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:
Since Christmas, we have so many extra boxes and I feel guilty just putting them in the recycle bin. We also have so many little cars (and trains, and little people…the list goes on and on) laying around. This is an easy renovation to an ugly cardboard box.
My 20 month old has taken a liking to this little box for some reason. He has been putting his cars and trains in it and carrying it around the house (and dumping them out everywhere!). Today while he was napping we gave it a little make-over.
This was a fun project for my 4 year old daughter to help with. She helped me hold the box, measure the contact paper, and cut along the lines.
Once we had it cut out (making sure there was about 2 inches to overlap into the box), we folded the sides in and cut slits along the side so it could be folded easily.
It was kind of like wrapping a package. It isn’t perfect, but it doesn’t need to be. Just a fun project to make something pretty.
Now doesn’t that look better than the old ugly box?
Little guy thought it was pretty too, and then he threw all the toys on the floor for the millionth time today. Oh what fun!
I have seen these Discovery Bottles all over the place. Do a search on Google images and you will find a ton of ideas and ways to make these. I knew the babies would love this and we had to try them…it was a success!
I super glued the lids shut for little ones who like to use their teeth to open bottles…
I know a few who do that in our house 🙂
Baby Girl was super excited when she saw these. She had a blast checking them all out.
So easy and lots of fun! Definitely try this one if you have toddlers/babies in your house. They will love it!
Are you looking for more information on Sensory Processing or any of the body’s sensory systems and how they affect functional skills and behavior? This book, Sensory Lifestyle Handbook, will explain it all. Activities and Resources are included. Get it today and never struggle to understand or explain Sensory processing and sensory diets again.
Many years ago, we created this simple, but fun treasure map activity where children have the opportunity to develop important skills while creating their own unique treasure maps. All you need for this pirate activity is paper, markers or crayons, and optional decorations like stickers or glitter, for a creative activity that offers numerous benefits (fine motor skills and visual motor skills!)
Not only does using a map utilize spatial skills, there are so many ways to learn through play with this activity!
Treasure Map Activity
The treasure map activity we describe in this blog post is an old one, but it’s such a fun way to develop skills.
Occupational therapy practitioners often use treasure map activities in therapy sessions, including with sensory motor tasks like obstacle courses. You can move through an OT treasure map to different therapy worlds like a handwriting station, self-regulation area with deep breathing exercises, a gross motor task like a masking tape balance beam, or so many other tasks depending on the child’s specific needs!
Skills Developed with a Treasure Map Activity
Fine Motor- As children draw their treasure maps, they practice and refine their fine motor skills. Holding and controlling the markers or crayons helps strengthen their hand muscles and improve dexterity. The precise movements required for drawing lines, shapes, and symbols contribute to the development of their fine motor control and coordination.
Visual Motor- Creating a treasure map also supports the development of visual motor skills. The process of translating mental images and ideas onto paper involves coordinating hand movements with visual input. Children learn to align their movements with what they envision, improving their hand-eye coordination and visual tracking abilities.
Spatial Awareness- Playing with and drawing a treasure map promotes spatial awareness and understanding. Children need to consider proportions, distances, and scale as they depict landmarks, paths, and the overall layout of their map. This encourages them to think spatially and develop a sense of space and perspective.
Motor Planning- Using a treasure map to move around a given space involves motor planning. Children must plan and execute a sequence of actions to create their map, including deciding on the path, placing symbols, and adding decorative elements. This helps develop their ability to plan, organize, and execute tasks in a logical and sequential manner.
Body Awareness- Using a treasure map activity to navigate in the world around them offers kids the chance to incorporate body awareness into a real world scenario. They must navigate around objects and visualize how their body moves through a space. This is a great tool for building skills in this area.
Scissor Skills- The map activity we made made builds scissor skills, too. This is an open-ended craft that kids can make and work on cutting and snipping paper in a low pressure way.
How to make a treasure map with Preschoolers
This simple treasure map is a fun activity for preschool. Here’s what we did:
Today was a day of exploring and treasure map fun!
My kids have been loving Jake and the Never Land Pirates lately and today we decided to make our very own treasure map.
This was one my daughter had so much fun planning out what was going to be under each door.
We gathered up all the necessary things…
card stock
different colors of tissue paper
scissors
markers or a pen
some stickers
a roll of masking tape
This project included tons of fine motor skills, cutting, tearing paper, pinching, rolling, folding…the list goes on and on.
We cut the tissue paper into little squares, pulled out some masking tape and made little tape donut circles to tape the tissue paper to the construction paper.
Pulling and tearing the masking tape worked on her wrist stability. This is the strength and coordinated effort of the wrist in a neutral position with controlled movements required to keep one part of the body still while another part moves. (the hand and fingers).
The card stock was folded and different shapes cut out. I helped her cut out windows and doors for the different tissue papers to be hidden behind. Folding the paper and cutting was a great use of bilateral coordination.
Bilateral coordination is the efficient use of both hands during activities. One hand will manipulate while the other is the ‘helping hand.’ Bilateral coordination development will lead to hand dominance (right- or left-handed).
Each door got a beautiful sticker on it (they needed doorknobs- of course!)
And last but not least, we needed a treasure! This nickel was the perfect treasure.
I finished the map by drawing some lines to connect the windows and doors. This map will last for many a treasure hunt! “Yo-Ho-Ho!”
The perfect addition to a treasure map activity would be a pirate puppet or a kid-made pirate telescope craft, perfect for finding treasures!
Working on fine motor skills, visual perception, visual motor skills, sensory tolerance, handwriting, or scissor skills? Our Fine Motor Kits cover all of these areas and more.
Check out the seasonal Fine Motor Kits that kids love:
Grasp Strengthening and Learning Colors With SNOW???
Some days, it is just HARD to get the kids dressed up in snowsuits/gloves/hats/boots/scarves…only to bring them back in 10 minutes later because the baby wants to follow the big kids, but can’t pick up her boots to walk through the snow that is up to her mid-calf…so she stands still in the yard until I pick her up…
Today was one of those days.
We needed an activity for after baby-nap-time and before dinner-making-time and this was just the one!
I had this idea in mind since right after Christmas when we got some snow, and I wanted to dye it using eye droppers. After looking everywhere around the house, I just can. not. find the eye droppers! So, on to another idea…
Turkey Baster
Spray Bottle
Scoops and Spoons.
These kids were so beyond excited to see me setting this up. They helped stir the food coloring into the bowls of water. (Get Dollar Store food coloring for projects like this! So cheap, and it will last you many, many projects…) But they could not guess what we were doing with it. Once I brought the snow in, there were cheers!
We did some mixing of colors on the snow…What does red and blue make? We had green in the spray bottle and it was fun to change the stream to get more color on the snow. They were pretty excited to get brown, of course 🙂
Squeezing the turkey baster bulb and the spray bottle nozzle is wonderful for grasp strengthening in hands.
The strength of the whole had is needed for so many fine motor work in play and school based activities.
This was the extent of the mess…not too bad! They kept the tray on the right pretty clean of color mostly since that was Baby Girl’s side and she was busy eating the snow 🙂
This is part three of our end-of year review! Here is a run-down of our Top 5 Sensory Play Posts of 2012…
Growing Memories: The easiest sensory bin can be found in your own backyard. Some of the most memorable moments from my childhood were playing outside in the dirt. I think getting back to basic play outside is very important in our child’s development.
Water Beads Sensory Table: We love water beads! You will notice several posts with them, all of them being the same beads being used over and over again. These little buggers allow for may play ideas and hours of fun.
No Mess Sensory Play: This fun activity allows for mess-free play. You can add all kinds of different things inside the baggie for different sensory experiences. The possibilities are endless. You can change it around for different seasons, holidays, birthday theme…mix colors, textures, smells.
(This one was so much fun I had to include it too)
DIY Wrapping Paper: Kids love making their own wrapping paper to cover gifts for friends and family. It makes them so proud to be part of the present, and grandparents/aunts love receiving gifts wrapped in this special artwork. Making your own wrapping paper is an easy and fun sensory project.
Light Bright Fun: What is more fun than playing in the dark with a flashlight? How about playing in a box with a light bright?!? This fun sensory activity was a hit with the little kids.
As part of an end-of year review, we wanted to share a few of our favorite posts in different areas of kids activities (Baby Play, Fine Motor, Sensory Play)
This is a collection of our favorite FINE MOTOR posts since our beginning Sugar Aunts almost four months ago…
Golf Tees and a Hammer:This one was one of Little Guy’s FAVORITE activities He still asks all the time to do the “golf tee game”. In fact, he even picked golf tees for his Daddy’s Christmas gift at his preschool Secret Santa shop. Not so he can go golfing…”So you can hit them into egg cartons, Dad”!
Magnet Play: This was a fun one. My kids ask if they can play with the corn bin constantly. They love it! This activity was a fun one and really strengthens the small muscles of the hands. It could be done with any theme…
Christmas Math: This was part of our 25 Days of Christmas Play and such an easy activity to set up. Big Sister loved using the pinch pins to do some beginning math. Using the pinch clothes pins strengthens the intrinsic muscles of the hands and develops their tripod grasp. This is a good one for those kids that complain of their hands being tired when they are coloring. Use close pins on any cardboard/index cards/paper and it can go along with any theme or season!
Snowman Play Dough: This one was really fun. Play Dough is so great for developing fine motor skills. Rolling, pinching, molding, poking…it works those small muscles! You can use play dough in so many ways and with unlimited colors, scents, and going along with different themes. Little Guy loved using his construction vehicles to play with this dough and we all had a blast making snowmen with this glittery, scented recipe.
Process Vs. Product Art: This project is so great for developing mine motor skills in kids because the whole activity is based on the process of creating, using materials, managing tools (scissors, squeezing glue, peeling stickers…), and developing fine motor dexterity to grasp small beads/thread/bits of glitter…There are no expectations on the child, only exploration and creativity!
This is a fun activity. I love that it teaches emotions while having fun. And what baby doesn’t enjoy playing with fridge magnets?!
This activity would be perfect all year round – I’m thinking a snowman face, a heart-shaped face, a sun face, a flower face…the possibilities are endless!
So why do I love this play idea? Because it is soooo simple! Babies are entertained by the simplest of things, especially things they see their mommies and daddies using every day – like cups and spoons! I also love that this activity involves very little prep and little clean-up – great for a working mom!
Baby Boy loves playing with balls. He loves playing in the kitchen cabinets. Combining the two makes perfect sense! My Baby Boy could drop balls into that box and take them out all day long.
This post shares a few fun and very messy play activities. I love that the babies were involved in the messy day. What a fun way to play with (and learn about) textures. A pool full of green spaghetti…now that’s creative!
I love, love, love this light box. And as for Baby Boy? Well, he loves playing in boxes, he loves crawling into tunnels, and he LOVES lights! Yeah, this is right up his alley! So are you taking down your Christmas lights and throwing away some boxes from holiday gifts? Maybe it’s time to create a fun, cozy play area for your little one.
These Overnight Cinnamon Rolls are a staple in our house on Christmas mornings.
I’ve been using this recipe for years and wanted to share since most recipes that I have seen for cinnamon buns take a little longer to to prepare. And then you need to warm up the dough before you bake them in the morning. These are perfect for easy prep on a busy Christmas Eve (or any old day)! We love to share recipes that are perfect to get the kids cooking in the kitchen. This is a multi-step recipe that will work little minds. And, the cinnamon rolls are so gooey and delicious that the kids will want to make them every weekend!
Overnight Cinnamon Roll Recipe
The dough is prepared and rolled the night before…and in the am, just pull out of the fridge and pop them into the oven. The gooey-ness of these cinnamon rolls goes perfectly with snuggly blankets, hot coffee, and family 😉
Dough:
1 cup milk
1/3 cup butter
1 package of yeast
1/2 cup sugar
4 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
3 eggs
Cinnamon filling:
1 1/2 cups brown sugar (I used dark brown sugar, and it was perfect)
3 Tbsp cinnamon
3 Tbsp flour
1 stick of softened unsalted butter
Glaze:
2 cups confectioners sugar
2 Tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla
Warm the milk in a saucepan until it begins to bubble. Remove from heat and add 1/3 cup of butter. Let the butter melt.
In a mixing bowl, combine flour, yeast, salt. Stir in the eggs and milk mixture. Beat well. Once it has pulled together, dump the dough out onto a flour dusted counter. Knead until smooth, adding flour as needed. Knead for about 5 minutes.
Cover the dough and let it rest while you prepare the filling. Mix brown sugar, cinnamon, flour and soft butter together in a bowl until crumbly.
Roll the dough into a large rectangle shape. Cover with filling mixture and roll lengthwise. Seal the edge of the dough with a little bit of water.
Use a long piece of dental floss (Not mint flavored!) to cut the roll. Slide the string under the roll and cross to cut the dough. This way, you will get nice cinnamon rolls that aren’t squashed.
Place them in a casserole and admire their gorgeousness.
Cover the uncooked cinnamon rolls and keep them overnight in the fridge. When you pull them out the next morning, let the dough warm up on the counter while you pre-heat the oven. Bake at 350 for about 20 min or until the house starts smelling cinnamon-y and golden.
The glaze is quick to mix together and pour over nice and bubbly brown cinnamon rolls.
Enjoy!
These are so good the next day too, just warm up covered, in the oven.
This recipe was originally posted in 2012. I’ve updated the images to include in our Cooking with Kids series. We’re cooking our way through the alphabet and are up to letter X for Xmas Cooking (There really isn’t much to go on when you are cooking with “X” foods so X-mas it is!)
Looking for more Cooking With Kids recipe ideas? Try some of these:
Brings Christmas Preparations, Getting Gifts Ready, and DIPPING CHOCOLATE!
This was our Second Annual Chocolate Dipping Playdate. And it was another success!
Each mom brought some chocolate, an item to dip, and kids that were ready to play with friends 🙂 They left with exhausted kids…and a huge tray of assorted chocolate covered items to take to holiday parties/gift to family (or eat before the chocolates actually made it to any holiday festivities)!
We had a lot of fun with some moms helping to melt chocolate, some dipping, one running the treats between the kitchen and dining rooms, and a couple supervising the kiddos.
Check out this spread!
Later, I had my kids get some gifts ready for family. They did some painting,
I have loved hearing news that you and the kids have enjoyed one or a few of our ideas! This has been a fun month in our house and hope it was for you too. We are so excited to enjoy this holiday together with lots of snuggles, laughs, play, and love!
and
I finally got the Christmas card finished…just a little late this year. There may just be a New years card this year…
Wishing you and your family a very Merry Christmas and Wonderful New Year!
