Colleen Beck OTR/L

Colleen Beck, OTR/L is a pediatric occupational therapist and the owner and author of The OT Toolbox website. She manages all of The OT Toolbox social media accounts and runs the popular newsletter. Read about Colleen's experience and career as an occupational therapist, including how The OT Toolbox began on our About The OT Toolbox page: https://www.theottoolbox.com/about-us/ Colleen created The OT Toolbox in 2011 and since then has written thousands of blog posts designed to support therapy providers, educators, parents, counselors, admin, and caregivers in promoting the healthy development of kids. Check out Colleen's blog posts below:

Fun Pumpkin Activities that Build Skills

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pumpkin activities

Are you looking for some super cute pumpkin ideas for the fall themed occupational therapy sessions this season?  Pumpkin activities are great for fall, for Halloween, and for Thanksgiving. Once the weather cranks down and turns a little crisper, you can look around and see pumpkins everywhere…big pumpkins, little pumpkins, orange pumpkins, white pumpkins, and even jack o’ lanterns. 

New to the list is our latest activity- a Pumpkin Sensory Bin! These ideas are fun for Halloween occupational therapy sessions and the other pumpkin sensory activities here on the site, too.

These pumpkin activities build fine motor skills, gross motor, sensory, visual, and learning skills. Add to a pumpkin lesson plan in therapy, the classroom, or home.

Pumpkin Activities that Build Skills

Pumpkin activities are great fun for young kiddos, preschoolers, and even the older kiddo gang.  If you’re looking for craft, motor, snack, emotions, sensory, or perceptual activities, this list will inspire you to get into the fall spirit with the kiddos in your world. Not only will you be having fun, but you’ll also be building some important skills too! 

The best thing about these pumpkin themed activities is that they develop many learning areas as well: math, literacy, science, STEM and more.

All of the ideas listed below can be added to pumpkin theme lesson plans in the school or therapy clinic, used in preschool pumpkin activities, and added to a toddler approved ideas to keep kids at home busy.

Let’s begin by saying this is the place for all things pumpkins, pumpkins, pumpkins, and as you explore the lists below in this activity round-up, think about which ones will not only be fun, but build important skills for your kids!  So, if you need something pumpkiny to jazz up your therapy sessions, classroom or at home theme this season, this post is right where you need to be! Proceed…

These are great for adding to your Halloween occupational therapy ideas!

Fine Motor Pumpkin Activities

Fine Motor Pumpkin Activities that work on fine motor skill development such as hand dominance, dexterity, in-hand manipulation, separation of the two sides of the hand, and strength.

Fine Motor Pumpkin Worksheets– This Pumpkin activities kit develops fine motor skills in a big way! Work on pinch, grip, eye-hand coordination, motor planning, and dexterity using a pumpkin theme. Just print and play to use the pumpkin lacing cards, pumpkin fine motor paths, pumpkin cutting activities, and the handwriting pages.

You’ll also love our Pumpkin Scissor Skills activity. It can be graded up or down to make the cutting activity easier or more difficult, and includes pumpkin coloring tasks, too.

Pumpkin Craft– All you need is a couple of bottle caps, paper, and glue to make this bottle cap pumpkin craft that builds fine motor skills in a big way.

Scoop and Pour Pumpkin Seeds- After pumpkin seeds are removed from the pumpkin, they are a great fine motor tool for kids! Dye them and use them in to sort the seeds by color. Or, use them in scooping and pouring activities. 

Pumpkin Seed Mosaic Art– Use dyed pumpkin seeds to make mosaic art projects and really refine those fine motor skills. You’ll love to see a pumpkin seed mosaic AND the benefits of this craft: in-hand manipulation, separation of the sides of the hand, pincer grasp, and visual motor skills.

Pumpkin Seed Suncatcher– A pumpkin seed suncatcher is a pumpkin seed craft that builds fine motor skills in a big way: pincer grasp, eye-hand coordination, separation of the sides of the hand, dexterity, finger isolation, graded release, and more.

Pumpkin Finger Print Art– This pumpkin finger print art is a fun way to work on finger isolation, separation of the sides of the hand, and incorporate messy, sensory play.

More pumpkin fine motor activities:

Gross Motor Pumpkin Activities

Gross Motor Pumpkin Activities that work on gross motor skill development such as overall strength and endurance, coordination, eye-hand coordination balance, motor planning and control, body awareness, motor and postural control, and core strength.

Pumpkin Race- Grab a couple of mini pumpkins or small gourds. Kids can race to move the mini pumpkins from one side of the room to another.  

Pumpkin Balance Activity– Use some of the ideas in our indoor balance beam post with a pumpkin theme. Make pumpkin shapes from felt or paper and use them to work on balance, coordination, motor planning, stooping, bending, and other gross motor skills.

Pumpkin Emotions Activities

Pumpkin Emotions and Feelings Activities that work on overall emotional awareness such as the identification and recognition of emotions and feelings in others and in self. Social Emotional Learning using Pumpkins is a fun way to teach emotions, sharing, empathy, and other social emotional skills.

Pumpkin Emotions Activity- Toddlers and preschoolers love this Pumpkin Emotions Activity– This pumpkin emotions activity helps toddlers identify emotions, name feelings, and develop learning through playing with a fun pumpkin emotions game, all on a vertical surface, so gross motor skills and eye-hand coordination skills are developing, too.

Pumpkin Faces– Make toilet paper roll pumpkin prints and then draw faces onto the dry prints for an emotions pumpkin patch.

More Pumpkin Emotions Activities

Pumpkin Visual Perception Activities

Pumpkin Visual Motor and Visual Perceptual Activities that work on memory and perceptual skills which include game play, scanning, and letter formation and prewriting. 

Pumpkin I Spy– Use the materials in the Pumpkin Activity Kit to work on visual motor skills with mazes and motor activities. The kit includes I Spy pages, too, so working on visual perception with a pumpkin theme is fun!

Pumpkin Worksheets for Visual Scanning- Working on visual closure, form constancy, or visual discrimination? Print off our pumpkin visual perception worksheets. It’s part of our free visual perception packet.

We also have a free Pumpkin visual perception worksheet that is an I Spy activity combined with visual scanning. It’s great for building visual motor skills.

More Pumpkin Visual Motor Activities

Pumpkin Sensory Activities

Pumpkin Sensory Activities that include multiple sensory systems such as interoception, tactile, proprioceptive and olfactory tolerance and engagement in simple sensory play.

Pumpkin Egg Carton Craft– Use an egg carton to make a mini pumpkin craft. We used them in an Egg Carton Pumpkins Fall Sensory Bin for sensory play. In this sensory bin, we used mini egg carton pumpkin crafts to create a sensory play experience. Simply fill a sensory bin with dry materials and then add the pumpkin egg carton crafts for tactile sensory play.

Pumpkin Deep Breathing – Incorporating mindfulness into a pumpkin theme is easy with our pumpkin deep breathing exercise. Print it off and work on calming input to assist with self-regulation, focus, and attention.

Dye pumpkin seeds– Use food coloring or paint to Dye Pumpkin Seeds to use in sensory bins, tactile exploration, and more. Why not add them to a sensory bottle, too?

Pumpkin sensory play can include lifting pumpkins for heavy work. Lift a heavier pumpkin and move it to a different space to add calming proprioceptive input, motor planning skills, bilateral coordination, and more.

Toddler Pumpkin Activities- Toddlers and preschoolers can use a box or basket and mini pumpkins or small gourds. Taking time to inspect pumpkins is a fantastic sensory experience for toddlers and preschoolers. Toddlers and preschoolers also love sorting pumpkin seeds.

Carve a pumpkin with kids. This is a fantastic multi-step, messy, heavy work activity for kids. Children that resist messy activities or touching pumpkin guts can work on different aspects of carving a pumpkin, such as drawing on the outside, scraping a cleaned out pumpkin insides, or cleaning off pumpkin seeds.

More Pumpkin Sensory Activities

Pumpkin Themed Snacks

Cooking with kids is a valuable activity to develop executive functioning skills. It makes sense to incorporate cooking tasks into a pumpkin theme! These Pumpkin Snacks provide a fun themed alternative to regular snack time by incorporating a pumpkin and/or jack o’ lantern theme. Why wouldn’t a kiddo want to eat these fun snack time ideas?!

Pumpkin Recipe

This pumpkin recipe is kid-friendly so it has simple steps, but kids can develop so many skills like fine motor input, executive functioning skills, and sensory processing skills through olfactory (smell), visual, and gustatory (taste) senses.

Pumpkin Recipe for Kids

This recipe makes 3 pies (great for preschool!)

Pumpkin pie ingredients:

  • 4 eggs slightly beaten
  • 1 can of pumpkin
  • 1.5 cups sugar
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon ginger
  • .5 teaspoons cloves
  • 2 cans (12 oz each) evaporated milk
  • 3 pie shells

Combine the ingredients. Stir well. Fill the pie shells. Bake the pies at 375 degrees for 45 minutes. 

Pumpkin Muffin Recipe- Getting kids active in the kitchen is so helpful in building skills: executive functioning, fine motor work, bilateral coordination, motor planning, sensory exploration…Use this pumpkin cupcake recipe and to mix, stir, pour, and bake!

More pumpkin snacks

Pumpkin Learning Activities

Pumpkins can be used for so many learning activities:

  1. Sort pumpkins by size and weight
  2. Make a pumpkin volcano with baking soda and vinegar- Just carve a pumpkin and then add baking soda and vinegar for a science reaction.
  3. Have a pumpkin float experiment to see if pumpkins float- Use a bin of water and make predictions on whether the pumpkin with float or sink
  4. Make a pumpkin pie!

We hope that you enjoyed all of the goodies that you found here that are perfect for the fall season whether it be Halloween, Thanksgiving, or simply just to celebrate the season!  

Pumpkin Activities Kit

For more pumpkin fun this Fall, grab the Pumpkin Fine Motor Kit!

Work on underlying fine motor and visual motor integration skills so you can help students excel in handwriting, learning, and motor skill development.

  • 7 digital products that can be used any time of year- has a “pumpkins” theme
  • 5 pumpkin scissor skills cutting strips
  • Pumpkin scissor skills shapes- use in sensory bins, math, sorting, pattern activities
  • 2 pumpkin visual perception mazes with writing activity
  • Pumpkin “I Spy” sheet – color in the outline shapes to build pencil control and fine motor strength
  • Pumpkin Lacing cards – print, color, and hole punch to build bilateral coordination skills
  • 2 Pumpkin theme handwriting pages – single and double rule bold lined paper for handwriting practice
Pumpkin activity kit
Pumpkin Fine Motor Kit– perfect for building skills with a pumpkin theme!
Regina Allen

Regina Parsons-Allen is a school-based certified occupational therapy assistant. She has a pediatrics practice area of emphasis from the NBCOT. She graduated from the OTA program at Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute in Hudson, North Carolina with an A.A.S degree in occupational therapy assistant. She has been practicing occupational therapy in the same school district for 20 years. She loves her children, husband, OT, working with children and teaching Sunday school. She is passionate about engaging, empowering, and enabling children to reach their maximum potential in ALL of their occupations as well assuring them that God loves them!

Farm Activities

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farm worksheets for kids

Well, our themed activities are going really well and seem to be really well received so far. Coming up with themes for occupational therapy sessions is key in organization and strategizing OT activities for every child on your caseload. So far, I’ve shared OT themes for apple activities and back-to-school activities. My hope is that these farm activities keep you on track for a successful school year. So when it comes to farm activities, you are going to love these farm animal ideas, farm gross motor activities, farm crafts, and other farm theme ideas!

Farm activities for occupational therapy activities, including farm crafts, farm fine motor activities, farm brain breaks, farm books, and more.

Farm Activities

These can be farm animal activities for preschoolers, or on up through the grade schools. I’ve tried to create a list of themed activities that cover various skills areas.

Farm Crafts

Barn craft for a farm theme

This barn craft is fun because kids can make a barn using craft sticks but also farm animal puppets. They can work on cutting, pasting, and following directions to make these farm crafts, but that’s not all. Then, use the farm animal puppets and the barn craft in an imagination play activity with this little farm puppet show! You can also use the farm animal craft sticks as a spacing tool in handwriting or a visual processing activity for working on convergence, tracking, and more. This craft comes with a free printable page that kids can color, too. Hello, small motor dexterity for pencil control!

farm theme craft

Hang onto that barn craft, because you can use it again and again for other farm activities. This Farm Fingerprint art activity uses the barn craft for counting, adding, and subtracting, but it’s a fantastic visual closure, visual tracking, and visual scanning activity, too. And, when you make fingerprint art, those fine motor skills are at work, too. Fingerprint art builds finger isolation, separation of the sides of the hand, and precision. Then, take it a step further and add details to the fingerprints, making it a pencil control and dexterity activity with cute results!

scarecrow craft for a farm activities theme

Every farm has a scarecrow, right? Use this scarecrow craft to work on scissor skills, direction following, problem solving, and even fine motor strength (a crumbled paper hat makes the scarecrow look very authentic!) We used this scarecrow for math facts and pre-algebraic equations, but you could add any learning or writing concepts to this smarty pants scarecrow craft!

Sheep craft– great for tactile sensory experience and fine motor work.

Farm Sensory Activities

duck sensory play idea for a farm activity theme in OT

This duckling sensory activity is a fun way to explore the senses with a popular and classic children’s book.

This farm sensory activity used what we had on hand: shredded paper! It was a snowy farm theme, so playing in that textured bin was a fun tactile challenge, but it was also an exercise in visual discrimination, visual closure, and other visual processing skills. We used sight words and found them in the snowy farm yard as the farm animals hid and played. Extend this activity to write out the words after they are found. This farm yard activity would work for letter identification and letter discrimination as well as words or numbers. So many fun ways to play at the farm!

Farm Fine Motor Activities

This Farm Play Dough Sensory Bin is very simple to set up. All you’ll need is play dough and a small tray, or even a plate. Kids can work on those fine motor skills and hand strength to spread the play dough out on a tray. Spreading out the dough on a plate or other surface strengthens the hands but offers manipulation opportunities for finger isolation, which is needed for pencil grasp and endurance in writing. Add some farm animal figures for pretend play. Pressing the animal feet into the play dough is an opportunity to build intrinsic hand strength in the arches of the hands. Here are more hand strengthening activities that you may also enjoy.

Farm Gross Motor Activities

Farm brain breaks

These Farm Brain Breaks can add movement and gross motor input to a child’s day and fit in great with a farm animal theme. Print off the cards and use them in the classroom or home.

These heavy work cards includes a set of 8 farm themed heavy work activities that can be used as a brain break or added proprioceptive input.

Farm Books for Kids

Some of the farm books that we have used in the past inspired activities listed above. These include our Little Blue Truck brain breaks activity and the Big Red Barn craft that we shared above. Additional farm books for kids that can inspire movement, crafts, and sensory play include:

Amazon affiliate links are included below:

Pete the Cat Old McDonald had a Farm– Use the animals in the book to work on fine motor and scissor skills by cutting shapes and turning them into farm animals.

Cows Can Moo, Can You?– This Dr. Seuss Book is a fun way to work on auditory processing and quiet/loud sounds with kids.

Goodnight Tractor– Part of the “goodnight” series, this is a great calm-down book to work on self-regulation with calming strategies.

The Farm Book– Therapists love this book for eliciting communication by language, vocabulary opportunities, and practicing sounds. Use the book for copying, teamwork, and problem solving.

Sheep in a Jeep– This is such a fun book! Pair the book with this sheep craft for fine motor work and sensory play.

Farm Theme Scissor Skills

Get these free farm theme scissor skills cutting strips and cutting shapes. Print off these cutting worksheets and use them to work on scissor skills, accuracy, precision, and bilateral coordination as they cut varying degrees of line thicknesses and simple geometric shapes.

These animal farm worksheets are great for building scissor skills in young kids to work on cutting on lines.

Get a FREE set of Farm Animal theme scissor skills worksheets

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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.

    Adaptive Equipment For Eating

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    Adaptive equipment for eating

    This article covers adaptive equipment for eating, including adaptive feeding equipment, assistive feeding devices, adaptive utensils, plates, bowls, and other tools to support functional feeding skills.

    One of the main paths that occupational therapists help people achieve success in their daily occupations is through adaptive equipment and technology. There are so many great feeding products and eating tools available to increase independence, and today we will start off the conversation by introducing adaptive equipment specifically for feeding. 

    Adaptive equipment for eating

    A great place to start with learning more about adaptive equipment for eating and the possible need for reaching out to occupational therapy for adaptive eating tools or support is this resource on Pediatric Feeding: Is it Sensory, Oral Motor, or Both?

    Adaptive Equipment for Eating

    When it comes to helping individuals become more independent with daily occupations, feeding and eating skills have a big role. Occupational therapy, being the holistic profession that it is, recognizes the overall piece of eating has on wellness and wellbeing, nutrition, and day to day functioning. OTs focus on both the feeding aspect for nutritional intake as well as functional eating skills in use of utensils, cups, and bowls for independence.

    Let’s take a look at various adaptive equipment tools for feeding and eating:

    Adaptive utensils for feeding needs

    Adaptive Utensils

    Adaptive dinnerware includes adjusting handles on eating utensils, adding width to the utensil handle, adding weight or length, and addressing the ability to hold a fork and spoon, or knife. Other adaptive feeding needs cover difficulty bringing food to the mouth or the ability to remove food from the utensil as a result of oral motor issues.

    Let’s take a look at various adaptive utensils.

    Amazon affiliate links are included below.

    EazyHold Silicone Silicone Aide-Basically a silicone universal cuff, this adaptive utensil tool is perfect for feeding! The silicone texture makes it easy to clean, and it comes in sizes for newborns through adults. This piece of equipment can be placed around the hand and hold common objects like forks, spoons, markers, and paintbrushes making it a one-stop device for turning household spoons, knives, and forks into adaptive eating utensils. It can remarkably increase independence for individuals that demonstrate deficits in grip strength. 

    Maroon Spoon– This adaptive feeding utensil is a classic! The maroon spoon has a shallow spoon depth that can assist in feeding for users with poor lip closure, oral hypersensitivity, or tongue thrust. 

    Weighted, Thick Handled Utensils– These weighted utensils have thick handles that are great for those who can grasp a wide handle but have a harder time holding on to something smaller that requires more grip strength. If this is the case, built-up handles are a lifesaver!

    You can also use Viva Foam Tubing to make any household spoon, fork, or knife handles thicker and easier to grasp. The added weight of these utensils is also great for individuals who have tremors – the extra weight helps to combat the motion of the tremor, leading to a more successful meal time. 

    Textured Spoons– The texture on the spoon provides oral-motor stimulation to the mouth, increasing wanted oral movement patterns and decreasing hypersensitivity. The texture can also cue the user to engage with the tastes and textures while feeding. This spoon comes with extra-long handles to make hand over hand assist a bit easier, too! 

    These bendable textured spoons are great for self-feeding and oral motor stimulation as they have a smaller, hand-held size and can offer different textures for gum and tongue sensory input.

    Off- Set Spoon– This tool, and many other utensils like it, allow for easier self-feeding for individuals who have limited mobility. The angle of the spoon is turned toward the person, instead of being straight, so that they can bring their spoonful of food directly to their mouth without having to change the orientation of the spoon or their bodies. 

    Adaptive plates and adapted bowls for feeding issues

    Adaptive Eating Plates and Bowls

    When it comes to a container to hold food, plates and bowls can look like many things. Here, you’ll find recommendations for lipped plates, suction cup

    Scooper Plate– A lipped plate is just one way to help individuals scoop food from the plate surface, and not onto the table. This scooper plate is a dinner plate with a lip, or a higher edge. Here is another must-have item for individuals that have trouble scooping or stabilizing their plate or bowl.

    This “scooper plate” is a plate with high walls like a bowl that have been specifically designed to make it easier to scoop and pick up food items with a utensil. Even better, there is a suction cup feature at the bottom to secure it to the tabletop for more stability while scooping. You can also get the scooper bowl here.

    Plate Guard– Similar to the scooper plate, these plate guards can be added to any of your existing plates to add a wall to scoop against. This reduces spills, food waste, and time spent chasing food around with a utensil. That being said, there is much to learn from messy food play.

    4-Square Meal Plate– Some feeding therapy involves increasing food repertoire for picky eating. This plate can be a great tool to help make mealtime fun and engaging for kids.

    Adaptive cups and adaptive spoons for feeding needs

    Adaptive Cups

    Adaptive cups can help with drinking without lifting the head or chin or can help address other motor control and strength challenges. For individuals that struggle to hold a cup or sip from the edge of a cup, there are straw options as well. Below, you’ll find adapted cups that are designed for those with dysphasia or aspiration precautions. Those requiring thickness needs or safety concerns with swallowing liquids should consult a professional. Read this resource on oral motor issues and feeding needs to get started.

    Flexi Nosey Cup– This is a flexible drinking cup that also has a space cut out of it to fit a person’s nose. This is a simple and effective way to improve the independence of those who are limited in their ability to tilt their head back while drinking. With the space cut out for the nose, there is no need to tilt their head back while using this cup. The flexibility of the cup can control the flow of the fluid as well, to promote safe swallowing. 

    Bear Straw Cup– This kit can help teach a child how to drink out of a straw. The design keeps the liquid near the top of the straw so that less effort is required to take a sip. This can be great for those with oral motor deficits or those just learning how to suck. The kit comes with a lip block to prevent biting on the straw or having the straw enter the throat, and encourages oral motor exercise as well! 

    Recessed Lid Cup– This drinking cup is designed with two handles and a recessed lid that can improve lip closure while avoiding sippy cup use. Why do we want to avoid sippy cups? Short answer: if they are used to exclusively, for too long, they can cause dental issues and speech problems. The recessed lid cup mimics drinking from an open cup without all the spillage. Plus, it improves lip closure and tongue retraction for improved oral motor function. This kind even comes with two lid options, one that is suitable for straw use, and the other for typical drinking. 

    Flow Control Cup– This cup helps with oral motor control, lip closure, and tongue mobility that impacts sucking from a straw and managing the flow of liquids when drinking from a cup.

    Extra-Long Drinking Straw– This flexible drinking straw is extra long, addressing mobility needs that limits an individual’s ability to move closer to a cup and straw that are positioned on the table surface.

    If you are a therapist or another professional looking for brands to support during feeding therapy, take a look at Ark’s products. They make tons of oral motor tools for desensitizing and strengthening a child’s mouth to encourage the development of food repertoire and safer, more independent feeding and swallowing. 

    Finally, if adaptive feeding equipment is something that needs to be further adapted to meet the specific needs of an individual, don’t forget the many uses that Dycem will have in addressing specific needs.

    Sydney Thorson, OTR/L, is a new occupational therapist working in school-based therapy. Her
    background is in Human Development and Family Studies, and she is passionate about
    providing individualized and meaningful treatment for each child and their family. Sydney is also
    a children’s author and illustrator and is always working on new and exciting projects.

    Yearly Goal Planner

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    Annual Goal Planner for therapy professionals

    I am so excited to share a yearly goal planner specifically for occupational therapy professionals (or any therapy professional!) The printable professional goal planning tool is specifically designed to develop and integrate annual goal planning into monthly and weekly goals for professional development as a therapy professional.

    Yearly Goal Planner for Therapy Professionals

    As therapy professionals, we know the value of a goal. We write them every day. We analyze progression and develop strategies for obtaining goals. We focus on making goals measurable and obtainable.

    Many therapists create annual goals for themselves as part of professional
    development. This may be a requirement for work or it may be a means for
    obtaining professional development units in order to maintain licensure. 

    Yearly goal planner printable sheets for occupational therapists who what to develop as a professional with monthly and annual goals when identifying and planning professional development.

    Yearly Goal Planner for Professional Development

    When we work toward a goal, we decide how to make small advances.
    This is true in meeting goals of any kind. Big goals need to be broken down into
    steps. A long term goal can be achieved through short-term pieces.  

    Making goals provides a focus to our professional development. Making goals provides a sense of commitment that allows us to achieve. A focus on commitment can foster increased accomplishments in our success.  

    It’s been determined that you become 42% more likely to achieve your goals and dreams, simply by writing them down on a regular basis.  

    That’s why we’ve created these monthly professional development goal worksheets.

    How to Plan for Yearly Professional Goals

    There are many ways this yearly goal planner can be used. As therapy professionals, we know the power in creating goals based on mindset, motivation, and daily occupations. We know the power in making achievable goals at a “just right” level. And, we know the progress that can be made when monitoring and analyzing progress towards goal achievement.

    Use the yearly goal planner to support professional development as a therapy professional in these ways:

    • They are a tool for developing as a professional and making small advances on those professional goals by breaking big annual goals into smaller chunks.  
    • The monthly professional development sheets are perfect for making goals and analyzing how we’ve worked toward meeting those goals.  
    • Use the sheets to strategize professional development, make notes, jot down ideas, and to itemize how those goals will advance.  
    • Identify what’s important to you as a professional. Is it working toward a certification? Is it gaining an advanced degree? Is it taking specific continuing education courses? Is it teaching as a professional? Creating a business? Use the annual goal planner to identify specifically where you are moving forward in the next year.
    • Identify a monthly focus based on self-reflection.
    • Create specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and timed goals for each month.
    • Use the resources on AOTA on professional development, to create SOAR goals using Strengths, Opportunities, Aspirations, and Results (SOAR) along with the Yearly Goal Planner to move forward with goal planning.

    It’s been shown that goals which are shared with others are more likely to be achieved. In fact, one study found that goals shared with others are more than 70%  more likely to be achieved compared 35% of those who did not share their goals with others. And sharing progression on goals as well as how we’re working on meeting those goals improves the likelihood of meeting those goals even more. Sharing goals and progress holds us accountable.

    Get the Annual Professional Goal Planner OR as a special deal, get both the Yearly Professional Goal Planner AND the Professional Self-Reflection Journal DEAL for $5.

    Yearly Professional Goal Planner printable sheets for occupational therapy professionals.
    self-reflection journal for therapists
    Professional Self- Reflection Journal AND Yearly Professional Planner

    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.

    Evidence Based Practice in Occupational Therapy Appraisal Worksheets

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    Evidence based review and appraisal worksheets The OT Toolbox

    Today, I have a resource for understanding and implementing evidence based practice in occupational therapy. Therapy professionals know that utilizing evidence-based practice utilizes critically appraised research and combines those results with clinical expertise and a patient or client’s needs or preferences to create best practices, informed clinical decisions, and research-driven interventions. 


    Evidence-based practice (EVP) is essential for up-to-date information for making care decisions.

    Free appraisal worksheets for evidence based practice in occupational therapy

    evidence based practice in occupational therapy

    These worksheets are a tool for applying critical appraisal of the importance and applicability of clinical evidence.


    These two worksheets aim to guide and develop evidence-based Occupational Therapy assessment, treatment planning, and interventions through appraisal and review of the evidence, allowing self-directed promotion of  the highest standards.


    Using the Appraisal of the Evidence worksheet and the Evidence Review worksheet, clinicians will be able to apply a critical analysis of available research. The worksheets  empower practitioners to apply the findings into the context of practice. By incorporating thoughts and notes into the analysis, clinicians can add the perspectives and judgment that is imperative for true evidence-based practice.

    Why is this analysis and review of the evidence important for therapy professionals?

    Using evidence based practice in therapy is important for so many reasons!

    • Integrating evidence into therapy interventions for most-recent and appropriate strategies
    • Research-backed treatment plans
    • Advocacy for the profession
    • Improves quality of care
    • Allows clinicians to stay current in the profession
    • Improved quality of therapy 
    • Improves outcomes
    • Promotes best practices using standardized, evidence-based protocols
    • Informed decision making
    • Effective selection of treatment
    • Guide research by revealing evidence gaps
    • Improves accountability of clinicians
    • Development of individualized guidelines of best practices
    • Opens the door for dialogue between patients and providers, incorporating patient preferences and values into decision-making

    How to review Evidence for therapy

    Understanding how to review evidence to incorporate evidence-based practice into therapy sessions and therapy interventions is important for many reasons that we covered above. But HOW do you review evidence and use those findings in therapy interventions?

    As a general overview, there is a process of incorporating research-backed therapy into practice. Appraising evidence involves asking, searching for evidence, appraising the evidence findings, and a final but important piece: implementing evidence into practice.

    1. Ask questions- Beginning with a question or problem, a therapist should ask a question. This question may be related to assessment, prognosis, intervention, treatment planning, or other areas. 
    2. Search for the evidence- Use a variety of tools and research sources to locate evidence.
    3. Appraise the evidence- This is where the Appraisal of the Evidence Worksheet comes into play. Review and assess the evidence for validity, outcomes, services, and other areas.  
    4. Implement the evidence into practice. Utilize the information gathered to apply the evidence into daily practice, alongside experience and clinical expertise. Utilizing these areas as well as a patient’s values, preferences, and interests, it is possible to guide treatment.
    5. Follow-up- Finally, an assessment of the outcomes can guide and promote further clinical expertise based on evidence. 

    Evidence-Based Practice Worksheets

    To help therapy professionals with the steps outlined above, I’ve created evidence based practice appraisal worksheets. The worksheets described below are tools for guiding clinical best practices using the evidence. They are strategies for fostering a dialogue toward best practice while supporting new learning. 


    Facilitating professional growth, the evidence-based worksheets are guides to reflecting on evidence and incorporating EBP into the clinic. 

    Evidence Review Worksheet

    This review worksheet can be used by clinicians as they reflect on the evidence and apply it to a specific client’s needs, preferences, interests, values, and goals. The worksheet promotes a quality of intervention related to evidence and is a tool for improving services. It can be used as a pre-post assessment related to expectations and outcomes based on evidence. The review worksheet can be a helpful resource in guiding standards toward best outcomes. 




    Together, these worksheets are a valuable tool in transitioning therapists toward quality intervention based on the evidence. 


    This one page worksheet can be used to appraise research articles. The questions guide conversation on an article’s validity and relevance in practice. Areas for notes allow for self-reflection on the evidence related to outcomes, particular client needs, services, and decision-making. 

    These evidence-based practice and evidence based appraisal worksheets are helpful tools in developing an EBP therapy practice and guiding treatment based on the evidence, for Occupational Therapist practitioners.

    References for evidence based practice in occupational therapy:

    1. George Tomlin, Bernhard Borgetto; Research Pyramid: A New Evidence-Based Practice Model for Occupational Therapy. Am J Occup Ther 2011;65(2):189-196. doi: 10.5014/ajot.2011.000828.
    These evidence-based practice and evidence based appraisal worksheets are helpful tools in developing an EBP therapy practice and guiding treatment based on the evidence, for Occupational Therapist practitioners.

    Want to use evidence-based resources and information in your therapy practice, but don’t know how to keep it all organized? 

    Need to break down all of the information into key take-aways to offer key-takeaways AND 

    Evidence Based Practice in Occupational Therapy Resources

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    evidence based practice in occupational therapy

    Therapy professionals, are you looking for evidence based practice in occupational therapy? This list of EBP occupational therapy resources include places to find the evidence for implementing in occupational therapy interventions. As Occupational Therapy practitioners, we value evidence based practice (EBP) to use in clinical practice intervention and evaluation. But finding evidence-based resources can be a struggle for therapists. There are many reasons for difficulties in finding this information including time, effort, cost, opportunities, availability of resources, and other issues. Below you will find various ways to obtain evidence-based resources as occupational therapy practitioner.

    EVIDENCE BASED PRACTICE IN OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY RESOURCES

    In this blog post, you’ll find information on evidence based practice for OT. You’ll understand the hierarchy of evidence levels in EBP, and you’ll find 21 places to find evidence based practice in occupational therapy.

    This resource identifies and explains evidence based practice in occupational therapy.

    First, we’ll dissect the various levels of evidenced based practice that OTs may encounter in searching for evidence based literature.

    Hierarchy of evidence

    There is quality of evidence that needs to be determined when analyzing resources. Understanding the hierarchy of evidence helps to identify different levels of evidence when determining the validity of sources. A framework for ranking evidence provides a hierarchy to enable different research methods to be ranked according to the validity of their findings.

    This link explains various grades and levels of evidence, defining types of evidence that provide reliable answers and best practice, while also describing the strength and rigor of a study.  

    Hierarchy of evidence within Evidence Based Practice is effective in identifying quality and high-level research backed information.  

    The Sackett method of ranking evidence is one method for outlining levels of evidence in EBP:

    1A = Systematic Review of Randomized
    Controlled Trials (RCTs)
    1B = RCTs with Narrow Confidence Interval
    1C = All or None Case Series
    2A = Systematic Review Cohort Studies
    2B = Cohort Study/Low Quality RCT
    2C = Outcomes Research
    3A = Systematic Review of Case-Controlled
    Studies
    3B = Case-controlled Study
    4 = Case Series, Poor Cohort Case Controlled
    5 = Expert Opinion

    Understanding the levels of evidence is necessary when investigating a topic area in the literature.

    Resources for Evidence Based Practice in Occupatoinal Therapy

    The following list is a collection of places to obtain evidence based resources for implementing into therapy interventions. By obtaining the evidence, therapists can use research and evidence in practice.

    These resources can then be appraised using our free Evidence Based Practice Appraisal Worksheets.

    1.) Continuing education opportunities- When obtaining professional development units needed to maintain licensure, therapists are able to connect with other therapists and are exposed to resources related to a specific question or topic. The struggle with this source of evidence-based practice is that continuing education opportunities can be pricey and limited. 

    2) The American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) publishes the American Journal of Occupational Therapy (AJOT) along with Special Interest Sections as a quarterly resource. AOTA  has online resources with evidence-based practice information and articles available to members. The struggle with this means of obtaining evidence based practice and literature is that topics are limited and therapist may not be able to to obtain the evidence they need related to specific clinical questions. Another issue is that the cost of membership.

    3.) National Board for Certification of Occupational Therapy (NBCOT) The national certification board for Occupational Therapy professionals provides an online portal for certificants, including evidence-based literature. Pro-Quest is one source for obtaining evidence-based articles needed in practice or for when researching needs. RefWorks is another tool for obtaining evidence-based literature that allows individuals to organize research references and easily create citations and bibliographies.

    4.) American Occupational Therapy Foundation (AOTF) is an educational organization striving to  It support occupational therapy research and public understanding of the important relationship between everyday activities (occupations) and health. AOTF creates a quarterly publication, the journal OTJR: Occupation, Participation, and Health.

    5.) AOTA and AOTF jointly support OT Search, a literature database of occupational therapy and related health articles. OT Search requires a paid membership.

    6.) The Australian Occupational Therapy Association (OTAUS) is another source of current research. Journal articles in the Australian Occupational Therapy Journal are available in the Wiley Online Library.

    7.) The Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists (CAOT) publicizes the Canadian Journal of Occupational Therapy (CJOT).

    8.) Royal College of Occupational Therapists (RCOT) offers the  British Journal of Occupational Therapy (BJOT) to it’s members.

    9.) The American Society of Hand Therapy (ASHT) offers the Journal of Hand Therapy. Finding the time to search various journals can take effort and energy out of a therapist’s busy schedule. These searches are often done on a therapist’s own time.

    10.) Other journal options include the British Journal of Occupational Therapy and American Family Physician.

    11) Networking with co-workers- Evidence related to a clinic or therapy setting’s particular needs can be shared in team meetings. This form of professional development is performed with colleagues or within small groups at a working place. However, many therapists have said that their workplace is limited in the number of therapists or they may even be working in isolation. This is especially true in the school based environment.

    12). Magazines such as Advance for Occupational Therapist Practitioners, OT Practice published via AOTA, and Occupational Therapy Now (OT Now) published by RCOT can be a source of locating recent research through article archives. 

    13.) Online sources Today in OT is an online source for obtaining continuing education credits.  College or university courses, meet-ups. Additionally, alumni are able to access research libraries in many cases.

    14.)  EBSCO Information Services provides research databases, e-journals, magazine subscriptions, e-books.  

    15.) State Association memberships and meetings.  

    16.) National Institutes of Health is a library of electronic journals, e-books, and databases.

    17.) PubMed has more than 27 million citations for biomedical literature from MEDLINE, life science journals, and online books.   

    18.) The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality  promotes evidence-based practice and reviews the evidence in order to  facilitate the translation of evidence-based research findings.

    19.) The Cochrane Library is part of Cochrane, a network of researchers, professionals, patients, and others, in order to produce valid and reliable health information that is free from commercial sponsorship and other conflicts of interest.

    20.) Guideline is a division of the US Health and Human Services that provides a public resource for summaries of evidence-based clinical practice guidelines. 

    21.) Google Scholar. Therapists are able to search online for evidence-backed research using Google’s tool titled google scholar. Simply type google scholar into the search bar and a library of research is available at your fingertips. However it can be difficult narrow down questions specific to clinical questions. Google Scholar offers a broad search for scholarly literature from a variety of sources including articles, theses, books, abstracts and court opinions, from academic publishers, professional societies, online repositories, universities and other web sites. 

    22. Medbridge Continuing Ed– This online source for OT continuing education is an online program where you can take evidence based courses and obtain licensure requirements at the same time. Use the code THEOTTOOLBOX to save $150 off your subscription.

    How to obtain evidence based practice resources for occupational therapy

    Resources: Sackett DL, Strauss SE, Richardson WS, et al. Evidence-Based Medicine: How to Practice and Teach EBM. Philadelphia, Pa: Churchill-Livingstone; 2000.

    Evidence based practice for occupational therapy

    Free EBP Apprasal Forms

    Want to take analysis of the evidence to the next level? Grab our set of evidence based practice appraisal worksheets (they’re free!) and get focused action plans for each research article.

    FREE Evidence Based Review & Appraisal Worksheets

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      self-reflection journal for therapists

      Get the Annual Professional Goal Planner OR as a special deal, get both the Yearly Professional Goal Planner AND the Professional Self-Reflection Journal DEAL for $5.

      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.

      Fall Cootie Catcher Template

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      Fall fine motor cootie catcher template

      Working on handwriting with kids? This Fall cootie catcher template is a Fall writing prompt activity that builds fine motor skills. Just print off the cootie catcher templates, pick the one that works best to meet the needs of the child you are working with, and work on copying letters, words, and sentences. This cootie catcher PDF is a fun way to work on so many skills!

      Fall cootie catcher for a fine motor writing prompt activity

      We shared this Spring cootie catcher earlier this year and it was a huge hit, so this Fall themed printable will be loved as well.

      Add this printable activity to Fall fine motor activities and Fall writing prompts.

      What is a cootie catcher?

      A cootie catcher is a folded paper game that includes squares and triangles that can be opened to contain written words or pictures. Cootie catchers are often used as a paper fortune teller game. A cootie catcher is an form of origami that kids can make, using a cootie catcher template. Once they practice using the blank template, children can learn the motor plan to create paper fortune tellers on their own.

      In our case, we are using a cootie catcher as a fine motor tool for kids.

      This one in particular includes writing prompts to make handwriting skills motivating and engaging for kids, with a Fall theme.

      When you use this cootie catcher, kids can develop so many skills:

      • Bilateral coordination– When children fold paper, they use both hands together in a coordinated manner.
      • Hand strength– Pressing the paper into folded shapes requires strength in the hand to create a sharp crease.
      • Separation of the sides of the hand– Opening and closing the cootie catcher requires both hands to open and close at the thumb web space, and is a separation of the sides of the hand activity.
      • Arch development– Using fingers to fold paper develops arch development in the hand, which is needed for endurance in fine motor activities.
      • Finger isolation– Using a finger to fold and crease paper focuses on finger isolation, a dexterity skill in fine motor tasks.
      • Eye-hand coordination– Using the eyes and hands together to create and use the paper fortune teller develops and refines eye-hand coordination skills.
      • Letter formation– copy the words on the printable.
      • Spacing between letters and words– Copy the words and sentences and work on spatial awareness, letter formation, and legibility.
      • Letter size– Write words on the spaces on the blank template to work on fitting letters and words into the given space.

      And those skills are just developed with kids use and play with the cootie catcher!

      Cootie Catcher Template

      This Cootie catcher printable includes four templates.

      1. You’ll find a printable fortune teller template pdf with instructions to write a word, sentence, or number.
      2. Next is a cootie catcher with sentence writing prompts in a Fall theme.
      3. There is a cootie catcher with Fall images which kids can write the name of the image.
      4. Finally there is a blank cootie catcher template.

      This free printable cootie catcher worksheet is another Fall freebie in our Fall week.

      Be sure to grab the other Fall printables that work on various skills:

      Want to print off this free cootie catcher? Enter your email to the form below and you’ll receive this printable in your inbox.

      Fall Cootie Catcher Writing Prompts

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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.

        Upper Body Strength

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        upper body strength

        In occupational therapy, addressing upper body strength can iffy for some. All OT interventions must be functional and based on daily tasks that make up a person’s day. OT is occupation! So when it comes to upper body strengthening, the question can arise whether the strengthen is functional. BUT, when you think about functional tasks, upper body strength is a must. When upper body strength results in less function of daily occupations, upper body exercises relate back to the functional task, making skilled strengthening activities part of the OT treatment plan. Let’s look at upper body strength and upper body strengthening activities that are used in occupational therapy sessions.

        Upper body strength activities for kids that develop upper body strengthening through play.

        These upper extremity activities for toddlers can get you started on some ideas for strengthening the upper body through play.

        Upper Body Strength

        The other day I was working on hand strength with a young child in one of my therapy sessions and I noticed how difficult it was for him to keep his arm in position while he was trying to complete the activity. I was reminded once again of how important upper body strength is when we are working towards improving fine motor skills.

        Upper body strength is made up of the muscles in the upper chest, muscles in the upper back and muscles attached to the shoulder joint. All of these muscles work together to create stability at the shoulder joint. This shoulder girdle stability is essential for establishing a solid anchor for the rest of the arm. Without this anchor it is difficult to develop good control in the lower arm, hands and fingers. In therapy-speak we talk about developing proximal stability before we can achieve distal control. 

        The stronger body enables functional performance in purposeful activities.

        Development of upper body strength

        Upper body strength emerges as young toddlers and children engage in movement activities. In the first few months of life babies push up on their arms when lying on their tummies.

        This early weight-bearing leads to strengthening and allows them to progress to four-point kneeling and eventually crawling. Upper body strength is very important as babies pull themselves into standing and begin to cruise along the couch or coffee table. This upper body strength continues to develop as children learn to climb jungle gyms, hold on to swings and learn to ride bicycles. The importance of play and movement in the early years reinforces the need for parents and caregivers to provide opportunities for young children to move and grow.

        Read more about the power of play and the impact that the occupation of play has on strength development in kids.

        Upper body strength remains vital in school-aged children as they tackle the challenge of refining their fine motor skills. 

        How to develop upper body strength

        When focusing on developing upper body strength in children the vertical surface will become your new best friend!   

        Working on a vertical surface places extra demands on the upper body as these muscles have to move against gravity to complete the task. Working on a vertical surface has the added bonus of placing the wrist and fingers in a good position for drawing or writing. This is a great way to incorporate finger strength exercises into the task.

        A vertical surface can be a wall, a door, a mirror, a blackboard or a white board.

        Have a look at the following activities (and purposeful, functional tasks) that you can complete on a vertical surface:

        1. Draw or color pictures

        Use tape to stick a piece of paper or picture on the wall. Use chalk, crayons, pastels or pencil crayons to draw a picture or color a picture in. When working for upper body strength try to encourage big movements that incorporate a wide range of movement for the shoulder muscles. Big bold rainbows and large lazy eights work very well. Related, these are the best crayons to support development, based on age and motor skills.

        Remember that the physical demands of working on a vertical surface are much greater than working at a table or a desk so give your child a chance to build up stamina and endurance. 

        Read more about coloring as a functional occupation and the development of coloring skills.

        1.  Playdough press

        I like to use a mirror or white board for vertical playdough activities. Playdough lends itself to endless creative outcomes and working against a vertical surface adds a new fun dimension. Playdough pieces can be used to fill in outlines of pictures or playdough creations can be stuck onto the white board. A large piece of playdough can be stuck onto the vertical surface and impressions can be made using everyday objects e.g. spoon, pencil. We have even had fun making handprint and footprint impressions.

        Also try these play dough activities for improving upper body strength through play. 

        1. Stickers 

        There are many reasons why stickers improve skills. Using stickers adds some refined pincer grip control, pinch strength, eye-hand coordination, wrist stability, shoulder girdle strengthening, and more. Place a page or picture on a vertical surface and use stickers to decorate. You can give verbal instructions to add listening skills and spatial concepts to the task e.g. place the blue sticker next to the cat. 

        1. Painting

        Painting is another functional task that improves hand and upper body strength. Occupational performance includes leisure activities such as painting and art. Painting is a great functional way to improve upper body strength. Complete your painting activity on an easel or vertical surface.  

        1.  Shaving cream on a mirror

        This fun, messy activity is a firm favorite with children. Spray a dollop of shaving cream into their hands and encourage them to spread it across the mirror to create a shaving cream drawing board. Draw pictures, shapes and patterns across the mirror. 

        1. Whiteboard activities

        Use whiteboard and white board markers to practice letter or number formations. To improve hand and upper body strength, use the whiteboard to play games like tic tac toe, word searches, and more.

        1. Tearing and sticking

        Stick the outline of a picture or shape on the wall. Tear small pieces of paper from a magazine and use a glue stick to paste the pieces onto the shape to fill the shape. Tearing paper strengthens the hand, wrist, shoulder girdle, and upper body. To make this a functional task, try using junk mail as a paper tearing activity.

        1. Body shapes

        This works well on a mirror. Ask the child to stand with their back up against the mirror. Use a Koki to trace the outline of the child. Encourage the child to add in the facial detail and clothing in order to complete the picture.

        1. Race tracks 

        Draw a race track on a chalkboard or on a large piece of paper stuck to the wall. Drive a small car along the race track. Older children can draw their own race tracks. Try this race track activity using wikki stix. Playing on the floor strengthens the upper body, core, shoulder girdle, and wrist.

        Using wikki stix activities to pinch and peel on the floor while incorporating upper body support is a great way to build upper body strength through play.

        Kids also love this garage door activity where we used magnetic letters on the garage door. What a great activity for using a vertical surface to strengthen the upper body through play.

        1. Tic Tac Toe

        This can be played on a vertical surface.  Encourage your child to draw the grid before playing the game. Engaging in these activities on a vertical surface will contribute to the development of upper body strength. Many of the games and activities that you have at home or in the classroom can be adapted to ‘vertical’ activities with a bit of tape or prestik. 

        For more functional upper extremity exercises using functional activities to strengthen the upper body for pencil grasp, scissor use, dressing, clothing fasteners, and more, be sure to grab our seasonal Fine Motor Kits. Each one includes resources for upper body strengthening but can be used on vertical surfaces for shoulder and core strengthening.

        These Heavy Work Activity Cards promote full body movement and strengthening through play. Add them to your therapy toolkit.

        Contributor to The OT Toolbox: Janet Potterton is an occupational therapist working predominantly in school-based settings and I love, love, love my job. I have two children (if you don’t count my husband!), two dogs, one cat, two guinea pigs and one fish. When I am not with my family or at work I try to spend time in nature. The beach is my happy place.

        Fall Pumpkin Cutting Activities

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        pumpkin cutting activities

        If you’ve been following along with our Fall fine motor activities, then you will love adding these Fall pumpkin cutting activities! I love these pumpkin scissor skill worksheets for cutting practice with a fun Fall theme. The pumpkin images have simple cutting lines, making them a great pumpkin activity for preschool, or any child that is working on early scissor skills. Also check out our pumpkin activities for ways to extend this activity in therapy sessions.

        Add this activity to our pumpkin sensory bin activity for a full therapy session of fun this Fall.

        Pumpkin Cutting Activities for Fall themed occupational therapy activities.

        Get a copy of these pumpkin printables by entering your email address into the form at the bottom of this blog post.

        Fall Pumpkin Cutting Activity

        Print out the pumpkin worksheets and then use them to work on scissor skills with kids. I wanted to create a simple shape (square) to hold the pumpkin shapes. This way, kids can work up to cutting the square as a “next step” in developing scissor skills after cutting strait lines, curved lines, and jagged lines.

        This resource is a great read on cutting skills progression for kids.

        • Each pumpkin image includes a cutting line. You’ll find strait lines, diagonal lines, angled lines, jagged lines, and curved lines.
        • Kids can “cut the pumpkin” to slice through the pumpkin pictures!
        • The lines on each shape start at different sides, so kids can work on placement with their non-dominant hand.

        Extend the Pumpkin Cutting Activities

        There is more than one way to use these pumpkin shapes this Fall. Try these pumpkin cutting activities to address a variety of skills and abilities:

        • Start with the large pumpkin cutting pieces and work toward using the smaller pumpkins.
        • Color in the pumpkins to work on coloring skills, line awareness, and hand strength.
        • Trace the dotted line with a fingertip to work on finger isolation.
        • Trace the dotted line with a marker, crayon, or even a bottle of squeeze glue to work on line awareness and visual motor skills.
        • Cut out the pumpkin images. Cut the dotted lines. Then, these can be used as mini pumpkin puzzles to work on visual perceptual skills.
        • Place the separated pumpkin images around the room. Kids can complete gross motor actions like donkey kicks, balance beams, lunges, or hops to reach different pieces of the pumpkins. They can try to piece all of the pumpkins together.
        • After cutting the lines on the large shapes and the smaller pumpkins, then ask kids to work on cutting the square to work on turning the paper to cut around corners.
        • Use these worksheets as a pumpkin craft ideas for toddlers. If given the cut out pumpkin pieces (start with the strait lines and diagonal lines), toddlers can place the pumpkin halves together like a puzzle. Use glue to glue the pumpkin back together onto construction paper to make a pumpkin patch craft! This would be a great pumpkin craft for preschool, too.

        Free Pumpkin Cutting Practice Worksheets

        Want to grab these free pumpkin cutting practice sheets? Enter your email into the form below. Have fun this Fall!

        Pumpkin Scissor Skills Worksheets

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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.

          For more pumpkin and Fall activities, check out these tools:

          1. Free Pumpkin Deep Breathing Exercise
          2. Halloween Occupational Therapy Activities
          3. Pumpkin Activity Kit
          4. Fall Fine Motor Activities
          5. Fall Fine Motor Kit