks, such as alternating colors or building sequences.
Counting and Number Matching: Use the sticks for counting activities or to match with numbers written on paper or cards.
Stick Building: Encourage children to build simple structures or shapes by gluing the sticks together.
Letter and Shape Formation: Have kids use the sticks to form letters, numbers, or shapes on a flat surface.
Tactile Tracing: Glue the sticks to create raised lines on paper for children to trace with their fingers, enhancing tactile feedback.
Matching Games: Write letters or numbers on the sticks and have children match them to corresponding cards or objects.
Sensory Bins: Add the dyed sticks to a sensory bin filled with rice, beans, or sand for children to find and sort.
Stick Weaving: Weave yarn or string around and between sticks placed in a grid pattern, working on fine motor skills.
Craft Projects: Incorporate the sticks into art and craft projects, such as making frames, collages, or decorations.

Rainbow Handwriting Kit– This resource pack includes handwriting sheets, write the room cards, color worksheets, visual motor activities, and so much more. The handwriting kit includes:

Write the Room, Color Names: Lowercase Letters
Write the Room, Color Names: Uppercase Letters
Write the Room, Color Names: Cursive Writing
Copy/Draw/Color/Cut Color Worksheets
Colors Roll & Write Page
Color Names Letter Size Puzzle Pages
Flip and Fill A-Z Letter Pages
Colors Pre-Writing Lines Pencil Control Mazes
This handwriting kit now includes a bonus pack of pencil control worksheets, 1-10 fine motor clip cards, visual discrimination maze for directionality, handwriting sheets, and working memory/direction following sheet! Valued at $5, this bonus kit triples the goal areas you can work on in each therapy session or home program.

Click here to get your copy of the Colors Handwriting Kit.

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.

Contact Paper Leaf Collection

September 5, 2024September 5, 2024 by Colleen Beck OTR/L

Did you ever go on a nature walk and collect colorful leaves but have no where to put them? This contact paper leaf collection is a Fall leaf collage and all you need is a sheet of contact paper. This is a fun way to expand on a family nature walk during the Fall months! Add this to your outdoor occupational therapy sessions or Fall OT planning.

Here’s why you should make a leaf collection with kids this Fall…

Contact Paper leaf Collection

My kids wanted to go for a Nature Hike one beautiful, sunny, fall day. I pulled out some squares of contact paper and we went around the yard, gathering leaves, acorn tops, flowers, grasses, pine needles…all kinds of fun, fall things.

When you are collecting items to add to your contact paper leaf collection, you’ll want a variety of leaf shapes, sizes, and colors.

There are other things you can add to the contact paper, too:

Acorn tops
Grass
Seeds
Pine needles
Maple seeds (“helicopters”)
Thin tree bark
Small twigs
Flower petals
Seed pods
Feathers
Pinecone scales
Dandelion fluff
Moss
Fern fronds

Looking for all of those items really works on the visual scanning skills and the fine motor dexterity!

Big Sister is learning about the senses in her Pre-K Science class. We talked about the 5 senses a little bit, but mostly just enjoyed the warm sun and crunchy leaves.

Big Sister came up with the idea to use this as their “map”. I thought this was a pretty cool idea, and it coming all from her is so exciting. I love the imagination at this age!

Big Sister and Little Guy are really into Jake and the Neverland Pirates right now. Everything is a pirate adventure with pixie dust and gold doubloons!

We went off on our adventure around the yard to visit Acorn Island, Leaf Land, Flower Isle, and Pine Needle Island.

Such a fun day!

Looking for more ideas to play this time of year? Grab our Fall OT kit:

fall fine motor kit — Fall Fine Motor Kit

Fall Leaf Auditory Processing Activities

September 5, 2024September 5, 2024 by Colleen Beck OTR/L

Sensory Motor Leaf Activity. Image has hands crumbling fall leaves

These Fall Leaf Auditory Processing Activities are great for addressing listening skills in kids with or without auditory processing difficulties. Try this creative leaf idea at home or in the school yard to easily strengthen auditory abilities for better learning. Perfect for children of all ages and developmental levels, it’s a Fall themed activity that will help kids learn to listen to details!

For example, we love cutting Fall leaves to practice scissor skills. Another fun (and free) ideas is doing our leaf hole punch activity (also very good for working on scissor skills). And, don’t forget to download our Fall Leaf deep breathing activity for self regulation needs.

Let’s get started with the auditory processing info and how we can support this area of development with a handful of leaves…

Fall Auditory Processing Activities

Listening isn’t easy for everyone. For children with auditory processing disorders, learning is difficult. Imagine identifying and localizing sounds in a classroom that is filled with chattering children, scooting chair legs, pencils scratching on paper, and moving, sound-making children. The process of localizing sounds, recognizing sound patterns, discriminating between different letter sounds, and interpreting auditory information can be less than optimal for the child with difficulty processing the sound information that is coming in.

Try these listening activities using Fall’s leaves in a backyard auditory processing activity!

Try these activities to help kids who are auditory learners.

Finally, be sure to check out this resource on auditory sensitivities that impact learning.

Fall Leaf themed auditory processing activities for sensory needs in kids.

Auditory Processing Activities Using Fall Leaves

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When there are auditory processing difficulties present, a child may tend to have the following problems that interfere with learning:

Poor direction following
Appear confused
Distractibility
Short attention spans
Sensitive to loud sounds
Inconsistently aware of sounds
Poor listeners

To build and strengthen auditory skills, try using leaves this Fall. The crunchy, dry leaves that cover the ground are nature’s sensory tool when it comes to auditory processing needs.

We first talked about the fall leaves that are covering our lawn and read through this month’s Virtual Book Club for Kids book, (affiliate link) Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert. We talked about how the leaves of fall are all different colors, shapes, and sizes but have one thing in common: a great crunch when they are dry!

To do these sensory Fall Leaf Auditory Processing activity, you’ll need a bunch of leaves that have fallen from trees. Dry leaves will work best, so if the leaves are newly fallen, you will want to gather leaves up in advance. Let them dry indoors for several hours or overnight to get a great “crunch”.

Next, spread out the leaves in a big bin. An under the bed storage bin works great for this activity.

Show your child how to squeeze and crumble the leaves using their hands. Ask them to listen to the crunch of the leaves. Notice how the leaves crumble and give off a satisfying noise as they are shifted around in the bin.

Use the dry leaves to address auditory sensory needs:

Where is that leaf? Ask the child to sit in front of the bin (or if you are outside, sit in front of the adult. Ask the child to close their eyes. Using one hand to crunch leaves, ask the child to say or point to the side that the leaf crunch is coming from. Add a high/low and front/back component by moving around to crumble the leaves, too.
Leaf Pattern- Ask your child to gather a bunch of dry leaves. Using a pile of leaves of your own, complete a crunching pattern as you crumble leaves at different speeds and in each hand. The child can then repeat the pattern.
Sound Stop- Crumble and crunch the leaves. At intervals, stop crunching leaves and wait for a moment. Ask the child to say “Now!” when the leaves stop crumbling.
Falling Leaf Sounds- With the child’s eyes closed, crumble leaves high and low above and below the child. Ask the child to determine if the leaves are above them or below them as they determine the location of the sound.
Lots of Sound Leaves- Add other sounds to the background noise: talking, music, rattle toys, birds chirping, etc. Ask the child to determine when the sound of crunching leaves stop. You can also add a localization dimension to this activity to work on auditory figure ground awareness.

Kids can complete these activities on a one-on-one basis or in a group setting. For kids with sensory issues, or those that are sensitive to crumbling leaves, try using gardening gloves while crumbling.

How would you use Fall’s leaves in a sensory or auditory processing activity?

Add this Fall leaves breathing exercise to these Fall themed activities in therapy:

Fall slide deck for virtual sessions
Fall fine motor activities for hands-on play
Fall Fine Motor Kit for fine motor skill work, crafts, handwriting, and more
Fall Fine Motor Worksheets

Visit our auditory processing activities page for more creative ways to address auditory needs.

Address sensory needs while experiencing all that the Fall season has to offer! Grab your free copy of the Fall Sensory Experiences Booklet to create sensory diet activities that meet the needs of individuals in a Fall-themed way!

Looking for more sensory motor fun with a leaf theme? Get a copy of our free Fall Leaves slide deck AND printable Fall leaves visual motor skill worksheets. Get those Fall Leaves worksheets here.

You can also grab a copy of our Fall Leaves Therapy Kit inside The OT Toolbox Membership, or by purchasing our Therapy Kit Bundle.

Apple Seeds Fine Motor Activity

September 17, 2024September 5, 2024 by Colleen Beck OTR/L

fine motor activity: Dissect apple seeds

This fine motor apple seeds activity was a hit when we first did it back in 2016. My kids loved dissecting apple seeds from a sliced apple…and then eating the apple slices. Little did they know, but they were also working on quite a few fine motor skills with this little apple activity! We decided to explore an apple’s seeds noticing it’s details and talking about how every little thing that we do can be inspiring. We cut an apple in half and practiced a little fine motor skills (something we LOVE adding to creative play and learning activities!) and used tweezers to pull the seeds from the apple.

Here’s what we did to build hand strength with apple seeds…

Fine Motor Apple Seeds Activity

Using tweezers to pull out the seeds is a great way to practice tripod grasp that is needed for proper grip on a pencil. The action of squeezing and holding tweezers requires use of the intrinsic muscles of the hands, which are needed for endurance in coloring, writing, and manipulating clothing fasteners (all school-based activities that our kids will be doing this school year!)

This activity supports intrinsic hand strength to manipulate the tweezers with precision. Work on an open thumb web space and distal thump IP joint flexion when manipulating the tweezers. This activity also supports bilateral coordination, eye-hand coordination, and life skills: washing hands, cutting with a knife, slicing, etc.

Parenting and all of the details that goes into it is kind of like an apple and it’s seeds. They are so small but they are very much there. They are something small that grows into that huge and productive apple tree.

Fall and back-to-school seem to bring with it an apple theme. There isn’t a classroom out there that probably doesn’t have an apple in it somewhere, whether on a bulletin board, a desktop pencil holder, or a door decoration. Fall means back-to-school and back-to-school means an apple for the teacher!

Apple Fine Motor Seed Activity

While manipulating the tweezers to pick up and position the seeds from the apple, kids can develop and build their eye-hand coordination skills which are needed for reading, writing, performing hands-on learning activities, and performing tasks like turning the pages in a book or manipulating papers and books in a desk.

What a great Fall themed occupational therapy activity for back-to-school this apple activity is!

While my daughter and I worked on this fine motor apple activity, we chatted about the seeds and how they grow from tiny little things into big apple trees. Here’s another apple tree activity that kids this age will love.

We talked about our family and how it’s grown and how each of us in the family continues to grow. We even talked about the jobs and responsibilities that each of us has in our family. I asked her about what she thought about how we do those jobs. There were some funny responses: “Moms work hard. You do a lot of laundry”, and “She does a lot of making messes” (referring to her two year old sister)!

They notice every little thing. It’s those little details of life that don’t go unnoticed. They pick up on words, facial expressions, phrases, feelings, and social interactions. Then there are the routines. If one little detail of a typical daily routine is omitted, they notice. When day to day household jobs and activities happen, they notice.

Our kids are perceptive. They see all and they are learning. They are watching us and they are learning from us. It can be overwhelming as a parent to have these little people who are growing and learning based on what they see us do. It can be a hard job to raise children who are kind, truthful, and generous. Being a parent is a big responsibility.

It can also be amazing and beautiful to know that our littlest actions are inspiring our kids to be great.

Knowing that back-to-school means a change in routine from the lazy days of summer to even more “jobs” for parents (Helloooo, packing lunches, washing school clothes, preparing school supplies, signing 235 school forms, and helping with homework!), it can be even MORE overwhelming to head back into the school year.

More Apple Fine Motor

After you’ve dissected your apple seeds, why not extend the fun? Use our Apple Therapy Kit to work on fine motor dexterity, coordination skills motor planning, patterns, coloring skills and much more.

Grab a copy of the Apple Therapy Kit here.

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