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:

Outdoor Sensory Activities: The Tactile Sense

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This article on outdoor sensory activities focuses on the tactile sense. Our sensory touch plays a huge part in sensory experiences, sensory tolerance and challenging behaviors (the actions we see) as a result of difficulties regulating tactile sensory input. From tickly grass on the bare feet to tolerating bathing suit textures or sunscreen, tactile input and summer go hand-in hand. If you are looking for outdoor sensory play ideas, then you are in the right spot!

Outdoor sensory Activities for Tactile Sense

Touching toes on the grass can make some kiddos squirm.  The sandbox brings on a mini world of sensory defensiveness when grains of sand stick to skin.  For the child with a hypersensitivity to touch, the backyard can be overwhelming. Other kids seek out tactile sensations and need to touch everything.  Still others find comfort in certain sensations but other textures bring on the tantrums or withdrawal.

There are ways to introduce tactile sensations in the backyard in a controlled way.  Incorporate these with tactile sensory input to involve the whole body into sensory play.  Try adding backyard proprioception input or backyard oral sensory processing activities.  You’ll also find resources in this outdoor sensory activities for vestibular input. These are super easy ways to play with the senses with items you probably already have in or around the home.

If you are looking for information on how to create a sensory diet and use these movement activities with kids, then you are in the right place. Here are more outdoor sensory diet activities to get you started with sensory needs and the outdoors.

Outdoor sensory activities and tactile sensory input in backyard play ideas for kids, perfect for summer and all year with outdoor sensory play at home.

outdoor sensory activities for autism

A quick note on various sensory challenges that can result in actions we see in neurodiverse children of all ages (adults included). Some of the outward actions we see can be related to sensory input that is regulated differently in summer or warmer weather:

  • Tolerance of shorts
  • Tolerance of bathing suits
  • Sensation of sunscreen
  • Sensation of socks or other clothing in hot weather
  • Humidity changes
  • Summer thunderstorms (can change the air temperature)
  • Short clothing that brushes on legs or arms
  • Sandals or open-toed shoes
  • Crowds or places where others are in close contact
  • Wearing a mask in warmer temperatures

This is just a short list of considerations. Remember that no child will be alike and there can be many other situations that arise in the summer months that impact tolerance of differences in tactile sensory input.

Below you will find outdoor sensory activities that focus on tactile sensory input as a challenge or outdoor sensory play ideas that can be helpful and fun this summer.

Related Read: Occupational Therapy ideas for kids

Tactile sensory input in backyard play ideas for kids, perfect for summer and all year with outdoor sensory play at home.

TACTILE SENSORY INPUT BACKYARD ACTIVITIES:

  • Create a mud kitchen in an area of your backyard.  It doesn’t need to be complicated. A simple piece of wood or a sheet of cardboard makes a nice work space. Use buckets, scoops, and spoons to mix up muddy concoctions while working on fine motor skills, eye-hand coordination to scoop and pour in a tactile sensory (and very messy) imagination play.

Don’t be afraid to let the kids get muddy and messy! Just hose them off           afterwards. Mud and puddles are a part of childhood and the dirt will wash         off.  Have fun and get messy with your kids!

  • Flower Sensory Bin- Explore tactile differences with an outdoor dandelion messy sensory bin.  Add more squishy messy play by adding dirt or sand to the bin.  Use scoops and tongs to add in fine motor work.
  • Feel and Name Game- Fill a bin or paper bag with grass clippings.  To the bag, add random small toys, plastic figures, or magnetic letters.  Ask the child to reach into the bag without looking.  They can locate a small item and feel it as they try to name the object.  
  • Sandbox Dig and Find– Practice tactile discrimination in the sandbox.  You’ll need two sets of matching items for this activity. (Magnetic letters, coins, small figures, or matching utensils would work.) When the child is not looking, hide small objects and figures in a sandbox.  Then, show the child an object that matches one of the hidden items.  Do not name the object. Rather, ask them to “find another one just like this.”

When in doubt add water!  Try these backyard sensory tactile play ideas:  goop play dough shaving cream backyard messy play date paper mache.

You’ll also love these ideas:   

Dinosaur-Sized Sensory Feelings and Proprioception Activities

Oobleck in the Marble Run

Oobleck in the Marble Run

Alphabet Discovery Bottle

Alphabet Discovery Bottle

Fidgeting During Homework

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.

Emotions Game (Frog Theme Slide Deck)

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emotions game frog theme spot it activity

This frog emotions game slide deck is a tool for helping kids to identify emotions based on facial expression. It’s a social skills activity for young children that goes perfectly with this frog writing activity and our cute frog crafts. Use all frog games together as frog themed activities that develop skills.

Teaching emotions is an important part of social emotional development. That’s why this emotions game (with a cute frog theme) is so much fun, but also a great way to help kids learn to identify emotions, match up emotions by facial expression, and label different feelings. It’s just one of the many free slides here on the site, and one you’ll want to add to your toolbox.

Emotions game with a frog theme. This free therapy slide deck is a fun social emotional learning game for kids.

Frog Emotions

You might be wondering “frog emotions? What does that mean?”

But we are not talking about the emotions of frogs here…we mean that you can use a fun theme like frogs and toads to talk to kids about emotions and emotional expressions! It’s an activity like this that uses frog emotions to help us explain to kids how they feel, how mood and affect impact their overall wellbeing, and how we all (even the cute frogs in this free slide deck activity) have feelings. It’s empathy skills through play!

Working with kids in occupational therapy sessions have shown me one thing…and that’s the fact that if we can make things fun and engaging (like the cute frogs in this activity) that we can help kids build skills!

This emotions game is modeled after several other similar emotions games we have here on the site. You can use all of these in sequence or to fit with different themes in therapy or in the classroom or home. Each emotions game includes a “spot it” type of matching game that allows kids to feel challenged, but also builds essential skills.

These other emotions games might fit with some of your themes you have planned:

The emotions games in these activities and in the one shown below, children can label different facial expressions and give a name to the visual emotions. The important thing here is to note that there is no right answer. Some children might have different names for emotions or the feelings that they experience.

In the frog theme slide deck, there are different facial expressions for each frog’s face. Kids can type right into the slide deck and add a label for those expressions. You can extend this activity in several ways:

  1. Ask kids to mimic the visual facial expression that they see on each frog’s face.
  2. Ask the user to identify a time that they have experienced that particular emotion.
  3. Ask the user to tell about a time that they have seen other’s experiencing that emotion. You can talk about what might lead up to another person experiencing a particular feeling or emotion. This task helps to build empathy for others.
  4. Ask the child to identify ways to reach out to others when they might be feeling particular emotions. How can they help others who are feeling sad or angry? How would they like others to reach out to them when they themselves are feeling a particular feeling?
  5. Ask the child to specify ways that they respond to particular emotions. What do they do when they feel upset, silly, or frustrated?

You can even use this as an emotions check in activity with kids. Ask them how they are feeling right now. It’s a tool for emotional regulation.

The next part of the slide deck includes matching activities in a “spot it” type of emotions game. The slide decks are interactive, meaning that kids can move the lily pads to cover the matching emotion on each slide.

Each slide has only one matching facial expression, and the player can look at each image and try to find the matching expression.

Frog Emotions Game

As an occupational therapist, I’ve found that incorporating themed activities like a frog emotions game can be incredibly beneficial for children. This type of activity not only targets emotional regulation skills but also adds an element of fun and engagement to therapy sessions.

Children are often drawn to themed activities because they provide a novel and exciting experience, making therapy feel less intimidating and more enjoyable. The frog theme adds a playful twist, allowing kids to explore and express their emotions in a lighthearted manner. By integrating games like this into therapy sessions, we can create a motivating environment that encourages active participation and enhances the overall effectiveness of treatment.

The frog theme activity is a social emotional learning game that kids can use to build awareness and strategies, too.

After playing the emotions matching on the slide, then focus more on building awareness of emotions and social development. After the child finds the match, they can identify the expression that is depicted on that frog’s face. T

hen, go back to what was covered in the beginning with some of the same questions: how do they think that frog feels? When did they experience that expression? If they felt angry (or frustrated, silly, sad, etc.) in school when they need to complete an assignment? How would they feel if they were playing a game and experienced feelings of frustration?

All of these questions allow the child to think in situational experiences so they can be ready to function. Situational awareness, empathy of others, and social emotional development are all learned skills, and having experience, the words to use, and tools in their back pocket will allow them to function in future tasks or situations.

After you are done playing, just go to the slide deck edit history and click “reset slides” to revert them to their original set-up. You can then play again…just click the lily pads and drag them to cover each matching frog face, and work on labelling emotions again and again!

Free emotions game slide deck

We have a free frog themed emotions activity in slide deck form.

To add this free emotions game to your therapy toolbox, enter your email address into the form below. You’ll receive a printable that you can use in therapy, the home, or the classroom.

NOTE- Email addresses on a school or work server may block the email delivering your file. Consider using a personal email address for better deliverability.

Free Emotions Game (Frog Theme) Slide Deck

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    Add the Frogs and Toads Motor Skills Mini-Pack to this activity and build stronger, more refined motor skills in children. The mini pack includes:

    • Fine Motor Mazes
    • Fine motor paths
    • A-Z frog letters for word building
    • “Froggy Says” gross motor game
    • 1-20 Number Building Mats
    • Play Dough Mat
    • Handwriting Pages
    • I Spy page
    • Gross motor directionality sheets

    Done for you motor skills activities and FUN frog and toad themes combine in the Frogs and Toads Motor Skills Mini-Pack. Work on grasp, hand strength, eye-hand coordination, handwriting, scissor skills, heavy work, gross motor skills, coordination, and all things fine and gross motor skills in this 43 page printable packet.

    frog and toad activities motor skills packet

    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.

    Frog Writing Activities

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    frog writing activities

    Today we’re talking all about frog writing! These frog writing activities are part of a free slide deck to outline therapy sessions and to use to foster visual perceptual skills and handwriting skills. Add these frog writing activities to this list of cute frog crafts which are designed to develop and refine fine motor skills in kids.

    You’ll also love our frog emotions activity as another tool to add to your frog theme of activities!

    The frog writing prompts included in this therapy slide deck are perfect to add to your frog theme or use in a weekly occupational therapy theme (or at-home theme for learning, play, and building developmental skills!)

    Frog writing activities including frog writing prompts and a frog I spy activity to work on writing skills in kids, with a frogs and toads theme!

    Frog Writing

    The kids that I’ve worked with in OT sessions love this frog writing activity…and they don’t realize all of the work they are putting into the task because it’s a fun way to target OT goals.

    In my experience as an occupational therapist working in schools, incorporating fun themes into handwriting sessions has been incredibly effective for improving skills that impact learning. A frog theme set of activities is one way to do that!

    The frog writing activity supports fine motor skills, visual motor skills, pencil control and overall handwriting skills. Utilizing frog writing prompts and activities not only adds an element of fun for the children but also provides valuable opportunities to address fine motor and visual motor considerations essential for handwriting.

    Sometimes, having a set of themed activities set-up for therapy sessions is a “must” to keep therapists sane. It’s not about using the same activities with each student; Using a theme in therapy activities allows the therapist to use the same materials. And having the skilled ability to adjust for each individual is just part of an OT’s skillset. To make your life much easier as a busy therapist, head over to this free slides library and grab all of the therapy themes that fit your interests and those on your caseload.

    That’s where these frog writing activities come into play.

    The free slide deck includes several frog writing activities for users to build specific skills, depending on their needs and goal areas.

    You’ll find frog I Spy game and several frog writing slides to work on handwriting skills.

    More Frog Writing Ideas

    There are more ways to work on fine motor and visual motor skills with this frog writing activity.

    • Copy the words to work on letter formation and copying skills
    • Use other frog activities as a warm up
    • Try tracing frog outlines for pencil control
    • Hop and leap along frog-themed letter paths
    • Do frog-themed mazes to target pencil control
    • Play Froggy Says, like a Simon Says activity for gross motor skills needed for writing posture.
    • Use tweezers in fine motor activities that mimic the movements involved in catching or feeding frogs, such as using tweezers to pick up frog-themed manipulatives. This further strengthens fine motor skills essential for precise handwriting.
    • Fold paper into origami frogs

    Frog I Spy

    The first activity is a warm-up of sorts. You’ll find a frog I Spy game where users can locate, count, and find individual frog and toad images. This is a great visual perceptual skills activity to build and develop skills in areas such as:

    • Visual discrimination (needed for identifying differences between letters)
    • Visual scanning (needed for scanning a writing piece for where you’ve left off in copying materials)
    • Form constancy (knowing that a form or letter is the same no matter the positioning. This skill is needed for recognizing letters in different fonts and sizes)

    When kids find the individual frogs and toad images they can type the number into the interactive slide deck.

    This frog I spy game is available as a printable worksheet in our Frogs and Toads Motor Skills Mini-Pack. Find the items, then write the numbers in the boxes. Kids can also color or circle the items to build pencil control and fine motor skills. The packet is 43 pages of fine and gross motor skill activities with a frogs and toads theme. Not bad for the cost of a cup of coffee!

    Frog Writing Prompts

    Next in the frog writing activities are a few writing prompts. I’ve included both frog word writing prompts and also sentences as an open-ended writing prompt to foster creative writing.

    The frog words include things like froglet, pond, lily pad, and words that are easily read and recognized by younger children.

    Pair this activity with frog lifecycle activities for handwriting practice of letter formation, letter size, legibility, and even cursive handwriting for the older elementary ages.

    The next piece is a frog writing prompt slide. This slide includes three writing prompts that users can use for longer writing samples.

    All of these writing prompts are open-ended so that you can easily adjust the therapy sessions or home programing to meet the needs of the child or individual.

    Free Frog Writing Slide Deck

    Want to add this free slide deck to your therapy toolbox and work on handwriting and visual perceptual skills in written work? Grab this resource and outline writing activities so the kids you serve can work on areas like letter formation, copying skills, and more. You’ll need to enter your email address into the form below and the file will be delivered to your inbox. (School email addresses/work email addresses may block this email as it contains a link to access a file. A personal email address may work better for deliverability.)

    Free Frog Writing Activities Slide Deck

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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.

      frog and toad activities motor skills packet

      Add the Frogs and Toads Motor Skills Mini-Pack to this activity and build stronger, more refined motor skills in children. The mini pack includes:

      • Fine Motor Mazes
      • Fine motor paths
      • A-Z frog letters for word building
      • “Froggy Says” gross motor game
      • 1-20 Number Building Mats
      • Play Dough Mat
      • Handwriting Pages
      • I Spy page
      • Gross motor directionality sheets

      Done for you motor skills activities and FUN frog and toad themes combine in the Frogs and Toads Motor Skills Mini-Pack. Work on grasp, hand strength, eye-hand coordination, handwriting, scissor skills, heavy work, gross motor skills, coordination, and all things fine and gross motor skills in this 43 page printable packet.

      Cute Frog Crafts for Kids

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      frog crafts

      These cute frog crafts are fun ways to use a frog theme to build skills. From paper plat frogs, to cut and paste frog crafts, these are great occupational therapy crafts to use in fine motor skill work, scissor skills activities, and a frog and toad theme. These frog crafts will keep you hopping!

      Use these frog crafts to develop fine motor skills, scissor skills, precision, and refined grasp. Includes paper plate frogs and more.

      Frog Crafts

      Frog crafts like the ones shown here are fun ways to build motor skills within a frog theme. Learning about the frog life cycle is a common theme in preschool or early elementary lessons. Use the frog crafts here as a developmental tool.

      I love using crafts like the ones listed below in planning in person or OT teletherapy services. Other crafts can be sent home as an OT home program idea. Children can create while working on skills like fine motor dexterity and strength, line awareness, scissor skills, language, self-confidence, problem solving, tool use, and more.

      These frog crafts can be added to a frog theme, with resources like:

      Frog Crafts for Kids

      As a pediatric occupational therapist, I love using crafts of any kind in therapy sessions because they offer a fun and engaging way to target important underlying skill areas. A fun frog craft is no different!

      When children create the frog crafts we share below, they get to practice their fine motor skills by cutting, coloring, and assembling materials, all while strengthening hand muscles and improving coordination.

      I especially enjoy seeing their faces light up when we hang the crafts we’ve created up on the therapy door or a bulletin board in the school hallway. This task of hanging the craft up is another way to incorporate functional movement to bend and reach, targeting balance and core strength. They can then use a stapler, tape, or sticky tack to hang their creation. But the real benefit is seeing their creation hanging on the wall for all to see.

      We wanted to pull together some great frog crafts that support various skills. Following the step-by-step instructions for the craft also helps enhance their sequencing skills and attention to task, which are crucial for success in school and daily activities.

      Plus, crafting allows children to express themselves creatively and provides a sensory-rich experience that supports emotional regulation and well-being. Seeing the joy and pride in their eyes as they complete their frog crafts is truly rewarding and reminds me why I love what I do as an occupational therapist.

      Handprint frog Craft

      Work on tactile sensory tolerance with this frog handprint craft. This is a great functional craft for kids because you can include a hand-washing activity after making the handprint art.

      Washing off the green paint is an excellent visual in ensuring kids are thoroughly washing their hands.

      Paper Plate Frog Craft

      Work on scissor skills, bilateral coordination, hand strength, sequencing, and motor planning with this frog paper plate craft. Folding and cutting paper plates are great for building hand strength and working on finger isolation.

      This craft includes different grades of cutting tasks and can be a great incentive for cutting simple to complex shapes.

      Cutting paper plates is a strengthening activity that provides more resistance and can slow down the scissors, allowing for more accuracy along cutting lines. Use this paper plate frog craft to build these skills.

      Frog and Lily Pad Craft

      For more complex scissor skill crafts, try this frog on a lily pad craft. It can be a challenge for some kids, but cutting the frogs and lily pad shapes can be a just right level for others that are building scissor skills with complex lines.

      Paper Frog Craft

      For a fine motor workout, make this shredded paper frog craft. Kids can pick up and manipulate the shredded paper pieces while working on precision, tip to tip grasp, open-thumb web space, and more refined precision skills.

      This easy shapes frog craft is great for preschoolers or those cutting simple shapes. Use this craft for beginners and to address scissor skills cutting along circles and simple shapes. (Then work up to the more difficult frog crafts.)

      Toilet Paper Roll Frog

      Try this toilet roll frog to work on refined grasp, precision, scissor skills, and more motor skill development.

      You could also use paper towel rolls to make this paper roll frog.

      Use these cute frog crafts to develop fine motor skills, scissor skills, precision, and refined grasp. Includes paper plate frogs and more.

      More Frog Activities

      Add the Frogs and Toads Motor Skills Mini-Pack to this activity and build stronger, more refined motor skills in children.

      frog and toad activities motor skills packet

      These printable activities extend to work on a variety of other functional areas, too: handwriting skills, numbers, math, adding, subtracting, one-to-one correspondence, scissor skills, coloring, and more.

      The Frogs and Toads Motor Skills mini pack includes:

      • Fine Motor Mazes
      • Fine motor paths
      • A-Z frog letters for word building
      • “Froggy Says” gross motor game
      • 1-20 Number Building Mats
      • Play Dough Mat
      • Handwriting Pages
      • I Spy page
      • Gross motor directionality sheets

      Done for you motor skills activities and FUN frog and toad themes combine in the Frogs and Toads Motor Skills Mini-Pack. Work on grasp, hand strength, eye-hand coordination, handwriting, scissor skills, heavy work, gross motor skills, coordination, and all things fine and gross motor skills in this 43 page printable packet.

      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.

      Outdoor Lawn Games

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      outdoor lawn games

      Here, you’ll discover outdoor lawn games that help children and families with development and play. These outdoor yard games build gross motor skills and are great for summer activities for kids, getting them outside and off screens. Playing in the yard is beneficial for so many reasons.

      Getting kids outdoors and moving is a great for so many reasons: added physical activity, a break from screen time, adding heavy work movement, a chance to connect with others, and benefit from the outdoors. Whether the kids just need to get out of the house, or you have a birthday party to plan this summer, outdoor yard games are the way to go to add much-needed movement for kids of all ages.

      Outdoor Lawn Games

      There is much research on the sensory benefits of outdoor play. Just a few of those benefits include:

      • Outdoor play offers an alerting or calming environment.
      • Outdoor play fosters listening skills.
      • Outdoor play provides an environment that encourages a calming and alert state of being. 
      • Outdoor play encourages risk-taking and self-confidence.
      • Outdoor play supports executive functioning skills.
      • Outdoor play encourages participation in the sense of touch.
      • Outdoor play promotes heavy work proprioceptive input and movement in a variety of planes, offering vestibular input.

      There are so many other reasons to get outside and play. Let’s get started on some of the outdoor lawn games for kids:

      Running Games

      1. Tag- There are so many benefits to playing tag with kids. Try these tag games (and read up on the therapeutic benefits of playing tag, too).
      2. Wolf Wolf- One person is the wolf and stands across the yard. The others call out “Wolf, wolf: What time is it?” The wolf then says a time “It’s 3:00” and the other players take 3 steps across the lawn toward the wolf. When the players are close, the wolf yells out, “It’s lunch time!” and turns around and chases after the players.
      3. Red Rover- Players split into two teams and hold hands across the lawn from the other team. One at a time, the team yells, “Red Rover, Red Rover, send (child’s name) over. That child runs across the lawn and tries to break through the line of the other team. If they succeed, that child returns to their own team. If they can not break through the arms of the other team, they then join the new team.
      4. Relay Races- Split everyone into two teams. The two teams can run, jump, move, or do a variety of actions, one at a time. The first team to complete all of the tasks, one by one is the winner. Relay races can involve water balloons, carrying items, adding clothing materials, etc.
      5. Hide and Seek- One person is “it”. The person who is “it” counts to a specified number while all of the other players hide. They then go out and look for the others.
      6. Sardines- Just like hide and seek, sardines is a hiding and finding game. But, one person hides and the others are the seekers. When someone finds the hiding person, they join the person that is hiding. Then, everyone continues to hide with the person who is “it” until there is only one person left.
      7. Monkey in the middle
      8. 4 Square

      More Outdoor Lawn Activities

      This massive list of outdoor lawn activities inspire movement, creativity, eye-hand coordination, motor planning, sensory input,

      1. Climb trees
      2. Animal walks
      3. Make a creative balance beam.
      4. Go hiking.
      5. Hang a sensory swing.
      6. Go for a walk or run.
      7. Bounce balls.
      8. Play kickball or wiffleball.
      9. Go on a nature sensory walk.
      10. Stress ball or fidget toys outdoors.
      11. Running games like races.
      12. Play with rocks.
      13. “I Spy” scavenger hunts for colors or shapes
      14. Obstacle courses
      15. Have a sound scavenger hunt in the backyard.
      16. Tug of war activities
      17. Play in the woods.
      18. Carry equipment, buckets, or bins.
      19. Cardboard races: Slide down a hill on cardboard
      20. Grass, flowers, and leaves sensory bin.
      21. Use a magnifying glass to inspect the grass and dirt
      22. Cartwheels and tumbling on the grass (barefoot or with shoes!)
      23. Water Table with nature
      24. Cartwheel or tumbling 
      25. Target games
      26. Bean bag games
      27. Hide and seek games
      28. Simon Says games
      29. Mud kitchen
      30. Roll down hills
      31. Animal walks with bare feet
      32. Create nature “soup” with grass, flower petals, sticks, etc.
      33. Pick flowers
      34. Bell parade
      35. Kazoo sound hunt
      36. Outdoor pretend play.
      37. Listening for birds or animals
      38. Record backyard sounds and playback the recording. Try to recognize and name the sound and where it was located in the yard.
      39. Fill containers with items from the backyard.  Shake plastic containers or even paper bags with the items and see if your child can name the objects.
      40. Play Marco Polo in the yard!
      41. Create a lawn maze with sticks, snow, or leaves.
      42. Auditory backyard games like: Neighborhood Listening Scavenger Hunt, Auditory Hide and Seek, Listening Tag, Noisy Toy Positioning Game
      43. Create with recycled materials and make arts, crafts, and activities.
      44. Pull plasticware out of the cupboards and sort the lids onto the containers.
      45. Mix colors with food coloring in water.
      46. Blow bubbles
      47. Explore how water evaporates.
      48. Jump rope
      49. Throw a book picnic: grab snacks, a blanket, and a pile of books and head outside.
      50. Poke holes in a cardboard box and push pipe cleaners through the holes
      51. Bowl with recycled plastic water bottles
      52. Act out a favorite nursery rhyme or story.
      53. Put dollhouses or play sets into a bin of shredded paper.
      54. Play hide and seek.
      55. Watch and draw clouds
      56. Tell stories where one person starts a story and each person adds a sentence to continue the story.  Write it down and illustrate your story!
      57. Make and deliver lemonade to neighbors.
      58. Go birdwatching.
      59. Make creative firefly catchers and then catch the fireflies that night.
      60. Play charades.
      61. Create with finger paints (make your own with flour, water, and food coloring or washable paint!)
      62. Wash a car.
      63. Rainbow Outdoor Game
      64. Sing songs.
      65. Turn on music and dance.
      66. Pick flowers and give them to neighbors.
      67. Make crafts. Have an art show and invite friends.
      68. Create a spatial concepts map.
      69. Spin in circles.
      70. Swing side to side on a swing set.
      71. Create a water sensory bin.
      72. Hang upside down from swing set equipment.
      73. Swing on a hammock.
      74. Have a sight word scavenger hunt.
      75. Backyard dance party.  Encourage lots of whole body movements and spinning.
      76. Cartwheels
      77. Tumble
      78. Hopscotch
      79. Play Leapfrog
      80. Mini trampoline (or the big sized-trampoline).
      81. Catch a ball while standing, sitting, swinging, rolling a ball, catching between legs, etc.
      82. Hit a tennis racket at a target including bubbles, falling leaves, large balls, small rubber balls, and balloons.
      83. Catch butterflies in a net.
      84. Bubble pop, including popping bubbles with a toe, knee, foot, head, finger, or elbows.
      85. Have a backyard messy play date.
      86. Animal Sound Obstacle Course
      87. Outdoor Math Game for Preschoolers: Exploring Very Big and Very Small
      88. Pool Noodle Train Tracks 
      89. Steam Streamers Active Train Play
      90. Water Balloon Letter Learning
      91. Spray Bottle Target Practice
      92. Water Balloon Games for Kids
      93. Dandelion Games
      94. Water Games
      95. Pom Pom Games
      96. Bubble Science and Make Your Own Bubble Solution
      97. Get Up and Move Dice Homemade Toddler Game
      98. Super Simple 5 Minute Backyard Teepee
      99. Games With Pool Noodles

      BACKYARD SENSORY DIET EQUIPMENT

      Make a bin of outdoor toys that are readily available in your garage or storage area so that sensory play experiences are at your family’s fingertips. 

      • Hoola Hoops
      • Jump Ropes
      • Balls
      • Bat
      • Tennis Racket
      • Butterfly Net
      • Baby Swimming Pool
      • Tarp or Slip and Slide
      • Water Hose
      • Scoops and cups
      • Sidewalk chalk
      • Bike
      • Scooter
      • Skateboard
      • Cardboard
      • Target or net
      • Shovels
      • Buckets
      • Play wheelbarrow
      • Swingset
      • Climbing structure
      • Flashlight
      • Magnifying glass
      • Cones
      • Bubbles
      • Bean bags

      For more outdoor play ideas that inspire movement and encourage development of motor skills, try these resources:

      Outdoor Sensory Diet Cards

      Heavy Work Movement Cards

      Sensory Lifestyle Handbook

       

       

      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.

      Virtual Picnic Therapy Activities

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      virtual picnic therapy slide deck

      This week’s free slide decks are fun virtual picnic therapy activities that can be used to encourage motor skills in therapy sessions. I love the picnic theme for the upcoming warmer weather this summer, but also as a fun way to spend the last few weeks of the school year. Kids will love this virtual picnic in therapy or at home! Also be sure to grab this left right discrimination picnic theme slide deck.

      Virtual picnic therapy activities for building gross motor skills and handwriting activities in therapy sessions or home therapy programs.

      Virtual Picnic

      When you use this virtual picnic to facilitate gross motor skills, kids can move, strengthen core stability, work on bilateral coordination, crossing midline, motor planning, eye-hand coordination, body awareness, muscle memory, and many other skills.

      Plus, the virtual picnic activities includes a visual perceptual skills activities, and picnic handwriting activities.

      These virtual picnic activities go hand-in-hand with picnic crafts, fine motor activities, mindfulness activities, making a full week of camping themed or picnic themed fun for kids.

      Combine the picnic therapy activities on this slide deck to some other, hands-on picnic themed activities to round out the therapy theme:

      And, when you have a picnic, making picnic foods with kids is a must…further building fine motor skills, cognitive skills like planning, preparation, impulse control, and other executive functioning skills, and independence in daily tasks! Try these cooking with kids activities that help to build skills, but are GREAT picnic foods for kids to make:

      Kids can participate in the virtual picnic by making one of these cooking activities (as long as they have a helper at home for their cooking activities) or, make pretend food and work on direction following, sequencing, planning, and task completion.

      So, you can use these ideas to combine therapy recommendations for the home OR use these ideas in therapy sessions to create picnic themed therapy activities!

      Want to add virtual picnic activities to your sessions or home programming? This week’s free slide deck covers several different occupational therapy intervention areas (and are great for physical therapy sessions, too.)

      Picnic Gross Motor Activities

      The first part of the slide deck includes picnic gross motor activities.

      Kids can look at the image on the slide deck and pick out one piece of visual information in order to act out the picnic scene. Each picnic scene includes several people that are in various gross motor positions to challenge core strength, coordinatin, midline crossing, bilateral coordinaiton, motor planning, and more.

      Kids can also work on visual perceptual skills such as visual discrimination, visual figure ground, visual closure, etc.

      Children can then use this part of the slide deck to foster muscle memory, visual memory, and sequencing. You could go through this part of the slide deck several times and work on recalling physical motor sequences or play a memory game. The slides are pretty open-ended to facilitate a number of goal areas when it comes to gross motor skill, coordination, visual skills, etc.

      Picnic Handwriting Activities

      The next several slides in the slide deck are open-ended picnic writing prompts. There are more picnic scenes that include a variety of picnic items.

      Children can scan the image and pull out words to write on paper, or they can use the list on the slide deck to copy and then find the hidden items in the picture.

      To grade this activity, ask kids to compose a sentence using the picnic words on the slide. Or, ask children to circle the items on the slide using a shape feature on Google slides. These activities challenge the visual perceptual skills and visual motor skills needed for handwriting and copying written work.

      Use these picnic handwriting activities to focus on letter formation, spacing, sizing, and overall neatness in handwriting skills.

      Free Virtual Picnic Slide Deck

      Want to add this virtual picnic slide deck to your therapy toolbox? Enter your email address into the form below to access this slide deck. Don’t forget to check out all of the Free Slides that we have available for teletherapy and for facilitating therapy sessions with kids!

      Free Virtual Picnic Therapy Activities Slide Deck

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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.

        Adorable Ant Crafts for Kids

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        ant crafts for kids

        These ant crafts are completely adorable but more than that, each ant craft you find here is a powerful fine motor activity that builds hand strength, scissor skills, motor planning, direction following, sequencing, and precision. Check out each ant craft below for fine motor crafts to use in OT sessions or to develop specific skills.

        These ant crafts make a great addition to Spring occupational therapy activities and Summer occupational therapy activities.

        Ant Crafts

        You can add these ant craft ideas to a picnic theme in therapy. Be sure to grab these picnic activities for your ant crafts to join:

         

         

         
        Ant crafts for kids. These are so cute!
         

        Cute Ant Craft Ideas 

        When we saw Reading Book By Book’s ant hill reading activity, we had to share it.  Then of course, we had to look for more cute ants on the web!  

         

        Try these other ant craft ideas as well:

        This ant spoon craft from Paging Fun Mums is a fine motor activity for working on bilateral coordination and hand strength.

        This ant egg carton craft from Teaching Mama builds precision, dexterity, in-hand manipulation, sequencing, and motor planning skills.

        This ant puppet from Toddler Approved challenges scissor skills, bilateral coordination, eye-hand coordination, and other fine motor skills.

        This ant theme from Chestnut Grove Academy includes an ant craft stamp activity that can build eye-hand coordination and add proprioceptive input.

        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.

        Visual Efficiency and Vision Problems You Can Not “See”

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        Visual efficiency visual processing and other vision problems

        This post describes visual efficiency, including visual problems such as convergence insufficiency or other visual processing issues impacting functional tasks. These visual processing problems may present in ways that are not obvious but do lead to trouble with reading and learning. As a related resource, check out our blog post on types of eye specialists and specifically, behavioral optometrists.

        Visual Efficiency

        A child struggles with handwriting.  They work hard in school and can verbalize answers to spelling tests or spout off vocabulary meanings and math facts.  But when it comes to reading assignments, creative writing tasks, or writing a list of words on a spelling test, you notice it.

        This child seems distracted in the classroom.  They resist homework.  In-class assignments are not completed on time and when he needs to silently read a passage and recall the details, he seems distrait.

        Sometimes, these learning problems are an indication of a vision problem. Sometimes, the child is not complaining of trouble seeing and they have passed vision tests, yet there might be a hidden vision problem.


        Visual processing and visual efficiency are hidden eye problems that might not seem obvious when a child goes about his day. A child who needs glasses for acuity will squint his eyes of complain about headaches or blurry words on the page.  A child with visual processing or visual efficiency difficulties may slip through the fuzzy visual cracks.


        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. 

        Visual processing, visual efficiency, and learning including how vision is related to reading and writing.

        What is Visual Efficiency

        Lets start by discussing the differences between visual processing and visual efficiency.

        Visual Processing
        Visual processing is a large way to describe many visual skills. When a child has a problems with visual processing, they have difficulty taking in information and processing that visual information in order to make sense of it. 

        Visual processing includes visual tasks such as laterality, directionality, form perception, visual memory, visual closure, and visual motor integration. These are the kids who have trouble with letter reversals, difficulty learning the letters of the alphabet, has poor comprehension skills, has poor recall of visual information, has trouble with writing spelling words and vocabulary, or has sloppy handwriting.

        Visual scanning can be one of these processing skills impacting the retrieval of visual information.

        Taking in and processing that information can include visual efficiency.

        Visual Efficiency
        Visual efficiency refers to the ability to effectively view visual information.  While visual efficiency refers to nearsightedness and farsightedness, it also includes problems with how the eyes move in order to focus on visual information:

        • Visual focusing
        • Visual tracking
        • Visual tracking
        • Eye teaming
        • Convergence insufficiency

        Visual efficiency problems may present as squinting, complaints of blurred vision, inattention, looses place when reading, poor reading comprehension, moving head when reading, or skipping lines when reading.

        You can see how the ability to effectively track, focus, use the eyes together, and converge on information plays a huge role in processing that information for perceptual information so it can be used functionally, in conjunction with motor tasks (visual motor skills).

        These are the types of problem areas that often times present later in the elementary school years or when students are required to read a significant amount of information.  

        Visual processing, visual efficiency, and learning including how vision is related to reading and writing.


        What to do about vision problems

        If a child is suspected of having problems in these areas, it is important to have them tested by an optometrist who is qualified to treat learning related vision problems.  Kids can overcome problems with visual processing and visual efficiency through help, tutoring, adaptations, modifications, and corrected vision problems.

        Here is more information about strategies to address visual perceptual skills and handwriting. Also check out our resource on handwriting problems.

        Visual Efficiency Activities

        Because the visual processing skills are so closely related (taking in information, visual perception, visual efficiency, and visual motor skills), activities are often combining all of these areas, and involve functional tasks as well.

        Play is a favorite occupation of kids, so many of these activities incorporate play as a therapeutic activity to develop visual efficiency and visual processing skills.

        Visual Motor Integration Bilateral Coordination Activity


        Eye-hand coordination activity with letters


        DIY Lacing Cards for Bilateral Coordination


        Visual Closure Bug Worksheets


        Scooping Eye-Hand Coordination Activity

        Practice “b” and “d” with sensory writing

        Color shape discrimination Sort

        Coin discrimination

        Real toy I Spy game  

        You will find MANY more visual processing activities on our Visual Processing Page.

        Here are some fun ways to help with visual efficiency concerns:  

        Visual processing, visual efficiency, and learning including how vision is related to reading and writing.

        These Visual Processing and Visual Efficiency tools are perfect for building skills that are needed in reading, writing, and learning tasks:

        Visual Processing Bundle

        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.

        Impulse Control Worksheets

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        impulse control worksheets

        This past week, I’ve shared a few impulse control resources and these impulse control resources are just one more tool to add to the toolbox! I wanted to pull out a few of the helpful controlling impulsive behavior worksheets from The Impulse Control Journal to share with you. Use these in isolation, or grab the whole 80 page packet to use to help with areas such as habits, mindset, goal setting, and focusing on addressing impulsive behaviors that impact learning, social emotional learning, and more.

        When we equip our clients, students, and patients to stop and think, they can use tactics and cognitive strategies that work to ensure success in daily functional tasks.

        Free impulse control worksheets to help kids and teens with impulse control skills.

        Impulse Control Worksheets

        These free impulse control worksheets are just a snippet of the materials you’ll find in the Impulse Control Journal.

        Included in this sample pack are 5 pages:

        • When is Impulse Control Hard
        • What Does Impulse Control Look Like Worksheet
        • BIG Emotions Journal Writing Page
        • Feelings Journal Writing Page
        • Coping Skills Journal Writing Page

        Each page is printable and you can use them over and over again to target impulsive behaviors and actions.

        Use the impulse control worksheets as teaching tools for kids and teens to show how responses to situations, emotions, and mindset impact impulsive actions, and how to use specific coping strategies to allow learning and functioning in situations. When is Impulse Control Hard

        Free impulse control skills worksheets for teens and kids.

        When is Impulse Control Hard Worksheet

        This page in the packet describes situations when impulse control skills can be difficult. This is important because it helps individuals realize that they are not alone, and that controlling impulsive behaviors isn’t something to be worried about, ashamed of, or that they are the only ones having trouble controlling their impulses.

        The worksheet includes a teaching portion: If you think about it, you might start to notice a pattern of times and places when using impulse control is hard.

        Users can then check off any times or places that using impulse control is difficult. This can change depending on the day, the situation, emotions, events, etc. Users can also fill in any times not on the list.

        Then, the worksheet asks about when using impulse control is easiest and when it is hardest. This is a good exercise to journal and build a toolbox of experiences using working memory. What are some strategies that DID help the user to be safe or make good choices in a a particular situation? What impacted poor choices? These are all areas that can be expanded upon.

        What Does Impulse Control Look Like Worksheet

        This worksheet helps kids understand what impulse control is and how specific situations can lead to different impulsive behaviors or actions to different people. The executive function worksheet then describes different ways to use impulse control skills in different situaitons. The worksheet allows users to check off different ways they have demonstrated impulse control skills in the past.

        This is a great way to teach, but also to build working memory skills. What has worked in the past can be pulled from to use as a tool in the future.

        Next, the worksheet asks about times that the individual has used good examples of impulse control. It also asks about specific times or events where poor impulse control was used. This worksheet can be used on a daily or weekly basis to help with working memory in building coping tools for impulse control.

        BIG Emotions Journal Writing Page

        Another worksheet in the packet is one on BIG emotions. These are the emotions that can be difficult to manage in a way that impacts actions and behaviors. The worksheet includes a quote from Fred Rogers:

        “When we talk about our emotions, they become less
        overwhelming, less upsetting, and less scary.”

        -quote by Fred Rogers

        Kids can use the worksheet to journal about their biggest emotions, using the journal prompts. There is also a drawing prompt as well.

        The big emotions prompts touch on interoception as well. Interoception, or the sense of the internal state of the body, is a sense that can impact how we “feel” on the inside with big emotions. Sensations connected with emotions might include:

        • Butterflies in the stomach
        • Heart racing
        • Holding your breath
        • Breathing fast
        • Stomach churning
        • “Seeing red”
        • Tensed muscles

        Here is more information on emotions and interoception. The worksheet asks questions like this because it can help users to connect the dots between big emotions and impulsive actions.

        There are also pieces on this worksheet that include concepts of empathy awareness. It asks users to recall times when others may have experienced big emotions. It can be helpful to connect to others and see that impulsive actions are something that everyone deals with at one time or another.

        Feelings Journal Writing Page

        There is also a feelings worksheet. This worksheet is intended to help users realized that feelings are great to experience, whether they are feelings of happiness, sadness, or anger, etc. Sometimes some of our kiddos might get into a thought process where if they are in a “red zone” (relating to the Zones of Regulation program), they might get it in their head that being in a red zone is a bad thing, when it’s definitely not!

        There is a quote by Jonathan Martensson on this worksheet page:

        Feelings are much like waves, we can’t stop them from coming, but we can choose which one to surf.

        – quote by Jonathan Martensson

        The journal page goes on to include writing and drawing prompts about feelings and emotions.

        Coping Skills Journal Writing Page

        And finally, there is a coping skills worksheet. This page includes writing prompts and a drawing prompt about coping tools that can be used in situations when impulse control might be needed. This worksheet page helps users draw from past experiences and to build their working memory “bucket” of tools they can use in the future. There is also a quote from John Wooden:

        Don’t let what you can’t do stop you from doing what you
        can do.

        -quote by John Wooden

        This letter to future self is a great activity to look at what one is doing currently and to identify changes that one wants to achieve. Using those goals as incentive to be a different or changed version supports development. Then, use that future version with a goal ladder to break down the steps to achieve that version.

        You may also want to grab the Impulse Control Journal, which is where these worksheets come from. It’s a huge resource designed to develop and strengthen executive functioning skills as well as habit building, goal setting, mindset, and of course, impulse control. I love this journal because it helps kids and teens to recognize their strengths, build upon them, and realize they have the capability to do what they need to do and what they want to do.

        Impulse Control Journal the OT Toolbox

        The Impulse Control Journal…a printable resource for helping kids strategize executive functioning skill development. When saying “calm down” just isn’t enough…

        When a child is easily “triggered” and seems to melt down at any sign of loud noises or excitement…

        When you need help or a starting point to teach kids self-regulation strategies…

        When you are struggling to motivate or redirect a child without causing a meltdown…

        When you’re struggling to help kids explore their emotions, develop self-regulation and coping skills, manage and reflect on their emotions, identify their emotions, and more as they grow…

        Grab the Impulse Control Journal to build organizational strategies, planning, prioritization, habits, and mindset in kids.

        Free Impulse Control Worksheets

        So, what do you think? Would you like to add this printable worksheet set to your therapy toolbox? You’ll need to enter your email address into the form below to access this file.

        Free Impulse Control 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.