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:

Buffalo Chicken Dip & Barbecue Chicken Dip Cups

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These apps are SO good and SO easy!
This is a basic recipe split into two bowls with only one different ingredient added to make an entirely different and delicious appetizer.  So easy!  

I don’t usually measure when making buffalo chicken dip, but I know lots of people like to see the measurements of ingredients when they cook, so I did my best to get the amounts in here for ya. 
Start like you are making your typical buffalo chicken dip…1/2 cup of ranch, 1 (8 oz) block of cream cheese, 3/4 cup of shredded cheddar cheese, 2 chicken breasts shredded.  (you could use canned chicken if you want to go reeeeally simple, but I had some frozen shredded chicken breasts in the freezer, so it was pretty quick to just thaw…and much better than canned, in my opinion).
I added one small diced green pepper to this.
At this point, split the mixture into two bowls.  In one bowl, add 1/2 cup of hot sauce.  In the other bowl, add 1/2 cup of barbecue sauce.
How easy is that!!??

Mix your two bowls well and let them sit for a little bit while you do this next part.  It lets all of the flavors get acquainted 🙂

This next part is so easy and your guests will think you’re all fancy.  Really, who doesn’t love an appetizer in a pretty little cup??
You can find the potsticker wrappers in the frozen section of the grocery store.  BTW, the recipe on the back of the potsticker package is GOOOOD! Try it. You will love it.

You have to let the wrappers sit out for a bit so you can easily separate them.

Place into a mini muffin tin. No need to bake them first.  Baking them with the filling in them makes for a soft bottom and crunchy tops.  Perfect combo!

Fill half of the cups with the buffalo mixture and half with the barbecue mixture.  Bake at 350 for 10 min.  Check on them…You want the edges to be crispy brown and the filling to be bubbly.  You can make these ahead of time and re-heat on a cookie sheet.  They are just as awesome the next day.  I know this for a fact 😉

Enjoy!
~Colleen

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Ghost Catch Game

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We have been playing a fun Halloween game recently.  We used empty milk jugs to make these friendly ghost scoops.  It was a multi-step activity…with lots of fine motor work and fun.


Ghost Catch Craft and Game
I cut the tops off of the milk jugs, keeping the handle on.  While I did that, I had Big Sister and Little Guy paint white contact paper with black washable paints.  They covered a big square, painting the whole thing black.  Little Guy said he was making “tracks” with his paint brush in the paint. We let it dry for a day…
Then, Big Sister cut out shapes from the painted contact paper.  I didn’t draw circles for her.  I wanted her to work on rotating the paper, using her mind’s eye to picture the shape she wanted for eyes and mouths. 
She did pretty well!  Her ghost’s eyes are pretty similar in size and shape, and those smiley face mouths are pretty good!  She was really working those bilateral coordination skills, to hold and turn the paper, while cutting a shape she saw in her mind.

Ghost Catch Craft and Game
Figuring out how much space she had on the sheet for all of the shapes she needed for four ghosts was really great visual-spatial organization.  This is so important in handwriting.  When a writer gets to the edge of a sheet of paper while writing a sentence, she needs to be able to determine how much space is left, and if the word will fit…or decide that she better write the word on the next line of the page.  
Neatness in handwriting is very dependent on visual-spatial organization.
Big Sister and Little Guy worked together to stick the shapes onto the milk jugs.  They look pretty cute! 

 Ghost Catch Game

We have been using these ghost catchers for a ton of fun catching games…catching leaves as they fall from trees outside, catching bubbles, scooping up balls in a fun catch game, tossing bean bags into them.
Even the babies have been loving this activity.  They put toys into the ghosts and take them back out again, over and over and over….
Have you been playing any fun Halloween themed games?

Crock Pot Mac and Cheese With Broccoli

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We love how easy this crock pot mac and cheese with broccoli recipe is. Kids love it, too. The steps are easy, and using a crock pot to make the mac and cheese recipe means that it’s a good starter recipe for cooking with kids. Let’s get cookin’!

Crock Pot Mac and Cheese with Broccoli

My kids love Mac n’ Cheese.  I love the fresh baked, hot out of the oven, home made kind.  I was trying to find a recipe for Mac n’ Cheese in the Crock Pot and decided to try this one…

Crock Pot Mac n’ Cheese with Broccoli
 
 
 
 
Ingredients to make crock pot mac and cheese with broccoli:
 
  • Cooking spray
  • 24oz Uncooked Macaroni
  • 2 tablespoons Vegetable Oil
  • 4 cups Shredded Cheddar Cheese
  • 2 cups Shredded Mexican Cheese Mix
  • 12 oz can of Evaporated Milk
  • 1 can of  Cheddar Cheese Soup
  • 14 oz Frozen Chopped Broccoli
  • 3 cups Milk
  • 1 tsp Paprika
  • 1 tsp Onion Powder
  • 1/2 tsp Garlic Powder
  • Salt and Pepper to taste
 
To make the crock pot mac and cheese, follow these steps:
  1. Spray the inside of the crock pot with cooking spray. 
  2. Pour the uncooked macaroni and oil into the crock pot and stir until the pasta is covered. 
  3. Add the remaining ingredients and stir until well mixed.
  4. Turn the Crock Pot on low heat and let cook for 3 hrs. 
 
I would recommend stirring every now and then.  It looks really runny at first but after awhile it will start to thicken.  I used 3 cups of milk but I think I would try a little more next time.  Mine was on low heat for several hours after the first 3 and got really soft.  The babies loved it!
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

It ended up being pretty tasty!  I would recommend using a thicker noodle, maybe a spiral noodle or something with a little more texture (the elbow macaroni got soft fast). 
Hope you enjoy!

 

A Day at the Farm

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A Day at the Farm
Fall is here!  I love this time of year…the leaves changing color…the cool breeze…the smell of pumpkin latte 🙂
We went to the local pumpkin farm last weekend and had so much fun I had to share some pictures.  My little guy is looking so big!  He is so funny making animal sounds at every animal.  I think his favorite sound is “moo” at the moment.

 
Warning…this is a picture overload!

 Jacob was a little excited (as if you couldn’t tell, lol)

 He thought this goat was HILARIOUS!
 So did Gwen. My kids love kids, what can I say!
 This little donkey didn’t move the whole time..Jacob was very interested.
I got my husband to take all of one photo.  He is not into taking pictures, I gotta work on getting him used to using my new camera. 
Me and my little man.

When did he get so big? I love it when babies stand on their tip toes. 

The following week we checked out another pumpkin patch (can’t get enough!!!).  Check out this “corn box”.  The kids loved this…a huge box of dried corn with cups, shovels, rakes, and pails.  This was a hit. 

Such concentration!  He was pushing the corn all around, shoveling, pouring, just having a blast. 

Thanks for letting me share!  Happy pumpkin picking!
~Leanne

Learning Red, Apples

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I love this apple balance beam that we made years ago. It’s a gross motor coordination activity that targets areas like motor planning, balance, coordination, core strength, and sensory motor input, all needed for development! This gross motor apple activity would go really well with our apple sensory bin and our Apple Therapy Kit.

Apple Tree Balance Beam

Making an apple tree balance beam is an easy activity that you can do at home to work on skills with young kids!

This Apple Gross Motor Activity is the perfect way to introduce learning about the color Red and Apples this Fall with toddlers, preschoolers, and babies.  We made our own life-size apple tree (well, make that Toddler-life size!) that kids can really climb and develop gross motor skills while learning.  We’ve recently update our Toddler Play page with all of our play ideas in one place.  Your Toddler will love some of the other creative play ideas we’ve shared in the past.
 
Gross Motor Apple Tree activity for learning red and apples with toddlers and preschool children. Kids love this in the Fall!
 
 

Gross Motor Apple Activity for Toddlers and Preschoolers

So, two days a week, I have my nephew here with us while my sister is working.  That makes a 5 year old, 3 year old, 1 year old, and 11 and 1/2 month old.  We had a Red/Apple play day one afternoon, with something for each age to love! (This post contains affiliate links.)
 
Even with two children in two different stages of preschool (3 y/o class and Pre-K), it is easy to supplement school lessons at home (and keep the babies occupied).  Keeping the activities PLAY makes learning fun.  They never know that you are actually teaching so many ideas (turn taking, manners, colors, handwriting, developing motor skills…& so much more)!
 

 This time of year, it is all about apples in preschool. My 3 year old is learning all about red, apples, and circles in his class. We pulled those concepts into our play with this fun apple tree activity.  I placed this set up on our living room floor and had the kids pick ‘apples’. We counted them as we put them into baskets.  My 5 year old loves writing when I spell out a word, and so we worked on writing the words “red”, “apple”, “circle”, and “tree”.  She was “in charge” of  simple math ideas (We have two apples in the basket. Adding one more apple makes 3 apples).

 

The babies loved putting the red balls into baskets, taking them back out and then putting them into a different basket.  They are learning through exploring!

 
 


We did some Gross Motor balance beam play on the “trunk” of the tree. This was a hit for all of the kids.  These babies WATCH the big kids and try their hardest to keep up!

 
 
Gross Motor Apple Tree activity for learning red and apples with toddlers and preschool children. Kids love this in the Fall!
 
Gross Motor skills are tasks that require the large movements of the body.  Development of gross motor movement is important for so many play skills of childhood (riding a bike, throwing and catching a ball, hopping, skipping, climbing).  Developmentally, we refine our fine motor skills after and as a result of, appropriate gross motor skills. For example: Stable shoulder girdle strength is needed to produce controlled fine motor control needed to hold the pencil and write in a small area.
 

Baby Apple Theme and Red Learning Activities

The big kids did a few more motor tasks including tossing the balls into the baskets.  The controlled balance needed to stand on the balance beam, while tossing the ball into the basket is really working their eye hand coordination and can be a challenge for many kids!  
 
(The babies had a blast carrying the baskets around).
 
We went on a search for red toys, keeping with the red theme. These were put into a pretzel tub that we keep to store the baby pop-beads.
 
Babies love to manipulate objects, explore how they can move objects…love to see what they can do to a toy (chew it, bang it, throw it…).  And then see if they can do it again!  
Baby Girl is always putting these stacking rings onto her wrist. She’ll walk all over the house with one on her wrist, just like a bracelet. My other two never did that at this age! Is she a future fashionista??? Have your babies done this???
 
The babies loved pulling red objects out of the bin, chewing on a few, putting them back in (…pulling them away from each another, grabbing it back with a screech…these two cousins are more like siblings…LOL)
 
This is a great opportunity for language development.  Say each item that baby has.  Babies, at this age, love to hear your voice in different pitches.  Describe to baby the details of a toy, pointing out interesting parts.  Talking constantly to baby truly does wonders for their language development.

 

We finished up with a snack of sliced apples for the big kids and applesauce for the babies.
 
This post was originally posted in 2012.  We’ve recently updated to share with you again!
 

Our favorite ways to work on gross motor skills:

National Cookie Month!

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Anyone who knows me, knows that I love cookies. I love to bake them. I love to make them for people I love. I love love love to eat them!
My husband laughs at me because one of the highlights for me at any wedding, is the cookie table 🙂
So, when I found out that October is National Cookie Month, I knew I needed to celebrate in the ways that I love the best! I thought I would share what I have been baking up in the kitchen over the last year or so. Some of these have been for my own kids birthdays, some have been for nieces and nephews birthdays, and some have been actual cookie orders!
I love taking new orders and working on custom ideas, so if you see something that you like, or have a party theme you would love cookies to coordinate with, just message Colleen at sugaraunts.gmail.com
Check out this cookie picture overload….
Circus theme party, I wrote about here
Snowman cookies
Snowman snow globe cookies
Manger scene and stars cookies
Cars Party cookies
Baby Girl Baptism cookies
Baby Boy Baptism cookies
Fish party cookies
Minnie Mouse party cookies
Sesame Street Party cookies
Cars and Candyland Party cookies, see it all here
Butterfly party cookies
Sports and Dress-Up party cookies
We had a busy day with TWO birthday parties (a certain superhero-obsessed nephew turned 3, and a sweet little friend of ours turned 4) but I’ve had an original cookie recipe on my mind I am hoping to try out (and share if it tastes ok…) in the next few days. Think: pudding/cream cheese/fudge cakeballs with a surprise coating….I’ll let ya know how it goes!
~Colleen

Lemon-Raspberry Cupcakes

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Lemon-Raspberry Cupcakes

With summer coming to an end, I decided to bake something to remind me of the hot days- what could be more summery than raspberry lemonade? These little minis were such a hit at my work bake-sale. People bought them two for a dollar!

I went the easy way and bought a lemon cake mix- whipped these up and baked them according to to the box.  I watched them a little closer making sure not to over bake since they are minis.
I found some cute cupcake liners with little lemons on the bottom of them.  They were on sale which made them even better!

 Voila!

The icing recipe was a buttercream that I added a few drops of red food coloring and a teaspoon of Raspberry Extract instead of vanilla.

 I didn’t have a pastry bag so I used a Ziploc and cut off a corner…this made a big mess.  This works in a pinch, but next time I will make sure I have a pastry bag handy. 

These little yummies were so fun to decorate.
Aren’t they so cute?

 Here they are all dressed up!
   The fresh raspberry on top really added a nice pop of flavor.
Delicious!

~Leanne

Recycle Bin Project

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Many years ago, we created this recycle bin project, using materials found in our recycle bin. You could create practically anything from our recycled crafts list using items that are going to be thrown away or recycled. The benefit is that these items are free and they develop all of the skills that kids crafting does. As a therapy tool this is great for building fine motor skills, visual motor skills, and more.

Let’s see what we made…

Recycle Bin Project

We used a few items from the recycle bin:

  • Empty cereal box
  • Paper tube
  • Empty cracker boxes

We also used a few items from our craft supplies: masking tape and markers

The nice thing about a recycle bin project is that the sky is the limit! All you need is the items in the recycling container and your imagination.

Develop Skills with a Recycling Bin Project

Just look at the skills kids develop with an activity as simple as building with cardboard and tape.

 
 
Child writing on paper by cardboard creation made from old cereal box, cardboard tube, and cracker boxes



 

 

 

 

 

Multi-step planning, Handwriting, Cutting, Coloring, Painting, Taping, Tearing, Creativity, Imagination…this one’s got it all 🙂

Big Sister and I had a couple of hours to ourselves when the other kids were napping one afternoon. We went on a hunt for crafting materials in an interesting place…the recycle bin!

I pulled the boxes out and Big Sister used her imagination to decide what to make with them. She came up with a plan…a castle for barbie!

 
 
 
Child drawing on a notebook

Cardboard castle made from recycling bin materials



She helped me to tear the tape and construct the castle, instructing me what we needed to do first, and second, and third…We decided to work on a list. Big Sister wrote each word on a page in her notebook and she would turn the page as we did that part. (This was such a great planning project!) 
 
She said we needed to make a flag for the castle, so I told her how to spell “flag”. 
This age is so much fun. She asks all the time how to spell words as she writes them out. 
 
After she wrote the word, she drew her flag and colored it in. She cut out the shape and taped it to her flag pole (paper towel tube).
 
 
 
 
 
Child painting a paper blue and a notebook with "moat" written in child's writing

Child tearing blue paper in half

 
 

 

The moat: strips of water colored paper taped together. Tearing paper is a fantastic fine motor activity.
 
It works on the intrinsic muscles of the hands to hold the paper while using a Tripod Grasp to hold the paper.
 
Child tearing blue paper into strips
 
Babies woke up…They played a fun game of  “put some markers into a box and then take them out”.
 
Babies putting markers into a cardboard box
 
Babies reaching into a cardboard box to grab colorful markers
 
They loved it.
 
 
We took the whole thing outside and painted it, added stickers, and stuck on gems.
 
 
Cardboard castle made from Cheerios cereal box, pasta box, cracker box, and cardboard tube.
 
 
And played.
 
Cardboard castle with barbies and Ken
 
 
The bad guys even showed up…This is The Green Lantern sneaking into the castle.
 
Child reaching their hand into the door of a cardboard castle
 
 
Not bad for some old boxes. Lots of creativity in that trash!
 

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.

Golf Tees and a Hammer

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This hammering golf tees activity is one of our oldest blog posts here on the website. I loved showing my toddlers how to use a toy hammer with golf tees in an egg carton. This is a wonderful fine motor activity for kids, and one that is very motivating for all ages!

Hammering Golf Tees

Counting Manipulatives and Fine Motor Skills 
 
I picked these golf tees up earlier this year during a shopping trip, figuring we would use them for some activity…or actual golfing 😉 They were only a buck for 100 tees. We have these hammers from a Melissa and Doug toy and I thought we could use that to hammer the tees into some egg cartons. 

 

 
 
Little Guy used the golf tees (or Golf Teeth, as he called them), to count out how many he needed for the egg carton, learning to count out manipulatives. 
 
He’s working that tripod grasp to hold the tees, pushing them into the egg carton for resistance, building those intrinsic muscles for fine motor dexterity. 

 

 
Little Guy LOOOOVED this activity! He said, “Mom, when I grow up, I am going to do this because I’m going to be a Dad and Dads hammer.”  He has been asking to do the “Golf Teeth Hammer Game” every day, several times a day, ever since. 

 

 
Look at that Tripod Grasp. This is such a great activity for pre-writing and working on the correct and most efficient way to hold a pencil.

 

 

 

 

 

 
Holding the tee and the hammer provides awesome bilateral coordination (using two sides of the body together) and eye hand coordination.
 
These are needed for so many functional skills in play, dressing, handwriting, shoe tying.

 

 
You could do this with a cardboard box or Styrofoam. Putting it on an incline or vertical incline would add an extended wrist for improved grasp on the tee. 

 

 
We will be doing this activity again, for sure!
 
Want to work on more fine motor skills with fun and engaging play activities? Grab one of our fine motor kits!
 
 

 

Working on fine motor skills, visual perception, visual motor skills, sensory tolerance, handwriting, or scissor skills? Our Fine Motor Kits cover all of these areas and more.

Check out the seasonal Fine Motor Kits that kids love:

Letters Fine Motor Kit
Kit de motricidad fina de verano
Summer Fine Motor Kit
Outer Space Fine Motor Kit
Space Fine Motor Kit
Spring fine motor kit
Valentines Day fine motor kit
winter fine motor kit
Winter Fine Motor Kit

Or, grab one of our themed Fine Motor Kits to target skills with fun themes:

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