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:

Sensory Activities for Babies

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My baby hates tummy time! Here are ideas to help with tummy time for infants and babies

Sensory activities for babies is a tool to help little ones grow and develop life-long essential skills. Baby sensory experiences and sensory play go hand in hand.  A baby has so much exposure to sensory stimulation each day.  From sounds, to sights, to textures and temperatures, a baby’s sensory system is rapidly developing and filing away information.  In our house, when child number four was a baby, she was exposed to A LOT of auditory and visual stimulation from older siblings!

Sensory ACTIVITIES for Infants

Here, you will find sensory activities for infants and babies that can be used to help you connect and play with your little one. These baby sensory play ideas will encourage exploration of colors, textures, and properties.

First, I wanted to share this resource for parents of new babies and also therapists that work with families.

Resource for New Parents

First, I wanted to let you know about an exciting new resource for new parents. Many people think new parents are the only ones that need baby advice. Maybe you found yourself as a new mother who suddenly had a lot of questions on sleep patterns, eating and childhood milestones. But, if there is one thing that therapists wish they could tell new parents, it’s that parents could have a better understanding of how movement plays into development.

Therapists are many times, seeking resources to share with parents to support a family through the first year of baby’s development so they can thrive.

Remarkable Infants is a great opportunity for parents and professionals alike to educate more people on how to support a baby’s first-year development for future learning development.

Yes, this course does provide information on helping a baby sleep and eat, but this course is the other more comprehensive sections. The pieces most other baby trainings don’t provide.

It’s a 5-step, all-inclusive online training for new moms focusing on the development of the whole child from birth through 12 months of age. It includes the following:

  • Language Development (Talking with your baby)
  • Healthy Sleep Habits (Understanding baby sleep)
  • Cognitive Development and Motor Development (Playing with your Baby)
  • Reading with your Baby (Vocabulary, visual-motor, speech and language)
  • Infant Nutrition (Feeding your baby)

Even though this course is geared to moms, it’s also great for professionals. It can be a HUGE help to clients, expecting moms you work with and those that have kids with learning challenges. The more we can help educate parents on the necessity of building a baby’s cognition, speech and language and motor movements in their first year, the further ahead that child will be later in life.

The 2 best parts are:

1. Each section is taught by a specific professional (Occupational Therapist, Speech and Language Pathologist, Pediatric Sleep Sleep Specialists and Registered Dietitian) with evidence-based research. So you know you’re getting advice from the pros!

2. If you are a professional, you can get CEU credits/Certificate of Completion for taking this course.

You can also get an additional 10% discount when you use our coupon code “COLLEEN10.” To join the Mommy Academy, click here. Don’t forget to enter the discount code!

Our Mission at the Mommy Academy is to provide new mamas with easily accessible, organized, evidence based information and practical skills.  Our resources strive to remove overwhelm and exhaustion and allow new moms to spend less time on Google and more time connecting with their baby and taking care of themselves.  Our mission is to make new mamas feel less alone through heartfelt encouragement, a mama community and expert support.

Sensory Play Ideas for Babies

Child development begins in the womb. As that baby develops and grows in utero, they are already stretching and moving, practicing reach and grasp, and stretching against the walls of their mother’s uterus. That push and pull that you felt as an expecting mom was your little one gaining strength and sensory input! That motor development continues after birth, and that’s when the fun begins because as mom or dad, we get to snuggle that little one, engage with them, and watch their every move!

Sensory activities for babies 0-3 months old

Sensory Activities for newborns

Let’s talk specifics. During the newborn and infant stages (0-3 months), you’ll see so many physical and sensory milestones. These are developments that impact movement, communication, and feeding. Sensory developmental milestones during the first three months include:

  • Following a person with their eyes
  • Lifting their head to observe and listen
  • Pushing up to their arms while lying in tummy time, now baby can REALLY start to take in the world around them
  • Holding the head up while laying on their belly
  • Opening their fist into stretched fingers- Little one can grasp and begin to explore textures
  • Bringing hands to the mouth for sensory input, calming, and soothing
  • Reaching for toys to explore
  • Turns toward sounds or voices
  • Makes eye contact
  • Moving legs and arms- They are figuring out how their body moves in space and how much effort needs to be exerted to move

From the first weeks when baby doesn’t focus their eyes on anything, they strengthen eye movements and focus to visually track a toy or person by the end of the three months of age. During this stage, it’s important to allow that little one to move, stretch, kick, and strengthen their core, neck, arms, and legs, and eye muscles. Sensory activities for newborns can include:

Songs and Nursery Rhymes- For our littlest newborns, this is a wonderful first play activity. Singing softly or reciting nursery rhymes to infants gets your little one used to the sound of your voice. Make eye contact up close as you recite rhymes and songs. Baby’s vision is capable of focusing on objects at about 8 inches from their face. Using exaggerated mouth movements and wide eyes when you speak to your little one provides a high-contrast point that they can focus on.

Follow the noise- Use a rattle, squeaky toy, or other toy that makes noise as you move the toy in front of your little one’s field of vision. You want your baby to visually track the noise and follow the toy with their eyes. While baby won’t be able to really follow moving objects with their eyes until about three months of age, this activity boosts so many areas and creates the building blocks of auditory processing and visual processing. This activity can be accomplished at various stages, and in various positions. Baby can be swaddled up and laying on their back while following the toy with their eyes. Try it when baby is in tummy time. Soon, you will see reaching for that fun toy. It’s a great way to encourage reach, grasp, and even gross motor skills like lifting the head and neck while in tummy time, and rolling.

Tummy Time Back Rub- Tummy Time can be hard for babies! That little cry is so sad and makes you want to pick your little one up and snuggle them until they feel safe. But, remember the benefits of tummy time and help them to feel safe and comforted on their belly. Get down on the floor with your little one and lightly rub their back while you sing, speak, or hum. Put your face right next to your little one so they feel the warmth of your body. Make eye contact and engage with that sweet nugget!

Chest to chest- We talked before about how tummy time doesn’t need to happen on the floor. Place baby on your chest as you lean back on a couch. Your baby’s face will be close to yours and at a great position to speak softly. Depth perception of the eyes doesn’t develop until about 5 months of age, so until then, your little one is building the eye strength to better see the world. This positioning is helpful to help your little one build upper body strength.

Blanket time- A colorful play blanket is a great space to stretch, kick, and move those arms and legs. Positioning toys around baby encourages them to engage while strengthening their core, neck, arms, legs, and eye muscles. Position toys in a semi-circle around baby and get down on the floor to get in on the play action. This is a great way to build the skills needed for rolling and manipulating objects.

Leg Kick- While baby is on the floor on their back or belly, provide some bicycle action to their legs. You can slowly “bike” their legs to get them moving and then tap the bottoms of their feet. This tactile input “wakes up” the feet and can get them kicking and moving. Place a toy or object that makes noise at their feet and they will see and hear a response to moving their legs.

sensory activities for babies 3-6 months old

Sensory Activities for 3-6 months

Purposeful movement drives development and development occurs through purposeful movement. This is a fun series of months. You’ll see sensory development that drives motor skills and communication milestones:

  • Rolls from back to belly and belly to back- baby is starting to really explore proprioception and vestibular input as they move and figure out how their body moves
  • Holds the head and neck steady in sitting- They can focus vision on moving targets when the neck and head are steady
  • Investigates textures, size, shapes, and details of objects

During 3-6 months, the baby is starting to gain some control of their body. They will start to use purposeful movement, influenced by toys and faces on the people around them in order to explore. Try these sensory activities for 3-6 month age range:

Foot Rattles- There are socks out there that have built-in noise makers. These little foot rattles encourage baby to move and shake those legs. While lying on their back, they can see how intentional movement works.

Peek-a-Boo- This is an age-old favorite…and there’s a good reason why we love this classic game! When mom or dad hides their face and then suddenly takes their hands away, baby is learning some valuable skills. They learn that objects don’t go away just because they can’t see them. Object permanence, cause and effect, and problem solving begin at this young age, and while it can take a while to master, it’s an essential skill down the road! Try playing peek-a-book with faces, objects and a blanket, and by gently swiping a blanket over baby. (Always use super close supervision with this activity!)

Crinkly Soft Toys- One of my favorite ways to develop those early fine motor skills is with a simple crinkly soft blanket. You know the kind…it’s soft material on the outside, but crinkly fabric sewn into the middle. So, when baby squeezes and grabs the soft toy, they hear a crinkly noise. The best kind are small fabric swatches because they are light enough for baby to manipulate and pick up. The OT in me loves to see that little grip grab and pull the material. You can see those motor skills develop right in front of your eyes! Use the crinkly toy in tummy time to encourage reaching and rolling, or while laying on the floor as baby brings both hands together and gives the toy a taste. They can work both hands together in a coordinated manner with feedback from the mouth. It’s a great toy for building cause and effect, too!

Mirror Play- Find a baby-safe mirror and use it in tummy time. Place a few baby items on the mirror and they can begin to push up onto their arms by putting weight through their shoulders and upper body. Another way to use a baby safe mirror is to place it in front of baby while they are in supported sitting. Baby will begin to babble and “talk” to the baby they see in the mirror.

Hula-Hoop Reach- Your little one is still building those motor skills and someday down the road they will be doing big kid things! For now, use a hula hoop to attach rattles and baby toys in a circle around them as they are in tummy time in the center. The circular positioning of toys encourages reach (and eye-hand coordination), visual scanning, rolling, and pivoting on the upper body as they move and stretch for different toys.

Sensory activities for babies 6-9 months

Sensory ACTIVITIES for 6-9 months

The months between 6-9 months are a big one for little ones’ development. Senses prevail and as your baby starts to gain more physical control, they are exploring more sensory input. Little one will begin solid foods for the first time and what a sensory experience that is!

Movement and gains in gross motor skills allow baby will move from tummy time with weight through their arms to pushing up on their arms. They will begin to lift their belly off the floor to all fours. They will move from supported sitting to unsupported sitting with reaching for toys. You’ll see that little bundle move from tummy time to rolling, crawling, and reaching. Let them move, kick, and stretch!

  • Moves from supported sitting to independent sitting- Exploring the world around them
  • Bears weight through hands in crawling position
  • Reaches for toys while lying in the belly
  • Moves toys from one hand to the other
  • Uses both hands to manipulate and explore toys
  • Reacts to sudden sounds
  • Listen and responds to sounds or voices
  • Begins to babble
  • Shows an interest in foods
  • Tries baby food for the first time and will move to explore more tastes and varieties of soft foods
  • Imitates others in play
  • Focuses on near and far objects

This is a fun age! Purposeful movement occurs and you will see baby learning so much. Here are some baby play ideas that boost the sensory development and motor skills babies need to move, manipulate toys, feed themselves, and get from place to place:

Sitting Games- Place pillows around your little one to create a soft crash mat. As baby gains the skills to sit up with balance, they can reach for toys around them. Offer a basket of washcloths, a bowl of nesting toys, hand-sized balls (ones that can’t be placed into the mouth), or other novel items. This is a great opportunity to practice reaching, placing objects into containers, and getting stronger at balance!

Living Room Obstacle Course- Along the same lines as the previous activity, use living room pillows and couch cushions to create obstacles on the floor. This is a great way to encourage movement in a variety of patterns and gain skills in crawling. As baby grows, they will become more confident in their movement and this is great to see! Be sure to stay close by and ensure the space is baby-proofed!

Bubbles- Blowing bubbles with baby is a wonderful way to encourage visual tracking, eye-hand coordination, core strength, sitting balance, neck control, and even fine motor skills! Encourage your little one to watch the bubbles as they float away and visual processing skills develop. Ask them to get the bubble and they can work on controlled reach and grasp. Bubbles are a great activity throughout the toddle years too as baby learns to gain control in standing and walking. Grab a container of bubbles and have fun!

Roll a Ball- A partially blown up beach ball is a wonderful tool for helping your little one gain balance and strength in sitting. The ball when not blown up entirely provides a great opportunity for grasp. Just be sure to keep a close watch on your little ball player. This activity should only be done under very close supervision and always trust your gut. You know that the ball is going straight to the mouth once your little one has a hold of it, so stay close by. Rolling a beach ball toward baby is wonderful for developing visual processing skills, eye-hand coordination, grasp and release, strengthening, and more. Adding more air to the ball makes it harder to grasp and harder to catch as the ball will roll more quickly and smoothly. Older kiddos can use that ball to kick, throw, and even pat-pat-pat!

Box of Toys- Have an Amazon delivery box or a shoebox sitting around? It’s a novel toy for your little one! Fill it with baby-safe objects or toys and get ready to have fun. Pulling items out and dropping them back in teaches baby so much about weight, grasp, eye-hand coordination, and even gravity. They will love to see how things fall and how they hit off other toys. Dumping a box of toys is fun of its own and is another experiment of it’s own. Baby, as they start to move and crawl can push or pull a box and gain the feedback of pushing the object along the floor. Babies that are standing at a coffee table or couch can explore and drop items into the box while they learn to hold on the safety of the couch and use one arm to hold an object. SO much development can happen with a simple cardboard box!

Put in and Take Out- Take that box play even further by using a smaller opening. An empty tissue box is another awesome tool for building skills in fine motor work, eye-hand coordination, and visual processing skills. By placing items in a container, little ones can work on things like visual discrimination and visual memory, all through play and not aware that those basic skills will carryover far into their educational years as they learn to read, write, and complete math. Amazing, right??!

Sensory activities for babies from 10-12 months old

Sensory Activities for 10-12 months

The next phase is a big one! During the tail end of the first year, you see big strides in free movement. You see stronger eye-hand coordination, and intentional movement. You see refined fine motor skills, improved mobility, and a stronger baby. Here are more specifics about this stage:

  • Pulls up to stand at furniture
  • Takes first steps holding onto furniture to “cruise”
  • Moves in various positions from laying to sitting, sitting to pulling up to stand, etc.
  • Drops toys into containers and grabs them to manipulate
  • Uses a pincer grasp (holds small items like cereal between the pads of the thumb and pointer finger)
  • Explores toys with mouth, hands, and visually
  • Says first words
  • Feeds self with finger foods
  • Takes first steps without support

During this stage of development, babies are moving and grooving! They are building on the skills they’ve achieved and refining those motor skills. Babies are using what they’ve got in the way of grasp, reach, and gross movement to really develop their vestibular sense. By moving in different planes to crawl, swing, turn, and roll, there is movement of the fluid in the inner ear which stimulates the vestibular sense. The vestibular sense allows us to know where our body is in space. With the vestibular sense, we are able to sit without falling over, move from one point to another safely, and track objects with our eyes (which is needed in reading and writing). Try these sensory activities for 10-12 months:

Tunnels- Set ups a floor obstacle course like we talked about a few slides ago, but add some more challenging experiences. Use a baby tunnel or a large cardboard box. What a fun space to add baby toys, bins, baskets, and soft blankets for crawling over and playing with!

Kitchen Play- At this stage, baby will be much sturdier in their sitting. Set ups a scattering of kitchen bowls and wooden spoons or scoops. They can bang, stack, and drop to see how items work and move. Recycled items such as egg cartons, cereal boxes, and plastic container are fun to explore too. Be sure to make the space baby safe. This is a great way to engage your little one while cooking and preparing meals.

Sensory Play- This stage is fun because as the fine motor skills develop, you will see more refined use of the hands from a raking grasp” where all of the fingers rake items in order to pick them up in the palm of the hand into a “pincer grasp” where the pointer finger and the thumb are able to pick up a small item. Encourage sensory play by providing cooked spaghetti cut up into small lengths. Scatter the cooked spaghetti on a black placemat or tray. The high visual contrast and interesting sensory experience will engage your little one and build fine motor skills they will need down the road.

Fine Motor Play- Around 10 months, you will see more refined fine motor skills as baby uses their pointer finger and thumb to pick up small items with the pincer grasp we just talked about in our last slide. Suddenly, you will notice every speck of dirt and fuzz ball on the carpet…and so will your little one! Encourage those fine motor skills by providing baby cereal and a container for them to drop pieces into.

Stacking Activities- Use stacking cups, blocks, or small boxes (empty tissue boxes work great!) to stack and knock over! Baby will begin to gain more refined motor skills and the excitement of knocking those towers over again and again will not end!

Rolling Toys- Use balls of various sizes, toy cars, and even recycled paper towel tubes to explore how things move and roll. Take the excitement level up a notch by adding a ramp using a large cardboard piece to make a ramp. Watching items as they roll down and grabbing them to push them down all over again is big fun! It’s a great way to encourage fine and gross motor skills, visual motor skills, eye-hand coordination, and balance.

baby toys for sensory play positioned on mirrors on the floor. Includes colorful teething rings, colorful cups, refrigerator magnets, and other baby safe toys.

This post contains affiliate links.  

We shared recently our Visual Motor Integration developmental milestones post with general timelines of baby’s hand-eye coordination.  It’s important to note that all children develop differently and some of these activities may not be appropriate until they are developmentally able to participate.   

Tummy Time and Sensory ACTIVITIES

Really important pieces of advice like placing your baby in tummy time, limiting time spent in baby positioners, encouraging a variety of sensory stimulation, allowing movement, and connecting with your baby through play aren’t just tips. They are really important. They are strategies for success. The next few slides I’m sharing are tools to give your baby a motor and sensory baseline that will impact them down the road with things like visual motor skills, attention, reading and writing, frustration tolerance, emotional regulation, and more. It’s the skills that kids today are really lacking in

baby laying on her belly on a nursing pillow, playing with ball pit balls on a mirror while older siblings help
My baby hates tummy time! Here are ideas to help with tummy time for infants and babies

 When Baby Hates Tummy Time

We shared this mirror play idea on Instagram.  At the time, Baby Girl was five months old an able to do tummy time in a Boppy pillow. Having a better understand of tummy time myths is important for new parents to understand what to do when baby hates tummy time.

The thing is that floor play for babies is essential for developing skills in infants and toddlers. And, that floor time play is important to building visual motor skills, strength, and coordination even throughout the first year (and beyond)!

Here is information on how tummy time impacts spatial awareness development in babies.

The baby positioning floor pillow provided extra support and elevated my little one’s upper body to encourage reach during tummy time. As with any piece of baby equipment, this pillow and others should be used under supervision by an adult and for short periods of time.  We used a small mirror and a few colorful ball pit balls to encourage reach and exploration.  Of course the big sisters had to help! Here are more ball pit activities that young children love.

How to help baby enjoy tummy time

Helping to encourage lots of tummy time in your little one doesn’t need to be stressful. But many times, it may seem like your baby hates tummy time! They scream, they cry, and they place their face right on the floor. Scary, right? Don’t worry, we’ve all been there as new moms.

Tips to help with tummy time:

Get down on the floor with your baby and encourage reaching for enticing toys or towards your face/hands as you are right out of reach.

Try some of the tummy time ideas in the Mommy Academy course.

Add tummy time in throughout the day. Try a few minutes after diaper changes or when baby is in a pleasant mood. All of that tummy time adds up to build the strength needed for pushing over to the side.

Try chest to chest tummy time as the adult holding the baby lies back on couch cushions.

Try a football hold.

While sitting on a couch, try tummy time on your lap while rubbing baby’s back.

Also, is your little one pushing up on their arms when in tummy time? The weight of the head tends to pull them over into a side position/laying on belly from tummy time, so that is another benefit.

Baby positioned on a nursing pillow on the floor, on her stomach in tummy time. She's playing with her siblings and using ball pit balls on a mirror.

 Babies get so much exposure to different textures naturally through play.  This is just a simple way to encourage functional reach and tummy time play.  Some other items that work well with this baby sensory play activity that we love:   

Colorful plastic cups 

Extra large soft blocks. Be sure to closely monitor baby if they are able to place items into their mouth! 

Chew items

Baby safe, plastic baby links

Find many more baby play ideas here to drive sensory input through play based on each stage through the first year.

Baby smiling in a baby swing. Text reads Baby Play Ideas Learning Through Play

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.

Auditory Sensory Activities the Backyard

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auditory sensory activities for the backyard to add to a sensory diet for kids

These auditory sensory activities are a variety of backyard sensory play ideas that can be used as tools for addressing auditory sensory processing needs at home. using what you’ve got in (or outside) your house is a great way to work on auditory processing needs with kids. Think about all of the backyard sounds that can be used as therapy tools to help with auditory memory or auditory comprehension. In fact, the backyard is the perfect place to work on sensory needs with kids.

This blog post is part of my backyard sensory play series. It’s an old post here on The OT Toolbox, but it’s one that I’ve revamped to make into a movement and sensory challenge to help kids be active and building therapy skills at home.

auditory sensory activities for the backyard to add to a sensory diet for kids
Auditory processing sensory ideas for backyard summer sensory play, perfect for sensory diet ideas for kids.

The auditory sensory activities listed here can be used as part of a sensory diet for kids. Some of the ideas are great auditory seeking activities. Others are great for helping to challenge those with hypersensitivity to sound. In either case, the auditory sensory activities can be used as part of a sensory diet for those with needs.

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.

auditory sensitivity activities for kids

Auditory Processing Activities

Try these auditory processing ideas this summer. Each activity can be modified to make is a challenge for auditory seeking or auditory sensitivities.

Neighborhood Listening Scavenger Hunt-  Notice the sounds in the neighborhood.  Ask your child to locate or name the origin of the sounds as they walk around the neighborhood.  If the sound is too far away, ask them to name the origin.  During this activity, they need to discriminate between sounds.

Auditory Hide and Seek-  Play a game of hide and seek with sounds.  They child that is searching for kids can make a call and each hider responds with their own sound.  The person who is looking for others can determine who is making the sounds they hear and locate each child one at a time.

Listening Tag-  Play a game of tag in the backyard as children race to tag one another.  When the person who is “it” comes near another person, they can tag a person unless the runner sits on the ground and makes a noise.  When the child sits, they are on “base” and safe from being tagged. They can stand up again when the child who is “it” makes the same noise.  

Noisy Toy Positioning Game- Use a squeaky toy or bike horn in this noisy toy game.  Have one child hide with the toy and make it squeak.  The person who is looking for the toy needs to describe where the toy is hidden by using descriptive words like “over”, “under”, and “left”.

More auditory Sensory Activities

  • Bell parade
  • Kazoo sound hunt
  • Listening for birds or animals
  • Record backyard sounds and play back the recording. Try to recognize and name the sound and where it was located in the yard.
  • 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.
  • Play Marco Polo in the yard!
auditory memory activities for kids to do at outdoors at home.

Looking for more backyard sensory ideas for summer?  

The Summer Sensory Activity Guide is the place to find everything you need for a summer of sensory input.  Use the sensory activities described in the booklet as a guide to meet the individual needs of your child.  The activities are not a substitute for therapy.  Rather, they are sensory-based summer activities that are designed to address each sensory system through summer play.  Activities are described to involve the whole family.  Right now, the Summer Sensory Activity Guide is a free bonus item to the new Summer Occupational Therapy Activities Packet.

The Summer OT Activities Packet is a collection of 14 items that guide summer programming at home, at school, and in therapy sessions. The summer activities bundle covers handwriting, visual perceptual skills and visual motor skills, fine motor skills, gross motor skills, regulation, and more.

You’ll find ideas to use in virtual therapy sessions and to send home as home activities that build skills and power development with a fun, summer theme. Kids will love the Summer Spot It! game, the puzzles, handouts, and movement activities. Therapists will love the teletherapy slide deck and the easy, ready-to-go activities to slot into OT sessions. The packet is only $10.00 and can be used over and over again for every student/client!

Grab the Summer OT Bundle HERE.

Summer OT Bundle


For more auditory sensory activities, try these activities for auditory learners.

Auditory processing sensory ideas for backyard summer sensory play, perfect for sensory diet ideas for kids.

Sensory Activities in the Backyard

 These are more sensory ideas you can add to an outdoor sensory diet to address sensory seeking needs or sensory avoiding in kids:

Wobble Ice Disk– Add vestibular input with a DIY wobble disk. Kids can help to make this heavy ice disk, adding proprioceptive input for a hot summer day.

Use a therapy ball– A large ball or a therapy ball/ exercise ball is a great way to add movement, heavy work, and calming proprioceptive input into backyard play.

Make a Water Bin– Water play is a great way to spend hot summer days in sensory play.

The Auditory Processing Kit is a tool to support learners by building skills in listening comprehension, auditory processing needs, and much more. The tools offer support to learners with hyper-responsive or hypo-responsive auditory systems. Therapists love the hands-on activities to support learning and active listening through play and handwriting tasks.

  • Listening Comprehension
  • Fine Motor Listening Skills
  • How to Improve Listening Skills Poster
  • Clap It Out Syllables Orthographic Activities
  • Beginning Sounds Letter Activity
  • Rhyming Words Activity
  • Activity Listening Activity
  • Hearing Skills Activity
  • Auditory Memory Strategies
  • What Does Active Listening Look Like?
  • Whole Body Listening Activity
  • Whole Body Listening Poster
  • Listening and Motor Skills Game
  • 2 Step Direction Cards
  • How to Support Hyper-Responsiveness of the Auditory Sense (handout and info sheet)
  • How to Support Hypo-responsiveness of the Auditory Sense (handout and info sheet)
  • Auditory Processing Tools Cards
  • Auditory Processing Speed -2 Digit Numbers
  • Auditory Processing Speed -3 Digit Numbers
  • Auditory Processing Speed -4 Digit Numbers

Use the handouts and posters to teach about the auditory system and auditory challenges, with strategies to support individualized needs. Get your copy of the Auditory Processing Kit today.

Colleen Beck, OTR/L has been an occupational therapist since 2000, working in school-based, hand therapy, outpatient peds, EI, and SNF. Colleen created The OT Toolbox to inspire therapists, teachers, and parents with easy and fun tools to help children thrive. Read her story about going from an OT making $3/hour (after paying for kids’ childcare) to a full-time OT resource creator for millions of readers. Want to collaborate? Send an email to contact@theottoolbox.com.

Oral Motor Activities for Summer

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summer oral motor activities for kids

Sometimes the kids need an outdoor challenge to get moving and add active play to their day. I’m really excited to add a new activity challenge here on The OT Toolbox website. It’s a fun summer activity for the whole family and can be used to help kids stay active and build skills. This list of oral motor activities for summer is actually a fun way to add calming activities and alerting activities to sensory diets for kids. In fact, this page is part of a series of backyard sensory activities for kids.

Summer oral motor activities for kids to address oral sensory processing needs.

This is such a fun list of Oral Sensory Processing activities that can be done at home right in the backyard this summer.  If you are new to this blog, you might know that I’ve put together a lot of sensory activities here on the website. In particular, you will want to check out all of the summer occupational therapy activities here on The OT Toolbox! 

Today, I’m sharing one part of that backyard sensory play list and outdoor activity challenge. These oral sensory processing activities can be done frugally and right in your backyard.  Getting the kids outside to play is important with all of the research out there telling us that kids are not playing outdoors as much as they used to.  These backyard sensory ideas are sure to bring smiles to your kids’ faces while sneaking in some sensory input.

Oral sensory processing activities that can be done at home this summer right in the backyard with the whole family, great for self-regulation, sensory input, attention, and focus.



Understanding development of oral motor skills is a great place to start when it comes to oral sensory processing concerns. Oral sensory input or challenges with oral motor skills can impact self-regulation in kids as well as improving attention, focus, and adding a calming component to slow down a sensory seeking child. Adding simple oral motor sensory breaks throughout the day can make a big impact in a sensory diet for kids.

Oral Motor Skills and sensory Activities

Try these backyard oral sensory processing activities this summer:

RELATED READ: Animal Cracker Oral Sensory Activity

Affiliate links are included below.

Dandelion Race-  Pick several dandelions and place them into two piles.  Kids can race another child to blow all of the seeds from the dandelions one at a time.  Blowing dandelions is a proprioceptive activity that provides calming sensory input through the mouth.

Balloon Bin-  Help your child blow up a bunch of balloons and place them into a large bin.  An under the bed storage bin works well for this activity. Once the bin is full of  balloons, spray in a bottle of shaving cream.  Mix the balloons and shaving cream around to coat the balloons.  Ask kids to scrape off the shaving cream with their hands to reveal the color of the balloon. This is a tactile sensory activity as well as an oral sensory activity.

Smelly Bubbles- Most kids agree that there is nothing more fun or summery than bubbles.  Try adding a scented component by using scented bubbles.  Blowing bubbles is an oral sensory calming activity for kids.

Kazoo Parade- Gather kids from the neighborhood and pass out a bunch of kazoos. Blowing a kazoo is a sensory activity that provides proprioceptive input through the mouth.  This is a calming activity and can be used for self-regulating or improved focus.  

Hot and Cold Taste Test- Alternate between hot and cold taste sensations in a taste testing game.  Prepare cold foods like ice cubes, chunks of popsicles, and frozen vegetables alongside a hot foods tray like warm applesauce, warm sun tea, and toasted bread.  Set up a roadside stand for taste testing and create a “most liked” survey.

Oral sensory processing activities that can be done at home this summer right in the backyard with the whole family, great for self-regulation, sensory input, attention, and focus.

RELATED READ: Plastic Egg Boats Oral Sensory Activity

more backyard sensory ideas for summer

The Summer OT Bundle is a collection of handouts, activities, and more that build skills this summer. You’ll find everything you need to keep the kids active, learning, and building skills this summer.

You’ll find ideas to use in virtual therapy sessions and to send home as home activities that build skills and power development with a fun, summer theme. Kids will love the Summer Spot It! game, the puzzles, handouts, and movement activities. Therapists will love the teletherapy slide deck and the easy, ready-to-go activities to slot into OT sessions.

The BONUS is that there is a special added bonus item with the Summer Activities Kit right now. Grab the packet of activities now and get the Summer Sensory Activities Guide to keep the kids moving with the senses all summer long.

More outdoor activity challenges

Bookmark this page for the summer fun. Be sure to check out some of the other backyard sensory activities in this challenge for kids:

More oral motor activities you will love:

Oral motor activities are perfect for addressing self-regulation, focus, attention, coping, and sensory input needs by adding a calming effect or alerting effect. Try some of these oral motor activities:

Kids Craft Supplies for Building Skills

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These must have craft supplies are great for making a craft kit for kids

While kids crafts offers children the chance to create through art or an opportunity to be creative, the fact is that crafting is a means to help children build skills. Because of that, I wanted to put together a resource detailing kids craft supplies and how simple craft items can be used to help kids improve fine motor skills, executive functioning, motor planning, and other developmental skills. There’s more; Kids can use crafts as a coping strategy. Crafts are one of the therapeutic activities for teens or children of all ages that not only allow children to express their selves, but to create. Let’s talk more about the specific craft supplies for kids and how they can be used as a therapy tool.

These must have craft supplies are great for making a craft kit for kids

Kids Craft Supplies In Therapy

The therapeutic use of crafts has been the history of occupational therapy since the very beginning. The use of crafts began in mental health with a huge focus on basket weaving. Therapeutic crafts have sustained their relevance and continue to be utilized in many occupational therapy settings today to include pediatrics, mental health, outpatient and skilled nursing, among others.

Why? Because crafts can work on many skills with a focus on functional skills, or meaningful activities. Most all craft activities have some type of motoric and cognitive skill component. Individuals can work on their fine motor control and manipulation, bilateral coordination, tool use, hand strength, visual motor and perception, motor planning, and grasping skills. Crafts allow for work on executive functioning skills to include attention, focus to task at hand, task initiation and completion, planning, sequencing, organizing, following multi-step directions, and problem solving. Craft activities can also provide a fun time for therapists to connect with clients and develop a special rapport.

Crafts have recently regained their popularity and are back in style with increased vigor and emphasis across all populations.  Children and adults are participating in craft activities both available on social media as well as at craft events in local craft stores and art studios. Adults meet with friends to create and engage in social interaction while learning new skills and creating works of art from their own hands. For many, crafts are a form of occupation. Children likewise enjoy crafts for similar reasons as they are able to use their skills to create something they can share with others and take home to enjoy while having a sense of accomplishment and success.

Children love to make crafts both in school and during their own time. They have fun exploring different materials and using them to create unique and original items which they can then share with others and display.  To see the smile on the face of a child when they have completed a craft, no matter the end product, is simply priceless.  Precious smiles with development of skills are the reward to pediatric therapists as they work with children every day. Perfection is not the goal, but the process. 

use craft supplies in therapy

Art Therapy for Children

Art therapy for children is a powerful therapeutic activity. There is an entire profession dedicated to the use of art and crafts in therapy. In the occupational therapy profession, the use of arts and crafts offers a meaningful occupation to build essential skills for function. While it may seem like play, there is much happening behind craft activities! Crafts and art in OT sessions are the tools or the medium to improve functional skills in patients.

Craft Kits for Kids

Craft kits are one of the best tools for pediatric therapists.  These craft sets are a set of kids craft supplies selected to help kids build skills. Craft kits for kids can come in any shape or size and they offer a sense of intrigue and possibility for children.  Therapists use these motivational materials to address therapeutic goals while children develop confidence in their skills along with self-esteem and ultimately, product production.

craft kits for kids to build skills in therapy

Activity Kits for Kids

When therapists choose a craft they are targeting specific child goals. Using craft supplies, selected activity kit for kids allow users to build skills through creating art or crafts. They address improving skills with scissor manipulation, grasp, fine motor coordination and manipulation, tactile tolerance and stimulation, organization, sequencing, or following multi-step directions.  Craft projects in a group lead to an opportunity for socialization and social skills development too.  Crafts can easily be downgraded or upgraded to address multiple skill levels. Furthermore, therapists can position materials during the process of crafting to facilitate crossing midline, hand dominance, left and right awareness, postural control, range of motion, and motor planning.  Again to reiterate, it is the process of the activity with skills addressed rather than the complete end product.

Using craft kits can be so much fun and taking them a step further by creating themed kits are always the best!  Craft kit themes can include food items, craft items, sensory items, holiday items, or seasonal items.  Decide the craft kit theme you want to create and start off to the store to gather your materials. A simple, easily replenished, go-to craft kit should be a part of the pediatric therapist’s bag, cart, therapy room, or clinic. So many wonderful skills can be practiced and addressed with craft kit items while also allowing for child creativity and freedom to explore. Let’s take a peek at two fun craft kits that are cheap to create using everyday craft supplies for kids and use easy to find items. 

Kids craft supplies in a craft kit

Kids Craft Supplies Kit

This small craft kit contains simple items for use in craft and art activities which can be found at a local dollar store, chain store, or craft store. It contains only the items for art pieces and crafts, but not the necessities such as paper, glue, and scissors.  This craft supply set may be more useful in the clinic setting as the other necessities are readily available for use. However, locating a set of must-have craft supplies for kids is as easy as an internet search.

craft supplies for kids to use in art activities

Below is a list of craft supplies that build skills. Click on the links to purchase the craft items.

Amazon affiliate links are included below.

Buttons – addresses size relations and fine motor coordination and manipulation. Buttons can also be used to string onto pipe cleaners for crafts which addresses fine motor control and precision, eye-hand coordination, perception, and bilateral coordination.

Colored craft sticks – addresses fine motor coordination and manipulation. Adding other craft elements such as googly eyes, stickers, washi tape, etc. addresses fine motor precision, bilateral coordination, and eye-hand coordination.

Crayons – broken pieces of crayon addresses grasp and distal control while the child colors or draws.

Doilies – addresses fine motor manipulation, bilateral coordination, and patience as the child works to separate the doilies to obtain just one.

Foam sticker shapes – addresses shape recognition, tactile tolerance, fine motor manipulation and coordination, pincer grasp and bilateral coordination. Removing sticker backs and applying to a surface are key components. In fact, stickers build a lot of skills in occupational therapy goal areas.

Googly eyes – addresses fine motor manipulation and coordination and pincer grasp. Googly eyes can sometimes be challenging to pick up from a flat surface.

Pipe cleaners – addresses bilateral coordination, fine motor precision, in-hand manipulation, eye-hand coordination, pincer grasp, and visual motor and perceptual skills. Pipe cleaners can be used for lacing straw pieces and buttons and creating shapes.

Pom-pom balls – provides a tactile experience and works on pinch and eye-hand coordination for placement. Patterning can also be addressed.

Regular craft sticks – these are great for creating fun “buddy” crafts.Use crayons to color and other elements for decoration such as googly eyes, sequins, and stickers which addresses fine motor coordination and manipulation, fine motor precision, visual motor, bilateral coordination, and grasp.

Sequins – addresses fine motor control and manipulation. They are challenging to pick up and manipulate for placement onto glue dots. Patterning can be addressed.

Small glitter tubes – addresses graded control for sprinkling. Tactile tolerance can be addressed if the glitter is sprinkled with a pincer grasp.

Straw pieces – addresses bilateral coordination, scissors skills, fine motor coordination and precision, and pincer grasp. Cut straws into pieces for art an activity or for stringing onto pipe cleaners.

Washi tape – addresses tactile tolerance, bilateral coordination, scissor skills, pincer grasp, size relations and pre-writing skills if used for shape formation.

Yarn – provides tactile tolerance especially when placing onto glue and addresses fine motor manipulation and coordination, scissors skills, and prewriting skills if used for shape formation.

craft supplies to help kids build skills in therapy

Craft Kit for Kids

This larger, three tier craft kit contains ALL that you need to work on art and craft activities with kids.  It houses all of the craft and art items found in the smaller craft kit with a few more additions.  It also allows storage for scissors, glue, paper, and more drawing and writing tools. With this kit, you simply grab and go as all items are there for use in completing the entire art piece or craft.  This kit would serve itinerant or traveling therapists well as they do not always have the necessities readily available in the settings they may be working. 

Must have craft supplies to add to your therapy tools

Here is a list of the additional craft supplies in the kit and the skills they can promote:

Bottle and glitter glue – addresses school tool use, fine motor manipulation, hand/finger strength, bilateral coordination, graded control, and tactile tolerance. Partially closing the twist top can promote an opportunity for increased hand strength.

Glue sticks – addresses school tool use, fine motor coordination, bilateral coordination, graded pressure, and tactile tolerance.

Hole punches (thumb and hand) – addresses grasp, bilateral hand use, hand and finger strength, and eye-hand coordination. These small hole punchers are great for building thumb stability and strength in the arches. This reduced effort hole punch strengthens the hand and are ideal for children.

Ink stampers – addresses fine motor coordination and manipulation, bilateral coordination, and graded control. Patterning can be addressed.

Markers, pens, pencils, and colored pencils – provides options for color as well as drawing and addresses grasp, distal control, eye-hand coordination, and pressure regulation.

Paper – a variety including construction paper, card stock paper, doilies, foam sheets, paper plates, and paste board (which can be recycled paste board food boxes).

Puffy paint – addresses fine motor manipulation, hand and finger strength, bilateral coordination, graded control, and tactile tolerance.

Ribbon – addresses fine motor manipulation and coordination, bilateral coordination, scissor skills, and eye-hand coordination.

Scissors – regular and adaptive scissor options addresses scissor skills, grasp, bilateral hand use, hand strength, and eye-hand coordination.

Using craft supplies to build skills is easy with a quick trip to the dollar store or online shopping session. What craft supplies do you have in your home already? Many times, thinking outside of the box can expand your craft supply. Try using these recycled materials to make crafts and build skills.

Make a craft kit for kids to use in therapy or at home to build skills

A final word on Kids Craft Supplies in Therapy

With these two craft kit examples, you have a better understanding of what type of craft supplies to add to your home or therapy practice. Use the craft supply list to build kids craft kits you would find most beneficial according to your needs and the needs of your clients or children.

Enjoy creating your craft kit for kids and have fun exploring the items with kids while building important skills and providing opportunities to build child self-esteem and confidence.

Coffee Filter Crafts

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coffee filter crafts for kids

Coffee filter crafts are such a classic way to create with kids.  The thin texture of coffee filters makes a great material for cutting, painting, and folding.  Today, I’ve got ideas to use an item found in the home to work on various skill areas…with coffee filters! For more ways to help kids work on skills like fine motor dexterity, strength, motor planning, direction following, and bilateral coordination, check out some of the crafts for kids here on The OT Toolbox.

Coffee filter crafts to help kids develop skills
coffee filter craft ideas for kids
Coffee filter crafts for kids to use to work on skills in occupational therapy activities


Coffee Filter Crafts for kids:

This circus tent craft made from coffee filters is something different that can be a great tool for working on precision, scissor skills, bilateral coordination, motor planning, and more. 

Work on social-emotional skills by pairing the children’s book, Leonardo the Terrible Monster with a monster coffee filter craft.

This butterfly craft is a classic. There is a reason to add it to your occupational therapy activity line-up. It’s a powerful way to help kids develop skills with an easy kids craft.

This Salad Spinner Art from Babble Dabble Do looks like a ton of fun and can be a great tool for bilateral coordination, visual tracking, and sensory play. 

Coffee filters are a great tool to work on precision in scissor skills. Here is more information on scissor skill progression along with tips for improving graded use of scissors to master accuracy. Here are more scissor skills activities that can be coupled with coffee filters.

If you like sun catchers, make these snails to work on scissor skills and precision.

 Suncatchers made from coffee filters don’t need to be extravagant. Use what you have in your home. 

Kids can work on handwriting and pencil grasp with this Earth Day coffee filter craft. 

The classic Butterfly Craft uses clothes pins and builds hand strength, bilateral coordination, and more. 

Make something different and build scissor skills for more of a challenge with this garland of doves.

For an easier scissor skill activity, create a peacock craft.

Poppies from coffee filters are a fun way to decorate the home while building skills. 

Another flower idea is this vibrantly colored flower craft that really powers up those bilateral coordination, motor planning, and direction-following skills. 

Space Theme Activities Therapy Slide Deck

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space activities for kids to use in occupational therapy activities.

Have you been enjoying the occupational therapy slide decks available here on The OT Toolbox? In case you’ve missed them, the virtual therapy slide decks have been a hit with therapists seeking out OT activities that can easily be used in occupational therapy teletherapy sessions or distance learning sessions using little to no equipment. Today, I’ve got a space theme activities therapy slide deck to share…perfect for the kiddo that loves a space theme in learning or therapy sessions and a therapist or parent who loves to see goal progress! Below, you’ll find access to a free OT slide deck to use in addressing specific OT goals. Just modify the activities to meet the needs of your clients or students. This slide deck is a lot like some of my other recent therapy slide decks...you’re going to love this one!

The outer space activities cover a variety of areas: Fine Motor skills, visual perception, handwriting, and self-regulation…all with a space theme. Each activity in the collection involves movement activities that build specific skills. Scroll to the bottom of this post to enter your email to access the latest free occupational therapy slide deck.

Space Activities for Kids

This space theme activity set is great for younger kids who love all things rocket ships, astronauts, planets, and outer space. I know that there has been a lot of difficulty with getting some kids to pay attention during teletherapy sessions. Some kiddos run off during virtual therapy. Others turn off the screen or refuse to work on the session tasks. This space theme slide deck is great for the kids that need help focusing to work on various skill areas.

Pair this free slide deck with some hands-on, multisensory activities for a space theme:

AND, a new resource has been added to the shop: Outer Space Fine Motor Mini-Kit.

Space Therapy Slide Deck

This slide deck is interactive, too making it a fun way for kids to stay engaged during teletherapy sessions. Here’s what’s included:

space activities for kids to use in OT activities

The slides in this space themed virtual session include a warm up, a writing activity, a fine motor task, a visual perception session, and a calm down/self-regulation check in.

Outer space deep breaths for kids

Warm Up Activity- Kids can start the session with outer space deep breaths. This is one of my favorite slides on the slide deck because children can drag an interactive star along a path, working on visual motor skills, motor planning, eye-hand coordination AND deep breathing skills to help with worries or anxiety. This slide is a great way to start off a therapy session or a distance learning session.

Space activities to work on handwriting with kids

Space Writing Activity- The handwriting portion of this OT slide deck includes three space themed writing prompts. There is a self-check component so children can assess their handwriting for each prompt. Kids working on letter formation, line awareness, spacing, and legibility will benefit from this section of the slide deck.

Space handwriting activity for kids
Space activities for kids to work on fine motor skills

Fine Motor Space Activity- This activity is a fun one, and it uses only a couple of items that children should already have in the home: paper, a pencil, and their hands. Children can follow the directions on the slides along with the therapist to complete a fine motor activity that builds hand strength, coordination, bilateral coordination, arch development, motor planning, precision, an open thumb web-space, and more.

Visual motor activities for kids
Rocket ship activities for kids to work on visual perception

Space Visual Perceptual Skills- The next section of the slide deck includes two slides designed to build visual perceptual skills including form constancy, visual discrimination, figure-ground. Visual processing skills such as visual scanning and visual tracking, and eye-hand coordination are challenged with these slides as children can click on the colored images and drag it to to the shaded shadow match. There are two separate slides in the vision section.

space activities for calming down and coping strategies for kids

Calm Down- This coping tools section of the outer space slide deck includes deep breathing tools to help kids focus on effective breathing and positioning.

space activities for self-regulation

Check-In- Lastly, you’ll find a calm down slide that incorporates the colors of the Zones of Regulation program. Children can complete the calm down movement activities shown on the slides and then choose a color to check in for their state of feelings. They can click on the colored astronauts and drag it to identify their current state.

This free slide deck uses space activities and an outer space theme for kids

Want this Space Theme Activity Set?

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    HERE ARE MORE MOVEMENT ACTIVITIES TO USE IN VIRTUAL OT SESSIONS

    Heavy work movement activity cards

    Monthly movement activities

    Teletherapy activities for kids

    Monster Movement Slide Deck

    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.

    Know a kiddo that loves all things space, astronauts, and planets? The Outer Space Fine Motor Kit is your chance to develop fine motor strength, dexterity, and coordination skills.

    Addressing hand strength, endurance, and precision is out of this world fun! The Outer Space Fine Motor Kit includes:

    • Fine Motor Mazes
    • Fine Motor Ten Frames for motor activities
    • 1-20 Star Counting Cards
    • Bead Copying Strips
    • Space Alien Directed Drawing Sheets

    This fine motor kit includes 24 pages of printable resources. Included in this printable pack are:

    1. Two pages of color coded bead copying strips
    2. Two pages of blank bead copying strips
    3. Four pages of “draw and write” directed drawing activities with a space theme (Includes 3 styles of handwriting lines: highlighted lines, single rule, and double rule)
    4. Nine pages of fine motor mazes
    5. 1-20 Outer Space Counting Cards
    6. Four pages of fine motor ten frames activities

    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.

    Click HERE to grab the Outer Space Fine Motor Mini-Kit.

    Outer Space Fine Motor Kit

    Mother’s Day Craft You Are Tea-Riffic Card

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    mothers day craft for kids

    Mother’s Day is all about cute kid-made cards. Many times, occupational therapy professionals and teachers seek out crafts to make with students to celebrate Mom. This year may be a little different when it comes to coming up with a Mother’s Day craft to make with students. I wanted to put together an easy Mother’s day idea that kids can make in virtual therapy sessions or as part of a distance learning activity. Kids can even make this card with Dad using just a couple of items. This Mother’s Day craft is perfect for a tea-loving mom…Or kids and moms who love puns like “You are TEA-riffic”!  This might be one of my favorite kids’crafts that we’ve done.  It’s easy and it’s super cute.  Add a Mother’s Day quote to this card and you’ve got a gift idea that will make any mom smile!  

    Mothers Day craft Mom, this is a fun craft for kids to make for mother's day. You are TEA-Riffic card for moms who love tea! All you need is a tea bag for this craft.

    Mother’s Day Craft

    This post contains affiliate links.    You’ll need just a few materials for this craft:

    • Paper
    • Tape
    • Tea bag
    • Sticker/flower/something to stick to the tea bag’s tag
    • Markers/crayons

    Grab a piece of paper or cardstock for the card.  Fold it in half.  Next, use your mom’s favorite tea.  We just used a bag of tea that we had on hand, but I do love caffeine free flavored teas.  

    Pull the tea out of the wrapper and stretch out the string.  

    Then, you can decorate the paper tab with a sticker, or by coloring on the paper label. Other ideas include creating a paper flower and gluing it on the the paper. We used foam sticky flowers for a Spring-y touch.  We received ours from www.craftprojectideas.com but you can get a set here.  

    The nice thing about this easy Mother’s Day craft is that it is very open-ended and you can use the items on hand.

    Kids can make this easy Mother's Day craft with a bag of tea and items found in the home.

    Tea Bag Craft for Moms

     To make the tea bag craft, kids can stick something to the paper tag on the tea bag. The flower stickers that we used are sticky on the back, so just peel off the back and stick it to the tea bag’s tag. Adding a sticker or gluing a small note would work too. The idea is to use what you’ve got on hand at home.

    We then taped the tea bag and the tag to the front of the card with a tape donut and wrote a fun message with the words, “MOM You are TEA-Riffic” to the front.  Done!  

    This would make a great preschool Mother’s day craft because it’s very simple and requires just a few steps. The craft can easily be graded up or down to meet a variety of skill levels as well.

    Kids can make this Mother's Day craft to work on fine motor skills.

      Mom will love this super cute craft.  Work on handwriting by having your child add a message to the inside of the card.   Glue lined paper to the inside to provide visual cues for spacing and line awareness.  This is sure to be one of the crafts that Mom keeps forever!  

    Mother’s Day Craft for Therapy Sessions

    By adding this Mother’s Day craft to occupational therapy sessions or the classroom, kids can work on a variety of skills. Add this easy craft to your therapy line up or classroom plans and you’ll add a variety of skills:

    • Eye-hand coordination
    • Precision (managing tape, peeling sticker)
    • Hand strength (folding and creasing paper)
    • Handwriting
    • Bilateral Coordination (folding paper, sticking stickers)
    • Scissor Skills

    Use this mother's day craft to help kids work on skills in occupational therapy sessions.

    More Mother’s Day Crafts

     Who do you know that will love this craft?   Looking for more creative Mother’s Day ideas for the kids?  Try these ideas to work on specific skills during therapy sessions or as part of a distance classroom activity:  

    We know the power of fingerprints and finger painting in building fine motor skills as well as finger isolation. Here is a Mother’s Day Finger Painting activity if that is something that might work as a Mother’s Day craft this year.

    Send Mom a Mother’s Day quote for something different this year.

    For a homemade gift idea for Moms, a homemade Mother’s Day card can work. This one challenges the scissor skills so it would work for older children or those working on more complex scissor skills.

    Play dough or clay can be used to make a homemade gift for moms. Making Little Clay Bowls challenges the fine motor skills, too.

    If you are looking to make a treat for Mom, these cupcakes are a great way to challenge fine motor skills, executive functioning skills, and more.

    Finally, this Mother’s Day Book List can be used as a cozy time with mom. Find the books on a library app and read with Mom!

    Kids can make this easy Mother's Day card in therapy to work on skills.

    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.

     

     

     
     

     

    May Occupational Therapy Calendar Ideas

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    Another month has flown by and another month of Occupational Therapy calendar ideas is here!  May brings creative outdoor play, multi-sensory activities, and ideas that will help with multiple goal areas. I’ve tried to come up with activities that use very few items or supplies. Many of the activities in this May activity calendar require nothing! This is great for adding to home programs or teletherapy sessions, as most of the activities use items found in the home. You might have grabbed our Spring Occupational Therapy packet last month and those ideas will work for this month as well.  You’ll want to get your May OT calendar and use the ideas listed here to add movement, development, and functional skills to the merry month of May!

    Add these May occupational therapy activities to your OT planning for creating home programs and therapy plans to serve a variety of needs. Grab the free May OT calendar.
    May activities for this month's Occupational Therapy calendar of OT treatment ideas.

    May Occupational Therapy Calendar

    This month’s calendar is just a bit different than previous months.  May brings a theme for each day, which is similar to April’s calendar of ideas, but this month is just a tad more themed.  I’ve added a fine motor and gross motor day instead of strictly sensory based ideas.  The best thing about this month is that each day’s activity can address many different goal areas.  For example, an activity that falls on a  Tactile Tuesday can work on bilateral coordination, visual scanning, and fine motor skills all while addressing tactile sensory tolerance through texture input.

    Does a month of OT ideas sound like a great way to plan your days at home or do you need to add a creative spin to your Occupational Therapy clinic? This is the calendar for you!  You can grab the calendar and all of the others by signing up as an email subscriber.  (Email subscribers get access to a free library of printable resources.)

    Be sure to get your Spring Occupational Therapy activity guide over in our store, too. This is a resource of over 90 themed activities that you will want to have in your OT back pocket!

    Use this May Occupational Therapy calendar to plan OT treatment ideas.

    Here are the activity ideas outlined in the May OT calendar

    May 1- Flower Crafts for Kids– Use a flower craft or two to work on skills like direction following, executive functioning skills, fine motor work, scissor skills, and more.

    May 2- Make a flower snack! Cooking is an executive functioning powerhouse. These simple flower-themed snacks are healthy options for kids AND build skills as they help out in the kitchen.

    may 3- Dandelion Soup– As a child, do you remember making messy, muddy, FUN “soup” in the backyard? All you needed was a bucket, a stick, some water, and imagination. Toss in a sprinkle of grass, a scoop of dirt, some broken up twigs, and a mash of dandelion flowers. It’s a messy, sensory, creative, and down-to-earth play idea that builds skills. Don’t have dandelions? (I’m jealous!!) Use whatever you’ve got around the lawn…rocks, pebbles, leaves, flower buds, clover, etc. The sky is the limit with this activity.

    May 4- Stickers! Here are 10 reasons why kids need to play with stickers. They really build the precision, eye-hand coordination, open thumb web space, separation of the sides of the hand, and so much more.

    May 5- Scooters. If you have a scooter in your therapy toolbox, great. If not, no problem. Getting the benefits of prone extension in play can happen with a blanket on a hardwood floor, on a couch cushion, or by crawling through an obstacle course. Put on your thinking caps for out of the box prone extension ideas when a scooter isn’t available.

    May 6- Head outdoors and try a DIY balance beam using what you’ve got. Here are outdoor balance beam ideas to get you started.

    May 7- Hunting for bugs is a sign of Spring, and one way that play builds big-time skills like visual scanning, visual discrimination, figure-ground, and other visual perceptual skills. Head outside with a jar and go on a hunt for potato bugs, lady bugs, ants, and more. Then add this bug visual perception worksheet to the fun.

    May 8- Grab some glue and some seeds for a fine motor workout. Don’t have a packet of seeds? No worries. Head outdoors and cut or tear up some grass. Then use it in this seed handwriting activity to build fine motor skills and eye-hand coordination.

    May 9- Gardening is such an amazing experience for kids that build gross and fine motor skills, coordination, motor planning, executive functioning, and more. This post on sensory gardening defines specific aspects of gardening with kids and how to encourage sensory challenges and sensory diet activities within the garden. Don’t want to garden with kids? That’s ok…use play dough for a pretend play garden activity.

    May 10- Kinetic Sand Dough is fun to make and even more fun to play with. Here is a 3 ingredient kinetic sand recipe. Use it in small word play and sensory bins.

    May 11- Get the kiddos moving and creating with out-of-the-box creative painting ideas. If you have straws in the house, use them to stamp small circles on paper. Don’t have straws? try painting with string or yarn, pinwheels, toys, or one of these 25 creative ways to paint.

    May 12- Got play dough? Use it to press Spring themed items for some fine motor, strengthening, proprioceptive, and body awareness fun!

    May 13- Slides and swings…If you are lucky enough to have them in the backyard, head otudoors for some backyard sensory diet activities. If a backyard slide or swing set isn’t available, use an Amazon box to make a DIY cardboard car slide. This is a BIG time memory-maker with sensory benefits.

    May 14- Grab some chalk and draw a hopscotch board on the driveway or sidewalk. Working on letter formation or number formation? Use the hopscotch boxes to work on letters.

    May 15- Race games are a fun way to get the whole family moving. Here are more movement and sensory ideas for the backyard.

    May 16- Tweezer seeds…Grab some tweezers or tongs and get those hands moving. After eating an apple, my kids used tweezers to dissect the seeds for some science fun that combined with fine motor skill development. But, if you need larger tweezers for your kiddo’s fine motor levels, try making a set of tongs using pencils or craft sticks like we did with this DIY tweezers activity.

    May 17- Indoor obstacle course! Be creative with indoor movement. Use couch cushions, the broom, a jump rope…whatever is on hand. Kids can crawl under dining room chairs, over a line of laundry, or around a bundled up blanket cone. Here are monthly movement ideas for more themed activity ideas to add to your indoor obstacle course. These alphabet movement exercises can be incorporated, too.

    May 18- Let’s make a sensory bin! There are so many ways to build a sensory bin using the items you’ve got on hand. Start with a sensory bin filler like grass, seeds, dry beans, rice, sand, pebbles, dirt, or other materials. These sensory bin ideas can get you started.

    May 19- These Spring craft ideas can get you started on ways to build fine motor skills through crafts. The cherry blossom fine motor trees are one of my favorites!

    May 20- Outdoor play is a huge skill builder for kids. Here’s what the research says about outdoor play in child development. For outdoor sensory activities that build skills, try the ones listed on these free outdoor sensory diet cards.

    May 21- DIY parachute- Grab a fitted bed sheet and start parachuting. This is a great gross motor activity for the whole family. It works really well on a breezy day in the backyard, but can be done indoors too. Hold the edges of the sheet like it’s a parachute and play some parachute games.

    May 22- Jumping jacks are just one of the gross motor activities on our Alphabet exercises, but you can make them fun by jumping jack to music. Try doing a certain number of jumping jacks when one person calls out a number.

    May 23- Use the sand from the sandbox to work on fine motor skills. We poured some on the kid play picnic table and worked on pinching and dribbling sand through the fingers. Here is another way to work on fine motor skills with simple items like sand and sticks from the yard. Don’t have sand? Use pebbles, flour, or dirt.

    May 24- Torn leaf art is a fun way to work on fine motor skills with kids. Cut petals from paper (or use real leaves and petals if you have them). Then work on tearing those petals into small pieces. Use those small pieces to create art by gluing them into shapes or even letters. Here is information on the ways that tearing paper builds hand skills.

    May 25- Outdoor small world pretend play– When the weather starts warming up, it’s the perfect time to head outdoors with small toys and create a small world beside a tree. Work on imagination, acting out functional tasks, and talking through worries or stress using small figures. This is one of my favorite ways to play with my kids when they were smaller.

    May 26- Chalk games and sidewalk chalk activities are not only fun, they are a powerful way to build hand strength in the arches, and upper body strength by getting down on the driveway or sidewalk.

    May 27- Water flowers- have some flowers or potted plants in your yard on indoors? Spray them with a water bottle to give them a little water while working on hand strength.

    May 28- Lawn games- Relay races, Red Rover, Red Rover, Tag, Hide and Seek, and other lawn classic lawn games for kids. Other ideas include: Kick the can, jump rope, Red Light, Green Light, Mother May I, Mr. Wolf, 4 square, Simon Says, TV tag, Sardines, Marco Polo, Heads Up/7 UP, Freeze dance, and others.

    May 29- Flower weaving is a fun fine motor, bilateral coordination activity that builds motor planning, and planning skills. Use long pieces of grass or flowers with long stems and braid them, or entwine them into a basket or edge of a plastic bin. A laundry basket works great.

    May 30- Nature seek and find- Set up a “real world” I Spy game using items found in the home or in the yard. Include toys, everyday items, or things found right outside in nature. Kids can work on visual scanning, figure ground, and other visual perceptual skills. Here is a real toy I Spy game we played many moons ago.

    May 31- Outdoor forts are a fun way to move and build executive functioning skills. How can you use some lawn chairs and a sheet to create a fort in the yard? How can you attach several blankets to the dining room chairs. Building a fort (indoor or outdoors) is a fantastic activity for kids that builds many skill areas.

    May Activity Calendar for Kids

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      Organization and Attention Challenges Related to Sensory Processing Disorders

      by

      Kids with sensory needs often times have organization difficulties.  Sensory inattention is a real thing! They are distracted by their body’s need for sensory integration and are challenged to focus on tasks at hand due difficulties with inattention. We explain in our resource on sensory processing disorder chart, the various aspects and nuances of sensory processing disorders. You’ll see how different each of us are when it comes to sensory needs and challenges.


      While sensory kids might have attention problems, typically developing kids are also learning to work with the distractions of multi-sensory input to focus on tasks.  You might see visual inattention that causes a child to skip words when copying from a book.  You might see them forget to put their homework folder in their backpack at the end of the school day. It’s kind of like a jumble of beads in where all of the colors are so distracting that it’s hard to pull out the ones that are most important.  Then the beads spill and you’ve got a disorganized mess to deal with on top of everything else that needs to happen in your day. 

      Sensory Processing components and considerations for the disorganized and inattentive child. This site contains lots of attention and organization strategies for kids with sensory processing disorders from an Occupational Therapist.

      Sensory Inattention

      There are normal everyday distractions that all of us are managing.  I for one am currently distracted by kids, schedules, deadlines, and the need to pull frozen chicken out of the fridge so that we can eat dinner later.  A child with sensory processing disorder or general sensory challenges may be distracted by the input their body craves and the overwhelming input that they are constantly bombarded with. This sensory inattention may be a result of underlying issues going on that distracts from the task at hand.

      When sensory-related inattention is a primary difficulty relating to disorganization in kids, there are ways to work around and help. Check out some of the sensory strategies listed further down in this post.

      Other reasons for being inattentive:

      • Impulsivity
      • Overwhelming and confusing sensory input makes navigating sensory information
      • Trouble staying on a task
      • Trouble identifying priorities
      • Focus on anxiety limits ability to stay on task
      • Rigidity causing difficulty transitioning into new tasks
      • Motor insecurity (fine motor or gross motor, visual motor, sensori-motor) causes trouble getting started on a task.
      • Low frustration tolerance to difficult tasks.  These kids might not try a task to avoid a frustrated meltdown as a compensatory strategy
      These sensory processing disorder treatment strategies can help kids who struggle with sensory inattention or overreaction to sensory input.

      Sensory inattention Strategies

      So, how can a worried parent or involved teacher help kids who are struggling with attention problems and resulting disorganization?  We’ve recently shared tips to help with attention at home and at school.  But what if all of the modifications and adaptations to your child’s day are just not working?

      What if, as a Mom or a Dad, you are at your wit’s end with your child’s poor attention…the behaviors…your child’s seemingly intentional disregard to directions and others around them. Sometimes, there is a reason for these actions.  They aren’t always intentional.  They aren’t always ADHD related. They aren’t always the actions of a “bad kid”.

      Sometimes, there is an underlying reason for disorganization issues.  There is a sensory component. It is sensory inattention that we are talking about.

      A child with sensory processing difficulties might have trouble blocking out lights, noises, and movements of others.  They might drop their pencil and not even realize it.  They might have difficulty with handwriting. They might bump into others in lines at school or bounce off the walls at home.  Do these sound familiar?  

      Sensory HYPERSENSITIVITY

      There are many indications of children who are overly sensitive to typical daily activities. Children with sensory hypersensitivity over-respond to sensory input. They may have an acute or overly sensitive response to input.

      • Overreact to bright lights and loud noises.
      • Demonstrate meltdowns when overwhelmed
      • Complain about itchy tags or clothing seams, including the seam along the toes in socks.  Refuse to wear certain textures, and complain that they are too rough or scratchy.
      • Difficulty with sensing how much force they need to apply in tasks; they might press too hard when writing, rip the paper when erasing, or slam down objects.
      • Trouble knowing where their body is in relation to other objects or people.
      • Overly distracted by noises in the classroom.
      • Appears clumsy.
      • Avoid hugs and cuddling even with family members.
      • Overly fearful of movement including swings, slides, and merry-go-rounds.
      • Bump into other students in school lines, or crashes into objects.
      • Tendency to bolt or run away when they’re overwhelmed to get away from stressors or fears of unfamiliar situations.

      Sensory Hyposensitivity

      There are also indications of children who are under-responsive to sensory stimulation and seek out more sensory input. Indications of hyposensitivity occur in children who do not seem to notice sensory input. They may seek out sensory input in order to gain sensory input that they need in order to organize or regulate. Children that flap their hands, bite, pinch, bolt, or seem to have a very high tolerance for pain, spinning, or other movement may have sensory hyposensitivities.

      • Constantly touch people or textures.
      • Loves active play.
      • Crave fast, spinning and/or intense movement.
      • Enjoys heavy deep pressure like tight bear hugs.
      • Cannot tolerate smells. Or, smells everything.
      • Disregard or no understanding of personal space.
      • Swing, spin, jump, run, crash
      • Chew everything…clothing, pencils, toys, grass, non-edible materials
      • Very high tolerance for pain.
      • Very fidgety and unable to sit still, especially when the child is expected to sit still.
      • Seeks out jumping, bumping and crashing activities.
      • Loves jumping on furniture and trampolines.
      • Self-stimulation behaviors (flapping, bolting, chewing, pressing on eyelids, rocking, humming, lining things up, tapping on things, etc.)
      • Loves playground equipment like swings, merry-go-rounds and slides.

      It’s easy to understand how a child with either a low or a high tolerance to sensory stimulation can show inattention to focused tasks.  There is so much information coming at them at once and they are unable to filter out what is unnecessary while attending to a directions like “Get your homework out of your back pack” or “Brush your teeth, your hair, and put on your shoes.”  How can they possibly keep themselves organized in tasks?

      While no two children are alike, there are many sensory processing treatments that can help with attention and organization.  Movement activities, core strengthening, and sensory integration therapy can help with attention in kids.  In fact, sensory integration treatment interventions “may result in positive outcomes in sensory-motor skills and motor planning; socialization, attention, and behavioral regulation; reading-related skills; participation in active play; and achievement of individualized goals.” (From here.) 

      Sensory Processing Disorder Treatment


      Some of our favorite ways to engage the sensory systems in sensory integration activities are: 

      Try using these techniques to help your child sort out all of the information, and just like those beads that are all over the floor?  Create beautiful moments in your day!

      Sensory Processing components and considerations for the disorganized and inattentive child. This site contains lots of attention and organization strategies for kids with sensory processing disorders from an Occupational Therapist.

      Be sure to stop by and see recommendations for Attention difficulties at home and at school, part of a recent Organization series that we’ve shared:

      Tips to Help your Sensory Kid Get Organized at School

      Tips to Help your Sensory Kid Get Organized at Home

      More tools for addressing attention needs in kids

      There are so many strategies to address attention in kids and activities that can help address attention needs. One tactic that can be a big help is analyzing precursors to behaviors related to attention and addressing underlying needs. 

      The Attention and Sensory Workbook can be a way to do just that. 

      The Attention and Sensory Workbook is a free printable resource for parents, teachers, and therapists. It is a printable workbook and includes so much information on the connection between attention and sensory needs. 

      Here’s what you can find in the Attention and Sensory Workbook: 

      • Includes information on boosting attention through the senses
      • Discusses how sensory and learning are connected
      • Provides movement and sensory motor activity ideas
      • Includes workbook pages for creating movement and sensory strategies to improve attention

      A little more about the Attention and Sensory Workbook: 

      Sensory processing is the ability to register, screen, organize, and interpret information from our senses and the environment. This process allows us to filter out some unnecessary information so that we can attend to what is important. Kids with sensory challenges often time have difficulty with attention as a result.

      It’s been found that there is a co-morbidity of 40-60% of ADHD and Sensory Processing Disorder. This workbook is an actionable guide to help teachers, therapists, and parents to help kids boost attention and focus in the classroom by mastering sensory processing needs. 

      You will find information on the sensory system and how it impacts attention and learning. There are step-by-step strategies for improving focus, and sensory-based tips and tricks that will benefit the whole classroom.

      The workbook provides tactics to address attention and sensory processing as a combined strategy and overall function. There are charts for activities, forms for assessment of impact, workbook pages for accommodations, and sensory strategy forms.
        Grab the Attention and Sensory Workbook by clicking HERE or on the image below.    

      Attention and sensory workbook activities for improving attention in kids

      FREE Attention & Sensory Workbook

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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.