Managing Resistance in Therapy

how to engage a resistant child in therapy

So often, we see a child of therapy evaluation and find a need for therapy intervention, but that’s where the resistance begins. Here we are talking how to manage resistance in therapy, and not only that; but how to engage with kids so that we get the truly motivated buy-in for engaging in occupational therapy interventions

We’ve all had to pull some magic out our our OT hat to engage a resistant child in therapy. The thing is that working on hard things is…hard! Let’s go over some therapy activities for resistant clients. We’ll also cover examples of client resistance in therapy. You might have seen some of these a time or two in your therapy sessions!

Address client resistance in therapy

Resistance in therapy

If you’ve worked in OT for even a short time, you have probably experienced resistance from your clients. There are many reasons for barriers to participation in occupational therapy intervention. From differing perceptions to the outcomes of OT interventions, to not understanding what occupational therapy is and what it can do for the client, understanding therapy process is just one aspect of client resistance. 

There are so many different reasons why a therapy client my object therapy participation. Encouraging participation in therapy sessions and functional engagement in daily tasks can be a couple of underlying areas that we are trying to address in therapy sessions. But what’s more is that beyond client resistance, there may truly be functional occupations that are being missed or delayed as a result of resistance to therapy.

Additionally, when children are asked to participate in a therapy activity or to stop doing a preferred activity and move to another, sometimes challenging, task. In this way the transitions for children to move from preferred to non-preferred activities is sometimes hard to get their “buy in,”.

It doesn’t have to be that way, however.

Let’s cover various techniques to support children showing resistance in therapy sessions. We’ll also cover how to support follow transitions and make engaging in therapy fun through meaningful games and some simple resources to utilize to make sure therapy activities happen smoothly throughout the therapy session. 

examples of client resistance in therapy

I’m sure, if you’ve worked with kids before, that you’ve seen a few (or all) of these examples of client resistance in your therapy sessions.

  • Complain about therapy activities
  • Express doubts about the therapy’s effectiveness
  • Challenge the therapist’s suggestions
  • Question the purpose of the therapy
  • Non-Compliance with therapy tasks
  • Refuse to participate
  • Skips therapy sessions
  • Silent during therapy
  • Refuses to engage
  • Changes the subject
  • Sarcasm or joking as a way to avoid participating
  • Hostile behaviors
  • Make excuses
  • Tantrum or meltdown
  • Leaving the room or therapy area
  • Ignoring instructions
  • Complaining about therapy tasks

Other things like body language or bad language can be examples of resistance to participate in therapy, too. In a few cases, I’ve experienced physical aggression during therapy sessions. These situations were with students who had behavior plans in place by the school. Some students had a history or physical aggression across all classrooms. If there are events like hitting, kicking, biting, spitting, throwing objects, or other physically aggressive acts, then therapy sessions would stop for the safety of the student and others, including myself as the therapist.

It can depend on the student, however, a behavior plan will have a list to follow in various situations, and there might even be a paraprofessional that is with the student at all times.

Why do clients show resistance in therapy?

Before we get into strategies to encourage functional participation, let’s break down why we may see failure to participate during therapy sessions.

Therapy makes the client look and feel “different” than everyone else- Going to a therapy session is not something that every child or teen does, so attending therapy can be a reason that makes them look different. This can lead to resistance to participate and a feeling of dread when it comes time for therapy sessions. 

Especially for our middle school students receiving OT services, and for individuals who are very much aware that they are doing something that not everyone else is, this can be a big deal.

Don’t understand occupational therapy- Many times, we as therapy professionals are ready to evaluate or treat a resistant client and the individual states something like, “why are you here?” or “what is occupational therapy” or “who are you and why are you asking me these questions?”!

Do any of these questions sound familiar? Many times clients/patients/students are referred to occupational therapy evaluations without knowledge. This is the case in hospital or clinical situations when OT orders are part of the inpatient process. In the school based scenario, a student is referred to occupational therapy by the IEP team or a child’s parent. Refer to differences between an IEP and 504 for more information.

Many times, the individual has no idea they are going to be seen by OT. This can lead to refusal and a resistance to participate. Whether you are working with a child in the classroom setting in a push in model or pulling a child out of the classroom, this can be a reason that resistance to participate in therapy occurs. 

Therapy is hard- Therapy tasks aren’t always easy, especially if your child is participating in an activity that they love doing. If asked to step away from an activity before they are done, they may become upset and non compliant. This can be true with the child working on handwriting tasks or working on strengthening. It is HARD to write and copy all of those sentences. It requires a lot of concentrated effort doing something difficult.

The same is true for strengthening tasks that require engagement and consistent use of muscle groups. It’s easier to regress to that comfortable and “easy” positioning. As an adult, if you are working on a project on your computer, how much advance notice would you like before you have to finish what you are working on and move to a new activity?

Therapy is a change from the normal day to day activities- Even if the typical day to day functions is something that is being worked on, including participation and functional performance, it can be a change from the “norm” to engage in therapy sessions.

Would you appreciate your coworker walking in while you are typing mid sentence, closing your laptop lid, taking you by the hand stating “it is time for the staff meeting. Let’s go!”

Or would you rather they say “just letting you know that you have five minutes before the staff meeting, see you there!”

My guess is that you would like to have some advanced notice before you have to stop working. This is the same for a child who is playing. When they are actively engaged in an activity, they have a plan and don’t appreciate being interrupted in the middle of it. This could be anything from playing with play dough, to completing a puzzle or pretend play. 

Therapy challenges the unexpected- Sometimes when kids or teens participate in therapy sessions, they don’t know what to expect. They know that they are working on specific skills, but what if that skill of task is so new and novel that the fear of the unknown exists.

This can be particularly true with things such as toileting. For the child with interoceptive sensory considerations, they may have no idea how a bowel movement on the toilet feels.

This fear of the unknown can be a real area of resistance. 

Clients Resist certain parts of therapy

What if children don’t want to stop what they are doing and resists participation in some therapy activities?

You have probably seen this in action when a child LOVES a specific therapy game or activity. It might be that they love anything to do with a therapy swing. But what might really be happening is that the child is overly focused on that item because it’s been a cause for positive feedback in the past.

Or maybe, if the item is a sensory activity like a sensory swing, that the child receives the sensory input that they crave.

Or, perhaps the preferred activity is a highly motivating activity because it’s a theme or character that the child really loves. In these cases it can be very difficult to move from the preferred activity to a non-preferred activity. 

In many cases, the child even becomes overstimulated or dysregulated as a result of focusing on that one particular activity, or as a result of reciting too much stimulation or a certain type of sensory input from that one activity. 

When a child feels like they don’t want to transition to a new activity or that they didn’t have enough time to finish the task they were completing, they may become upset and hard to calm down. 

In these cases, using a positive redirection activity that will give children the ability to comfort themselves and they are feeling overwhelmed.

 Giving them time and space to calm down is very important, especially in a non-threatening way. If the child is upset, part of the therapeutic process is to support the child to calm down, identifying feelings and emotions, and offering support. Therapy professionals can guide them through communicating how they are feeling and participating in solving the problem at hand. 

how to engage a resistant child in therapy

How to engage a Resistant Child in therapy

the child that resists therapy sessions is struggling. But that doesn’t mean the therapy strategies and goals are not appropriate!

Whether you are working in a clinic, hospital setting, or school-based, resistance to therapy happens. When giving instructions and laying out transition expectations to young children, it is important to keep in mind their individual and collective developmental age range in order to give clear and concise directions.

The following are strategies to engage the child or teen showing resistance in therapy. 

This can include components of getting buy-in that are important to include in every direction given to a young child. 

1.Clear and concise expectations- Having a plan of expectations and then using clear directions in those expected task completion is a key way to support engagement.

Use these tips to support and give clear expectations with clients:

  • When giving a statement or direction to a child, make sure that it is easy to understand.
  • Keep in mind the age of a child and their receptive language skills.
  • Using one or two step directions, children will be able to remember what is being told to them.
  • When giving the directions, make sure you are in the same room as the child (not yelling “it’s time for dinner” from the kitchen area), preferably kneeling down at their eye level.

Additionally, certain tools can support the “flow” of therapy sessions and offer a visual cue for participants with concrete expectations. Strategies that can support these expectations in therapy include:

2. Stick to Routines. When we work on daily routines, such as bedtime, clean up time, morning routines, leaving the house, etc., we use routines to make sure that the routine of events is the same every time. This strategy can carryover to therapy interventions. Using a similar routine for therapy sessions can include premeditated steps in order to allow children to feel successful and prepared for what is coming next.

Here is a great example of a therapy session routine:

  1. Arrive to therapy
  2. Check in
  3. Sit in the same spot in the waiting room
  4. Move to the therapy clinic area
  5. Hellos and talk about last session
  6. Discuss areas that the client wants to work on
  7. Warm up activities
  8. Address identified needs
  9. Preferred activity
  10. Cool down activities
  11. Discuss home program and plan for next visit

Another schedule strategy that can be used for countering resistance to participation in therapy includes staggering preferred activities with non-preferred tasks. For the child that struggles with handwriting and really is resistant to handwriting tasks, you can stagger preferred activities (while selecting options that also address underlying areas of need or other goal areas). You can come up with a treatment intervention plan that includes options for the client to select from that are both preferred and non-preferred.

This strategy can look like:

  • Arrive to therapy
  • Check-in
  • Select activities to address based on goal areas
  • Preferred activity
  • Non-preferred activity
  • Preferred activity
  • Non-preferred activity
  • Preferred activity
  • Cool down activities
  • Discuss home program and plan for next visit

One of the best ways to make transitioning from a preferred activity to a non-preferred activity is to make it FUN! When the transition process is exciting, children will join right in. 

You can find more examples of daily routines that are used for functional participation here on the website. 

3. Utilize Auditory Cues– To make sure that the child in therapy hears what you are saying, when you are giving them the directions, have them stop and look at you.

A fun way to do this with young children is to have a saying such as “1,2,3 FREEZE” where they put their finger over their lips and look at you. There are so many other fun “stop and listen” sayings and games that you can find in this video.

4. Creativity- If you’ve ever worked with kids before, then you know that engaging a resistant child in therapy sessions requires creativity, flexibility, and patience. The kids we serve are struggling in some way (developmentally, cognitively, with sensory processing, or many other ways) and that impacts the way they do things they need to be doing or want to do (This is the functional aspect of OT).

When we work with kids on these challenges, it can be hard for them to actually do the things that we ask them to do. For example, your student with handwriting goals might think “Writing is hard, so why do I want to do hard things?”

It’s our job as the OT professional to help our clients and patients to feel comfortable while building skills. That might mean using less of a structured session and more of a safe space where the child can express themselves.

We do this with our OT thinking caps on, and sometimes that requires some real creativity.

Some of the ways I like to have fun in occupational therapy sessions to make kids feel more comfortable (while being creative about working on those goals) includes:

  1. Play: Play is the work of the child at all ages. You can use play activities, games, toys, and creative activities that align with therapeutic goals.
  2. Use their Interests: Tailor your OT activities to the child’s interests. That might mean using specific therapy themes or writing interests-based handwriting lists. When you incorporate interests into OT sessions, it can increase engagement and motivation.
  3. Sensory Strategies: The benefit with using sensory activities like slime, sensory bins, etc. is that it is engaging and motivating. Some kids love (and crave) this sensory input.
  4. Movement: Some of our kids LOVE to move. They crave movement. You can incorporate activities that involve movement, such as obstacle courses, yoga, or simple exercises. These can help the child focus, reduce anxiety, and improve their mood.
  5. Storytelling and Role-Play: You can help your therapy client to participate by including storytelling or role-play. This can help them express emotions, practice social skills, and work through challenging scenarios in a safe and controlled environment. Floor play does this to meet OT goals.
  6. Crafts: Use OT crafts to help kids to express their feelings and experiences. Some kids love drawing, painting, or sculpting. This can be particularly effective for children who may have difficulty expressing themselves verbally.
  7. Technology and Digital Tools: The draw of the screen is real! But with recent advances in technology, we as OTs can use that to our advantage to support very functional skills. Use OT apps to promote the skills that need development.
  8. Choice and Control: A simple choice board can do wonders! Give children some control over their therapy sessions by allowing them to choose between activities. This can help increase their sense of autonomy and engagement.
  9. Build a Therapeutic Relationship: You learned about “therapeutic use of self” in your OT classes. That tool is a real strength! Spend time building rapport and trust with the child. Show genuine interest in their thoughts, feelings, and interests. A strong therapeutic relationship can reduce resistance and increase engagement. We have some rapport activities in a blog post about back-to-school because that time of year can be a time to strengthen those OT/student relationships.

Games for Resistance in Therapy

Here are four games that make participating in therapy interventions fun. Use these ideas to counter resistance to therapy activities.

  1. Timer Games – Using timer games are great for making clean up time fun. These games include: “How fast can you clean up all the toys?” or “Can Charlee put all the blue blocks away faster than Henry can put all the green ones away?” When children are engaged in a game during clean up, it’s not so boring!  
  1. Movement Songs – Pairing movement and music together to get children to a specific place will make the transition very exciting. I love using songs like “We are the dinosaur marching marching” or  “Flap your arms like a butterfly to the line” or “Jump like a bunny  all the way, over to the _____.” When pairing a movement activity with a direction and melody, children learn that transitioning to the new activity location is just as fun as what they have been doing! 
  1. Jobs – Making children an active part of the next activity, but giving them a very specific job, makes them feel important and gives them purpose for moving to the next activity. For example, if you want your child to transition to nap time, they can help pick out the books that are going to be read to the children, or they can put a new pillow case on their pillow. If children are transitioning to mealtime, they can set the table, or hand the other children their name cards. There are so many different jobs that allow children to become part of the new activity.
  1. Visual Supports- When creating a routine for the classroom or at home, there are several ways to include visual supports to make transitions easier for the children and for you. Using a visual schedule will make your days so much calmer! You can create a visual schedule for different parts of your day (such as morning and bedtime routines) or for your full day. The visual schedule will help children understand what is coming next. 

Every day children are asked to transition at least 50, maybe 100 times. That is A LOT! Children don’t always have a lot of control over what is going to happen during their day, but allowing them time in between new activities, making the transition fun, and giving them a job to feel important, will make transitions feel less like a chore. As adults, if we stay consistent, giving children directions while being mindful of their developmental level, our days will become less stressful and more fun!

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.

Shamrock St. Patrick’s Day Balance Beam for Vestibular Sensory Input

Make a balance beam easier or harder

This article on shamrock balance beam ideas was originally written in March 2016. We updated it in March 2024 and included new information on how to grade up or down a balance beam, and balance beam ideas for preschoolers and toddlers.

This shamrock balance beam uses foam shamrocks we found at the dollar store. It’s a fun indoor balance beam to use with a St. Patrick’s Day theme or a Spring theme in occupational therapy. In fact, you could use this gross motor activity along with our Spring sensory walk and you’ve got a great obstacle course for therapy sessions.

This shamrock activity is a great balance beam for preschoolers because when the child steps along the shamrocks, their movements are very precise. One way that I actually like to use it as a path to follow a few leprechaun activities in OT sessions, too!

Shamrock Path Balance Beam Activity

There is just something about easy sensory play that makes mom and kids happy.  Balance beams are a way to incorporate vestibular sensory input into a child’s day, allowing them to refocus, improve behavior and impulsivity, regulate arousal levels, improve attention, Improve balance, and help with posture

One thing we see a lot in schools or in therapy clinics is the need for vestibular input. There are sensory red flags that come up a lot. And while not every child has every red flag show up…and red flags might not mean there is for sure an issue that needs addressed. (This is where the OT eval comes into play!)

Some things to consider about vestibular challenges…

Children with vestibular problems might seem inattentive. These are the kiddos that appear lazy, showing excessive movements, anxious, or attention seeking. They might have trouble walking on uneven surfaces, changing positions, or resist certain positions.  

One way to address these needs is with a balance beam, like this Shamrock St. Patrick’s Day balance beam.

A while back we shared a snowflake balance beam for indoor vestibular sensory input…And we’ve been on a balance beam kick ever since! 

 Add these resources to the ones you can find here under sensory diet vestibular activities to meet the sensory needs of all kids. 

Try this Shamrock St. Patricks Day balance beam for vestibular sensory input.

St. Patrick’s Day Shamrock Activity

children tiptoeing along a balance beam on the floor



This post contains affiliate links.  


For our balance beam, we used foam shamrocks along the floor. Position them as close to each other as your child needs.  To extend the activity a bit, move them further apart or add curved and turns to your balance beam.

For our balance beam, we used foam shapes. You can adapt this to any theme by cutting foam shapes or using any type of foam piece in place of the shamrock. Then, you can help preschoolers and toddlers develop skills all year round, with the same activity.

It’s very possible to create a beginner balance beam using shapes or tape along the floor.

You can modify a balance beam to make the balance activity easier, or harder, depending on the needs of the child.

Check out the strategies below each section below. While we have them listed as toddler balance beam and preschool balance beam, this is just a way to classify the modification and activity tips to support developmental progression. Don’t worry about the names “toddler” and “preschooler”. This is just a developmental age range and you can definitely challenge balance and coordination skills at any age! Remember that the development of balance occurs through play.

Toddler Balance Beam

Walking along a balance beam can be a challenge for some kids with vestibular sensory needs.  This is a great balance beam for toddlers and preschoolers because it’s flat on the ground and not raised up at all like a foam balance beam or a gymnastics balance beam. 

You can really add some modifications to this activity to help a toddler gain skill sin balance and coordination. During toddlerhood that young children develop so many gross motor skills through play. My own kids loved this type of activity as 2 and 3 year olds!

Try these activity ideas to help motor skills development with a toddler:

  • Ask the toddler to tip toe along the shapes
  • Use different color shapes and ask them to name the color or the shape. You can use any foam or paper piece, as long as they are stuck to the floor with a bit of tape.
  • Ask the toddler to hold their arms out at their shoulder height. 
  • Ask the toddler to walk sideways or backwards

To modify, or make the balance activity easier or harder:

  • Change the thickness of the balance line
  • Make the balance beam or balance line closer to the floor (flat on the floor) or raise it up with a board and blocks
  • Use bigger stepping stones or stepping images.
  • Encourage other movements or easier movements (hopping, tip toe, stepping, etc.)

Preschool Balance Beam

We love using this easy balance beam with preschoolers because you can really challenge preschool skills, too.

To further challenge your child, try some of these ideas:

  • Add arm motions.
  • Ask your child to look up at a fixed point instead of down at their feet.
  • Add curves and turns to the balance beam.
  • Position the shamrocks on pillows for an unsteady surface.
  • Raise the surface with a long board.
  • Try walking on tip toes, balls of the feet, or heels.
  • Walk the balance beam backwards or sideways.
  • Hop along the balance beam.  (Be sure to tape the shamrocks to the floor.
  • Use crab walking or other animal walks along the balance line
  • Include upper body movements along with walking

To modify, or make the balance activity easier or harder:

  • Encourage different walking movements
  • Make the shapes or the walking line thicker
  • Make the steps closer together
  • Use the suggestions above from the toddler section.
Try this Shamrock St. Patricks Day balance beam for vestibular sensory input.

More Vestibular Sensory activities you will love:

 

 
 
 

Vestibular Frisbee

Attention Exercises

Sensory Processing and Handwriting

Snowflake Balance Beam

Our favorite ways to work on gross motor skills:

Dinosaur Gross Motor Game

Brain Gym Bilateral Coordination

Gross Motor Apple Tree Balance Beam

How Balance Beams Help Kids

Core Strength and Attention

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.

Baking Soda Paints

baking soda paint

Many years ago (July 28, 2015 to be exact…this post has been updated!) we made this set of baking soda paints. It was a fun outdoor, creative painting activity and we painted on the driveway. I wanted to come back to this sensory painting idea again, because it’s such a fun way to be creative with kids. Plus, kids can mix up paints of their own and work on scooping and pouring with the ingredients and support those fine motor skills. I think it’s a fun idea you’ll want to check out!

baking soda paint

Baking Soda Paint

The amazement of watching a child’s face light up when science and discovery happens is like watching a light turn on.  

This baking soda and vinegar paint experiment is a creative painting and sensory way to explore science through painting.  My kids had so much fun exploring the chemical reaction of baking soda and vinegar with our bright and bold homemade paints. We ended up with vivid paintings and had a great time creating.

Be sure to read our article on why kids need messy play…this activity sure does support those needs!

And, this activity is a great one for adding to a messy playdate with friends. As an OT, I LOVE using this activity for so many goal areas!

STEAM Activity

One fun benefit of this activity is that it’s a STEAM activity. we’ve covered the benefits of fine motor STEM activities, but the creative painting aspect of using the baking soda paints adds an art component to the science, technology, engineering, art, and math.

We’ve use STEM activities before, including with our baking powder boats.

You might want to check out our baking soda snowmen sensory activity for another fun science activity.

Baking Soda and Vinegar Paints

This post contains affiliate links.  This post is part of our Learning with Free Materials series where we are sharing learning ideas for homeschoolers and school-extension activities using items that are free or mostly free (i.e. CHEAP or you already have in the home), and is part of the 31 Days of Homeschooling Tips as we blog along with other bloggers with learning at home tips and tools.

You’ll need just three ingredients to make these paints:

  • baking soda
  • Vinegar
  • Washable Poster Paint (This is my favorite brand of paint!)
  • Mini Muffin Tin (any containers will work, but you’ll want all of the paints near each other and enough compartments so that you can see the different shades made by slightly adjusting the amount of paint you add. 
  • Paper 
  • Popsicle sticks for mixing the paint and baking soda
  • Water 
  • Paint Brushes

How To make Baking Soda Paint

Ok, now that you’ve got your materials gathered, actually making the baking soda paint is really easy! This process is fun for kids to be involved with as well.

  1. First, mix together baking soda and water to create a thick paste.  You want it to be stir-able and moist.  Use the popsicle sticks to mix it together.
  2. Scoop the paste into the sections of the muffin tin with a spoon.  
  3. Add drops, globs, and dabs of different colored poster paint.  Adjust the amounts in the different sections so that you get a nice variety of shades.  
  4. Stir the paint into the paste.
  5. Next, pour off any excess water from the tops of the paste.  You want a nice, thick paste to remain.  

Then you are ready to paint! You can either start painting right away, OR you can let the paints harden. Allow the muffin tin paints to sit overnight. This will create a hard, tub of dried paint, almost like dry watercolors.

Baking soda and paint makes a great colorful painting mixture. We added a bit of vinegar to get a lovely fizz and pop to our paints!

This is such a fun way to explore the vinegar reaction with the baking soda paint.

Baking Soda Painting

Child mixing vinegar into baking soda paint with colorful painting on a driveway.

When you are ready to paint, you’ll need to prepare the vinegar.

Pour a small amount of vinegar into cups.  Use paint brushes to dab vinegar into the dried paints.  Watch the science reaction happen as you paint!

Mix baking soda, poster paints, and water to make baking soda paint

Adding more vinegar to the tubs of paint will give you a brighter hue as you paint.  You can get even more vivid colors by swiping chunks of moistened baking soda across the page.  And, what a textured piece of art this will be!

Child mixing vinegar in a cup with baking soda paint in a mini muffin tin

What is especially neat about these paints are that if you work quickly enough, you can see the bubbly reaction right on your art work.  Simply swipe the paint brush into the vinegar and then into the baking soda paints.  Quickly paint and your bubbles will dry onto the paper.

Child painting with baking soda paint on an easel

We taped a piece of paper onto an easel and painted on the vertical surface. This is a great activity for developing wrist stability and core strength.

Baking Soda Painting

How gorgeous is this work of art? The baking soda paint made vivid colors!

 
 
Make your own Baking Soda Vinegar reaction paints for bold and bright colored creative art for kids.
 
Use a mini muffin tin to make a whole set of baking soda paints. The colors are so vivid!


Looking for more baking soda experiments?  These are a few of our favorites:

 
 

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.

Rainbow Activities for Child Development

rainbow a

Here, you will find rainbow activities that are powerful and effective activities to help with child development. I’ve strived to pull together rainbow sensory activities, crafts, fine motor activities, visual motor activities, and movement ideas. Scroll through the various rainbow theme ideas to promote skills for all ages. These are great additions to your Spring occupational therapy activities!

One of our favorite ideas is a fruit loop rainbow craft, but you’ll love the others below, too.

We’ve also added a free printable therapy activity sheet with rainbow activities that can be used in planning therapy sessions. Scroll to the bottom of the blog post to grab this resource.

rainbow activities

These are developmental activities to add to your occupational therapy interventions.

Rainbow Activities for Therapy

Each rainbow therapy activity below is designed to promote multiple aspects of child development. These are powerful motor activities for developing areas that help kids with functional tasks, coordination, movement, and learning.

Rainbow activities for child development and occupational therapy interventions

Some of our favorite rainbow activities include colorful sensory bins, rainbow markers and crayons, and making rainbow crafts. The nice thing about using a rainbow theme in therapy is that you can use what you have on hand.

  • Sort paperclips or craft pom poms by color.
  • Pick a colored pencil out of a box and use it to write the name of the color.
  • Ask the students to name their favorite color and then use it as a rainbow writing prompt to write about things that are typically that color.
  • Cut colorful paper into strips and glue it to a cloud shape cut from paper.

There are so many easy ways to come up with rainbow ideas that build on skills. Let’s take a look at a few more ideas…

Rainbow activities for kids to use in occupational therapy sessions to develop skills like fine motor skills, sensory processing, and executive functioning skills.

Rainbow Fine Motor Activities

A rainbow therapy theme is great during the Spring months.

This time of year, rainbows are the way to go for building fine motor skills. Try some of these activities to work on fine motor strength, coordination, hand eye coordination, motor planning. You’ll see improvements in pencil control, dexterity, precision, in-hand manipulation, and fine motor skill work.

rainbow pencil control activities

Rainbow pencil control activities– All you need is some colored pencils and paper to work on pencil control, visual motor skills, and hand strengthening.

color mixing rainbow handwriting activity

Rainbow Color Mixing Handwriting Activity– Grab a pack of markers. Kids can work on color mixing and letter formation, letter size, spacing, and handwriting legibility.

Rainbow beads

Rainbow bead bracelets– Use beads and pipe cleaners to make a set of rainbow beads and develop pincer grip, in-hand manipulation skills, bilateral coordination, open thumb web space, arch development, and eye-hand coordination skills.

Pipe Cleaner Rainbow Craft– An alternative to the rainbow bead bracelet is our pipe cleaner rainbow that we made many years ago. This activity was fun because we built a 3 dimensional rainbow…and then used it in our leprechaun trap!

To make the rainbow pipe cleaner, use colorful pipe cleaners and colorful beads. Ask your students to sort the beads into colors of the rainbow, and then match the beads to the same colored pipe cleaner. Bend the pipe cleaners into a rainbow arch. Then, push the ends of the pipe cleaners into a foam block.

teach prewriting lines to kids with a rainbow theme

Rainbow PreWriting Lines Activity– This free therapy slide deck is a fine motor and gross motor activity to help kids with pre-writing skills. Kids can work on finger isolation, eye-hand coordination, visual motor skills, and more.

Pot of Gold Coins– Cover cardboard circles or washers with foil to make gold coins. If you can grab some gold wrapping paper or tissue paper, use it to wrap the circles while kids develop bilateral coordination, precision, hand strength, and motor skills.

In this blog post, you’ll also see how to tie scraps of fabric to create a rainbow. This is a fun bilateral coordination activity that builds hand eye coordination skills as well.

Rainbow Play Dough Fine Motor Activity – Use this hand strengthening activity to work on finger isolation, in-hand manipulation, dexterity, and arch development. Here is a rainbow play dough recipe.

Rainbow Bottle Activity– All you need is an empty water bottle and colorful craft pom poms to work on finger isolation, in-hand manipulation, bilateral coordination, hand eye coordination, and dexterity. This is a great rainbow activity for preschoolers or toddlers.

Rainbow Fine Motor Sort– All you need is an ice tray and colorful craft pom poms to work on in-hand manipulation skills, sorting, precision, dexterity, and finger isolation.

Rainbow Scoop and Sort– A simple rainbow sensory bin can include beads, yarn, or any colorful materials and a handful of cotton balls. Add a kitchen utensil or scoops, tongs, or other tools to scoop, manipulate, and work on coordination, and fine motor skill development.

Rainbow Fine Motor Work on the Window– Kids can cut foam sheets into strips to work on scissor skills. Then, stick these to a window or even a shower wall to work on precision, wrist extension, wrist stability, shoulder strength and stability, core strength, and the coordination skills needed for fine motor tasks like pencil control and dexterity.

Rainbow cups

Rainbow Cups– Make a set of these colorful cups and work on bilateral coordination, eye-hand coordination, core strength, motor planning, and more.

Fine Motor Flip and Fill A-Z Letter Pages

Rainbow Flip and Fill Fine Motor Activity– Kids can use these alphabet worksheets to fill the upper case or lowercase letters and develop fine motor skills like in-hand manipulation, eye-hand coordination, precision, open thumb web space, and more, with these color activities in the Colors Handwriting pack and bonus pages.

More ideas for supporting fine motor skills with a rainbow theme include:

Fruit Loop Rainbow Craft: One therapy tool that I love to use during the Spring months is Fruit Loop cereal rings. Why? It’s a great shape for little fingers to work on pincer grasp and eye hand coordination, but it’s also an inexpensive therapy tool, too.

  1. All you need to do is create a rainbow template on paper or cardstock.
  2. Ask your student to separate the cereal by color. This is a great color sorting activity.
  3. Next, show your student how to glue the cereal pieces onto the rainbow.

This activity encourages fine motor skills such as picking up small objects, hand-eye coordination, and color recognition. Here are more Fruit Loop Rainbow craft ideas.

Rainbow Writing: If you need an inexpensive therapy activity that uses items you already have, rainbow writing is it. Kids like to rainbow write, especially if you use motivating words or a different writing surface than they are used to.

  1. First, gather your materials. You’ll need a surface and colorful writing utensils (dry erase board and markers, sidewalk and chalk, paper taped to a window and crayons, fabric and markers, or just use paper and crayons).
  2. Show the students how to make a rainbow shape using one color. Ask them to draw a large arch.
  3. Next, use each color of the rainbow to draw right over the first arch.

You’ll end up with a colorful mess…but it’s a great activity for building skills!

This activity supports visual motor skills, pencil control, and crossing midline. If you use a dry erase board or a window, ask your students to use a spray bottle with water to erase the colors and then watch those colorful rainbow drips!

Color Rice for Sensory Bin: One sensory motor activity that I love is a good old fashioned sensory bin. Kids love a sensory bin, and as the OT practitioner, you can add or pull out a couple of items to meet specific needs, and then use the sensory bin with your caseload.

  1. Dye rice with different colors like we do in our rice sensory table blog post.
  2. Fill a large container with the colorful rice.
  3. Add tools and cups to scoop and pour. (Spoons, funnels, containers)

Of course, with any sensory bin, you would need to consider the safety of the child, and a color rice sensory bin would be no different. This activity works on motor planning, sensory touch, and motor skills.

Rainbow rice sensory bins can be used for other skill areas like handwriting by adding color words and asking kids to copy the word that they find in the sensory bin.

Rainbow Worksheets: The members in The OT Toolbox membership know that we have many rainbow worksheets that support a variety of skill areas. There are handwriting activities, coloring tasks, fine motor activities, scissor tasks, rainbow crafts, rainbow self regulation activities, rainbow sensory bin materials, and much more. Like all of the materials in The OT Toolbox membership, our rainbow worksheets support hands-on skill building through play.

Rainbow Visual Motor Activities

Visual Motor integration activity using a marker ladder activity

Rainbow Ladder– Use this rainbow visual motor activity to work on visual scanning, visual tracking, visual figure ground, form constancy, visual discrimination, and other visual motor skills needed for handwriting and reading. We used this in a cursive handwriting activity, but you could use the same concept in teaching upper and lowercase letter identification, number writing, sight words, or other multi-sensory learning strategies.

Copy a rainbow visual motor activity

Rainbow Drawing Visual Motor Activities– Use this occupational therapy teletherapy slide deck to encourage kids to copy rainbow drawing forms and build pencil control, visual perceptual skills with simple and complex drawing skills.

Emotion Matching Game– Use this rainbow matching game to teach emotions and social emotional developmental milestones and skills. It’s a powerful way to work on visual perceptual skills too, including visual scanning, eye-hand coordination, visual discrimination, and other visual motor skills.

Colors Pre-Writing Pencil Mazes

Rainbow Colors Pre-writing Lines Mazes– These mazes are great for developing pencil control, eye-hand coordination skills, fine motor dexterity, and visual motor skills.

Rainbow Sensory Play

When kids participate in sensory play experiences, they develop tactile sensory exposure and can explore tactile experiences. Use these activities to learn colors, and learn through play! Try these multisensory learning activities to teach colors, and develop sensory exploration through play.

rainbow breathing exercise

Rainbow Deep Breathing Exercise– Use this rainbow deep breathing exercise as a calming self regulation activity to help with coping strategies and mindfulness.

Rainbow Sensory Bottle– In this rainbow sensory bottle, we used friendship thread to incorporate all the colors of the rainbow, but making a calming sensory bottle can use any materials you have on hand. Use the sensory bottle as a calming sensory tool.

Rainbow Playdough– When kids play with play dough, they gain proprioceptive input through their hands and fingers. This heavy work input is a powerful resistive activity that “wakes up” the hands but also can be calming.

Rainbow Sensory Bins– Making rainbow sensory bins are easy but there are big benefits. Kids can use sensory bins as a tactile sensory experience, but with fine motor benefits like tool use, scooping sorting, fine motor precision, dexterity, manipulation skills, coordination, and so much more. Add sight words and high-frequency words, or math manipulatives to use these rainbow sensory bins in multi-sensory learning opportunities.

Gold Coin Sensory Bin– Use a sensory bin base and add some ribbons and the yellow pieces from a Connect 4 game for a sensory bin.

rainbow xylophone

Rainbow Xylophone– Kids can explore sound, STEAM concepts, and motor skills in this auditory processing activity.

Rainbow Crafts to develop skills

These rainbow crafts are powerful ways to work on fine motor skills, manipulation of tools, dexterity, strength, motor planning skills, handwriting, and more.

Rainbow binoculars craft– Kids can make this rainbow binoculars craft and work on scissor skills, bilateral coordination motor planning, and precision. Then, use this rainbow craft to encourage visual scanning, visual perceptual skills, and more. Can you use this in a color scavenger hunt?

Egg carton rainbows– Use a recycled egg carton and kids can paint in this process art activity that develops grasp, precision, eye-hand coordination, and sensory experiences.

Rainbow Snacks

When children are active in the kitchen, they develop so many fine motor skills, executive functioning skills. The kitchen is a prime location for developing working memory, attention, direction following, as well as offering learning opportunities, as well. Fine motor skills in the kitchen are just some of the benefits of cooking with kids!

Try these rainbow recipes that kids can make and are a perfect addition to a rainbow theme.

Rainbow Snacks– These rainbow snack cups are perfect snacks for preschool. When kids help to make them, they can work on cutting foods, sorting, visual scanning, and fine motor skills, too!

Color Snack– Pair kitchen activities with a popular children’s book to explore colors and developing skills in the kitchen with kids.

Colors Handwriting Kit

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.

More Rainbow Ideas

For more rainbow crafts and ideas to support development of skills, check out the Spring themed activities in our Spring Crafts library. There are fun ways to use a paper plate to create a rainbow while working on scissor skills…and just so many other Spring tools for supporting the development of kids of all ages.

Free Printable List of Rainbow Activities

One tool we have in The OT Toolbox membership club is therapy themes. Rainbow themed activities is one of them! We’ve put together a list of rainbow activities that can be used in therapy sessions to build skills and created a printable therapy lesson plan.

This resource is a hit with therapy providers because they can pull out the sheet and plan their week of therapy sessions with just a handful of activities. This printable is inside The Membership Club but you can grab a copy here as well. Enter your email address into the form below and we’ll send it to you.

Rainbow Lesson Plan for Therapy

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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.

    Margins in Handwriting

    Trouble with margins in handwriting

    Occupational therapists work on many aspects of handwriting to ensure that legible writing is a functional means of communication for children and students. One aspect of that is addressing the margins in handwriting. When margins are omitted or neglected, handwriting moves from functional to difficult to read.

    Poor use of margins when copying written material is a handwriting problem that looks like different things. When using margins is difficult in handwriting, it leads to illegibility and trouble copying written work.

    Margins in handwriting

    One thing that comes up frequently in school based OT, is the use of margins when writing. I’ve worked with many students that struggle with knowing to move their pencil to the next line when writing. Other students cram letters into the right margin of the page and then move to the next line only to slightly move over a bit. This means that the left margin slowly creeps across the page.

    You’ve seen it before.  A child is writing a journal entry or a writing response on a piece of paper and each line of the paragraph creeps in toward the center of the page.

    The margins in their handwriting are just all over the place! By the end of the passage, the left margin is half way across the page. You might see them start halfway across the page and try to squash letters in by the time they get to the right side of the page.

    It’s hard to read and even the kiddo has trouble reading back over their work. The thing is, the student may not even be aware they are writing like this…

    When a child has poor use of margins when writing, there is typically a problem with spatial organization and page orientation.

    Decreased spatial awareness can happen due to trouble with visual perceptual awareness.  

    It may carry over to handwriting that appears very messy with words that are squashed up against one another or spaced with very large spaces between letters.  

    what are margins in writing

    Margins are the edges of the paper. When we write, we move our pencil up to the edge of the right side of the paper, but we stop before we move to the next line to continue writing.

    The right margin on a page is where the student will stop writing, but so often, I’ve seen students that cram words right up to the edge of the paper because they can’t conceptualize how much space is needed to fit the word onto that line of the paper. They might end up cramming the whole word so the letters are very small or squished up to the edge of the page.

    The left margin is the edge of the page where the next line begins on the paper. I’ve also seen many students who write or copy a list of words, or are writing a paragraph on lined paper. When they move to the next line, the move their pencil over just slightly because they are aligning the word with the written material on the line above. Eventually, you see a margin that creeps across the page toward the middle of the page.

    Why kids struggle with margins in handwriting

    So, why do we see those handwriting samples where the lines of written work slowly creep over to the middle of the page? With each line that the student writes, they start writing just a bit more away from the margin?

    There could be a few different things going on here that impact margin use:

    1. There could be a visual perception difficulty going on. Visual perceptual skills could lead to trouble with margin use. Specifically, it could be a problem with visual spatial relations. Spatial relations, or poor spatial awareness difficulties shows up frequently in handwriting.

    This presents as poor spacing between letters and words, poor use of margins, or written work that drifts in toward the center of the page. Kids may struggle with knowing when to stop writing on the end of a line of the page and try to squash the material in rather than stopping to move to the next line.

    Left to right use of paper or writing spaces on worksheets can be a problem. Other size aspects of handwriting including letter size, placement of letter “parts”, and consistency in sizing can be difficult for the child with visual spatial concerns.

    Visual spatial relations can also impact placement of objects or the child’s body parts in relation to other objects, other people, or in movement. This can show up as poor coordination, poor balance, poor self-awareness, poor self-confidence, and even impaired social emotional relations.

    Spatial awareness is the ability to perceive the world around one’s self and position themselves or objects accordingly.  Awareness of space relates a lot to the proprioceptive and vestibular systems as well as the visual system.  

    A child who demonstrates poor spatial awareness in handwriting tasks most likely shows some variances of difficulty with gross motor movement, understanding directions, abstract concepts, and language.  

    2. There could be an oculomotor component. The movement of the eyes in activities is complex! When we see issues with margins, there could be a couple of oculomotor issues happening. At a  basic level, the eyes move to take in information and process that information for use.

    One oculomotor skill that may be in play with margin trouble are visual saccades/visual scanning. Saccades are the ability to visually scan information. Saccades require the ability to fixate on information in the visual fields.

    Saccadic movement, or more commonly known as visual saccades, is the ability of the eyes to move in synchrony from point A to point B rapidly WITHOUT deviating from the path. When kids move their eyes to the next line of a paper, they jump to the nearest anchor (which will be the letter above on the last line of text they just wrote.) They will then scoot their pencil over and under that letter, resulting in written work that drifts in toward the middle of the page. Here is more information on visual saccades and learning.

    We cover more about oculomotor skills and how they result in functional issues in reading, writing, and daily activities in the free Visual Processing Lab here on The OT Toolbox. 

    3. It might be developmental. In this case, kids just need more experience with writing paragraphs of text. They place their written material anywhere on the page or drift over on the line when starting to write. Visual and verbal cues…and more practice can help.

    Even children without visual perception difficulties may tend to drift their handwriting in toward the middle of the page as they write paragraphs.  This is especially apparent in free writing, journal writing, or writing prompts.  You will see that children who are developing their ability to form thoughts in paragraph form. As they write, it is common to see the lines start to drift toward the middle of the page. Here is more information on development of eye-hand coordination.

    3. It might be speed of writing or visual inattention. Basically, you might see a kiddo who just isn’t paying attention when they are writing. In this case, students might be writing so quickly that they are focusing on the content of the writing versus the layout of the page and where they are placing their written work.

    This happens when kids are taking notes and trying to quickly get the information on the page. You may also see the lines of text drifting over during free writing or timed writing tasks. In these cases, a visual cue can help but it might just take a verbal prompt. Point out how the margins are creeping over and see if that helps. Here is more information on visual attention.

    4. Look at reflexes. One thing that might be contributing to margin use is a retained ATNR reflex. Check out our resource on retained primitive reflexes. Here is information on primitive reflexes in general and how these movement reflexes impact function.

    5. Look at midline crossing. Delays with crossing midline can impact movement across the page as the student writes. Read about midline and then try some of these midline activities. In this case, bringing attention to the margin can help. Use the strategies we have listed at the bottom of the page.

     
     
    Use a highlighted line to mark the margin in handwriting tasks, to help kids with spatial awareness.
     
     
     
     

    Visual Processing Checklist

     
    This visual processing checklist can be a helpful tool in screening for visual processing difficulties prior to a full evaluation. It can be a way to collect qualitative information to include in assessment write-ups as well. 
     
     

    Tips for Handwriting Margins

    Today, I’ve got some tips for helping with spatial awareness in handwriting, including how to help with margins when writing. These tips can help kids with writing on the paper and using handwriting that is legible so they can come back and read what they’ve written. (And so the teacher or parent can read that handwriting too!)

    Visual perceptual skills are needed for so many functional skills. You’ll find easy and fun ways to work on visual perceptual skills through play here. These are creative ways to work on the underlying issues that might be playing into trouble with margin use in handwriting as a result of spatial awareness difficulties.

     This post contains affiliate links.


    QUICK tips for improving spatial awareness:

    For some of the issues mentioned above, such as an underlying visual perceptual or oculomotor problems, further help and interventions will be needed. Seek out assessment from an occupational therapist for individualized treatment and intervention plans. Use of our visual processing checklist to help to identify a specific area related to visual processing needs.

    The strategies that I’ve listed below are tools for helping students use margins when writing and copying onto paper. I love using some of the visual prompts because it helps to draw visual attention toward the prompt. Some of the strategies below are fun for kids and unexpected, so that visual prompt helps them to remember where to start or stop their pencil along the margins.

    Try some of these strategies to help with margins:

    • There are ways to accommodate for difficulties with spatial awareness.  One quick tip is to use a highlighted left margin.  This is a great way for those kids whose writing drifts over to the middle of the page as they write or kids who start in the middle of the page.  
    • Use stickers placed along the right margin of  to cue the student that they are nearing the edge of paper when writing.  
    • Draw a line down the left margin for a starting point. Then use a different color to draw a vertical line down the right margin.
    • Place a thin piece of tape along the left margin. This can serve as a visual and physical cue as the place to start writing. It’s a visual anchor that helps with visual scanning.
    • Draw boxes for words on worksheets for them to write within.
    • Place small green dots on each line along the left margin. These are the “green lights” so students know where to start writing. Place small red dots on each line along the right margin. These are “red lights” so students know where to stop writing.
    • Spacing Tools for spacing between words or letters.
    • Draw a red stop sign at the right margin.
    • Try using graph paper for writing. Here is some Graph paper on Amazon. Try 1/2 inch wide rule first.
    • Raised line paper
    • Slant board
    • Slant the paper on the desk and work on writing posture.
    • Try smaller width of lines instead of primary paper.
    • RediSpace paper has a green line along the left margin and a red line along the right margin.
    • Try using a spacing tool pointer stick.  You can easily make your own!
    • Take a look at the ATNR. This could also be an issue impacting margin use.
     
     
     
    Handwriting sample with poor margins and spatial awareness in writing task.
    Kids can use handwriting accommodations for poor spatial awareness and margins in handwriting.
     
     

    This activity is part of our month-long handwriting series where we are sharing creative and easy ways to address common handwriting issues in our 30 Easy Quick Fixes for Better Handwriting series.

    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.

    The Handwriting Book is a comprehensive resource created by experienced pediatric OTs and PTs.

    The Handwriting Book covers everything you need to know about handwriting, guided by development and focused on function. This digital resource is is the ultimate resource for tips, strategies, suggestions, and information to support handwriting development in kids.

    The Handwriting Book breaks down the functional skill of handwriting into developmental areas. These include developmental progression of pre-writing strokes, fine motor skills, gross motor development, sensory considerations, and visual perceptual skills. Each section includes strategies and tips to improve these underlying areas.

    • Strategies to address letter and number formation and reversals
    • Ideas for combining handwriting and play
    • Activities to practice handwriting skills at home
    • Tips and strategies for the reluctant writer
    • Tips to improve pencil grip
    • Tips for sizing, spacing, and alignment with overall improved legibility

    Click here to grab your copy of The Handwriting Book today.

    Common Handwriting Problems

    handwriting problems and what to do

    If you are looking for answers to common handwriting problems in kids, then this is the place to start for handwriting help, activities to help kids improve the skills they need for legible written work, and success when writing with a pencil. Handwriting problems are common for kids of all ages. There are many reasons for this (read more below) but the good news is that there are ways to address the underlying developmental need and to accommodate or modify to promote improved legibility. You can find all of our handwriting on the tab at the top of the site, but this is a headquarters for specific legibility problem areas. 

    Handwriting problems and what to do

    Do you know a child with handwriting struggles?
    Handwriting issues typically show up around kindergarten, and the school based OT might tell you that there are underlying skills that are missing: the student can’t form pre-writing lines like diagonals, or have trouble with fine motor skills.

    For older students, we see writing trouble show up in the way of letter reversals, poorly formed letters, letters crammed into a writing space, and many other factors that lead to illegible writing.

    Does that sound familiar?

    A parent might see their child battle the pencil every day as they try to write letters, erase completely, and read the homework they wrote down in school just an hour earlier. The see struggles with writing that lead to missed problems.


    A teacher might see several students in OT sessions that reverse letters, write with little regard to the lines, uses a strange pencil grasp, or can not keep up with the rest of the class because of handwriting issues. Here are some important things that therapists wish parents and teachers knew about pencil grasp.


    School based OTs and OTAs will work with kids one-on-one to meet handwriting goals and then cringe to see that same child not carrying over skills he’s seemed to master.  You might be looking for ways to meet handwriting goals so that your clients can achieve success in the classroom.

    Are you a homeschooling parent who knows their smart child isn’t learning as they should be because of handwriting issues?

    handwriting problems

    Common Handwriting Problems

    As any school based occupational therapy practitioner knows, handwriting is a functional skill that is needed throughout the school day to complete daily tasks. It contributes greatly to learning, even with the increased use of screens and technology in recent years.

    Handwriting struggles are not a new thing.  Kids have been writing with a sloppy John Hancock since the very first handwriting tool!

    What is new, (and those of us working in schools can say this is true) is that there seem to be more and more occupational therapy referrals for handwriting issues. What might be causing handwriting struggles in students?

    Some of the culprits might be less time for handwriting instruction in classrooms, more computer use in the classroom, more kids who come into the school lacking fine motor skills, more awareness of underlying skill areas like visual processing abilities, and higher expectations on our kids in school, after school activity schedules, and faster-paced national classroom standards. 

    Causes of Handwriting Problems

    Most of us occupational therapy practitioners can come up with a list of reasons why handwriting problems are challenging written work legibility. The thing is that many of these issues won’t go away on their own…

    • Schools have handwriting curriculum in place, but limited time to truly focus on this aspect of learning.
    • Kids start writing before they’ve developed the underlying skills. We see this all the time, especially in preschool when young children are asked to write before they are ready.
    • Screens are not going away.

    Whether it’s one of these issues that leads to challenges or another reason, we just know that handwriting problems result.

    There are so many reasons for the underlying areas that impact handwriting. Things link attention and vision problems can lead to letter omissions.

    Visual perception issues can lead to trouble with letter discrimination and copying skills.

    Copying issues because of visual motor skills or visual memory result in near point copying challenges as well as far point copying skills.

    You’ve probably seen the student with pencil grasp issues. The “tight” or “too hard” grip that leads to hyperextension is a compensatory strategy to increase motor control and dexterity within the task. Due to the variety of pencil grips that children display, it is important to assess the functionality of the grip before attempting to change it.

    Another struggle that isn’t always thought about is the impact of posture and handwriting.

    Functional Handwriting Problems in School

    Where we see the issues at work is when students miss problems on assignments because the teacher can’t read the writing. Or a student can’t read their own writing.

    These are the functional problems that impact learning and classroom participation because of handwriting difficulties.

    This is where we’ll see the “why” behind a reason for a student’s referral to occupational therapy. We’ll include these skill areas in our handwriting analysis because it’s the function that drives our OT goals.

    School based OT practitioners- This list is the “functional handwriting” aspect that we talk about; it’s how handwriting is a daily life skill, or an occupation that our client or student needs to do during their day at school.

    Some of the functional writing problems that we see include:

    1. Missing spelling words due to letters resembling different letters.
    2. Difficulty reading homework assignments.
    3. Poor comprehension of learning materials due to illegible writing.
    4. Frustration and decreased motivation to write.
    5. Misinterpretation of a child’s understanding or abilities by teachers.
    6. Incomplete or inaccurate assessment of academic performance.
    7. Reduced confidence in academic abilities.
    8. Increased reliance on verbal communication over written expression.
    9. Difficulty organizing thoughts and ideas on paper.
    10. Struggles with completing written assignments within allotted timeframes.
    11. Limited participation in classroom activities requiring written output.
    12. Challenges with note-taking and study skills.
    13. Negative impact on overall academic achievement.
    14. Increased stress and anxiety related to written tasks.
    15. Reduced independence in completing written tasks.

    Let’s take a look at some of the handwriting problems that we might see in written work. These can be the things we see that lead to occupational therapy referrals.

    • Poor letter formation
    • Poor diagonals in writing, like in letters A, K, V, W, etc. (a pre-writing skill)
    • Awkward pencil grasp
    • Poor letter size
    • Inaccurate line use
    • Poor spacing between letters and words
    • Letter formation
    • Poor use of middle and top writing lines
    • Inconsistent letter sizing
    • Poor spacing between letters and words
    • Difficulty copying written work from a near point or a far point (such as the chalkboard or Smart board)
    • Slow writing speed
    • Heavy pencil pressure
    • Inaccurate margin use
    • Trouble writing across the page left-to-right pattern
    • Reversal of letters
    • Number reversals
    • Inconsistency with upper case/lower case letter use
    • Trouble carrying over handwriting practice
    • Sloppy writing during creative writing tasks
    • Trouble erasing completely
    • Difficulty paying attention when writing
    • Lack of awareness of pencil pressure
    • Writes in the wrong order (Left to right)
    • Messy writing
    • Poor use of margins on the paper
    • Cramming letters and words into a given space on worksheets or writing areas
    • Filling a given writing space with very large letters (sometimes seen in writing by Autistic individuals)
    • Writing over letters (another issue that comes up with Autistic individuals when writing. You might see the individual write a very large letter that fills the given writing space and then they write each following letter on top of the previous letters.)
    • Letter omissions when copying written material
    • Illegible handwriting can make it challenging for both the child and others to understand what has been written.
    • Children may skip or omit certain letters within words, leading to incomplete or unintelligible writing. This can occur when a child struggles with letter recognition or sequencing.
    • Some children may have difficulty maintaining consistent letter size and spacing, resulting in uneven or crowded writing. This can impact readability and overall presentation of written work.

    If any (or many!) of these problem areas sound familiar, then you are in the right place.  This is a place where I can lead you toward tips, strategies, and tools for better handwriting.  

    Looking for easy handwriting activities to help with underlying skills?  There are many on this site. 

    These cursive handwriting activity ideas are a fun way for kids to work on handwriting problems.

    Looking for help with cursive handwriting? I’ve got many creative ways to work on cursive letter formation.

    TOOLS FOR How to Teaching Cursive

    Looking for ways to help with pencil grasp? There are many ways to work on pencil grasp through creative play ideas.

    TOOLS FOR Help with Pencil Grasp

    Looking for ways to build the underlying visual motor integration skills needed for handwriting?

    TOOLS FOR Improve Visual Motor Skills

    Be sure to bookmark this page because I will be sharing more ways to develop the skills needed for consistent, legible handwriting and preparing go-to resources so that you can find all of these handwriting strategies, tips, and tricks in one place.

     
    These activities for a better pencil grasp will help kids with handwriting problems in a hands-on and fun way.
     
     
     
    These hands-on activities are a fun way for kids to work on visual motor integration that is needed for common handwriting problems.
     
     

     

     
     
    Cursive handwriting activities for kids with handwriting problems.Kids will love these fun activities designed to improve pencil grasp and other handwriting problems.Activities designed to help with visual motor integration and handwriting problems in kids.
    These hands-on activities are helpful for many common handwriting problems that kids struggle with.
     
    Looking for more handwriting ideas? The Handwriting Book is a complete guide to everything handwriting.  This is a resource by 10 Occupational Therapists and Physical Therapists that describes the underlying developmental areas related to handwriting and strategies, tips, and ideas to help.  
     
     
     
     The Handwriting Book
     
     

    How to address handwriting problems

    There are many things we can do and try to target handwriting problems. Trying some handwriting accommodations can be done at home or in the classroom, and it doesn’t mean you need the involvement of an occupational therapy provider. We have many tips for legible writing here on the site, so check out those ideas, too.

    Once you try some of these things and you still have struggles with writing, then it might make sense to reach out for OT interventions.

    Try some of these strategies to support handwriting issues.

    • Try paper with bold top and bottom line and a dotted midline
    • Teach students about why we use each line in the writing space, including how “tall” letters reach from top to bottom line & small letters reach from dotted line to bottom line.
    • Try using bold lined paper. You can just trace over the baseline with a marker.
    • Try using standard wide-ruled notebook paper, have student write on every other line.
    • Try using graph paper, with one letter or space per box.
    • Tape a visual model of the upper and lower case alphabets to top of desk.
    • Use a popsicle stick, index finger as a spacer.
    • Try highlighting lines and writing areas

    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.

    Creative Cursive Handwriting Practice

    Creative Cursive

    This blog post on creative cursive practice was originally written August 27, 2015. It was updated with more creative cursive writing solutions as of February 27, 2024.

    One thing I wanted to share as a school-based occupational therapist is the use of creative cursive strategies to support cursive writing. So often, OT practitioners hear from parents and teachers that a student can’t write their name in cursive, when this is the only functional form of cursive writing they’ve had to retain. I’ve seen time and time again, where students are taught cursive letter formation one time, and then they are expected to use and retain that formation. One summer break (or even a weekend) and the formation pattern for the cursive letter is lost. Or, a student struggles with handwriting in general and cursive is a back up plan used as a handwriting accommodation. While this is completely appropriate for some students, if you don’t use it and practice it, you definitely lose it.

    Using creative writing strategies to support letter learning is key to letter formation. This creative cursive journal fits the bill for practicing cursive in different and fun ways. These strategies are just some of the cursive writing tips we have on the site.

    creative cursive activities

    Creative Cursive

    If you are starting to consider how to teach cursive writing, then having a toolbox of strategies in your mind is helpful. Creative cursive activities supports the motor plan needed to form cursive letters in handwriting automatically.

    Learn to write cursive letters and words with this free cursive writing journal and creative cursive handwriting activities. 
     
    My daughter has made herself a goal for her second grade school year.  
    She wants to learn how to learn to write in cursive. Teaching cursive letters is a challenge, because you can learn it once, but if you don’t practice, it’s a skill that’s lost.
     
    We’ve done a few cursive handwriting activities this summer, but have a long way to go as she learns to write letters in cursive, connect cursive lines, and write upper case letters.  
     
    Then there is reading cursive handwriting which can be a difficult processing task for some kids.  Forming letters on lines with smooth pencil strokes and re-trace of lines requires practice.  
     
    I’ve got some fun and creative ways to learn and practice cursive handwriting to share with you.  
     
    Today’s Cursive Handwriting Daily Journal is a creative way to practice letter formation and use learned letters in daily journaling.  

     

     
    Teach kids how to learn to write in cursive handwriting with a Cursive handwriting Journal, using creative cursive practice ideas. Tips from an Occupational Therapist.
     
     
     

    Learn to Write Cursive with a Cursive Writing Journal

    We made this Cursive Handwriting Journal to practice cursive letter formation on a daily basis.  Using creative handwriting ideas are a fun way to practice letter formation.  
     
    These worksheets are great for practicing cursive letter formation in a variety of ways.  (Try a new creative cursive technique each day!)  They also have an area to use what your child has learned in a daily journal entry.  You can print off the journal along with a tips and tools sheet for creative cursive handwriting. 
     

     

     

     
     
    Teach kids how to learn to write in cursive handwriting with a Cursive handwriting Journal, using creative cursive practice ideas. Tips from an Occupational Therapist.
     
    Some of our favorite ways to learn cursive writing with creative strategies are: 
     
     
    Try a few of our other ideas for practicing cursive letters:
    Teach kids how to learn to write in cursive handwriting with a Cursive handwriting Journal, using creative cursive practice ideas. Tips from an Occupational Therapist.
     

    To use the Cursive Handwriting Journal:

    Teach kids how to learn to write in cursive handwriting with a Cursive handwriting Journal, using creative cursive practice ideas. Tips from an Occupational Therapist.
     
    First, print your journal.  Print off the Journal Cover, the Practice Sheets, and the Journal Entry Sheets.  Print as many of these pages as you like.  
    We have also included a printable copy of our Creative Cursive Tips sheet.
     
    RELATED READ: Practice pre-cursive strokes with a hands-on playdough activity.
     
    We used our journal worksheets to form a few new letters with pipe cleaners. Write the letter in the large space at the top of the page.  Use a pipe cleaner to form the letter.  
     
    1. Encourage your child to use the written letter as a guide to correctly form the pipe cleaner letter.  
    2. You can create a permanently formed fuzzy letter by adding a dab of glue at the connecting parts of the pipe cleaner letters. 
    3. Then, trace the pipe cleaner with your finger to further practice cursive letter formation.
     
    This is a hands-on way to practice and learn to write cursive letters.
     
    Teach kids how to learn to write in cursive handwriting with a Cursive handwriting Journal, using creative cursive practice ideas. Tips from an Occupational Therapist.
     
    Teach kids how to learn to write in cursive handwriting with a Cursive handwriting Journal, using creative cursive practice ideas. Tips from an Occupational Therapist.
     
    4. Next, practice writing the letter on the lines below.  Encourage your child to write a few  words using the letter and letters they’ve already learned.  You can write a model word for them to copy.
     
    You can then use the journal sheets to write sentences using the words that they’ve practiced and learned in cursive.
     
     
    Teach kids how to learn to write in cursive handwriting with a Cursive handwriting Journal, using creative cursive practice ideas. Tips from an Occupational Therapist.



    Get your Cursive Handwriting Journal and Creative Cursive Tips printable and have fun learning cursive in a creative way!

     

    More ways to learn to write cursive and creative cursive handwriting activities you will enjoy:

     

     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     

    Creative Cursive Tips and Tools for Learning Cursive Handwriting

    When I worked in a variety of upper elementary and middle school settings, cursive writing came up a lot. Some practice activities work well for some students and others work for other students. Having a variety of tools in mind is nice because I’ve found that you can try things once that don’t work for learning cursive takes a lot of work…and practice.

    1. Cursive Writing Apps- Use tablets or touchscreen devices equipped with stylus pens for interactive cursive practice apps. These apps often provide engaging activities and games to make learning cursive more enjoyable for children. An example is “Cursive Writing Wizard” available on both iOS and Android platforms. Here is my list of favorite occupational therapy apps, which includes handwriting apps.

    2. Cursive Art – Combine cursive practice with art by incorporating calligraphy techniques. Encourage learners to create artistic pieces using cursive writing, such as writing quotes or poems in cursive and decorating them with illustrations or borders. I love this handwriting art activity, and kids do too.

    3. Multi-Sensory Cursive- Engage multiple senses by practicing cursive writing in different mediums, such as sand trays, shaving cream, or finger paint. This tactile experience can enhance muscle memory and retention. These multisensory letter mats are printed version, but a similar activity could be done with cursive.

    4. Outdoor Writing Activities- Take cursive practice outdoors by using sidewalk chalk to write letters and words on pavement or by tracing letters in the sand at the beach or in a sandbox. This change of environment can make the learning experience more enjoyable and memorable.

    5. Music and Movement– Integrate music and movement into cursive practice by playing instrumental music in the background and encouraging learners to write cursive letters in rhythm with the music. You can also incorporate gross motor movements, such as writing large cursive letters with arm movements in the air.

    6. Cursive Handwriting Games– Create games that involve cursive writing, such as scavenger hunts where participants search for objects with cursive words written on them or relay races where teams write cursive letters or words on a whiteboard or chalkboard. I also love to use handwriting games to practice specific letter formations.

    7. Letter Building– Provide materials like wooden blocks or clay and challenge learners to build cursive letters with them. The Handwriting Without Tears program offers This hands-on activity helps reinforce letter shapes and spatial awareness.

    8. Storytelling– Kids love fun stories! If you do a writing prompt where students build on one another’s ideas. We love using this strategy for working on cursive because they can read their peer’s cursive. This not only provides practice and letter recognition skills with cursive writing. It also fosters creativity and narrative skills when writing in cursive.

    9. Pen Pal Program– Pair learners with pen pals who communicate through handwritten letters in cursive. This real-world application of cursive writing can motivate learners to practice and improve their skills.

    10. Collaborative Projects– Initiate collaborative cursive writing projects, such as creating a class mural or poster where each student contributes a cursive letter or word. This fosters teamwork and a sense of accomplishment. Our middle school journal prompts are a good place to start.

    These out-of-the-box cursive practice ideas aim to make learning engaging, enjoyable, and effective for learners of all ages.

    Creative Writing Practice

    Creative writing practice

    This blog post on creative writing practice was originally written December 16, 2016 and was updated February 26, 2024.

    Today, we’ve got creative writing practice activities for supporting handwriting needs, both as fun ways to teach handwriting components, but also a multisensory learning tool for establishing a motor plan for handwriting. The automaticity that comes with writing speed is essential for written work, and using creative writing ideas with kids is key!

    Creative writing practice

    Creative writing Practice

    I’ve pulled out a few of these motivating handwriting activities with my own kids! Here are more irresistibly creative ways to encourage handwriting in seriously fun ways.

    I love to share creative handwriting activities.  My own kids have varying levels of love when it comes to writing.  Currently, my four year old is writing down everything she can think of.  She’s still practicing letter formation but is often heard calling from the other room, “how do you spell…?” that she simply must write at that moment.  My older kids write when they have to, sometimes a little more legibly than other times.

    Read also these strategies for name practice for kindergarten to support underlying skills needed for handwriting at the beginning level. The creative writing ideas you find below are great for fun writing practice for kindergarten and all grades!


    My own kids love to do all of the activities that I’ve shared for handwriting help, because honestly, the tips and tricks that I’ve shared here are geared more toward the underlying skills needed for handwriting instead of just plain old ways to practice handwriting.  Improve those underlying skills in ways that can’t be beat!

     

     
    Kids who hate to write will love these irresistible handwriting ideas that are fun and involve all of the senses!

     Creative writing practice can look like sensory handwriting! Using a variety of writing tools and sensory mediums support formation skills.

    Handwriting Activities for Kids Who Hate to Write

     

    I wanted to come up with a collection of unbeatable handwriting activities for kids who hate to write because let’s face it; Kids will complain and resist handwriting practice when they really just hate to practice written work!


    Try these activities that I’ve found makes kids see the fun over the challenge to practice handwriting:

    Try a few Writing Tray Ideas 

    Using a sensory writing tray to target skills like letter formation, letter reversals, and letter recognition can help with carryover of handwriting in functional writing tasks. Here are some of our favorite creative writing tray ideas…

    The great thing about using sensory trays in handwriting practice is that they really encourage sensory handwriting experiences.  For more sensory handwriting experiences, try these creative writing activities below.

    Irresistible handwriting activities that kids will love including sensory handwriting ideas, creative letter formation activities, and gross motor letter writing ideas.  Kids who hate to write will love these ideas!

     

    What are your favorite ways to make handwriting less of a chore and more of an irresistible handwriting activity?

    Sensory Handwriting Activities for Kids

    Turn handwriting from being a chore to being fun with other sensory based writing activities. Adding a few creative writing practice ideas like the ones listed below can make kids smile when working on handwriting skills.

    Creative Writing practice with Tracing

    One tool in your handwriting toolbox is creative tracing strategies. Typically, we see tracing letter formation worksheets, or young kids tracing letters over and over again. However, there is more to tracing than just writing over the letter. Use these creative tracing activities to support the motor plan to form letters.

    Practice letter formation by tracing over letters with these creative ideas:

    Gross motor handwriting activities

    Gross Motor Handwriting Activities

    Another tool in your writing toolbox is using whole body movements and gross motor coordination skills. Many gross motor skills play a role in handwriting, including writing posture. One of our favorite ideas is a ribbon wand like we used in our gross motor cursive writing activity.

    Try these gross motor handwriting ideas:

    • Draw letters and words on a driveway
    • Make body letters. In The OT Toolbox membership, you’ll find alphabet exercise cards.
    • Use a roll of masking tape or painters tape to create large letters on the wall or floor. Drive cars along the tape. If using this activity on the floor, place objects like craft pom poms on the tape letters.
    • Use our Alphabet exercises.
    • Walk toe-to-toe over the letters
    • Write with big arm motions
    • Write letters with a ribbon stick

    Handwriting Ideas from OT and PT

    In The Handwriting Book, you’ll find creative writing strategies based on development and the underlying skills needed in functional writing. A group of pediatric occupational therapists and physical therapists address handwriting tips, strategies, and tools that are used in occupational therapy to work on handwriting needs.

    The Handwriting Book is a comprehensive resource created by experienced pediatric OTs and PTs.

    The Handwriting Book covers everything you need to know about handwriting, guided by development and focused on function. This digital resource is is the ultimate resource for tips, strategies, suggestions, and information to support handwriting development in kids.

    The Handwriting Book breaks down the functional skill of handwriting into developmental areas. These include developmental progression of pre-writing strokes, fine motor skills, gross motor development, sensory considerations, and visual perceptual skills. Each section includes strategies and tips to improve these underlying areas.

    • Strategies to address letter and number formation and reversals
    • Ideas for combining handwriting and play
    • Activities to practice handwriting skills at home
    • Tips and strategies for the reluctant writer
    • Tips to improve pencil grip
    • Tips for sizing, spacing, and alignment with overall improved legibility

    Click here to grab your copy of The Handwriting Book today.

    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.

    Messy Handwriting? A Quick Guide to fix Sloppy written work

    Bad handwriting and strategies to fix bad writing skills

    This blog post was originally written in February 2023. We’ve updated the post February 2024 to target messy handwriting with a specific guide to move from sloppy handwriting to neat and legible written work.

    School-based occupational therapy practitioners often hear about students with bad handwriting. Similarly, pediatric OTs and OTAs in outpatient may hear that a new client has messy handwriting that impacts learning and the ability to read their own written work. Fixing handwriting is more than just writing drills, however. And, while we love all of the creative writing practice, it’s wonderful to know what’s really happening behind messy writing. Through occupational therapy interventions, OT professionals uncover what’s really happening behind the sloppy, illegible handwriting that we see from the surface.

    How to fix messy handwriting

    So what’s really going on behind handwriting challenges? Let’s take a deeper look…

    Bad handwriting is a result of many underlying considerations.

    There are many things at play with messy handwriting: letter formation, placement of the letters on the paper, copying skills, speed, pencil grasp and pencil control, executive functioning, and more.

    What is Messy Handwriting?

    You might think one student has messy handwriting…but then you see another student’s written material that is completely illegible. When written output is illegible, we see many things that impact learning. Messy handwriting can look like:

    • Inability to read own writing: Students may struggle to decipher their own handwriting, leading to frustration and hindering their ability to review and study their notes effectively.
    • Difficulty for others to read: Classmates, teachers, or anyone else reviewing the student’s work may have difficulty deciphering the text, resulting in misunderstandings or delays in providing feedback.
    • Spelling errors due to messy writing: Teachers may mark spelling words or answers wrong due to illegible handwriting, even if the content is correct, impacting the student’s academic performance and confidence.
    • Misinterpretation of instructions: Messy handwriting can cause students to misinterpret instructions or miss important details written on the board or in handouts, leading to errors in completing assignments or assessments.
    • Incomplete or inaccurate notes: Students may struggle to keep up with note-taking during lectures or class discussions because of the speed of their writing or inability to form letters with automaticity, resulting in incomplete or inaccurate notes due to messy handwriting causing them to miss key points or details.
    • Trouble reading their own notes: Students may take notes in a lesson and not be able to read their work afterwards when they are studying because of the state of their writing. This can lead to missed questions on a test.
    • Difficulty with organizational skills: Illegible handwriting can contribute to difficulties in organizing thoughts and information on paper, leading to disorganized assignments, messy outlines, and challenges in structuring written work effectively.
    • Impact on peer collaboration: During group work or peer review activities, messy handwriting can impede effective communication and collaboration among students, leading to misunderstandings and inefficiencies in the collaborative process.
    • Low self-esteem and confidence: Students with consistently messy handwriting may experience lower self-esteem and confidence in their academic abilities, affecting their motivation and willingness to engage in written tasks.
    • Increased reliance on technology: Students may become overly reliant on technology for written communication (e.g., typing on a computer or using speech-to-text software) as a workaround for their handwriting difficulties, potentially limiting their development of handwriting skills and manual dexterity. Technology is a great handwriting accommodation, but there is a case for handwriting as well.
    • Social implications: In addition to academic challenges, messy handwriting can also have social implications, such as embarrassment or teasing from peers, further impacting the student’s overall well-being and classroom experience.
    • Illegible letter formations: Letters may be poorly formed, making it difficult to distinguish between similar letters such as ‘b’, ‘d’, ‘p’, and ‘q’.
    • Inconsistent sizing: Words may vary in size and proportion, with some letters being disproportionately large or small compared to others, leading to inconsistency in readability.
    • Crowded or cramped writing: Words and letters may be squeezed together, making it challenging to discern where one word ends and another begins.
    • Irregular spacing: Uneven spacing between words or letters can disrupt the flow of reading and comprehension.
    • Poor alignment: Lines of writing may not be straight or properly aligned with one another, causing difficulty in tracking text.
    • Poor use of margins: words may run over the edge of the paper where you see the student squishing letters together as they get to the edge of the paper. Or, you may see the student moving the letters over space by space at the new line, so that the left margin gets bigger and bigger as they go down the page.
    • Inaccurate baseline: The baseline, where the bottom of the letters should align, may be inconsistent, leading to a disjointed appearance and difficulty in maintaining horizontal alignment.
    • Overlapping letters or words: Letters or entire words may overlap, obscuring the text and making it difficult to decipher.
    • Sloppy or jagged strokes: Letters may be formed with shaky or jagged lines, resulting in unclear and messy handwriting.
    • Smudging or blotting: Excessive smudging or ink blotting can obscure letters and words, further complicating readability.
    • Difficulty with cursive or joined writing: Some students may struggle with connecting letters in cursive writing, leading to messy and illegible script.

    The thing is that messy writing is so different and can look different depending on the individual or the task at hand.

    Why do some kids have Bad Handwriting?

    “OT’s are just handwriting teachers!” As an OT, this sentence totally irks me. Handwriting is an important occupation in childhood, so it is definitely something we focus on in OT. But as therapists, we know there is so much more to it than just “teaching handwriting!” Uncovering the culprits behind poor handwriting is part of the job of an OT practitioner. We start by targeting a diagnosis (or lack of diagnoses) and address the underlying considerations that lead to what we see: messy handwriting. 

    Some diagnoses that go hand-in-hand with sloppy penmanship may include:

    • Dysgraphia
    • Learning Disability
    • Developmental Coordination Disorder
    • Autism
    • Sensory Processing Disorder or sensory challenges (exploring tactile input through sensory messy play can help with the tactile exploration.)
    • ADHD
    • Dyslexia
    • Down Syndrome
    • Cerebral Palsy
    • Other physical disabilities or motor challenges
    • Other diagnoses
    • Non-diagnosis (meaning there does not need to be a diagnosis in place for handwriting challenges to exist!)

    There is more to it than just a diagnosis, however. There are many children (and adults…) that struggle with the fine motor movements required for dexterity in written work. 

    And the poor motor skills required for a functional grip is a whole other story! 

    There are many others that are limited in the visual motor skills required to form letters or place letters on the lines when writing. Any number of considerations can lead to what we see on the surface: bad handwriting. 

    That’s not to say that sloppy handwriting is the end of the world! Those in the medical field are used to deciphering illegible scripts written by the hurried physician. Somehow nurses, therapists, pharmacists, and other health care providers are able to decipher the chicken scratch the must teach in medical school! 

    However, when bad habits with written work leads to bad handwriting it can impact learning, educational performance in the classroom, and non-functional levels of written work (or bad grades as a result of illegible handwriting).  

    This is when we see a need to hone in on what’s really happening under the surface of written work. 

    Bad Handwriting Habits

    Another part of the big picture of moving from illegible writing to good handwriting skills, is considering the age and grade expectations. There may be habits that are in place that lead to messy handwriting. These sloppy writing habits can begin even in good intentions. Writing curriculum and grade level expectations in schools, I’m looking at you!

    Here are some things to consider about how bad handwriting might be established. This is all part of the bigger picture, so it’s important to cover these considerations:

    • Therapy providers take into consideration the development of the student based on age and other considerations. For example, in third grade, a student is expected to write on single rule lined paper, but they may not have the skills under their belt to form lowercase letters accurately in the given space with line awareness, spatial awareness, and letter size. This can mean a whole journal page is illegible because there are missing pieces in their writing experience. 
    • Similarly, a kindergarten student may be expected to write sentences when developmentally, they are not ready for that. However, school and grade expectations don’t take this into consideration and you have a situation where the school curriculum zooms through handwriting instruction. The child forms bad habits and the muscle memory from practicing skills before they are developmentally ready.

    Other things to consider in this realm of thinking:

    • Cursive handwriting is another monster- In schools, cursive letter formation is covered over the course of a few months. Depending on the curriculum, a teacher might spend one day teaching a letter. Then the student has practice pages to complete cursive practice in repetition. This is a huge area of forming a muscle memory for poor formations. They practice the letter in the classroom while copying from the board. Then one mistake on a writing worksheet leads to rows of improperly formed letters. Then, that letter is expected to be “learned” even when there is a lack of form in the practice!
    • Similarly, in most situations, cursive writing isn’t required so it’s not likely that the student loses the ability to form that letter. Cursive is essentially lost after that semester of practice one time in the second grade! This is especially true for uppercase cursive letters of the alphabet.
    • Preschool…Oh we can talk a lot about preschool and pre-writing that is used by preschool educators. In a word, prewriting should not be done in the preschool setting. That includes tracing, name writing, and pencil tasks of any kind. Preschool educators that are touting a writing or even a pre-writing curriculum are leading whole classrooms to a future of bad writing by establishing bad habits before the child is developmentally ready. Focus on play, coloring with crayons, and more play at this stage!
    • Finally, we know that handwriting is not an easy skill to teach because it is so complex. A child’s teacher is limited to a short period in the classroom to teach actual letter stroke formation and so the other components like line use, word spacing letter spacing, size awareness, rhythm of writing, are covered only when there is a problem. The child is expected to fix mistakes on their own, or self-check rather than practice these components from the start.

    What Causes Messy Handwriting?

    Messy handwriting can stem from various factors, both physical and cognitive, that influence the control and coordination of hand movements required for effective penmanship.

    Here are some common underlying causes of sloppy writing:

    1. Poor fine motor skills: Difficulties in fine motor skill, including fine motor control, which involve the precise coordination of small muscles in the hands and fingers, can result in irregular and messy handwriting. Children with underdeveloped fine motor skills may struggle to manipulate writing utensils with precision, leading to messy letter formations and inconsistent strokes.
    2. Weak hand muscles: Weakness in the muscles of the hands and fingers can make it challenging for individuals to maintain a consistent grip on writing utensils and control the pressure exerted during writing. Students lacking finger dexterity as a result of hand weakness can result in shaky or uneven lines, smudging, and difficulty forming clear letters. Because of the development of skills and the fine motor milestones that children progress through, we can see handwriting issues when kids are asked to write before they are developmentally ready.
    3. Visual-motor integration deficits: Visual-motor integration refers to the ability to coordinate visual information with motor actions, such as copying shapes or letters accurately. Difficulties in this area can manifest as poor spatial awareness and difficulty maintaining proper letter sizing, spacing, and alignment on the page.
    4. Poor proprioception: Proprioception is the sense of the position and movement of the body and its parts. Individuals with poor proprioceptive awareness may struggle to control the force and direction of their writing movements, leading to inconsistent letter formations and difficulty maintaining a steady hand while writing.
    5. Cognitive processing difficulties: Some individuals may experience challenges in cognitive processes such as attention, memory, and sequencing, which can impact their ability to organize thoughts and translate them into written form. This can result in disorganized and messy handwriting, as well as difficulties in spelling and grammar.
    6. Lack of exposure or practice: Insufficient exposure to handwriting practice or inadequate instruction in proper letter formation techniques can contribute to messy handwriting. Without regular practice and feedback, students may develop inefficient writing habits that persist over time.
    7. Emotional factors: Emotional factors such as stress, anxiety, or low self-esteem can also affect handwriting quality. Tense or anxious individuals may experience muscle tension and difficulty maintaining a relaxed grip on writing utensils, leading to increased hand fatigue and messy handwriting.
    8. Developmental delays or disabilities: Children with developmental delays or disabilities, such as dysgraphia or developmental coordination disorder (DCD), may exhibit persistent difficulties with handwriting despite interventions and accommodations. These conditions can impact various aspects of handwriting, including letter formation, spacing, and legibility.

    There are more components that play a role in messy writing. Any one or combination of these underlying skills may lead to sloppy, messy written work.

    Visual motor

    Spatial relations

    Visual discrimination

    • Form constancy

    Fine motor skills

    Visual motor integration

    Pencil control

    Executive functioning

    Others may not always realize the “behind the scenes” stuff going on with handwriting, or realize that a particular activity was chosen because it has many layers to it. But this is one of the reasons why I love being an OT – it’s in our nature to see the big picture!

    Now, sometimes it can be tricky to find handwriting activities that meet these criteria, but don’t feel like just another writing task. Luckily, my “Fix the Mistakes” handwriting activity checks ALL these boxes!

    Addressing messy handwriting requires a comprehensive approach that addresses underlying motor, sensory, and cognitive factors through targeted interventions, accommodations, and practice-based strategies.

    Pediatric OTs and OTAs take all of the underlying areas into consideration when planning therapy intervention activities. They focus on the underlying areas, but also function.

    How to fix bad handwriting habits

    How to Fix Bad Handwriting habits

    When it comes to fixing bad handwriting habits, we take a look at the underlying skills, the development of the individual, and individualized needs. We can assess what is “missing” or what bad habits might be used in written work.

    Then, using specific strategies based on the needs of the child along with adaptations, modifications, and targeting specific goals can help to move from bad writing habits to functional and legible written work.

    There is no sloppy writing quick fix. It takes practice and work.

    A huge part of that is self-awareness and self-correction.

    Working on meaningful writing tasks and then self-correcting mistakes (or fixing mistakes) is often times the missing link in the classroom setting.

    WHAT IS “FIX THE MISTAKES”?

    Fix the mistakes” is exactly as it sounds – the activity provides kiddos with handwriting mistakes, which they have to fix! Students will evaluate handwriting samples that do not adhere to handwriting rules (line placement, size, spacing & letter case). Students then rewrite the sample to fix the mistakes. So, how does it meet the above criteria?

    • Students hone visual perceptual skills by focusing on differences in handwriting components and attending to spatial relationships.

    • Students need to use their fine motor skills to put pencil to paper and fix the handwriting mistakes.

    • Students utilize executive functioning to problem solve, sequence, and utilize working memory, just to name a few.

    Fix the Mistakes MEGA bundle includes access to three bundles: Seasons, Holidays, and Fun Themes!

    In order for students to know what proper handwriting looks like, it is important to explicitly teach handwriting rules (such as letter formation, letter size, spacing, line placement). This activity packet includes a visual “handwriting rules” guide to assist educators with this task.

    There are several different themes and bundles of writing sheets to support various interests and to help make handwriting practice engaging and motivating.

    WHY IS THIS METHOD EFFECTIVE?

    Kids LOVE pointing out mistakes and being able to play the role of teacher. Not only do students enjoy it, but the concepts are more easily mastered when the kiddo is able to identify and point out the errors themselves.

    Fixing handwriting mistakes at different levels

    One thing therapy providers do is focus on functional, better handwriting at different levels. We can do this in various ways using the strengths of the student as well as by focusing on individualized needs. Supports like use graph paper, a slant board, or using special pens and pencils can support individual needs. 

    The Fix the Mistakes bundles allow the therapy provider to use one bundle with a whole caseload of students because it includes writing lines for each level. 

    As OT’s, we know that every student has different needs. Ranging from copying individual words to copying higher-level sentences, “Fix the Mistakes” activities support that differentiation so the activity can be easily tailored to the needs of each student.

    In addition to different levels, handwriting lines can be a major difference. Personally, I have found that some students respond best to 3-lines, others work very well with 2-lines, while some do best with a simple single-lined piece of paper! Every level of “fix the mistakes” has a copy of each line style – all you have to do is choose the best worksheet for your student, then print and go. Easy peasy!