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:

Invitation to Pour. Scoop. Transfer: Fine Motor Play

by
We’ve had a bag of mixed nuts with shells sitting out in our living room for days now.  A couple of bowls and spoons make for a fun play activity for all times of the day!

Use this fine motor activities to teach kids hand dominance while working on bilateral coordination, visual motor skills, and more! 





Invitation to Scoop, Pour, Transfer

Scooping Fine Motor Coordination
I gave the kids a couple of bowls and spoons with the walnuts, almonds, chestnuts…and a few other ones that I’m not sure of the names 🙂 …and they immediately started pouring from bowl to bowl.

Invitation to Transfer

Baby Girl (almost 2) and Little Guy (4) have been loving this!  Little Guy’s been sorting the chestnuts into a pile and gathering them all up into a bowl.  Baby Girl has been pouring and transferring nuts from bowl to bowl…and scattering the nuts allllll over the place 🙂

 Invitation to Pour

This is such a great fine motor activity for little ones, and they love playing with a novel item.  Pouring requires precise bilateral hand coordination or the nuts scatter all over the table…Although, they seem to enjoy that just as much!

Invitation to Scoop

Scooping the nuts with spoons allows for a great fine motor activity and fine motor coordination development, too.  Baby Girl is getting some great spoon practice with this activity!
 I’m thinking the walnuts, almonds, and friends will be out on the train table for a few more days for fun and exploring!

Paper Roll Apple Stamps

by

These apple paper roll stamps are a fun fine motor activity for Fall occupational therapy sessions. It’s one our our apple themed activities that support development of several skill areas. This fine motor apple activity would go really well with our apple sensory bin and our Apple Therapy Kit.

 
We made this apple stamping art last week with one of our favorite things to recycle…Paper rolls! (we used a toilet paper roll but a paper towel roll would work too.)
 

Toilet Paper Stamps

Children may enjoy making toilet paper stamps because it is a fun and creative activity that allows them to explore their artistic side. Additionally, using toilet paper rolls to create stamps is a low-cost and easily accessible way for children to make art, as these materials are often readily available in most households.

Using toilet paper rolls as stamps can also provide a tactile sensory experience for children, as they get to touch and manipulate the materials while creating their artwork. The process of pressing the roll onto the paper and seeing the unique patterns and shapes that are created can be a source of fascination and excitement for children.

The act of stamping can help children develop important fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination, as they need to use their hands and fingers to hold and control the stamp.

Toilet paper stamping can be a fun and engaging activity that provides children with a variety of benefits, both artistic and developmental.

 
 
Mom bent the cardboard tube just a little into a heart-ish shape.
 
Big Sister got busy stamping!  She covered her page with little red apples.
 
She painted little green leaves on the apples…
 
…and then drew stems on each apple with a brown marker.
 
This was such an easy and fun little project to do.  Let us know if you make apple stamps!
 
 

Grab a copy of our apple play dough cards for more fine motor skill building!

100+ Fall Fine Motor Activities

by
 
Looking at the links from last week’s party, it was clear we had to go with our favorite way to play…working on Fine Motor skills.  We went with a Fall theme this week, and WOW, were there a ton of fun and creative fall themed fine motor activities to choose from!  You guys are seriously talented and creative!  Check out the features below for tons of fall inspiration and ways to incorporate fine motor skills into play.

 
 


Fall Themed Sensory Bins:


Kids love to play with sensory bins! Not only do they get to explore textures, scents, colors, and all of the senses, but they get to work those little muscles in their hands as they explore and manipulate objects of different sizes and shapes.  These sensory bins are sure to get you in the mood for fall!

 
Water Beads Apples Sensory Bin by Little Bins for Little Hands
 
Sweet Potato Ooey Gooey Goop for Fall by Frogs and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails

 

Witches Brew Sensory Bin by Plain Vanilla Mom

Fall Sink or Float Fun by B-Inspired Mama
Alphabet Scavenger Hunt by Munchkin and Bean
Fall Sensory Bins by The Jenny Evolution
30+ Apple Sensory Tubs by Living Montessori Now

 

Fall Themed Water Table by Sugar Aunts

Pumpkin Sensory Bin by Sugar Aunts

 

Fall Themed Fine Motor Manipulation Activities:

 
From pinching, to cutting, to tip to tip finger grasp…to finger isolation and whole hand grasp; these activities will allow the child to develop the small muscles of their hands and prepare them for tasks like coloring, handwriting, cutting, clothing management and so much more!
 
 
Thumbtacked Pumpkins by Simple Fun For Kids
 
Fall Color Apple Stamping by Happy Hooligans
 
Halloween Invitations to Cut by LalyMom
 
25 Fall Invitations to Play by My Nearest and Dearest
 
Jack-O-Lantern Finger Puppet by Crafty Journal
 
Read Explore Learn Math Activities-Number Recognition by JDaniels Mom
 
 
 

Fall Themed Crafts:

 
These activities will encourage fine motor dexterity with lacing, pinching, pencil grasp, and more…all with a super cute craft to display!
 
Preschooler Scarecrow Craft by There’s Just One Mommy
Stuffed Paper Apples by Buggy and Buddy
 
10 Unique Fall Crafts by Buggy and Buddy
Human Skeleton Craft by Adventures At Home with Mum
Tissue Paper Art Apple Tree by Fantastic Fun and Learning
A Collection of Preschool Activities by Teaching 2 and 3 Year Olds 
 

Fall Themed Play Dough: 

 
Pinching, rolling, smashing, poking…play dough and clay are the ultimate fine motor strengthening medium!  We love all of these fall themed dough and clay activities…perfect for the season!
 
 
Play Dough Apple Orchard by Plain Vanilla Mom
 
 
Apple Pie Play Dough by Where Imagination Grows
Fall Tree Clay Leaves by Simple Fun For Kids
 
Play Dough and Fall Wildflowers by My Nearest and Dearest
 
 
 

Simple Stamp Art 4 Ideas

by

The kids asked if we could play with stamps one afternoon.  So, I pulled out our bin of stamps and a few extra things plus our ink pads and we made some stampy art!

Stamp Art For Kids

We used clothes pins to stamp little pieces of sponges to make squares and rectangle shapes.  This was a great way to combine fine motor strengthening into our creative project.
We used some slices of pool noodle to make some pretty circle art.  We liked seeing the texture of the pool noodle pressed onto the paper.
We used foam letters to stamp letters on paper.  Little Guy thought this was hilarious!
And we used our regular stamps on coffee filters.  Then we dipped a paint brush into water and brushed the stamps with water.  It was pretty neat to watch the stamp shape spread on the coffee filter.
This was such an easy and simple way to play and create art!

Autumn Baby Sensory Table

by

Try this toddler activity or baby activity is a tactile sensory play using a train table surface, perfect for encouraging gross motor skills, fine motor skills, eye-hand coordination, bilateral coordination, and more!

Babies and toddlers of all abilities love this Fall occupational therapy activity.

autumn sensory activities for babies

We had a couple of nieces and nephews over this weekend for a cousin sleep over.  While the big kids were off playing, the littlest and I had some fun with some autumn sensory play.

sensory table for toddlers

I pulled out a bunch of fabrics scraps and felt leaves and scattered them all over our train table.  This was the perfect height for this little guy who is just standing and beginning to cruise along furniture.

He loved scattering the leaves all over the table, picking them up one by one, and dropping them on the floor.  Then picking them up  and putting them on the table again!  The bright colors really grabbed his attention. 

baby activities autumn

Why is this such a great activity for babies and young toddlers?  The varied textures of different fabrics are neat for them to explore with their hands (just watch those mouths so felt leaves don’t end up in there!)  

They are able to see what happens when the drop the leaves and can do it over and over again from the low surface.  Babies love the drop and pick up game!  This was a great fine motor activity and eye hand coordination task for this little guy.  He could work on grabbing at the thin fabric of the leaves and picking up the leaf after it was on the ground.  Plus, it was something new and fun!

Fall Themed Water Table

by
Fall Themed Water Table
We went on a Nature Hunt and found a whole basket of pine cones, acorns, and colorful leaves.  Little Guy said, “Mom, that looks Nature-y!”
We had some warm weather recently and decided to inspect our nature hunt finds in a fun way…with

Nature in the Water Table!

Fall Themed Water Table
Little Guy filled the water table with the hose
(his favorite job…using the hose!)
 And Mom pulled out a few scoops and the magnifying glass.
Fall Themed Water Table
Little Guy had fun inspecting the Nature, scooping things up, and making discoveries…
“I didn’t know this stuff could FLOAT!!”
Baby Girl enjoyed her nap.  But, when she did wake up, she had a BLAST getting completely soaked. 

Fall Nature Play Dough Press

by

This Fall play dough press activity is a fun way to explore Fall nature, including the tactile textures and the senses!

Fall Play Dough Press

There are many benefits to playing with play dough, and this Fall occupational therapy activity hits the mark!

This is a great addition to our list of Fall tactile sensory activities. If touching different textures is a challenge for your learner, be sure to check out our resources on:

We used our favorite  play dough recipes, some Fall nature items (listed below), and got to work on our train table.

 
We pulled out our fall bin from the attic and had some fun with Indian corn, fake mums, and autumn leaves.
 
We had fun one day playing with play dough and pressing different fall items into play dough to see what the impressions looked like!

 

 
Fall Play Dough Press
 
 
 

Fall Nature Items

There are many Fall nature items you can use in this play dough activity. Take a fun family sensory nature walk and you will find many of these items in the neighborhood.

  1. Acorns
  2. Pine cones
  3. Fallen leaves
  4. Chestnuts
  5. Apple seeds
  6. Pumpkins
  7. Gourds
  8. Pieces of hay
  9. Cornstalks
  10. Sunflowers- seeds, petals, and the center
  11. Chrysanthemums
  12. Cranberries
  13. Black walnuts
  14. Cattails- Press to see the textures
  15. Bark- press into the play dough
  16. Dried corn cobs- roll into the play dough
 

Fall Nature Play Dough Press

 
We rolled corn in play dough, pressed fake flowers into the dough, and even pumpkins and stalks of wheat.
 
It was fun to press the items in the dough and then ask each other what they thought made the impression.
 
 
Big Sister tried her hand at floral arrangement, too by sticking things into dough in a clay pot 🙂
 
 
Have you decorated yet for fall?
 
Our bin from the attic is still waiting, mostly full until we find homes for everything 🙂
 
 

Visual Contrast Sensory Letter Writing

by

We practiced writing letters in coffee grounds one morning after Mom cleaned out a cupboard.  Why did I buy Instant Decaf? YUCK! So, before we tossed them, we had to play with them.  Of course 😉

Visual Contrast Letter Writing

I poured the coffee grounds onto a white cutting board for maximum contrast and had Big Sister practice some lower case letters.  She loved this!  The black on white let the letters really show.  She felt so special doing this activity because she could play with coffee!

Sensory Letter Writing

We practiced the letters that are easy to reverse (b, d, p, g, d) and a few words that she knows how to spell.  She stood at the kitchen counter for a while making letters. 

Little Guy had to get in on the action and make some shapes, too. 

A great multi-sensory input way to practice letters!

Play and Learn with Apple Activities

by
Happy Share It Saturday! 
It’s that time of year when we just want to go to the apple orchard…
…or pick up a 3 pound bag of apples at the grocery store 🙂
Apple crisp, apple painting, apple pie, apple cider…We love fall and all things apples!
Our round-up today on Share It Saturday features activities, play, crafts, learning, and cooking all with an apple theme.  Perfect for this time of year!
We’re ready to try some of the activities shared this week and enjoy the season of apples!

Apple Crafts and Activities

30+ Apple Activities by Reading Confetti
Apple Scented Dough by Munchkin and Bean
Apple School Day and Teacher Gifts by 3 Boys and a Dog
Apple Magnet Play

Learning with Apples

Fill The Bushel Spelling/Sight Word Game by Relentlessly Fun, Deceptively Educational
Apples, Apples Color Chant and Printable by School Time Snippets
Learning Apples

Apple Cooking With Kids