Coming up with fun occupational therapy activities for the winter months can be tricky, but this winter paper contains a whole winter theme making activity planning easy. This can be a dark and dreary time for many. Take this time to create amazing lesson plans for your learners! Add this activity to your winter occupational therapy ideas.
Today’s free downloadable PDF, Mitten Paper – Color and Find Modified Paper, will be a great addition to your winter themed lesson plan.
Looking for a consistent way to support fine motor skills all year?
This yearlong fine motor system includes seasonal activity kits and monthly data collection tools to support planning and progress monitoring.
If fine motor planning and data collection feel overwhelming, you’re not alone.
This done-for-you yearlong bundle organizes seasonal activities and monthly screening tools in one system.
Get the Yearlong Fine Motor and Data Collection Bundle today!
MITTEN PAPER
The Mitten Paper printable packet is simple in design, yet provides countless activities and skill building opportunities. Did you get a chance to read (Amazon affiliate link) The Mitten by Jan Brett? This story, featuring one amazing mitten, and a forest full of animals, is a great starting point to a great treatment plan.
“When Nicki drops his white mitten in the snow, he goes on without realizing that it is missing.
One by one, woodland animals find it and crawl in; first, a curious mole, then a rabbit, a badger and others, each one larger than the last. Finally, a big brown bear is followed in by a tiny brown mouse and what happens next makes for a wonderfully funny finish.”
Many students, who already dread writing, have difficulty coming up with stories from their imagination. Writing prompts can help students start their stories. Add a story like The Mitten to this writing activity and hopefully the ideas will come easier. What kind of prompts could you write from this story?
Upcoming posts to the OT Toolbox are going to be featuring writing prompt ideas for each month and season. Keep following social media, and check your inbox to keep track of these posts.
How does this support differentiated instruction?
Differentiation means adjusting the content, the process, the learning environment according to the student. OT professionals are really good at using one craft or activity to do this and meeting the needs of their whole caseload.
- Adjusting line size and structure
- Modifying task expectations
- Allowing multiple entry points into the activity
- Targeting one or two goals at a time rather than everything at once
Some students may focus primarily on scanning and counting. Others may focus on spacing and letter placement. Advanced learners may write paragraphs or create graphs.
You are meeting students where they are, while moving them forward.
HOW TO USE THE MITTEN PAPER WORKSHEETS
Writing prompts and handwriting are not the only ways to use these cute Mitten Paper Color and Find Worksheets.
- Test your learner’s visual perceptual skills by having them find all of the matching items, and circle or color them. Learners can scan for multiple items at once, or one at a time. Dot markers would be a great tool for young learners to stamp as they find the hidden mittens.
- Learners can count how many mittens they find of each variety, or the total number of mittens, then write the number and key words on the lined paper (example: 4 snowflake mittens).
- Create a graph of all the mittens found. A pie chart, bar graph, or line graph would be a great way to add STEM to this activity. Learners can cut out mittens to glue onto their graph, or use numbers.
- Use the pages to practice sight or spelling words
- Create a winter journal using the writing pages
- Three different types of paper to use with levels of learners
- Make this part of a larger lesson plan including gross motor, sensory, social, executive function, or other fine motor skills
- Write a report about mittens, types of mittens, the history of mittens, different memories or stories about mittens
- Make a gross motor game of running around collecting matching pairs of mittens
- Practice sorting with real mittens
- Work on self help skills by practicing donning mittens
- Do challenges while wearing mittens
- The list of possibilities is virtually endless. Build onto your lesson plan each year, fine tuning what works and what was not as fun as you had imagined
SKILLS ADDRESSED USING THE MITTEN PAPER ACTIVITY WORKSHEETS
- Kinesthetic awareness – learning by doing
- Hand strength and dexterity – staying on the lines builds hand muscles and develops muscle control
- Visual motor skills –Combining what is seen visually and what is written motorically. This takes coordination to be able to translate information from visual input to motor output. Coloring, drawing, counting, cutting, and tracing are some visual motor skills.
- Eye-hand coordination
- Pasting using glue stick or drippy glue with accuracy
- Visual Perception – Developing figure ground to see where one item starts and finishes, discrimination to pick out slight differences, scanning to find all answers, and form constancy to determine an object is the same if it is smaller or turned.
- Sequencing – Will your learner scan in a haphazard pattern all over the page, or be more methodical?
- Proprioception – pressure on paper, grip on pencil
- Social/Executive Function – Following directions, turn taking, task completion, orienting to details, neatness, multi-tasking, attending to task, and impulse control can be addressed using this Warm Winter Clothing Printable PDF.
- Handwriting: Letter formation – correctly forming the letters top to bottom. Letter sizing – correctly fitting the letters into the size boxes. Spacing, line placement, directionality, and spelling are also addressed
- Fine motor strengthening, hand development, arch development, separating sides of the hand, and grasping pattern
- Bilateral coordination – remembering to use their “helper hand” to hold the paper while writing. Using one hand for a dominant hand instead of switching back and forth is encouraged once a child is in grade school or demonstrates a significant strength in one or the other
- Executive function, following directions, attention, attention to detail, focus, sequencing, planning, task completion, compliance, behavior, and work tolerance are all important skills to learn
Remember, you can address all of these skills at once, or focus on one or two. Some of the skills above will be addressed without your conscious knowledge, while other skills will be directly attended to.
What skills are addressed beyond handwriting?
Differentiated paper activities like this support far more than letter formation.
Visual Motor & Visual Perception
- Eye-hand coordination
- Figure ground discrimination
- Visual scanning
- Form constancy
- Visual discrimination
Fine Motor & Strength
- Hand strength and dexterity
- Proprioceptive input through writing pressure
- Arch development
- Bilateral coordination (using the helper hand)
Executive Function
- Following directions
- Task completion
- Sequencing
- Attention to detail
- Work tolerance
Handwriting Skills
- Letter formation
- Letter sizing
- Spacing
- Line placement
- Directionality
- Spelling
The beauty of differentiated materials is that some skills are addressed naturally, while others can be intentionally targeted.
How can one worksheet address multiple developmental levels?
The Mitten Paper Color and Find Worksheets include three different types of writing lines, making it easy to differentiate based on student needs.
But writing prompts are only one way to use them.
You can:
- Have students scan and find matching mittens to work on visual perception
- Use dot markers for younger learners to stamp hidden items
- Count and record how many mittens were found (example: “4 snowflake mittens”)
- Create a bar graph, pie chart, or line graph to incorporate STEM
- Practice sight words or spelling
- Build a winter journal
- Write a report about mittens or winter clothing
- Integrate gross motor by collecting matching mitten pairs around the room
- Practice donning mittens for self-help skill development
One printable becomes a full differentiated lesson plan.
Why does modified paper matter in handwriting instruction?
Modified paper supports visual boundaries, spatial organization, and motor planning. For many learners, standard lined paper provides too little structure. When lines are unclear or spacing is inconsistent, letter size, alignment, and placement are affected.
Modified paper can help with:
- Letter sizing
- Line placement
- Spacing between words
- Directionality
- Visual organization
Providing differentiated paper options allows students to build foundational handwriting skills with appropriate supports.
MORE WINTER RESOURCES
If winter has you in a slump, and it takes all you have just to get out of bed, the OT Toolbox has you covered with premade lesson plans and activities. The hard part is executing and documenting your treatment, let the OT Toolbox resources make planning a snap.
- Winter Fine Motor Kit
- Snowman Therapy Activity Kit
- Hot Chocolate Cut and Paste Craft
- Penguin Themed Activity Kit
- New Years Activities for Preschoolers
While it is no secret that I hate winter, I do like fun lesson plans to get me through it.
Victoria Wood, OTR/L is a contributor to The OT Toolbox and has been providing Occupational Therapy treatment in pediatrics for more than 25 years. She has practiced in hospital settings (inpatient, outpatient, NICU, PICU), school systems, and outpatient clinics in several states. She has treated hundreds of children with various sensory processing dysfunction in the areas of behavior, gross/fine motor skills, social skills and self-care. Ms. Wood has also been a featured speaker at seminars, webinars, and school staff development training. She is the author of Seeing your Home and Community with Sensory Eyes.
