March 17, 2026 - The OT Toolbox

This DIY light box for tracing is an easy light box we put together in minutes. All you need is an under the bed storage container and a string of lights to make a tracing tool that kids will love. There are benefits to tracing and this tool is a fun way to build fine motor skills and visual motor skills as a visual motor skill leading to better handwriting.

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DIY Light Box for Kids

A DIY light box is a simple and effective tool that can be used for learning, play, and creativity. Light boxes provide a bright surface that makes it easier to see lines, shapes, and images for tracing or visual exploration. You can easily create a light box at home using materials like a plastic storage bin, LED lights, and a translucent lid.

This type of setup is especially helpful for kids because it makes activities more engaging and visually clear. A homemade light box can be used for tracing, drawing, sensory play, and even early writing activities.

DIY Light Box for Tracing

A DIY light box for tracing is perfect for helping children practice handwriting, drawing, and visual motor skills. The light shining through the surface allows kids to clearly see letters, shapes, or pictures placed underneath a sheet of paper.

This makes it easier for children to trace lines accurately, which supports motor planning and control. A DIY tracing box can be used for tracing alphabet letters, numbers, shapes, and simple drawings. It is a great tool for kids who are just beginning to learn how to write or who need extra visual support.

Sensory Light Box and Tracing Table Ideas

A sensory light box adds an extra layer of engagement by combining visual input with hands-on exploration. Kids can place different materials on the light surface, such as colored shapes, beads, or translucent objects, to explore how light changes the appearance of items.

You can also use your light box as a tracing table by placing worksheets or drawings underneath paper. This creates a bright, inviting workspace that encourages focus and creativity. Sensory light boxes are especially helpful for children who benefit from visual and tactile learning experiences.

Can You Make Your Own Light Box?

Yes, you can absolutely make your own light box at home with simple materials. Many DIY versions use:

A clear or translucent storage bin
LED strip lights or push lights. You can also use a tablet or studio lights (a video ring light found at many stores)
Wax paper or parchment paper (to diffuse light)
A flat surface lid

By placing lights inside the bin and covering the top with a translucent surface, you can create an affordable and functional light box. This DIY option works well for home use, classrooms, or therapy settings.

Can I Use My iPad as a Light Box?

Yes, an iPad or tablet can be used as a simple light box alternative. By increasing the brightness and displaying a white screen, the tablet can provide enough light for basic tracing activities.

However, there are some limitations. Tablets are smaller than most light boxes and may not provide as much working space. They are also more delicate, so supervision is important. A tablet can be a convenient option for quick tracing tasks, while a DIY light box offers a larger and more durable surface for regular use.

Reduce glare by upping the brightness when placing the tablet inside the plastic bin.

Specific Tracing Activity Ideas

Using a DIY light box for tracing opens up many opportunities for learning and skill development. Here are some beginner-friendly tracing ideas that parents, teachers, and therapists can start using right away:

Letter Tracing

Place alphabet worksheets under paper and have children trace uppercase and lowercase letters. This supports handwriting development and letter recognition.

Shape Tracing

Use simple shapes like circles, squares, triangles, and stars. This helps build pre-writing skills and visual motor coordination.

Name Tracing

Write a child’s name in large letters and have them trace over it. This is a motivating way to practice writing.

Picture Tracing

Trace simple pictures such as animals, vehicles, or objects. This supports creativity and drawing skills. Make sure you use white paper to see the objects.

Line and Pattern Tracing

Use straight lines, zig-zags, curves, and waves to build control and precision needed for writing.

Number Tracing

Practice forming numbers by tracing over large, clear models.

Themed Tracing Pages

Create seasonal or themed tracing sheets (weather, holidays, animals) to keep activities engaging.

Why Use a DIY Tracing Box?

A DIY tracing box makes learning more interactive and accessible. The light helps children see lines more clearly, which can reduce frustration and improve accuracy. This tool supports fine motor skills, visual tracking, and hand-eye coordination while making writing practice feel more like play.

DIY light box for tracing

A light box is a fun activity, and one you see in preschool classrooms, as it’s intended for hands-on play and exploring the senses. But did you know there are many benefits to using a light box for tracing (and other exploring play)?

Visual motor skills
Fine motor skills
Spatial awareness
Fine motor STEM (constructing, engineering, exploring how objects fit together, creating patterns, creating art (STEAM)
fine motor math skills (shapes, patterns, size awareness)
Sensory play
Bilateral coordination
Crossing midline
Visual perceptual skills
MORE!

How to Make a DIY Light Table for Tracing

This DIY Light Box was something I’ve seen around Pinterest and have wanted to try for a while…Once we had our Christmas lights outside, I thought we would definitely be doing this project after we pulled all of the lights back in. So, after we brought the Christmas lights in from the outside bushes, this was easy to put together for a cold evening’s play!

You need just two items to make a DIY light table:

(Amazon affiliate links)

Strand of white Christmas lights
Clear, plastic under-the-bed storage bin

Important: The under the bed storage bin needs to be made of clear plastic or have just a slight opaque color to the plastic. Also, the top should be smooth. Many storage bins have textured surface or a white surface. The flat, smooth lid is important for sensory play as well as tracing with paper on the DIY light table. This brand (affiliate link) is a good one to use.

Instructions to make a DIY light box:

Plug in the lights.
Place them into the bin.
Either cut a hole in the base of the bin for the lights to go through or cut a small notch into the lid so the strand of lights can go under the lid.

To make this homemade light box safer and not use plug in lights, you can use battery operated button lights (affiliate link) inside the storage bin. Or, there are many battery operated LED lights available now too. These are a great idea because many of them have a color-changing capability and can be operated from an app on your phone.

IMPORTANT: This homemade light box project should always be done under the supervision of an adult. The lights can get warm inside the bin and they should be unplugged periodically.

This is not a project that should be set up and forgotten about. The OT Toolbox is not responsible for any harm, injury, or situation caused by this activity. It is for educational purposes only. Always use caution and consider the environment and individualized situation, including with this activity. Your use of this idea is your acceptance of this disclaimer.

I put all of the (already bundled-up) strands of Christmas lights …seriously, this does not get much easier…into an under-the-bed storage bin, connected the strands, and plugged in!

DIY light box for tracing

A DIY light box made with Christmas lights

Once you put the top on, it is perfect for tracing pictures!

Tracing pictures on a light table

This is so great for new (or seasoned) hand-writers. They are working on pencil control, line awareness, hand-eye coordination…and end up with a super cool horse picture they can be proud of!

Use printable coloring pages and encourage bilateral coordination to hold the paper down. You can modify the activity by taping the coloring page onto the plastic bin lid.

Big Sister LOOOOVED doing this! And, I have to say, that she was doing the tracing thing for so long, that we had to turn the lights off because the bin was getting warm.

Other ways to use a DIY Light Table

We went around the house looking for cool things to place on top of the bin. Magnetic letters looked really neat with the light glowing through…Baby Girl had a lot of fun playing with this.

You can add many different items onto the DIY light table:

Magnetic letters (the light shines through them slightly)
Sand for a tracing table- We cover how to use a sand writing tray in another blog post and all the benefits of tracing in a sensory medium. With the lights under the tracing area, this adds another multisensory component to the learning.
Shapes (Magnatiles would work well)
Feathers
Coins
Blocks
A marble run

What a great learning tool…Shapes:

Letter Identification, spelling words:

Color and sensory discrimination:

…All in a new and fun manner! We had a lot of fun with this, but have since put our Christmas lights back up into the attic. We will be sure to do this one again next year, once the lights come back out again 🙂

Please: if you do make one of these light boxes, keep an adult eye on it, as the box did warm up…not to burning warmth, but I would worry about the lights becoming over heated. This is NOT something that kids should play with unsupervised!

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.

Working on fine motor skills, visual perception, visual motor skills, sensory tolerance, handwriting, or scissor skills? Our Fine Motor Kits cover all of these areas and more.

Check out the seasonal Fine Motor Kits that kids love:

Letters Fine Motor Kit — Summer Fine Motor Kit

Kit de motricidad fina de verano — Summer Fine Motor Kit

Or, grab one of our themed Fine Motor Kits to target skills with fun themes:

Want access to all of these kits…and more being added each month? Join The OT Toolbox Member’s Club!

Today, we have a rainbow pipe cleaner craft that builds skills and uses a common craft items you probably have in your occupational therapy supplies: pipe cleaners and beads. Add this activity to your rainbow themed activities for supporting development.

Rainbow Pipe Cleaner Craft for Kids

This rainbow pipe cleaner craft is a fun and simple activity that kids love. Using colorful materials and easy steps, children can create bright rainbow designs while building important fine motor skills. This craft works well in classrooms, at home, or in therapy sessions and is a great option for seasonal themes, weather units, or creative play.

A pipe cleaner rainbow craft is especially engaging because it combines hands-on building with creativity. Kids can bend, twist, and shape materials into arches, creating a rainbow that they can display or use in pretend play. This type of craft encourages problem-solving and supports hand strength as children manipulate the materials.

Materials for a Pipe Cleaner Rainbow Craft

To create a simple rainbow, gather:

Rainbow pipe cleaners (or rainbow fuzzy sticks)
Paper or cardboard base
Glue or tape
Cotton balls (for clouds)
Scissors

Children can arrange the pipe cleaners into a rainbow shape and attach them to paper. Adding cotton balls at each end creates a cloud effect and makes the finished craft even more fun and visually appealing.

Fine Motor Benefits of This Craft

A rainbow pipe cleaner craft is more than just a fun activity. It supports important developmental skills. Bending and twisting pipe cleaners strengthens hand muscles needed for writing. Positioning the rainbow pieces helps with visual motor skills and spatial awareness.

This pipe cleaner rainbow craft also encourages finger isolation and coordination, which are important for tasks like handwriting, buttoning, and using tools in the classroom.

Pipe Cleaner Rainbow Craft Ideas for Kids

This pipe cleaner rainbow craft is a great activity for kids who love hands-on, creative projects. Using bright, bendable materials, children can build a simple rainbow arch while exploring the color of the rainbow in a fun and meaningful way. This activity works well in classrooms, at home, or in therapy sessions and can be adapted for different ages and skill levels.

To get started, gather rainbow pipe cleaners, cotton balls, and a sturdy base like paper or cardboard. Children can shape each red pipe cleaner and additional colors into curved lines to form a rainbow. Once the arch is complete, add cotton balls at each end to represent clouds. This adds a soft texture and makes the finished craft more engaging.

For assembly, younger children can use glue or tape, while adults may choose to use a hot glue gun for a stronger hold (with supervision). The process of bending, shaping, and attaching the pipe cleaners makes this a colorful pipe cleaner craft that supports fine motor skills and creativity at the same time.

This pipe cleaner rainbow craft is not only visually appealing but also supports important developmental skills. Kids practice hand strength, coordination, and bilateral hand use as they manipulate the materials. It’s a great activity for encouraging creativity while reinforcing concepts like color sequencing and visual organization.

If you follow this blog, you know that we love easy fine motor activities. This bead and pipe cleaner rainbow is one of those fun, easy, and creative ways to play while developing fine motor skills. Kids can work on so many fine motor skills and hand strength while completing crafts and activities with beads and pipe cleaners. We pulled out our huge bin of beads and got busy with this fun Spring rainbow project.

Pipe Cleaner and Bead Rainbow Craft

We always have pony beads, wooden beads, and jingle bells in our craft supply closet. They really came in handy to make our rainbow jingly, textured, and fun!

Fine Motor skills with rainbow pipe cleaners

We started with a bunch of pipe cleaners
in rainbow colors. I bent them a little to make a little rainbow shape, but you don’t need to do that before beading.

The kids sorted through the beads to find matching beads. Baby Girl loved adding the bells to her colors.

How pretty are these beads??

RELATED READ: Try these neat pincer grasp activities to develop fine motor skills.

Fine Motor Skills with Beading

Manipulating beads on pipe cleaners is a great fine motor activity for toddlers

Threading the beads onto pipe cleaners is a great way to reinforce fine motor skills with toddlers and preschoolers. We love it for focusing on finger dexterity.

(Older kids love this activity too! Big Sister came home from school later in the day and had to make a few colors of her own!)

Kids need to manipulate beads with both hands together in a coordinated manner. Bilateral Hand Coordination is a key skill for many self-care and school-based tasks. You couldn’t tie shoes, manage buttons and zippers, cut paper, or hold paper when writing without using both hands in a coordinated way.

Picking up the beads uses a pincer grasp (pinching the beads between the tips of the index finger and thumb. This is a precise grasp and picking out one bead among many in a tray really works those fine motor skills.

To thread the bead on a pipe cleaner, the child really works on their tripod grasp. What a great way to work on pre-handwriting skills!

Our rainbow is almost finished!

To get a little more fine motor work into this activity, I pulled out a sheet of Styrofoam. I helped the kids by poking a hole into the board with a pencil. Then, I showed them how to push the end of the pipe cleaners into the holes to make a rainbow. Little Guy was my helper and engineer in this part of the activity. He liked to tell me the order of the colors we needed and helped with bending the arches of our rainbow.

Our rainbow is ready for playing! Little Guy pulled out our leprechaun peg dolls from our St. Patrick’s Day Small World and added them to the rainbow. There was a little sliding under the rainbow and some leprechaun horse play between the two peg dolls. Typical boy stuff 🙂

Looking for more rainbow activities? Try one of these colorful ideas: