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:

Graph Paper Letter Spacing Handwriting Trick

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Writing on graph paper to help kids work on visual motor integration skills and legibility through improved line awareness, letter formation, size awareness, spatial awareness, and handwriting neatness.

Today, I have a great occupational therapy trick and it uses writing on graph paper as a tool to support the spatial awareness needs. This graph paper handwriting tool is an easy way to teach kids how to place letters with appropriate letter spacing, letter size, and line awareness when writing. We’ve shared how to use graph paper for therapy including many OT goal areas in the past, but this letter spacing activity is a hit for working on letter formation and spacing. Try using this trick when visual motor integration is a concern or when students have difficulty with legibility in handwriting.

Writing on graph paper to help kids work on visual motor integration skills and legibility through improved line awareness, letter formation, size awareness, spatial awareness, and handwriting neatness.

Writing on Graph Paper for Legibility

This activity is just one of the many spatial awareness and letter size resources we have here on the website. There’s a reason why we cover so many specific tools when it comes to handwriting legibility: spacing between letters is a visual perception task that impacts overall neatness and readability of written work. 

When students who struggle with the underlying components of handwriting use regular writing paper or notebook paper, you can end up with written material with a variety of issues:

  • Inconsistent letter size
  • Mixed letter case
  • Inconsistent and sloppy line use
  • Words and letters that run together

Taking that a bit further, common handwriting concerns involve overshooting lines, poor placement of letters, and varying size of letter creation.  Using graph paper is just part of a simple trick to help with each of these areas.

All of this impacts written work.

That’s where writing on graph paper comes into play. As occupational therapy professionals, we use graph paper as an adaptive paper format for promoting spatial use, line use, consistent letter size, and even slowing down the written work. 

Writing on graph paper is a great alternative to typical lined paper designs. In the classroom, you see many different styles of lined paper: double rule, single rule, college rule, and then letter formation worksheets with varying line size and visual prompts. When we use grid paper in handwriting, we have a consistent box for each letter and even spacing between the letters. 

This post contains affiliate links.

If you missed yesterday’s blog post, you’ll want to read over another idea that encourages development and strengthening of several skills: using transfer paper to help with letter formation, letter size, line awareness, and pencil pressure. 

Writing on graph paper to work on letter formation and copying skills

Writing on graph paper to help with handwriting:

Use graph paper that is appropriately sized to your child’s handwriting size needs.  

There are various sizes  available: (affiliate links included)

Each category of paper can be used with different ages or stages of writing development. And, those different types of paper variations can be used for different students. Use the larger grid paper for kindergarten or 1st grade. 

Use the middle grid paper with 2nd grade or 3rd grade.

Use the smaller gid paper with older grades and even through middle school and high school.

There are even graph paper PDFs out there. Check out our post on free adapted paper for some ways to print different options. These various templates are nice because you can try different options to find out what type of paper works best for the needs you are targeting. 

The nice thing about handwriting on graph paper is that a pack of graph paper is often used in math and can readily be found in classroom, plus it’s not a type of paper that will stand out among peers, so this makes it more likely to be used and carryover of handwriting skills to be achieved. 

 Tips for Improving writing with graph paper

Let’s take this handwriting tool a bit further and cover interventions that use graph paper as a writing strategy. The ideas listed below are some ways to improve writing skills, and you can pick and choose the activity ideas that work for the specific individual, based on needs. 

1. Using the appropriately sized grids, use a highlighter to create pyramid style boxes for practicing word copying.  For each word, create a pyramid of highlighted boxes that stack the letters so the child practices the word with increasing motor plan effort.

For example, when practicing the word “play”, the child would practice “p”, then “pl”, then “pla”, and finally “play”.  

Practicing a word in this manner allows the child to shift their vision down to the next line with a visual cue to correct any mistakes that they made in letter formation.  It is important to monitor kids’ work as they begin this activity to make sure they are forming letters correctly and not building on inaccuracies in letter formation or organizational components (size and space of letters). 

 
2. Work on letter size. Use the grid lines as layouts to define a specific writing space for letters. You can target formation of tall letters by using two grids, or target tail letters by drawing a pen line around two grids (one above the baseline and one below the baseline.

Some students might need a more concrete version of the grid spaces. Cut out two boxes or one box and use that along a baseline on a blank piece of printer paper to practice writing different sizes of letters.

You can also target letter size by using a highlighter marker to identify the writing space on graph paper.

of the paper to The grid of the graph paper is a huge tool in allowing the child to form letters with constrictions on letter size, spacing, and line awareness.  

3. Finally, when the child writes a whole word, place a piece of paper under the last highlighted grid.  The paper should have normal lines without graph paper type of grids.  By placing the paper under the grids, the child can copy the style of writing that they used when writing the whole word.  Transferring the spacing, size, and line use to regular paper uses the visual cue of the graph paper with improved accuracy.

It is important to monitor kids’ use of the graph paper and writing each letter of the word in repetition.  Sometimes, kids will attempt to complete an activity like this one quite quickly in order to “get it over with”. In those cases, letter size, letter spacing, and line awareness can suffer.  Try to limit the number of words that are practiced with this method.

More ways to explore writing on graph paper

Other ways to use graph paper to practice handwriting accuracy:

The Handwriting Book is a comprehensive resource created by experienced pediatric OTs and PTs.

The Handwriting Book covers everything you need to know about handwriting, guided by development and focused on function. This digital resource is is the ultimate resource for tips, strategies, suggestions, and information to support handwriting development in kids.

The Handwriting Book breaks down the functional skill of handwriting into developmental areas. These include developmental progression of pre-writing strokes, fine motor skills, gross motor development, sensory considerations, and visual perceptual skills. Each section includes strategies and tips to improve these underlying areas.

  • Strategies to address letter and number formation and reversals
  • Ideas for combining handwriting and play
  • Activities to practice handwriting skills at home
  • Tips and strategies for the reluctant writer
  • Tips to improve pencil grip
  • Tips for sizing, spacing, and alignment with overall improved legibility

Click here to grab your copy of The Handwriting Book 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.

Pencil Craft

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pencil craft

Today, we have a fun pencil craft that is perfect for building skills. Why do I love these cut, color, and paste activities?  They are easy to use, motivating, and track progress in multiple areas at once.  Pencils are an essential tool in the life-long functional skill of handwriting. Today’s free download pencil craft is not just fun, it is a fun addition to a handwriting theme that fits in with the tools of the occupational therapy trade! 

This particular pencil craft template is a free resource, and one that includes a data collection section to make building on skill areas simple for occupational therapy interventions.

pencil craft

Pencil Craft

The pencil is a standard icon.  According to The History of Pencils, a single pencil has the potential to draw a line 35 miles long (!), write an average of 45,000 words, be sharpened 17 times, (have you ever thought about how many times you sharpen a pencil?!)…A pencil can delete its own errors and can beat out an infinite number of drum solos.   

One of the main tools in an occupational therapy provider’s toolkit is a pencil, be it the standard size, golf-sized pencils, colored pencils, grease pencils, or other types designed to target specific skills. Then, there are the pencil add-ons like different types of pencil grips, a variety of pencil topper fidgets, erasers, for example.

It is recognized and used world wide.  This pencil craft worksheet can be used as a stand alone activity, or part of a larger treatment plan. 

Use this pencil craft to target skills:

This color and cut pencil craft is adaptable to the needs of a variety of students, but using the color, cut, and build portion of pencil crafts like this one is more than just crafting fun.

Six reasons I use color, cut, and glue activities like this pencil craft:

  1. Children have the attention span of about two minutes, thus the activity has to be fast
  2. I need to gather as much data in the shortest amount of time that I can, due to point #1
  3. There are several teachable moments using activities like the pencil craft, but it has to be quick, again due to point #1
  4. Learners of all ages do not respond well to tasks that seem like work. Even the mention of work, sends a wail of protests. Crafts seem less like work than writing worksheets
  5. Learners respond better to activities that mean something.  Rote math problems, writing sentences, or coloring endless shapes are often meaningless.  A task that involves putting together parts to build something holds more meaning than your standard worksheets.
  6. Documentation standards.  There is such a push to gather data, record percentages, levels, progress, and skill acquisition, selecting the right task can be challenging.  This pencil craft includes documentation prompts, as well as a way to track data over time.

Not to mention- Occupational therapy’s history is founded in crafting! When we use functional, fun, and modern craft ideas in building skills, we are reflecting on the history of our profession!

What skills are addressed when completing the pencil craft?

  • Hand strength and dexterity – staying inside the lines while coloring builds hand muscles and develops muscle control. Cutting develops hand strength also.
  • Visual motor skills – (combining what is seen visually and what is written motorically).  It takes coordination to be able to translate information from visual input to motor output. Coloring, drawing, counting, cutting, and tracing are some visual motor skills.
  • Scissor skills – cutting on the line, within half inch of lines, or in the direction of lines can be ways to measure accuracy.  Also measure if you help the learner don scissors and if you add adaptations.
  • Pasting –  using glue stick or white glue.  White glue adds a hand strength and sensory component.
  • Visual Perception – Developing figure ground to see where one item starts and finishes, scanning to find all pieces, and visual closure to understand that the parts will create something. Figure ground, parts to whole, and visual closure are important to academic development
  • Sequencing – will your learner assemble the parts in order, or go in a haphazard pattern all over the page?   
  • Motor Planning– a cut and paste craft like this pencil activity supports development of motor skills in a functional crafting task.
  • Proprioception – adjusting the pressure on paper, grip on pencil
  • Bilateral coordination – remembering to use their “helper hand” to hold the paper while writing is important for development.  Using one hand as a dominant hand instead of switching back and forth is encouraged once a child is in grade school, or demonstrates a significant strength in one or the other
  • Strength – core strength, shoulder and wrist stability, head control, balance, and hand strength are all needed for upright sitting posture and writing tasks
  • Executive function, following directions, attention, attention to detail, focus, sequencing, planning, problem solving, task completion, neatness, impulse control, compliance, behavior, and work tolerance are all important skills to learn

Use a pencil craft in an OT lesson plan

How to incorporate this into a lesson plan

Any activity, including this pencil craft, can be used in isolation or as part of a larger lesson. These can be used in occupational therapy weekly lesson plans. The lessons may vary depending on the goals or subject matter. 

A few ideas that can be added to a pencil theme in therapy sessions:

  • Back to school – use tools from the OT Toolbox to build a back to school lesson plan
  • Pencil Control Exercises– Use these challenges to support motor planning and fine motor skills with different types of writing utensils.
  • Pencil grasp play ideas– Pick up a pencil and use these play ideas to support motor skills with a pencil!
  • Use this pencil I Spy slide deck to work on visual perception with a pencil theme.
  • Make a DIY pencil topper. This is a great activity that supports fine motor, visual motor, executive functioning skills, and more. Plus, users are motivated to use a pencil tool that supports their needs, especially when they’ve made the writing support themselves, supporting carryover of handwriting OT goals!
  • Have a fun pencil grip challenge- Explore different types of pencil grips. Try them each out, rank them on which one feels the best and “writes the best”! Kids love to rank toys or items and this one has so many hidden benefits! You can even create a school-wide or therapy-wide challenge. Make a bulletin board with the favorite pencil grip and see which one wins!
  • Or, have a pencil grasp challenge! Join in a 5 day series of motor challenge to develop the underlying components that are needed for a functional pencil grasp. This is a great series for therapy sessions, a classroom, or at home. Each challenge day includes information on what’s going on with pencil grasps, an exercise, and a handout with challenge activities.
  • Scissor Skills – The OT Toolbox has a 12 month Scissor Skills Home Program available for purchase or Members.  Or check out the Scissor Skills Book, if you need to brush up on your scissor teaching skills.
  • History of Pencils – Check out this blog on the history of pencils.
  • Have a 3 pencil challenge- You’ve heard of the 3 marker challenge, right? While we took it a step further and made it into a 3 crayon challenge, another expansion could be a 3 pencil challenge! Select 3 colored pencils from a bin or box of colored pencils. Then, use just those three pencils to color in a coloring page.
  • Use colored pencils (or regular pencils) to work on letter formation. Pencils are a great tool to work on pencil pressure when writing with a trick called “ghost writing“. Check it out in our YouTube video:

Lessons from a Pencil

I love adding this growth mindset aspect to a pencil theme. Specifically, targeting growth mindset mistakes is powerful with the concept of erasing mistakes and re-writing errors! Use these concepts while moving through the pencil craft activity!

A pencil can teach us…

  1. A pencil needs a hand to move- You will be able to do great things, but only if you allow yourself to be held in someone’s hand. You can leave a mark on the world if you’re willing to be held in someone’s hand and let them lead you down the right path.
  2. Pencils can be re-shaped- You might experience a painful sharpening from time to time, but you need it to become a better pencil. You can do great things by allowing yourself to be held in someone’s hand, but only if you’re willing to be sharpened. You might experience painful moments of being over-sharpened and placed aside, but they will make you stronger.
  3. Any mistakes you make can be corrected- Even though you may experience pain, it’s all worth it because it will make you better. Any mistakes you make can be corrected, just like sharpening a pencil. Every mistake is an opportunity to improve your next performance.
  4. The most important part of you is what’s on the inside- Just like the graphite on the inside of the pencil is the part that does the “work” that we see, what’s inside of us is what matters most! The most important part of you is what’s on the inside rather than what everyone else sees when they look at you. On every surface, leave your mark because that is who you are as an individual and no matter what condition you are in or what situations arise, continue to write!
  5. On every surface, you must leave your mark. So let that shine through onto every surface that crosses your path and leave an impression. No matter what the condition, continue to write!

Final Pencil Craft Points…

Just like the end of a pencil is a point, here are a few final notes on our pencil craft…

Through writing this post on the pencil craft, I learned that anything and everything can be found on the internet!  This is marvelous and scary at the same time. 30 years ago I am quite certain I would not have easily found lesson plans on using a pencil as a theme, by walking into the library.  I am forever bemoaning the use of too much technology.  It is a double edged sword, but if you use a search as your guide, then print the resources to use real pencils, scissors, and glue, it can be a valuable resource.  Remind yourself, and those around you, of the benefit of real tools instead of iPads and computer generated programs. 

Pencil Craft Template

So, want to grab this printable pencil craft template to start building skills or use in a pencil theme? Enter your email address into the form below to access this resource. This printable is available inside our Membership Club under our Crafts section.

Not a member? Join today…or access the freebie by entering your email below.

FREE Pencil Craft

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    Victoria Wood, OTR/L is a contributor to The OT Toolbox and has been providing Occupational Therapy treatment in pediatrics for more than 25 years. She has practiced in hospital settings (inpatient, outpatient, NICU, PICU), school systems, and outpatient clinics in several states. She has treated hundreds of children with various sensory processing dysfunction in the areas of behavior, gross/fine motor skills, social skills and self-care. Ms. Wood has also been a featured speaker at seminars, webinars, and school staff development training. She is the author of Seeing your Home and Community with Sensory Eyes.

    Fine Motor Mitten Race

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    Mitten race

    Today, we have another fun Winter Fine Motor activity: a Mitten Fine Motor Race! This mitten race is a great way to play and build skills in several areas: motor planning, eye-hand coordination, crossing midline, and pencil control. Use this along with other winter activities for a whole lesson plan that develops functional performance. You can add this activity to our mitten activities for lesson planning in occupational therapy, learning, and other therapies.

    Mitten Race

    Last year I learned an interesting lesson about winter themed lesson plans.  While summer seems to be universal, winter is regional, not everyone’s experiences are the same. I grew up in the northern United States but have been living in the south for many years.  Imagine my surprise when my learners struggled to come up with ten things to do in the snow!  Snow, mittens, snowmen, icicles, skating, and skiing are rare (or artificial) down here.

    Today’s free printable, a Fine Motor Mitten Race will have different meanings depending on the region where you are teaching. 

    Looking for a consistent way to support fine motor skills all year?
    This yearlong fine motor system includes seasonal activity kits and monthly data collection tools to support planning and progress monitoring.

    If fine motor planning and data collection feel overwhelming, you’re not alone.
    This done-for-you yearlong bundle organizes seasonal activities and monthly screening tools in one system.

    Get the Yearlong Fine Motor and Data Collection Bundle today!

    A LESSON ABOUT WINTER THEMED ACTIVITIES

    • Learners who do not grow up in cold climates have little idea about “real” winter
    • If you have never experienced freezing winters, with snow up to your neck, it is hard to imagine what this feels like
    • Activities that have meaning and relevance will be more motivating and make sense to young learners.  Activities in your winter toolbox, like this downloadable fine motor mitten race, can lead to some great discussion and interesting treatment sessions
    • Use new experiences as a learning opportunity. Spend time teaching about winter through multi-sensory experiences. Read books, watch real life videos, share personal experiences, do research together, and find ways to create as much realism as possible
    • Make shaved ice and play in the cold wet texture. Here are some great snow and ice activities
    • Play dress up, bundling up in layers of warm clothes
    • Read The Mitten, by Jan Brett.  Check out this Mitten Themed Lesson Plan from the folks over at The Clutter Free Classroom
    • Once you have created meaning to winter, add activities like this free Fine Motor Mitten Race to your treatment plan

    HOW TO IMPLEMENT THE FINE MOTOR MITTEN RACE

    Once your theme has been created, use time wisely by implementing activities that meet the needs of each level of learners. Activities like this free Fine Motor Mitten Race, that can be downloaded with just the addition of your email address below, are adaptable.

    • Mid to high level learners: use a broken crayon (which is best for developing a great tripod grasp) to color the mitten on the left.  Place the crayon in the palm of your hand while tracing across the path to the mitten on the right. Color the mitten on the right.  Time how long each path takes to do correctly.  See if learners can beat their time while still producing quality work
    • High level learners: use the broken crayon piece to color inside the paths while staying inside the lines.  Instruct higher level learners to cut along the paths
    • Lower level or beginning learners can use dot markers to follow the path, zoom a small car or pompom along the road, or follow with their finger without coloring at all
    • Laminate the pages for a reusable activity.  Use wipe off markers, cars, playdough, a pointer, or their finger to trace along the paths
    • Project the images onto a smart board for whole arm and body movement
    • Make paths bigger or smaller to challenge the needs of your learners
    • Use glitter glue to squeeze along the paths, encouraging fine motor strengthening at the same time
    • Watch for signs of visual perceptual difficulties – scanning right to left, difficulty following the pattern, not working in top-down order, or frustration. Work through visual perceptual skill deficits before adding coloring through the paths, as this adds a fine motor component to the already challenging activity
    • Lessons might not go as planned. When I trialed this task today, my younger learners scribbled all over the page and cut it into tiny pieces, rather than following along the paths.  I did not get frustrated, because this group of learners spent quality time sitting, attending to the activity, and working on pre-writing skills
    • Level two members have access to all of the winter resources, including the great Winter Fine Motor Kit, all in one place

    WHEN YOU THINK OF MITTENS, WHAT COMES TO MIND?

    While cold winters with freezing temperatures might conjure up unpleasant sensory memories, they have created meaning to your life. My memories of mittens include a favorite handmade pair of wool winter mittens my mother brought back from a trip to Europe.  For some reason, this special pair of mittens has survived several moves, and many winters (although they do not get much action here in South Carolina).

    I also remember that feeling of cold wet slushy mittens after sledding or building a snow fort.  We were unbothered by the feeling of soggy mittens that froze into stiff fabric if we stayed out long enough.  Our mudroom was full of pairs of wet mittens drying by the radiator.   

    Thinking back to my New England childhood winters, I recall the many ways we tried to keep track of those mittens.  Clips that hooked onto our coats, a string connecting both mittens, long mittens that tucked way into the layers of clothing, or resorting to mismatched mittens. 

    Negative or frustrating experiences shape our memories.  Memories tend to be stronger by experiences that are difficult, upsetting, or unpleasant.   While these winter memories seem awful now, the fun of playing outside in the snow was worth it!

    What memories are your young learners building?

    NOTE*The term, “learner” is used throughout this post for readability and inclusion. This information is relevant for students, patients, children and/or adults of all ages and stages or whomever could benefit from these resources. The term “they” is used instead of he/she to be inclusive.

    Here’s your free fine motor mitten race printable:

    Enter your email address into the form. We’ll send it directly to your inbox. This way you can print it from any device.

    This item is also found inside the Membership Club.

    Victoria Wood, OTR/L is a contributor to The OT Toolbox and has been providing Occupational Therapy treatment in pediatrics for more than 25 years. She has practiced in hospital settings (inpatient, outpatient, NICU, PICU), school systems, and outpatient clinics in several states. She has treated hundreds of children with various sensory processing dysfunction in the areas of behavior, gross/fine motor skills, social skills and self-care. Ms. Wood has also been a featured speaker at seminars, webinars, and school staff development training. She is the author of Seeing your Home and Community with Sensory Eyes.

    Penguin I Spy PDF

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    Penguin I Spy PDF

    Today, you’ll find a free printable Penguin I Spy PDF worksheet that you can print off and use for targeting several areas of development. We love using I Spy activities with real toys or with printable worksheets because of the many ways to address visual discrimination, eye-hand coordination, visual figure ground, visual attention, coloring, number formation, and so many other areas. Let’s break this down with a penguin themed I Spy worksheet.

    You’ll also love these penguin activities that can be combined with this I spy PDF.

    Penguin I spy PDF

    Penguin I Spy PDF

    What I love about this kind of pdf printable is its versatility.  The session could be a social emotional exercise on identifying emotions, a visual perceptual task matching the faces, a visual motor task coloring/cutting/pasting the penguins, a game of BINGO or a combination of all of these.

    A side note about using printable resources like this Penguin I Spy in therapy sessions…

    Today during therapy sessions, we were talking about winter and snow.  I came to a couple of conclusions.  Children who are from South Carolina can NOT name ten things to do in the snow.  They also do not understand ice skating, snow shoes, sledding, ice fishing, or the difference between skiing and snowboarding.  One of my students exclaimed that he would like to move to Antarctica, but only where the penguins are.  He said, “unlike penguins; polar bears, seals, and other arctic animals like to eat people.”  

    Almost all of the posts I write talk about how to grade and modify activities.  On the fly, I had to grade and modify this task for every student today.  An independent writing activity became long discussions, google searches to discuss snow shoes and ice fishing, copying from a model (they can’t spell skiing if they do not know what it is), along with a little bit of letter formation/sizing/line placement.  As an OT, this is what we do.  Adapt and modify.

    Because my student showed an interest in penguins, I decided to use this as a platform for an upcoming treatment session.  Check out some of the other posts by typing “penguins” into the search bar on the OT Toolbox.  An entire week-long lesson plan can be made out of one simple idea.

    To kick off my penguin theme I will be using this Penguin I Spy Emotions free printable.  I will throw in some talk of emotions and maybe a little humor.  What would it feel like to be chased by a polar bear?  How would you feel if you had a penguin for a pet? This is one way to incorporate self-regulation and emotional coping tools in the discussion.

    Because students are fluid learners and unpredictable, the task may need to be modified for each student or adapted on the spot. 

    How to use a Penguin I Spy PDF

    You can use this penguin I spy PDF in several different ways. Print off the I spy PDF and modify the worksheet for each student depending on the needs of the individual learner.

    How can this task be modified?

    • Add elements to make it more difficult such as cutting on the lines or writing the name of the emotions under each penguin
    • Make it easier by having all the pieces pre cut
    • Laminate the page and add velcro dots to make this reusable (using velcro dots is a great way to build finger strength).  This also takes out the visual motor task of cutting and coloring, making the focus more concentrated on visual perception
    • Talk about each of the emotions and have learners name something that would elicit that emotion
    • Change the weight of the paper for easier/harder cutting
    • Make it a social activity by creating a game such as BINGO, Memory Match, or Hide and Seek.
    • Add a gross motor element by scattering the pieces all over the room
    • Add a sensory element by putting the pieces in a snow themed bin
    • Project this onto a smart board to make it interactive

    The penguin I spy PDF at the bottom of this page can be combined with our Penguin Therapy Kit, as well as the other penguin resources here on the site.

    Gross Motor – Use these yoga positions to incorporate gross motor skills. Click here for the penguin yoga activities.

    Executive Functioning Activity – Try making these penguin snacks for a family treat.

    Self-Regulation Activity– This penguin deep breathing activity can be a coping tool or a sensory strategy to help with self-regulation skills.

    Emotions Game- This free penguin emotions therapy slide deck challenges kids to identify emotions based on facial expressions.

    If you prefer all of your treatment ideas in one bundle, the OT Toolbox has a Penguin Therapy Kit deal going on right now for the Penguin Therapy Kit!

    Every day I look for humor in my job.  Let’s face it, kids are funny!  While not so funny that these kids had so little knowledge about winter snow, it WAS funny that one student stated “in the snow you stay inside and drink hot cocoa.” Another student somehow knew nothing about snow, but told me how you have to lay on the ice if it is cracking.  Lastly there was the little girl who worked so diligently on this task, then out of nowhere stated she wants a hamster for her birthday, and could we look that up on Google too (for the record, we did).

    Flexibility is synonymous with Occupational Therapist.  The more flexible you are able to be, the more fun you are able to have doing this amazing job.  Flexibility is looking up hamsters, suddenly describing what snowshoes are for, or somehow making your failing activity a success!

    I’m thinking that the boy who said snow is for indoors and hot cocoa is onto something.

    Free Penguin I Spy PDF

    Interested in adding the Penguin I Spy to your therapy toolbox? Enter your email address into the form below. Or, if you are a Member’s Club member, log into your account and access this resource in our Penguin Therapy Theme.

    FREE Penguin I SPY Printable

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      Victoria Wood, OTR/L is a contributor to The OT Toolbox and has been providing Occupational Therapy treatment in pediatrics for more than 25 years. She has practiced in hospital settings (inpatient, outpatient, NICU, PICU), school systems, and outpatient clinics in several states. She has treated hundreds of children with various sensory processing dysfunction in the areas of behavior, gross/fine motor skills, social skills and self-care. Ms. Wood has also been a featured speaker at seminars, webinars, and school staff development training. She is the author of Seeing your Home and Community with Sensory Eyes.

      Count and Color Worksheet

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      Count and color worksheet

      If you are looking for a free count and color worksheet, you are in luck. Today, we have a counting and coloring printable that supports development in kids of all ages, with functional tasks. Not only are we covering number recognition, math skills, and fine motor work, but also motor planning, visual scanning, visual discrimination, and more! You’ll want to add this count and color worksheet to your therapy lineup! 

      Count and color worksheet

      Looking for a consistent way to support fine motor skills all year?
      This yearlong fine motor system includes seasonal activity kits and monthly data collection tools to support planning and progress monitoring.

      If fine motor planning and data collection feel overwhelming, you’re not alone.
      This done-for-you yearlong bundle organizes seasonal activities and monthly screening tools in one system.

      Get the Yearlong Fine Motor and Data Collection Bundle today!

      Free Count and Color Worksheet

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        Count and Color Worksheets

        Printables like the one below are great for preschool, kindergarten and every grade, depending on the needs of the student. We love coming up with fun worksheets that support a variety of skills and abilities using the same worksheet, so you can print out one set and then use it with your whole caseload in therapy sessions.

        This is just one more of our free resources that support skills. (Like teaching coloring skills). Check out all of the free printables on the site for different worksheets, printable activities, and tools for a variety of skills.

        Count, color, and play!

        Elementary educators will love this count and color activity, too.

        Make this printable just part of your winter plan.  While not effortless, having a plan makes the long winter months a little more enjoyable.  The OT Toolbox has several winter worksheets debuting this month to add to your treatment plan.  Add this to the fun activities and crafts offered, and a well rounded plan can be developed.

        Why use a count and color worksheet?

        What skills does this winter count and graph worksheet address?

        As always, an excellent activity is one that is effective, efficient, meaningful, relevant, and measurable. This winter counting printable works on multiple skills in one activity all by counting the number of pictures, coloring in the similar shapes and forms, and writing in the correct number of items. 

        Some fun ways to use this printable tool to count and color:

        • Coloring inside the lines with full coverage (crayon control and fine motor skills)
        • Cutting on the line, within half inch of lines, in the direction of lines – teach your learner to bubble cut or cut large circles around each object before cutting them into their finer finished product (scissor skills)
        • Pasting using glue stick or drippy glue with accuracy (tactile defensiveness)
        • Counting one to one correspondence
        • Visual scanning, visual discrimination, visual figure-ground, visual memory, and other skills
        • Categorizing by clothing type
        • Sorting (like this color sorting activity)
        • Fine motor strengthening, hand development, and grasping pattern
        • Core strength to sit at a table, with shoulder stability and wrist support
        • Following directions, attention to detail, turn taking, waiting, social skills, compliance, behavior, and work tolerance
        • Visual perceptual skills to determine visually which shape the learner is looking for.  Figure ground to be able to pick out these items from their background. Visual scanning to look at all of the shapes, visual attention to follow where the shapes are going to go.
        • Bilateral coordination holding the paper with one hand while coloring, stabilizing and turning the paper for cutting skills

        Various ways to use a count and color worksheet

        How do I modify these count and color tasks for varied learners?  

        Most likely your caseload or class has young learners with varied levels of skills and abilities.  Modifying this task for multiple users is a more efficient way to plan your treatment.  Using a handful of tasks for the whole week is much more productive than 40 different activities.

        • Color and laminate the page ahead of time, and precut all the shapes to eliminate cutting and coloring
        • Add velcro dots to make this reusable, and work on task completion as well as fine motor control
        • Place small objects such as beads, balls of play dough, coins, or other small objects onto each item that is the same on the worksheet. Then, count the number of each item and color in the bar graph at the bottom of the page to determine how many of each item were found. 
        • Work on number formation by writing numbers in each space on the bar graph. Start at the bottom by writing 1. Then on the next level, write 2 if there are two of that item found. Continue writing a number for each level of the bar graph to match the number of items found.
        • Cut the shapes for the learner ahead of time, to eliminate cutting
        • Print onto different colored or weighted paper for different visibility. Thicker paper adds to the stability when cutting, or it could improve hand strength cutting through thicker cardstock
        • Provide different manipulatives for sorting and categorizing
        • Limit the amount of supplies on the table so your learner has to use social skills to ask for what they need, or share with peers
        • For your lowest level learners, perhaps this just becomes a scribble and color page, working on attending to a task
        • Make this into a sorting task instead of graphing for early learners
        • Add sensory, gross motor, or other fine motor tasks, to address more skills such as working on dressing skills, talking about winter, playing a winter game, graphing other fun things about winter.

        Check out this Color Sorting post for more lessons to work on sorting, categorizing and graphing, and other hands-on math activities, without actually counting numbers.

        Another great way to find resources on the OT Toolbox is to head to the SEARCH BOX.  Type in keywords like, sorting, cutting, graphing, fine motor, winter, or counting.  The blog archives span many years full of ideas including free download options, free printable worksheets, printable resources, PDF files, hands-on activities, and multisensory learning tools.

        If you work in the school system, you probably know that the time between Winter and Spring break feels like forever.  Try and make the most of this time with excellent treatment plans, winter activities, interactive play, and lots of hot cocoa.

        Free Count and Color Worksheet

        Want to add a free count and color worksheet to your therapy toolbox? Enter a valid email address into the form below. Or, if you are member of The OT Toolbox Member’s Club, log into your account and grab this coloring and counting resource from our subscription. You can add it to all of your favorite worksheets and printable materials inside the Member’s Club.

        Free Count and Color Worksheet

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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.

          Tall and Short Worksheet

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          tall and short worksheet

          Today, I have a great tall and short worksheet…or maybe you would call it a sorting by size worksheet. This activity is a cut and paste worksheet that users can color, cut, and sort by size to address a variety of skills all while incorporating spatial concepts of tall and short. We’ll cover those areas below as a tool to work on size awareness, sequencing, cognitive skills, and fine motor skills. Add this size sorting resource to your list of winter fine motor activities!

          Tall short worksheet

          Looking for a consistent way to support fine motor skills all year?
          This yearlong fine motor system includes seasonal activity kits and monthly data collection tools to support planning and progress monitoring.

          If fine motor planning and data collection feel overwhelming, you’re not alone.
          This done-for-you yearlong bundle organizes seasonal activities and monthly screening tools in one system.

          Get the Yearlong Fine Motor and Data Collection Bundle today!

          Free Tall Short Worksheet

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            Tall and Short Worksheets

            This winter cut and paste worksheet is a fun one that we’ve had in the OT Toolbox Member’s Club resource library since last year. For children, dissecting the differences between tall and short worksheet can support spatial awareness skills.

            Spatial awareness, or awareness of the spatial area that objects or the individual takes up in space, as well as awareness of size and positioning, support so many aspects of functional performance.

            Why use a tall and short worksheet?

            Not only does this impact body awareness, the concept of sizing activities such as this tall and short worksheet can help young learners in several ways:

            • Understanding body awareness as they relate to size of objects
            • Organizing and sorting information
            • Taking in information about the world around them and using that information in functional tasks
            • Relating tall and short concepts to functional tasks such as handwriting
            • Understanding differences between tall letters, small letters, and tail letters in handwriting. Read this resource on letter size for more information.

            How does body awareness work?

            Body awareness refers to being aware of the body’s position in space at rest and during movement. This concept can be broken down into several concepts:

            • Having an awareness of body parts by name
            • Movement and how the body moves through space and around objects
            • discrimination of sides of the body
            • Use of objects in the world around us

            Self-awareness is a similar skill taking those same concepts into consideration, but adds on the emotional and cognitive aspects. This awareness allows for emotional regulation and behavioral that make up self-regulation. For some, these components of self-awareness are extremely difficult. When awareness of one’s preferences, tendencies, emotions, reactions, one can begin to understand their nee

            Related, are the concepts of dominance and mixed dominance vs. ambidexterity.

            There are many ways to use this tool to support skills. Let’s cover those below.

            Hopefully you all made it unscathed through the holidays with some fun memories attached.  We place such high expectations of ourselves and others during the holidays.  I hope you spent time on self care, prioritizing what needed to be done versus what was just an extra chore. 

            It is time to get back into the swing of things for the new year.  One way to jump back into functional goal practice is through creative and play-based activities centered around a fun theme like winter activities.

            Just as during the rest of the year, lesson and treatment planning will be key to easing the load, goal accomplishment, and efficiency.  The OT Toolbox, as anticipated, has great resources both free if you need one or two ideas, and for purchase if you are looking for a more comprehensive lesson plan.

            This latest free printable does not disappoint. It’s a tall and short worksheet, where users can color, cut, and then sequence the sizes into an order that makes sense according to size.

            This Winter Cut and Paste Tallest to Shortest worksheet will be a great activity to add to your winter theme and winter crafts. 

            This winter cut and paste worksheet is a nice printable if you are working on sorting by size, measurement, math concepts, classifying, cutting or gluing, to name a few.

            Tall and short worksheet and tall vs short activities

            How to use a Tall and Short worksheet

            If you follow my posts on the OT Toolbox, you already know how flexible these worksheets are.  If you are new, let me tell you how flexible they are! The thing is that occupational therapy practitioners like to use a single activity in many different ways to serve many clients on a caseload.

            This Tall Short worksheet is so much more than a cut and paste task.

            Print off the tall vs short worksheet (below) and then use it along with the activities listed below based on the needs of the users.

            Use the tall-short worksheet to address just some of these important skills:

            • Coloring inside the lines with full coverage
            • Discuss tall vs. short
            • Cutting on the line, within half inch of lines, in the direction of lines
            • Pasting using glue stick or drippy glue with accuracy
            • Ask questions about whether the objects are tall or short and then sort the objects in sequential order of height
            • Measuring by size can be done by eye, with a ruler, or other manipulatives
            • Categorizing tallest to shortest
            • Categorizing shortest to tallest
            • Sorting other objects from tall to short or short to tall
            • Sort crayons, toys, blocks, etc. into tall, taller, tallest
            • Sort crayons, toys, blocks, etc. into short, shorter, shortest
            • Incorporate into measuring activities
            • Place one small object on the shorted object. Then add one more object to each item as they get tall, taller, and tallest. Some ideas include: coins, play dough balls, beads, cotton balls, etc.
            • Fine motor strengthening, hand development, and grasping pattern
            • Core strength to sit at a table, with shoulder stability and wrist support
            • Following directions, attention to detail, turn taking, waiting, social skills, compliance, behavior, and work tolerance
            • Visual perceptual skills to determine visually which shape looks bigger than the others. Figure ground to be able to pick out these items from their background. Visual scanning to look at all of the shapes, visual attention to follow where the shapes are going to fit
            • Bilateral coordination holding the paper with one hand while coloring, stabilizing and turning the paper for cutting skills

            As part of your treatment plan, you could decide to focus on all of these objectives or just one or two. 

            There are times I might just want to focus on cutting skills, so I would add more help in the measurement section.  If I am looking at social skills and following directions, my focus might not be on the quality of coloring at all, or minimally.  If I need a math spin on it, perhaps I am not concerned about cutting, but measurement, size referencing, or classifying.

            Modify a Tall Short Worksheet

            How do I modify these tasks for varied learners?  This is the key to an efficient work week. Using a handful of tasks for the whole week is much more productive than 40 different activities.

            • Laminate the page and precut all the shapes to eliminate cutting and coloring
            • Cut the shapes for the learner ahead of time, to eliminate cutting
            • Print onto different colored or weighted paper for different visibility. Thicker paper adds to the stability when cutting, or it could improve hand strength cutting through thicker cardstock
            • Provide different manipulatives for measuring and talking about the sizing of these thermometers
            • Limit the amount of supplies on the table so your learner has to use social skills to ask for what they need, or share with peers
            • For your lowest level learners, perhaps this just becomes a scribble and color page, working on attending to a task
            • Add this sheet to other PDFs found on the OT Toolbox for a well rounded lesson plan such as the Food Alphabet Cut and Color book found here:
            • Add sensory, gross motor, or other fine motor tasks, to address more skills.

            How can I expand this task?

            • Measure the temperature of water, versus ice or snow
            • Talk about the winter weather in other parts of the world
            • Use rulers, cubes, fingers, or other objects to measure the thermometers
            • Read a book about winter temperatures or snowmen.
            • Talk about personal experiences with cold temperatures or snow
            • Add a sensory bin with real or fake snow, hiding items in the snow or creating something out of the snow
            • Throw real or created snowballs to build arm strength
            • Search OT Toolbox for plenty of winter activities for learners of all different levels

            Free Tall Short Worksheet

            If you love using printable tools to support skill development, why not consider becoming a member of The OT Toolbox Member’s Club?  This is a new feature at the OT Toolbox offering members even more access to great tools and resources.

            Or, access the printable tall short worksheet using the form below. Enter your email address into the form below and the tall short activity will be delivered to your email inbox.

            Free Tall Short Worksheet

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              Victoria Wood, OTR/L is a contributor to The OT Toolbox and has been providing Occupational Therapy treatment in pediatrics for more than 25 years. She has practiced in hospital settings (inpatient, outpatient, NICU, PICU), school systems, and outpatient clinics in several states. She has treated hundreds of children with various sensory processing dysfunction in the areas of behavior, gross/fine motor skills, social skills and self-care. Ms. Wood has also been a featured speaker at seminars, webinars, and school staff development training. She is the author of Seeing your Home and Community with Sensory Eyes.

              Digital Content Creation Program: Sell Your Digital Products on The OT Toolbox

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              Digital content creation program on The OT Toolbox

              If you have ever thought about using your knowledge and experience in digital content creation, then you are in the right place. While most of the blog posts on this site relate to all things pediatric occupational therapy, this one is a bit different. It’s likely that at one point or another, you’ve accessed one of our printable resources, or purchased a digital product. Did you ever wonder if YOU could create a digital resource for others? Did you know that The OT Toolbox has a team of digital content vendors in our shop marketplace? Those creators started out just like you: wondering how to sell resources online! That’s what we’re talking about in this blog post! Read on for information on how to create a passive income using what you know, experience, and are passionate about!

              We go deep into how to sell what you know on our Digital Product Professionals page.

              Do you LOVE being creative? Do you make resources for the clients on your caseload and know that there are others out there that would benefit as well? Want to make money online but don’t want to deal with customer service, starting a website? Did you know that we love to support other therapy professionals by selling resources on our shop?

              Digital content creation program on The OT Toolbox

              Digital Content Creation

              Do you LOVE being creative? Do you make resources for the clients on your caseload and know that there are others out there that would benefit as well? Want to make money online but don’t want to deal with customer service, starting a website?

              Let’s break down HOW and WHY to sell digital products on The OT Toolbox as a vendor in our marketplace.

              First, you may or may not know about all of the contributing factors that play a role in running a website and selling resources online. Just to quickly cover all the bases, website management includes:

              • Web hosting
              • Building the technical side of a website including plugin management
              • Managing costs of hosting fees, website fees, email list fees, etc.
              • Managing customer service including the email management
              • Content creation
              • Coming up with a content marketing strategy
              • Graphics creation
              • Writing articles
              • Editing and formatting articles
              • Speaking to target audiences (Here on The OT Toolbox, we create content geared toward therapy providers, parents, and educators, as well as other professionals- counselors, administrators, etc.)
              • Publishingblog content
              • Creating and maintaining a digital marketing strategy
              • Brainstorming content ideas
              • Working with a graphic designer
              • Building a following on social media platforms and working on social media engagement on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram, Tiktok, and YouTube
              • Writing blog posts geared toward web traffic- Speaking to the search engines, or meeting search engine optimization (SEO) needs. This includes keyword research.
              • Working among trends such as Tiktok, Facebook reels, or Instagram videos, etc. 
              • Creating infographics for social media posts
              • Using publishing tools such as photoshop or Canva
              • Coming up with a publishing schedule for the website and social media platforms
              • Working on different types of content: articles in Google docs, video, digital products, etc.

              That’s a lot to manage! 

              When it comes to running a website and managing all of the working pieces, there is a lot to juggle. 

              Sell digital products on The OT Toolbox website

              Digital Content Creators on The OT Toolbox

              The mission of The OT Toolbox has always been to provide tools to support the healthy development of kids. We initially started out by supported occupational therapy providers with resources and tools to help their clients thrive. That audience has since moved on to other therapy professionals such as physical therapy, speech therapy, and mental health therapy as well as all of the types of readers. We did this by offering tools, tips, and resources that not only support their clients, but themselves as professionals. 

               Over time, we have started to support other therapy providers in additional ways, including offering our shop as a platform to sell digital content.

              Selling digital products on The OT Toolbox as a digital content creator is a great way to not only make money, but also transfer your skills, knowledge, and experience to other professionals. It’s a literal ripple impact that can change lives!

              There are other good things about creating digital content, too! These could be considered the “pros” to digital content creation.

              • Earning money as an online shop
              • Supplementing other income sources (especially true for new digital creators) This is great for the school based therapy provider seeking income over the summer months, or while on school breaks.
              • Passive income. Much about digital content creation as a vendor meaning creators who host products on The OT Toolbox earn money passively.
              • Using your creative resources to support other professionals all over the world to help others thrive

              Plus, when you list your digital products on The OT Toolbox shop, we take care of all the details:

              1. Hosting and listing the digital product- You don’t need to build a website and deal with the tech side of things or pay all of the hosting and plugin fees. We also list the product on our shop. You don’t need to worry about copywriters or target keywords on the product listing. We take care of that for you.

              2. Marketing- we take care of the promotional side of things too. We have a digital content strategy in place so all you have to do is submit your product and sit back to wait for the payments each month. We market on our email newsletter, our social media platforms, and on the blog posts.

              3. Customer service- Dealing with deliverability issues, refunds, and customer questions is a necessary thing when you have a shop and business. However, these service considerations take a LOT of time. We handle all of these aspects of product sales.

              4. Credit card fees and taxes- When you sell on The OT Toolbox marketplace, we take care of the fees and taxes that are related to digital product sales. 

              5. Passive income- You can market products as little or as often as you like on your own social media channels, but there is no obligation to do so. When you list products in The OT Toolbox marketplace as a digital content creator, it can be all passive income. We’ll pay you at the beginning of each month for any sales that your product had during the previous month.

              6. Your products will show up in our shop- If you’ve listed a digital resource on Teachers Pay Teachers or Etsy, then you know the pain of publishing a product only to have it sit somewhere in the depths of the website. There is just SO much content on those sites that it’s hard to get your product in front of eyeballs even with SEO tools or influencer marketing on social media. On The OT Toolbox shop, your product will show up by search and it will get in front of web traffic guided by our monthly search volume on the site.

              7. Start now- If you have a product already created, you can start right away. If you don’t have a product and have no idea where to begin with making digital products, the Digital Product Creation for Professionals Toolkit is for you. 

              How to be a Digital Content Creator and Sell on The OT Toolbox?

              The cool thing is that this opportunity is open to everyone. If you’re slightly interested in selling products online, and you have knowledge, experience, and a passion to create a resource, the creator marketplace is for you. 

              There are two options, depending on where you are in this process: 

              If you already have a digital product… 

              …and you want a place to sell it that has a hot audience:

              This option is great if you sell products on Teacher Pay Teacher, Etsy, or your own website and you want to get it in front of The OT Toolbox.

              Just send us an email at contact@theottoolbox.com with a copy of your product so we can make sure the item is a good fit for our audience. Then, we’ll get back to you with details and a contract to put all of the details onto paper. We’ll create a vendor account for you and list your item. Then, you earn each month depending on the sales of your product. At any time, you can log into your vendor account and see sales on your dashboard.

              One other tip that I would encourage for vendors on The OT Toolbox is to write a blog post on the topic that your product covers. Our vendors that write blog posts promoting their product sell up to 3 times more than the vendors that don’t. Why?

              • Blog posts cover a lot of the “why” behind a product, which is what people are looking for through search
              • A blog post goes deep on how to support a specific need. Readers that arrive at that blog post are looking for answers to a specific question. Your product or resource can be the solution to that problem
              • When a digital content creator covers the many benefits of a product in high-quality content of an article, you can go deep on why specific issues are happening, what the end user might see, red flags that are involved, and then explain in detail how a solution to that problem might be a product that was created by a professional with experience in that area. 
              • You can create different blog articles based on the various topic ideas that a product was intended to solve. For example, most professionals have created products based on years of experience working with a specific issue or problem area. And typically, those resources solve several aspects of the issue at hand. Blog content can go deep on these different issues through a blog series, which targets each aspect of the product. A series of articles related to a single product is an asset to the marketing.

              In exchange for the services listed above (hosting, marketing, product delivery, customer service, etc.) we do take a percentage of the product’s pricing. Marketplace vendors earn 65% of the product price. 

              This percentage is consistent or better than other online marketplaces such as TPT or Etsy, plus you’ll have the additional benefit of reaching a consistent market and audience. 

              Even with that percentage of administration and hosting fees, we have digital vendors earning hundreds of dollars each month, all as passive income. 

              If you might be interested in writing a blog post related to your digital product, please reach out to us at contact@theottoolbox.com. We can walk you through the process and come up with some content creation tools that might help. 

              If you don’t have a digital product yet…

              …and you would like to create one (but don’t know how):

              This option is perfect for anyone wanting to explore their creativity, and use what they know, as well as experience, and zones of genius into a resource that they can sell to toothers. We’ve walked many creatives through the process and decided to put the instructions, the systems, and the step-by-step roadmap into a course. The Digital Product Creation Program is a creator academy of sorts. It’s a toolkit with blueprints, workbooks, and roadmaps to support your journey in getting started as an online creator. 

              Digital Product Creation Program
              All of these resources and more are included in the Digital Product Creation Program.

              In the Digital Product Creation Program, we have several stages of product development with resources, ebooks, and templates to support your journey to creating and selling digital products. It includes 5 stages:

              1. Product Development- This section of the toolkit includes types of digital content that you can make based on your experience, passions, and knowledge. This is a great brainstorming space if you know you want to make something, but don’t know exactly what…or how! You’ll also find tutorials on all of the tech so you don’t hit a stumbling block by not knowing how to manage the technology aspect of digital content creation. One tool that is especially helpful is “How to Write an Ebook in 30 Days”. So often, as professionals, we have amazing experiences and know-how that could be a huge resource to others in ebook format. We walk you through getting your information into a consumable format.
              2. Business Development – This stage of the process takes out the unnecessary tasks and streamlines the things you really need to worry about. We cover how to protect your product legally. We also include workbooks and planning books so you can stay on track to get your digital product completed. This is a huge time saver for the whole content creation process. 
              3. Product Template Library- This section includes hundreds of product templates for everything from ebooks, to courses, to worksheets, to handouts, screening tools, forms, and so much more. You can use these templates and plug in the information you know and love to teach others about. These templates are literally done-for-you product templates.
              4. Sell Your Products- This section of the toolkit offers strategies for selling that supports all levels, whether you’ve sold products before, are already on Teachers Pay Teacher, or if you are just getting started and have no idea where to begin. We have created a blueprint for submitting your products to The OT Toolbox and Your Therapy Source, so you can submit your product once and be done. 
              5. Digital Marketing- In this section of the program, we’ve put together a library of templates to plug your product into so you can start marketing on social media. Social media content creators will love this section because the design is already done for you. Open up the templates and start marketing.
              6. Bonuses- There are several bonuses included with this program, including frames and backgrounds for digital content creation. These include all commercial rights so you can use the materials in products that you sell anywhere. We also have put together a top secret, data-backed list of needed digital products. These are materials that are just not that prevalent out there in the market, but they are much-needed.

              You can find out more about Digital Product Creation for Professionals here. 

              How to sell Digital Content Creations on The OT Toolbox

              We love to support occupational therapy professionals and supporting professionals by allowing them to create and serve others, while building an income on the side is just one way to do that!

              The process is really simple. Margaret from Your Therapy Source and I walked through this process (and had a great chat!) about how vendors can apply to sell their products on our websites, to our email lists, and on our social media channels. Check out our chat here: 

              Margaret from Your Therapy Source and I talk about how to become a digital content vendor in the shops on our websites.

              Basically, the process to sell your digital content creations on The OT Toolbox is this:

              1. Send an email to contact@theottoolbox.com. Include your product name and attach it to the email. Tell me about yourself…I love to hear from other digital content creators out there!
              2. We will review the product to ensure it fits with The OT Toolbox. We’ll get back to you via email.
              3. If the product is accepted as a resource to include on our shop, you’ll get a digital contract. The contract basically says it is your product and you can sell it in other places online or in person, that the product is yours, and The OT Toolbox is only a marketplace to list the product. We also outline the percentage of earnings, and other information we’ve listed in the video above. 
              4. You will return the signed contract along with a product description, a cover images of the product, and any other images that will help the resource sell. 
              5. We will take care of the rest! We’ll list the product on The OT Toolbox shop, create a product listing, market the product in our newsletter, on social media, and in related blog posts.
              6. You will get paid. We pay through Paypal and will send out payments once a month. 

              It’s a great stream of passive income for professionals that love sharing their experiences and knowledge!

              Latest Therapy Vendor Resources

              Want to see the latest digital products that have been created by Occupational Therapists and Occupational Therapy Assistants? Our OT vendors are experts in areas like dyslexia, documentation, handwriting, sensory diets, and more. Check out the latest OT vendor additions to The OT Toolbox shop:

              Colleen

              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.

              Winter Clothes Worksheet for Visual Perception

              by

              During the cold winter months, bundling up in mittens, scarves and other winter clothing is a must, which makes today’s winter clothes worksheet a fun way to work on various skills with children in the theme of winter! We’ve covered quite a few different winter occupational therapy activities here on the site, and this winter clothes printable supports visual perceptual skill building in fun ways during the cold months of the year.

              Our free color and count worksheet goes really well with this printable so be sure to grab that resource, too.

              And, grab this mitten printable for fine motor and visual motor skill development.

              Wither clothes worksheet for visual perception

              Looking for a consistent way to support fine motor skills all year?
              This yearlong fine motor system includes seasonal activity kits and monthly data collection tools to support planning and progress monitoring.

              If fine motor planning and data collection feel overwhelming, you’re not alone.
              This done-for-you yearlong bundle organizes seasonal activities and monthly screening tools in one system.

              Get the Yearlong Fine Motor and Data Collection Bundle today!

              Free Winter Clothes Worksheet for Visual Perception

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                We respect your privacy. Unsubscribe at anytime.
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                Winter Clothes Worksheet

                Using creative themes and activities in therapy is a fun way to practice meaningful and functional skills in creative ways. That’s where the winter clothes worksheet that you’ll find below comes into play.

                Winter means different things for different people depending on their climate. Winter in the southern United States means adding a sweatshirt, possibly a hat at the bus stop early in the morning.  In the northern states winter is a different story.  Up north, winter starts in mid- September and seems to last until May.  I have northern roots but am a southern girl by heart. 

                Winter months in cold areas of the world mean bundling up and adding clothes.  Mittens, hats, coats, snow pants, boots, gloves, earmuffs, thick socks, long johns, and lots of layers are the customary daily garb. 

                You can add this winter clothing printable to a few others from our Member’s Club, which you’ll find in the Winter Therapy Theme (Level 2 members):

                • Winter Pattern Paper Chain activity
                • Winter Words ABC order
                • Winter Listen and Color
                • Build a Sweater Craft
                • Winter Clothing Checklist
                • Winter Clothes Worksheet: Word Scramble
                • Uppercase and Lowercase Letter Earmuffs
                • Winter hat Hole Punch Cards
                • Match the Mittens
                • Mittens Lacing Cards
                • Winter Clothes I Spy Sheet
                • Winter Clothing Handwriting pages
                • MORE!

                Since bundling up is a daily chore in the frozen north, why not add all it to your treatment plan?

                The Warm Winter Clothes Worksheet is a cute winter printable PDF designed to target the underlying skills of visual discrimination, visual figure ground, and visual attention, making it a great winter clothes worksheet for kindergarten or early primary grades.

                Winter Clothes Worksheet for Therapy

                This winter worksheet prompts users to find the number of articles of winter clothing, but there are coloring and handwriting options as well. It’s a cute winter printable to build essential skills while using meaningful, relevant content.

                What does this winter number tracing worksheet work on besides visual perception?

                1.  Kinesthetic awareness – Kinesthetic learning means learning by doing and this worksheet supports practice skills.
                2.  Hand strength and dexterity – Coloring while staying on the lines builds hand strength in the muscles of the hands and develops muscle control. Check out the In Hand Manipulation Blog which covers what this skill means as well as activities.
                3. Visual motor skills –Combining what is seen visually and what is written motorically.  Visual Motor Skills takes coordination to be able to translate information from visual input to motor output. Coloring, drawing, counting, cutting, and tracing are some visual motor skills.
                4. Visual Perception – Developing visual perceptual skills supports learning, reading, writing, and basically every functional task done throughout the day. One example addressed in this winter clothing worksheet is the figure ground skills to see where one item start and finishes, scanning to find all answers, and visual closure to understand that dotted lines will create something.
                5. Strength – Core strength needed for sitting, shoulder/elbow/wrist stability, finger strength, and head control all play their role in writing.
                6. Bilateral Coordination – Bilateral coordination is needed to use both hands together in a coordinated manner, which is important in handwriting and coloring. Be sure your learner uses their helper hand for stabilizing the paper while using their dominant hand for writing. You can target this skill by taping the worksheet to the wall on the bottom of the page. The user then has to work on the vertical surface and hold the paper up so they can write or color.
                7. Counting/Learning Numbers – Count the items to understand number concepts in addition to tracing them. Work on learning to write numbers by using this worksheet along with others on our site.
                8. Social/Executive Function – Following directions, turn taking, task completion, orienting to details, neatness, multi-tasking, attending to task, and impulse control can be addressed using this Warm Winter Clothing Printable PDF.

                When using a task such as this number tracing worksheet, therapists can utilize and focus on all the above skills or just one or two. 

                There are times when I am working more on executive function than fine motor skills but will use this task with more of my focus on these executive function skills. 

                When using this worksheet in therapy, my documentation note might not say much about their number formation, counting skills, or neatness, but how well they were able to attend to the task, complete the task, follow directions, and control their impulses.

                How to Modify a Winter Clothing Worksheet

                The nice thing about using a worksheet in therapy sessions, is that you can print off the page as many times as you need to and use it with your whole caseload. OR, print it off once and slide it into a page protector sleeve. Then, use the winter clothing printable with the whole caseload. Just wipe off the page protector sleeve in between uses.

                How do I incorporate or modify this task for the needs of all my learners?

                There are lots of ways to modify this activity to meet various needs! 

                • This sheet can be laminated for reusability or marker use
                • Print off the number tracing worksheet on different colored paper for readability,
                • Print the number tracing worksheet in an enlarged or smaller size
                • Add more details to make the activity more complex
                • Use a cardboard window to show only portions of the sheet to make the activity simpler

                Try having learners color the shapes and write the numbers independently on the back to add more visual motor tasks to this winter clothes worksheet.

                This covers one day of winter, what about the other 240?

                Glad you asked!  The OT Toolbox is stuffed with activities, blog posts and work pages to fill those winter days. The Winter Fine Motor Kit full of handouts and PDF files provides several visual motor tasks to be used throughout the winter season.

                You can grab the Winter Fine Motor Kit inside our shop OR, OT Toolbox Member’s Club members can log into your account and grab the whole Winter Fine Motor Kit, along with hundreds of other printable resources.

                Winter Fine Motor Kit Deal

                Winter is a very long season. Especially if you are not a fan of the cold weather (author raises hand).  Adding fun activities and games can take some of the monotony and sting out of the long cold days.  Moving south can also take the bitterness out of winter, but we are full.

                Brrrrrr, bundle up!

                Free Winter Clothes Worksheet

                This printable is located inside the Member’s Club in our Winter Therapy Theme. Or, if you’re not yet a member, enter your email address into the form below.

                Free Winter Clothes Worksheet for Visual Perception

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                  Victoria Wood, OTR/L is a contributor to The OT Toolbox and has been providing Occupational Therapy treatment in pediatrics for more than 25 years. She has practiced in hospital settings (inpatient, outpatient, NICU, PICU), school systems, and outpatient clinics in several states. She has treated hundreds of children with various sensory processing dysfunction in the areas of behavior, gross/fine motor skills, social skills and self-care. Ms. Wood has also been a featured speaker at seminars, webinars, and school staff development training. She is the author of Seeing your Home and Community with Sensory Eyes.

                  Winter Number Tracing Worksheet

                  by
                  Winter number formation

                  When it comes to managing the long winter with activities, this winter number tracing worksheet has you covered. Be sure to read up on our recommended use of tracing sheets as a tool to support functional writing. Use the printable below along with our winter number tracing worksheet to talk with kids about winter clothing AND work on number formation. It’s a winter printable that you’ll want to add to your therapy toolbox! Also be sure to grab our winter crossword puzzle and our winter clothes worksheet (for visual perception) as a tool to build visual motor skills.

                  You’ll want to grab this winter worksheet because it covers number formation and writing numbers with a wintery theme!

                  Kids also love this mitten printable to race the mittens across the page whild building motor skills.

                  Winter clothing worksheet

                  Looking for a consistent way to support fine motor skills all year?
                  This yearlong fine motor system includes seasonal activity kits and monthly data collection tools to support planning and progress monitoring.

                  If fine motor planning and data collection feel overwhelming, you’re not alone.
                  This done-for-you yearlong bundle organizes seasonal activities and monthly screening tools in one system.

                  Get the Yearlong Fine Motor and Data Collection Bundle today!

                  Winter Clothing Number Tracing Worksheet

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                    Free Winter Number Tracing Worksheet

                    On the winter worksheet, you’ll find number writing spaces where the user can trace numbers. By practicing numbers through tracing, you give the user the opportunity to practice the motor plan needed to form the number. We talk about the occupational therapy provider’s perspective on tracing in our resource on tracing sheets. Specific for this winter clothing activity, we wanted to add the number practice option along with a few other ways to practice specific skills.

                    This winter number tracing worksheet is similar to our recent Christmas lights number tracing printable.

                    Winter means different things for different people depending on their climate. Winter in the southern United States means adding a sweatshirt, possibly a hat at the bus stop early in the morning.  In the northern states winter is a different story.  Up north, winter starts in mid- September and seems to last until May.  I have northern roots but am a southern girl by heart. 

                    Winter months in cold areas of the world mean bundling up and adding clothes.  Mittens, hats, coats, snow pants, boots, gloves, earmuffs, thick socks, long johns, and lots of layers are the customary daily garb.  Imagine trying to put this on and off a toddler each time you head out!  As soon as you get your child decked out in all these layers, they usually announce the need to go to the toilet!  It never fails.

                    Since bundling up is a daily chore in the frozen north, why not add it to your treatment plan? The Warm Winter Clothes Number Trace Worksheet is a cute printable to build essential skills while using meaningful, relevant content.

                    This free winter number tracing worksheet is a winter clothes activity for kids that helps with motor planning of number formation using a winter clothing printable.

                    Tracing Numbers Worksheets

                    Let’s talk tracing so you can use it to the maximum benefit and its intended purpose. 

                    I am not a fan of tracing unless it is used correctly, or the objective is understood. Here is information on the benefits of tracing. 

                    • Tracing is not going to teach number/letter formation if the learner does not know what those figures are.  To a learner who does not know these symbols, they will be tracing lines, not numbers or letters
                    • Know your audience. If your learner does not know the letters or numbers, use the activity as a fine motor task to develop dexterity
                    • Kinesthetic awareness.  This long word means to learn by doing.  Theoretically if a person writes the number 5 enough times, the body will start to recognize this pattern and commit it to memory.  This only works if the learner understands what is being traced. Using our sandpaper writing trick is one great way to incorporate kinesthetic awareness into number tracing and number formation.
                    • Tracing for dexterity. This is the type of tracing I like best.  Tracing for dexterity works on staying on the lines, fine motor control, building hand muscles, scanning and a whole host of other important skills as defined below

                    Winter Clothes Worksheet

                    While worksheets are not a favorite among occupational therapists, there are ways to support skill areas by using worksheets to meet the needs of kids. When we address the underlying skill areas to support function, printables like this winter clothes worksheet can address a variety of areas.

                    What does this winter number tracing worksheet work on besides tracing?

                    1.  Kinesthetic awareness – This means learning by doing.
                    2.  Hand strength and dexterity – staying on the lines builds hand muscles and develops muscle control. Check out the In Hand Manipulation Printable Worksheet to incorporate developing the intrinsic hand muscles.
                    3. Visual motor skills –Combining what is seen visually and what is written motorically.  This takes coordination to be able to translate information from visual input to motor output. Coloring, drawing, counting, cutting, and tracing are some visual motor skills.
                    4.  Visual Perception – Developing figure ground to see where one item start and finishes, scanning to find all answers, and visual closure to understand that dotted lines will create something.
                    5. Strength – Core strength needed for sitting, shoulder/elbow/wrist stability, finger strength, and head control all play their role in writing.
                    6. Bilateral Coordination – Be sure your learner uses their helper hand for stabilizing the paper while using their dominant hand for writing.
                    7. Counting/Learning Numbers – Count the items to understand number concepts in addition to tracing them.
                    8. Social/Executive Function – Following directions, turn taking, task completion, orienting to details, neatness, multi-tasking, attending to task, and impulse control can be addressed using this Warm Winter Clothing Printable PDF.

                    When using a task such as this number tracing worksheet, therapists can utilize and focus on all the above skills or just one or two.  There are times when I am working more on executive function than fine motor skills but will use this task with more of my focus on these executive function skills.  My note might not say much about their number formation, counting skills, or neatness, but how well they were able to attend to the task, complete the task, follow directions, and control their impulses.

                    Number Tracing worksheet for winter

                    Winter Clothing Printable

                    There are so many ways to use this winter clothing printable to work on number tracing, and more.

                    How do I incorporate or modify this task for the needs of all my learners?

                    Lots of ways!  As always, this sheet can be laminated for reusability or marker use, printed on different colored paper for readability, enlarged or made smaller, made simpler or more complex. Try having learners color the shapes and write the numbers independently on the back to add more visual motor tasks to this winter clothes worksheet.

                    This covers one day of winter, what about the other 240?

                    Glad you asked!  The OT Toolbox is stuffed with activities, blog posts and work pages to fill those winter days. The Winter Fine Motor Kit full of handouts and PDF files provides several visual motor tasks to be used throughout the winter season.

                    Plus, in The OT Toolbox Members Club, you’ll find winter clothing printables and resources to address a variety of needs.

                    In addition to these handouts, you can also read this article on Winter Fine Motor Activities for more great ideas and suggestions:

                    Winter Fine Motor Activities

                    Winter is a very long season. Especially if you are not a fan of the cold weather (author raises hand).  Adding fun activities and games can take some of the monotony and sting out of the long cold days. 

                    Brrrrrr, bundle up!

                    Free WINTER NUMBER TRACING WORKSHEET

                    Want to access this printable number tracing worksheet? Enter your email address into the form below. You can also find this winter clothing printable in The OT Toolbox Member’s Club.

                    Winter Clothing Number Tracing Worksheet

                      We respect your privacy. Unsubscribe at anytime.
                      Built with ConvertKit

                      Victoria Wood, OTR/L is a contributor to The OT Toolbox and has been providing Occupational Therapy treatment in pediatrics for more than 25 years. She has practiced in hospital settings (inpatient, outpatient, NICU, PICU), school systems, and outpatient clinics in several states. She has treated hundreds of children with various sensory processing dysfunction in the areas of behavior, gross/fine motor skills, social skills and self-care. Ms. Wood has also been a featured speaker at seminars, webinars, and school staff development training. She is the author of Seeing your Home and Community with Sensory Eyes.

                      Watch for more winter clothes worksheets and winter printables coming to this space.