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:

Best Hibernation Activities

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Hibernation activities

Brrr…when the weather gets cold and the winds are gusting, hibernation activities are fun ways to help kids develop specific skills with the theme of winter. Hibernation on the sofa is my place to go, but that doesn’t mean that adding a creative ways to learn about winter and how animals survive the cold can’t be included into therapy themes! Let’s explore different hibernation ideas to support kids!

This activity set is just one theme in our weekly themes for occupational therapy. However, these are great winter activities to add to a preschool setting, kindergarten classroom setting, or learning lessons at home.

Or, use them along with a favorite book about hibernation which is great this time of year.

Hibernation activities

Hibernation activities

When the weather gets colder, coffee or hot cocoa, a warm throw, a good movie, and the fireplace on, ah, now that’s what I call good hibernation for humans. However, animals don’t have those luxuries so they deal with the cold winter with the harshness of winter season by going into their own form of hibernation. Some animals essentially curl up in a safe place and stay there until winter ends. Some sleeping for their hibernation entirety!


Children love learning about animals and there are plenty of fun ways to explore animals in the winter season!

Not only are these hibernation themed ideas great for the cold of winter, but there are many learning lessons here too that relate to self-regulation, the occupation of sleep hygiene, and heavy proprioceptive input that occupational therapy professionals often cover with their caseloads.

Think about using hibernating animals as a tool to teach kids about a slowed heartbeat (interoception), deep sleep, and the calming environment a cave or sleeping space can have.


We’ve pulled a variety of hibernation activities together so you can pack your sessions with hands-on activities that include some animals in the wintertime. There are a variety of animals that hibernate in the winter months such as, bears, snails, bats, lemurs, bumblebees, hedgehogs, groundhogs, and raccoons.


You will find many fun and easy-to-implement ideas to bring the hibernation-theme to your sessions. So, go exploring and grab some inspirational fun that will engage your kiddos while theming it up for wintertime!

We’ve sorted these various hibernation theme activities into skills, so you can pick and choose the activities that work for your needs.


Fine Motor Hibernation Activities


Fine Motor Hedgehog- You can make a fine motor hedgehog with a bit of play dough and some toothpicks. Create a ball of play dough (read about the benefits of play dough, too) and then poke the toothpicks into the back. Add googly eyes and draw a face on the playdough using one of the toothpicks.  This hibernation idea provides kids with the engaging activity of hedgehog creation using play dough and toothpicks to create! Tactile, fine motor, and eye-hand coordination skills are in use with this fun little guy!


Weaving Hedgehog-  by Ryan & Marsha | This cute little activity works on bilateral coordination and delicate touch in order for the child to gently weave strips of construction paper through the slits in the body of the hedgehog to create a rainbow-bodied hedgehog. Read more about the benefits of weaving paper in developing fine motor skills and bilateral coordination skills.


Build a Hibernation Den- All you need is a blanket to make bear caves, or a nest used by sleeping chipmunks, squirrels, or skunks. This center is designed for kids to be creative in using blocks to create dens for hibernating animals. Children use the materials provided to create their den using prompts provided by an adult such as, build a covering for the top and a small entry for the animal. Works on eye-hand coordination and visual perceptual skills.

You can check out our polar bear cave which we used for a polar bear theme, but it would be a great addition to any hibernation theme.


Feed the Animals Activities- This activity would work for many different animals, and you can even have each child make their own hibernation animal craft. Start with a paper plate and create an animal’s face such as: 

  • Bear
  • Squirrel
  • Skunk
  • Bees
  • Turtles
  • ​Mouse
  • Woodchuck
  • Ground squirrel
  • Snakes
  • Frogs
  • Bats
  • And more!

Children can use crayons, paper scraps, markers, etc. to create the winter animal of their choosing. Then, cut a hole in the middle to make a mouth (You may want to start with the hole cut in the plate before decorating.) Then, children can use tongs to pick up and move small objects like beads, craft pom poms, either real or fake acorns, crumbled paper, etc. as a counting activity to feed the paper animals that are placed on plastic cups. Works on fine motor strength and grasp patterns as well as counting skills.


Clothespin Hedgehogs- A clothespin activity that works on fine motor strengthening and pinch grasp to place the clothespins on the back of a paper plate hedgehog to build the spines. The child can create the hedgehog first by cutting and painting the plate to extend the activity.


Gross Motor Hibernation Activities


Bear Brain Breaks – These movement activities are perfect to use for sleep time and/or winding down in preparation for bedtime. They include stretches and whole-body movements that happen in a calm manner to prepare for sleep.

Squirrel Brain Breaks– Just like the bear brain breaks listed above, these squirrel themed heavy work activities support calming input of brain breaks.


Hibernation Den- Use the bear cave described above as a home base for obstacle courses, animal walks, and heavy work. This is a great way to work on crawling skills or the bear walk movement so as to have a child crawl or bear walk to the large cardboard box that has been turned into a den. Or you can drape a blanket over a small table and create a bear den for children to hibernate in to read a book. This den will allow them to be cozy and comfy while inside.

Hibernation Obstacle Course- You could use sorting activities along with the den described above tape along the floor to create a path for winter animals heading to their home before the long winter. Discuss how the den is created after exploration of how animals survive in winter. Think about using multi-sensory materials such as tree bark, rocks, crumpled paper, fake trees, pine cones, sticks, nuts, a forest habitat and pond, and stumps. This is an open
project that uses whatever you can get your hands on! 

Bear Walk Dice Game for bear walks
Bear Walk Dice Game


Bear Walk Gross Motor Dice- This activity is perfect for a chilly day that you need to get the wiggles out with kids as it focuses on deep impact body movements with different directions and speeds. We incorporated other motor skills too, such as fine motor skills to roll a dice, visual motor skills and visual perception, and handwriting skills to track motor actions. You can find this resource inside our Member’s Club (Level 2)in the Arctic Animals Therapy Theme. The printable worksheet is geared toward polar bears, but it works well with any bear theme, too.

Visual Activities with a Hibernation Theme


Groundhog Vision Activities Slide Deck -This slide deck is designed with activities
specifically for vision therapy including visual perceptual skills and visual motor integration. It’s always a hit around Groundhogs day but perfect for including in a hibernating animals activity. It’s free so go grab your copy today!


Groundhog Day Shadow Matching (COMING SOON)- This is a free printable worksheet where children work on matching the groundhog to its shadow while working on visual discrimination and visual memory skills.


Hibernating Animal Food Ideas- Cooking with kids is a powerful way to address various skills, including fine motor skills, social skills, direction following, sensory motor skills, and more. 

We made this Bear Snack Food to go along with the book, “We’re going on a Bear Hunt” but they would be great for books like “Bear Snores On” by Karma Wilson, or other hibernation books about bears. 

These cute food ideas can work on assembly skills with the use of snack foods to create two bears! Cute and tasty! 

Please be aware of any food allergies before doing these activities as one activity uses peanut butter. You have the child work to create, but they get the reward of eating at the end! Yummy!


Teddy Bear Apple Snack- This bear themed snack is another fun activity to work on skills through cooking. We used sliced apples and small items like raisins and mini marshmallows to create a teddy bear face. 


Note: You can switch out peanut butter with SunButter, which uses sunflower seeds to create a butter that tastes very similar to peanut butter! That is what our family uses as we have a child that is very allergic to peanuts. 


Hibernation Craft Activities

We’ve covered a hibernation craft idea or two above, but these ideas are fun, too:


Popsicle Stick Hibernating Bear- Make this craft by Glued to my Crafts as a cute bear cave craft. It’s a fun activity that uses craft sticks to build a bear cave and then create a bear that lies inside of it. This activity works on cutting and pasting skills and the important process of sequencing to assemble accurately. There’s a small tactile element with the use of cotton balls to create the snow.


Paper Plate Hedgehog Craft- You can support development of scissor skills, graded grasp and release, eye-hand coordination, and bilateral coordination skills by snipping into the edge of a paper plate. Start with the plate cut in half. Then, draw a small face in one corner. Then, snip into the curve of the plate to create spines along the back of a hedgehog.

This activity directly works on cutting skills to cut on lines to create the hedgehog body and then repetitive lines on the back to create the spines of the hedgehog. A great time to work on scissor grasp and cutting on lines.

Bear Craft– Use a cardboard piece cut into a bear head shape. Then, wrap string, yarn, or twine around the form to create a textured bear craft. This is a great motor skill activity that challenges bilateral coordination and crossing midline.


Tissue Paper & Paper Plate Raccoon or a Sleeping Bear craft– This idea by Glued to my Crafts are fun ways to make different hibernating animals. These cute paper plate crafts are the perfect time to work on either snip cutting strips of tissue paper to create the faces of these hibernating animals or you can have a child work on pinch and tear skills and just
leave the scissors in the pencil bag!


Hibernating Bear Paper Plate Craft– This cave craft by A Little Pinch of Perfect is a cute craft that uses simple materials for children to create a cave for a bear to sleep in for the winter. Children work on cutting, drawing, pasting, and painting skills. Sequencing skills are an essential piece of this craft.

Racoon Craft– Use a clothes pin, newspaper print, and black paper to make a cute racoon craft that supports fine motor skills.


Hibernation Sensory Bins


Hibernation Sensory Bin- To make a hibernation sensory bin, all you need are various textures, possibly animal toys or figures, and hands! Use a large bin and add items such as:

  • dry beans
  • rice
  • crumbled paper
  • dry split peas
  • sticks
  • cotton balls
  • pine cones
  • wooden trees
  • glass gems
  • rocks
  • and more

Making a sensory bin with a hibernation theme is great for visual and tactile exploration of various textures but you could also incorporate fine motor skills by making sleeping animal homes for winter. We have some examples in our polar bear sensory bin that would transfer well to a hibernation sensory bin.

These sensory bins can go along with a preschool hibernation theme as literacy activities when incorporating different preschool books.

Hibernation Theme Play Dough- Use a plastic tray and play dough along with animal figures, rocks, glass gems, beads, popsicle sticks, etc. to create a woods small world for hibernating animals. Press the animals into the play dough to create animal tracks as they retreat for their winter sleep. There is so much possibility with this idea!

There are multiple ways for kids to engage with this tray to include building dens and hibernating spots for the animals. Scissor use helps to provide opportunities for grasping skill development and hand strengthening. When children manipulate the play dough, they are strengthening fingers, developing eye-hand coordination and bilateral hand skills.  

Bear Deep Breathing Activity– We used a polar bear for this deep breathing activity, but you can make it into a bear for a hibernation activity, too. Print it off and work on deep breathing as a sensory and self-regulation tool.


We hope that you enjoyed this round-up of hibernation activities listed here as they are simply perfect for the winter season! They build essential skills that kids need while allowing them to remain engaged and provide opportunities for creativity!

Regina Allen

Regina Parsons-Allen is a school-based certified occupational therapy assistant. She has a pediatrics practice area of emphasis from the NBCOT. She graduated from the OTA program at Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute in Hudson, North Carolina with an A.A.S degree in occupational therapy assistant. She has been practicing occupational therapy in the same school district for 20 years. She loves her children, husband, OT, working with children and teaching Sunday school. She is passionate about engaging, empowering, and enabling children to reach their maximum potential in ALL of their occupations as well assuring them that God loves them!

Arctic Animals Word Search

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Arctic animals word search

Today I have a great arctic animals word search to share as a winter tool to develop visual perceptual skills, handwriting, attention, and executive functioning skills, all with an arctic theme. This printable arctic animals worksheet is a fun winter therapy theme in occupational therapy that you can use all season long. You’ll also want to check out our winter fine motor activities which includes hands-on activities and free winter worksheets to support underlying areas of development.

Arctic animal word search PDF
Free winter word search

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!

Arctic Animals Word Search

We created this arctic animal word search to use in therapy with a winter theme, while building skills. During the cold months, an arctic animal theme is a common one!

This arctic animal word search includes words such as:

  • narwhal
  • puffins
  • reindeer
  • arctic fox
  • seals

This worksheet, provided to you in pdf format, can either be the jumping off point to talking about arctic animals, or the wrap up after learning about all of these amazing creatures.

The narwhal is the “unicorn of the sea”.  Maybe that is what makes them so popular.  Their spiraled tusks can reach up to nine feet in length.  Presumed (by me) to be a fictional animal like the unicorn, or an extinct creature such as the dinosaurs.  These are neither fictional, nor extinct, but an animal that is loved by many children, making it a motivating theme in occupational therapy goal achievement.

Puffins, reindeer, arctic fox, and seals are just delightful.  Even the most deadly arctic animals seem cuddly from afar.  Unless you are headed on an expedition to Antarctica, the only place you might spot these is the zoo, or online unfortunately.  

Now that winter is fully upon us, this is a great time to use a winter theme for your lesson plans.  Whether you live somewhere freezing with nine foot snow drifts, or in the south where it was 75 degrees on Christmas Day, this is a cool theme. 

Learners who live in the snow can personally relate to this winter theme, while those in warmer climates have to research and imagine the cold.

The OT Toolbox has great worksheets and resources to cover your treatment planning needs! 

That’s where this free winter word search comes into play.

Before jumping into the “what and why” of word searches, let’s talk strategy!  When completing puzzles and word searches, are you type 1 who just dives right in and searches in a random fashion, or type 2 who has a systematic way of proceeding? 

One tip for scanning for words is to earch row by row across the lines looking for the first letter in the word. When that letter is found, look in all directions around the letter for the second letter in the word. Work sequentially to scan for each letter in the word search this way.

One benefit to scanning for words systemically is that you are not only targeting an important visual processing skill (visual scanning and saccadic eye movements) but you are working through the task in an organized manner. This is effective for addressing visual attention needs, as well as the executive functioning skill of task completion.

As a firm type 2, it seems this is the correct way to go about completing puzzles and word searches.  I teach these types of  strategies when working on visual motor or perceptual tasks.  It may not be as exciting, but it is efficient and effective.  

Use an Arctic Animal Word Search in Occupational Therapy

Occupational therapy practitioners use word searches to target several areas of development. Let’s break it down:

Why do we do word searches? Is it for fun, personal achievement, or because it is required? Possibly all of the above, however, worksheets like this Arctic Animal Word Search build necessary visual perceptual skills.

What skills are being addressed?

Visual Perception: There are seven categories of visual perception.  Which ones do you think are being used in this winter animal word search activity?

  1. Visual memory – remembering what was seen long enough to find it somewhere else
  2. Visual scanning – being able to look at all of the choices (either in random or sequential order)
  3. Visual form constancy – looking at items that might be slightly different or in a different position and recognizing they are the same figure
  4. Visual figure ground – picking out items from competing backgrounds
  5. Visual spatial relations – identify items in relation to other items. What is in front, next to, behind
  6. Visual closure – making sense of an item when only given part of it, such as doing a puzzle
  7. Visual discrimination – the ability to idenfity differences between objects which may be obvious or subtle

If you responded, all of the above, you are correct!  Imagine the amount of visual skills, attention, concentration, brain power, and motivation it takes to incorporate all of these skills at the same time? 

Visual perception is more than just arctic animal worksheets.  It is a much needed skill for self care, activities of daily living, reading, writing, and simply navigating one’s environment.  Work pages are a controlled systematic format to build these skills.

Make this arctic animal worksheet part of your bigger treatment plan.  Your plan could be a winter theme, animals, visual perception, or any combination of the above.  The OT Toolbox has tons of new and archived resources for visual perceptual activities and ideas, including this animal themed visual perception activity in a slide deck task.

Besides visual perception, what other skills are being addressed using this Winter word search ?

  • Fine motor – By completing the arctic animal word search, address: grasping pattern, wrist stability, intrinsic hand muscle development, pencil control
  • Bilateral coordination – Holding the paper while writing on the word search, use hand dominance, using “helper hand”, crossing midline
  • Proprioception – Address sensory input such as pressure on paper, grip on writing tool
  • Strength – Target strengthening by using the arctic animal wordsearch with shoulder, elbow, wrist, hand, core, head control
  • Executive function- Target specific skills by completing the printable word search including: following directions, attention, focus, sequencing, planning, task completion, frustration tolerance
  • Social function – Use this word search in OT sessions by working together in a group, problem solving, sharing materials and space, turn taking, talking about the activity

How do I grade this free winter word search activity? (in a clinical setting “grade” means to adapt or modify)

  • Laminate the page for using markers and wipes. This can be useful for reusability as well as the enjoyment markers bring.
  • Different colored paper may make it more or less challenging for your learner
  • Enlarging the font may be necessary to beginning learners who have difficulty scanning
  • Review skills first such as scanning, decoding, and usable strategies if you need to make the task easier.
  • Project this page onto a smart board for students to come to the board and write in big letters.
  • Higher level learners can write sentences with these words on the back of the page for more practice, or draw these items on a paper.
  • More or less prompting may be needed to grade the activity to make it easier or harder.
  • Try different writing utensils. This can be very motivating.  Some learners work better with markers, as they glide easier on paper. Dot or bingo markers are super fun to use. Did you know that golf sized pencils promote more of a tripod grasp than traditional long pencils?
  • Use different colored paper for more or less visual contrast.
  • Have learners write a sentence using each unscrambled word.
  • Draw pictures of each of the words or create a picture containing all of the words.

How to document this winter word search PDF activity:

  • First determine what goals and skills you are addressing. Are you looking strictly at visual perception, visual motor skills, or something else entirely such as executive function and behavior?
  • Focus your observations on the skills you are addressing.  It is alright to address one or ten skills at once, just be sure to watch for those skills during the activity.  This can take practice to watch everything all at once. Newer clinicians often videotape sessions to go back and review clinical observations they may have missed.
  • Use data to back up your documentation. Avoid or limit phrases such as min assist, fair, good, some, many, etc.  They are vague and do not contain the numbers and data critical to proficient documentation.  Instead use percentages, number of trials, number of errors, number of prompts, minutes of attention, or behavioral reactions.
  • This type of documentation may feel foreign at first if this is not what you are used to, however insurance and governing agencies are becoming more strict on accurate documentation.

free winter word search

Want a free printable arctic animal word search? Enter your email address into the form below. You can also access this printable winter word search inside the Member’s Club. Level 1 members will find it in our Vision Membership Tools and Level 2 members will find the resource there as well as in our Arctic Animals Therapy Theme.

Or, enter your email address into the form below for immediate access:

What’s next?  The OT Toolbox has a wonderful Winter Fine Motor Kit packed with activities and ideas, including arctic animal pencil control pages, cutting and snipping worksheets, pinch and grip activities and tons more!

Winter Fine Motor Kit

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.

New Year Printable

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Free printable for New Years

Today, I have a fun New Year printable for you: A New Year’s maze worksheet! What are you and your learners doing to prepare for next year?  As a writing prompt and lesson starter, we are including a free downloadable New Year Maze to help out. This printable end-of-year activity for students is great for reflecting on the past year, helping students set goals for the new year, AND developing a growth mindset for a new year!

Free New Years printable for kids

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 New Year’s Printable: Maze Worksheet

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    NEW YEAR Printable

    As the new year approaches, there should be time for self-reflection on the accomplishments and lessons learned this year.  

    That’s where this New Years printable comes into play: reviewing the past year, and looking toward the upcoming year, all with a growth mindset.

    Not all lessons will be positive, nor should they be.  People learn and grow through making mistakes. Growth mindset, as highlighted in our recent post on supporting growth mindset mistakes, is a great tool for understanding the concept of learning and growing. 

    Another resource, the Big Life Journal is a great resource for goal planning and growth mindset.

    HOW TO USe THE NEW YEAR MAZE Worksheet

    The New Year Maze is a printable New Year’s worksheet kids will love. The printable is a three part task that can be used in therapy, at home, or as a therapy home program over the holiday break.

    Included on this New Years printable are three aspects:

    1. Write a memory from this year.
    2. Complete the maze.
    3. Then write a new goal for this year. 

    Because the New Year’s printable is a tool for therapy and building skills, it focuses on various aspects of development: visual motor skills, visual perception, and handwriting all in a functional maze activity.

    The free printable has three different versions. 

    1. The first is a color version of the New Year Maze highlighting the writing line for learners with visual perceptual challenges during writing tasks
    2. The other two versions are printer-friendly in black and white, with single rule lines
    3. Printer-friendly with wide rule writing lines. containing two different styles of lines

    This printable New Year’s maze can be used with different levels or to address various skills in therapy…so print off copies for your therapy caseload or classroom.

    Use the New Year’s maze worksheet to:

    • Lowest level learners can dictate what they would like written, and/or draw pictures
    • Middle level learners can write one or two words about their memories and goal, or copy from a model
    • Higher level learners can write an idea about a New Years goal, then use this as a writing prompt for a longer paper. This turns into a multilevel activity to use during many sessions.  They can also draw about their ideas, or copy the designs
    • Put learner’s page into a sheet protector to reference later in the school year and again at the end of December
    • Make this part of a larger lesson plan including gross motor, sensory, social, executive function, or other fine motor skills.  This New Year Activities post is full of great ideas to expand your treatment sessions
    • Talk about memories, describe what makes them great or terrible, and what they learned from it.  Share your own memories of the year to make yourself relatable
    • Enlarging the font may be necessary to beginning handwriting students who need bigger space to write
    • More or less prompting may be needed to grade the activity to make it easier or harder
    • Executive function – observe how your learners handle this open ended task.  Some skills to watch for are: following directions, attention to task, attention to detail, focus, sequencing, planning, task completion, neatness, impulse control, compliance, behavior, and work tolerance are all important skills to learn
    • If your learners are struggling, deconstruct the task to determine what area is causing them difficulty.  Visual perception, handwriting, thought processing, executive function, fine motor skills, strength, or 27 other possibilities could be causing frustration or shutdown

    New Years Printable for Setting Goals with Kids

    You can use this New Year’s printable in therapy to work on specific goals with kids and set objectives for the upcoming year.

    Writing goals and setting objectives is at the heart of individual education planning (IEP).  While this is tedious, it is necessary and effective.  While encouraging learners to set their own goals, consider how you formulate the goals used in their IEP.  SMART goals are key to successful goal planning.  Are your goals specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timebound?  If not, they may fail.  

    Here is a post on breaking down goals to get you started.  Learners might need a tool such as this goal ladder to help them understand and formulate SMART goals.  

    As you work with your learners to set great goals on this New Years Maze, think of the reason they may have failed in the past.  Perhaps their goal was not:

    • specific enough (I will eat less junk food), 
    • measurable (how much is less junk food), 
    • attainable (can you really cut back on junk food), 
    • relevant (is eating junk food causing you a problem), and 
    • timebound (how long do you give yourself to eat less snacks?)

    As you think about your own goals, is the type of goal, or an element of it, holding you back?  Challenge yourself to write a really SMART goal this year and see if you can make progress.  It could be difficult, or very easy (I will eat three pieces of chocolate every day).

    Growth Mindset for the New Year

    When we work with kids using this New Year’s printable activity, we can talk about their cup being half empty, half full, or bubbling over.

    This goes back to growth mindset and personal beliefs. Learners of all ages and stages have different feelings and beliefs about their skills. 

    • Some believe they are just terrible at everything and their cup is still draining. 
    • Others feel they are amazingly perfect, and their cup is bubbling over with enthusiasm. 
    • The third group are the realists.  They understand we are never perfect, there is always room for self improvement. 

    Unless your learners are truly perfect, you might have to gently squash a couple of bubbles, and point out things they can improve, or a new skill while pondering their New Year’s Maze assignment.  This is the essence of learning and change.

    As I think about the upcoming year, I challenge myself to set personal objectives. This year was a gratitude jar.  I wrote down all of the great things that happened, the moments that made me thankful, and the shining stars in my life.  I will read this in the new year to reflect on what went right this year.

    Free New Year’s Printable Maze Worksheet

    Want a copy of this New Year’s worksheet (that builds skills in many areas?) Enter your email address into the form below. Or, if you are a member of The OT Toolbox Member’s Club, access this printable New Year’s activity in our New Years Therapy Theme (Level 2 members).

    Free New Year’s Printable: Maze Worksheet

      Are you interested in resources on (check all that apply):
      We respect your privacy. Unsubscribe at anytime.
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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.

      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!

      Tools for a Newborn not Sleeping

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      newborn not sleeping? these tools will help

      Newborn not sleeping? One of the main occupations of infants is sleep but for parents, finding sleep remedies for babies can be the interrupting point in every other occupation of the parents (beyond holding, feeding, and caring for the newborn). Here, we are covering how to support the newborn fighting sleep as well as the parents struggling to get newborns and babies to sleep safely. These strategies support the whole household. Let’s take a look at this important area of occupational performance.

      Supporting sleep hygiene, or good sleep habits in parents as well as in babies can be an area that occupational therapy professionals address as a daily occupation for the whole family unit.

      Tips for a newborn not sleeping

      Sleep remedies for Babies

      This sleep remedy information is essential for parents of newborns, but also pediatric occupational therapy practitioners who may be working with parents of newborns.

      When a newborn is not sleeping, supporting parents of newborns, babies, and even toddlers is an area of support that OT practitioners can address. Pediatric sleep is an occupation of the whole family!

      Let’s break down practical advice for creating an effective bedtime routine for both the baby and the parent.

      Strategies for newborn not sleeping

      Occupational therapy providers can offer skilled interventions for occupational therapy to support parents of babies fighting sleep so that it impacts the occupational performance of others in the home, including everyday tasks, caring for other children in the home, work, daily self-care, emotions, mental status, and cognitive thought processes.

      This occurs through parent education, documenting strategies using a sleep journal, analyzing results, and making suggestions based on the dynamic needs of the family. We cover all of this below, as well as sleep strategies and tools to support newborns and babies in sleep.

      Newborn fighting sleep? Create a routine

      Parents of newborns have a common problem, all beginning with the newborn fighting sleep.

      The issue is that there are several things at play here, occurring in a cycle.

      1. The newborn fights sleep.
      2. The parents try different strategies.
      3. The baby sleeps for a short period but wakes.
      4. The sleep deprived parents try the easiest strategy to get baby back to sleep.

      Then the cycle continues. But what really happens is that the baby is on a maladaptive sleep routine, or rather, the fact that the baby fighting sleep has become part of the routine.

      Additionally, children with challenges in sleep will likely impact the sleep routines of their caregivers and everyone else in the home. When the baby’s sleep is consistently poor, the parents may adapt strategies such as co-sleeping, which results in insufficient sleep.

      The importance of establishing a bedtime routine is enormous. It’s been found that parents instructed to introduce bedtime routines have reported rapid improvements in sleep quality.

      Your new baby will not be ready to follow a set sleep schedule during the first couple of weeks, so looking for signs that they might be tired is the best way to tell when you should put them to bed. They might be crying more, wanting to be held, having heavy eyelids, or sucking on their thumb. You can help them to fall asleep by gently rocking or bouncing them, feeding or swaddling them.

      The transition from holding the baby to laying them down in their crib is where things can get difficult. 

      So often, the young infant or baby is comforted by the warmth and proprioceptive input offered by the arms holding them in close. The baby can even feel the heartbeat of their mother that they were so close to for months in the womb. That comfort is quickly stopped when they are placed into a cool sleep surface. It can be an abrupt change that wakes up baby into a state of startled irritations.

      When parents experience this situation over and over again night after night, the sleep quality in the home suffers.

      So how to support restful sleep in babies and in the whole household?

      One suggestion that is hard for many parents is that you should not let your baby fall completely asleep in your arms. This is because they will get used to this comfortable position and may start wanting to fall asleep this way every time.

      Establish a nightly sleep routine to establish rhythm in sleep needs:

      • start with a warm bath
      • Include slow massage with a warm towel
      • Sing nightly lullabies
      • Complete the night time routine in a dimly lit and quiet space
      • Include bedtime stories along with toddler siblings or other family household members

      Create another routine for nighttime feeding ritual:

      • Diaper changes often wake up baby in the middle of the night. Be prepared with diaper, wipes, spare clothing, and a bag or place to put dirty diapers right at the changing area
      • After the diaper change, then do the feeding
      • Sit in a rocking chair or lounge chair 
      • Keep the lighting low
      • Softly hum or sing
      • Pat baby’s bottom slowly and with a rhythm

      The disruption to sleep can be a source of anxiety for parents, especially as insomnia becomes expected. Having a calm sense can actually support baby more than the worry or anxiety. This can be easier said than done, however, and having a few regulation tools for parents can be a help.

      Getting them comfortable with their own bed early on will help with healthier sleep hygiene. Instead, notice when your baby is starting to drift off and put them in their bed before they are completely asleep.

      They will wake up many times throughout the night to be fed or changed, so be prepared for them to wake every few hours.

      Know that sleep is a fluid area development…meaning that routines will change sometimes nightly as the baby develops.

      When to start a sleep routine with newborns

      Getting into a routine right away with your baby is important not only for them but also for you. Sleep at night when your baby is asleep and as you need during the day. Make a habit of doing chores during the day like cleaning or showering while your baby naps, or even nap while they do. You can even schedule to have someone watch your child once a week during nap time while you run errands. This will allow you to get things done that you need without having to watch your baby every second.

      Start a nighttime routine of changing your baby into their pajamas and then reading them a book (or singing them a song) before putting them to bed. This will set you up for success for when they are older and starting to fight sleeping a little more. Your baby will still wake through the night for a couple of feedings at this age, but it will start to happen less and less. If your child is having trouble falling asleep, it may be because:

      • They are hungry
      • They are spitting up
      • They have had too much or not enough sleep
      • Their swaddle is too tight or too loose
      • They are having a sleep regression (usually around 4 to 6 months old)

      Recognize that sleep routines change over time as as development happens. What works at one stage may need to change at other stages.

      Newborn Fighting Sleep due to sleep location

      During the first weeks and months after birth, learning how to help your baby sleep can be a challenge for many parents.

      It is important to pay attention to the place you are letting your baby fall asleep during their first couple of weeks of life.

      They will quickly learn to become comfortable in whatever place they are in, so if they learn to fall asleep in your arms, this will be how they will always want to fall asleep. Unfortunately, this is not a practical option for either of you, so get your baby used to falling asleep in their crib from day one.

      One thing that new parents consider doing is having their baby fall asleep in bed with them. Doing this has been proven to lead to higher rates of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). 

      The first step to effective sleep routines is deciding where the baby will sleep whether that be in a crib or bassinet.

      The risk of SIDS which could be avoided in this case by simply putting your baby to sleep in their own bed. A bassinet or a crib can be used for your child’s bed which can easily be kept in your room or in your baby’s room, whichever you prefer. Make sure that your baby is falling asleep in a smoke-free area, and that their bed meets safety standards by going to cpsc.gov. 

      This includes leaving out the pillows, sleep positioners, toys, and blankets.

      positioning strategies for a newborn not sleeping

      One strategy to support the newborn not sleeping is thinking about bed and sleep positioning. Your baby should be put to sleep on their back on a firm but soft surface just as they are falling asleep.

      If you put them to bed while they are still slightly awake, they will learn that they can fall asleep on their own, without the need of a parent to rock them to sleep. Do not put them to sleep with a tv in their room, as it can affect their ability to fall asleep. Read more about how electronics effect sleep in your child for more information.

      Baby’s Head and Sleep

      During the first few months of a baby’s life, they will not yet have strong enough muscles to lift their head or push something off of them like a blanket if they need.

      This is why it is important to lay your baby on a firm but soft surface on their back with nothing else around them.

      Do this every time you put them to sleep. Keep soft objects, loose bedding, stuffed animals, or anything that could trap your baby away from them.  You will want to make sure that your baby’s face and head are not covered while they sleep.

      To help you remember this, the saying “Back to sleep, tummy to play” was created to help your baby sleep. You can find out more about it here.

      More tools for the newborn not sleeping

      Sleep clothing- For clothing, it is suggested that your baby wears no more than one layer more than what you would wear in that same space. Typically this means that your child will be comfortable in a onesie and swaddle. Do not let the swaddle come high enough that it touches their face.

      Room temperature- Make sure that their room is not too hot and not too cold. If their chest is sweaty, they are too hot and you should take off one of their layers. A small fan in the baby’s room can help too, and additionally, the white noise from the sound of the fan can drown out other noises in the home and act as a white noise machine.

      Thinking about these considerations, it’s also important to consider development.

      Newborn Fighting Sleep? What’s normal?

      So, when a newborn is not sleeping through the night, what is typical for the age and the stage? Did you know that newborns fight sleep as a developmental stage?

      For the first 3 to 4 months your baby may only stay awake for about 1 hour at a time, but they will then start to get into a routine of sleeping every 2 hours for a longer amount of time.

      Up to the time they are three months old, they should be getting about 14 to 17 hours of sleep. Make sure they have no less than 11 hours and no more than 19 hours of sleep.

      During the first three months, that hour can go by very quickly and it can seem like the newborn is fighting sleep, when they are actually developmentally on track. After about an hour, the newborn may have something waking them: hunger, diaper changes, and just overall short circadian rhythms.

      Between 4 to 6 months old, they will be getting about 12-15 hours of sleep, but should not be getting less than 10 hours and no more than 18 hours of sleep.

      When we see problems here is that not all babies easily fall into this sleep regimen. There can be real challenges limiting sleep. Consider the areas stated above:

      • Routines or lack of them
      • Technology use
      • Positioning needs
      • Environment
      • Temperature
      • Clothing
      • Feeding schedule
      • Many other considerations!

      Around 4 to 6 months old is when your baby will most likely have what is known as a sleep regression. A sleep regression is when your baby is able to sleep for longer lengths of time at each sleep cycle and will not need to be put down for a nap as many times during the day. 

      The baby fighting sleep at this stage is also developmental as this sleep regression happens right when the baby is beginning to develop more mobility and motor control.

      It’s important to remember that every child will sleep differently and stay asleep for different lengths of time. Some may prefer to fall asleep on surfaces that are firm while others may love their swaddle. Differences can also come from sensory preferences which impact a baby’s sleep.

      Documenting Sleep remedies for babies

      Taking all of these developmental stages into consideration, as well as the sleep remedies listed above, there is more to the process.

      Occupational therapy practitioners can provide intervention by supporting parents and families with use of a sleep diary. A sleep diary can be used by parents of newborns and babies to document hours slept, and tools used as a support.

      When a sleep diary, or sleep journal is used, the family is able to track sleep habits and routines, including successful and unsuccessful tactics. Occupational therapy practitioners can then use information from the sleep journal to identify needs and make recommendations based on the baby’s development, family dynamics, strengths and needs of the family.

      This article on AOTA suggests a sleep diary with questions such as:

      • What time did you start trying to put the child to bed?
      • What time did your child go to bed?
      • What time did your child fall asleep?
      • How many times did your child wake during the night?
      • What time did your child wake in the morning?
      • How much awake time did your baby have during the day before?

      Other sleep journal questions can include:

      • What did you do before bed to encourage sleep?
      • What sleep strategies were used? (rocking, dark room, sound machine, etc.)
      • How long did the baby sleep?
      • Where did the baby sleep?
      • How long did they sleep before waking?
      • How many times did the baby wake during the night?
      • Reasons for waking during the night? (Example: diaper change, feeding, etc.)
      • What time did the baby wake for the day?

      When it comes to sleep remedies for babies, there can be a lot of trial and error. Try to enjoy this time with your young child!

      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.

      Visual Figure Ground

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      visual figure ground

      Vision and visual skills are complex with sub-categories such as visual figure ground. Luckily, occupational therapists are equipped with the ability and knowledge to assess vision at many levels. One type of visual skill that OTs assess for is called visual figure ground. In this post, we will break down what figure ground means, how visual-figure ground it fits into vision as a whole, and some red flags we look for. You’ll find some creative figure ground activities to build this skill, too!

      Visual figure ground

      WHAT IS VISUAL FIGURE GROUND?

      Visual figure ground is the ability to discriminate between the object of focus and the other objects that are also in view, using visual skills such as attention, visual memory, and other components of visual perceptual skills. This is a hugely important skill in reading and writing, as well as learning and retaining information. 

      Vision as a whole is made up of many parts. For daily activities, sighted individuals need to have visual clarity/focus (this can be adjusted with glasses), eye movement skills, and visual attention.  

      In other words, figure ground is the ability to see an object and ignore the background. Without this ability, it may seem like a child needs glasses even though they may have technically perfect vision at the optometrist.

      Visual figure ground has to do with visual attention, and how the eyes work with the brain to understand an image.

      VISUAL FIGURE GROUND: RED FLAGS

      Below a general list of red flags to look for when it comes to visual figure ground. Many of these red flags are the same for other visual perception skills, as it often requires the combination of several skills to perform a task.

      This is not an exhaustive list, but some ideas to work from. 

      • Difficulty completing age-appropriate puzzles
      • Difficulty reading or searching for important information in a text
      • Unable to complete mazes, “I Spy”, word searches, etc. in a similar way to their peers
      • Prefers simple artwork/images to complex 
      • Gives up quickly when looking for an item in their desk
      • Assumes many items are “lost” when they are in view/nearby
      • Difficulty coping from the board 
      • Unable to find a toy they want from the toy box
      • Difficulty finding a yogurt cup in the full refrigerator

      You may be wondering, how do I know if its a problem with visual skills or something bigger, like attention overall?

      Visual Figure Ground Activities

      Being that the primary occupation of children is play, so it is through play that we address underlying skills such as figure ground. You’ll love this long list of visual activities that target a variety of areas, including visual figure ground.

      Playing “I Spy” or “hide-and-go-seek” with familiar objects around the house can be a great way to get their brains prepped for visual discrimination of figure ground. They will use visual attention, visual tracking, and problem solving skills to win! 

      Reading books or engaging in other activities provided by ‘Busy Town’, ‘Where’s Waldo’, or, of course, the ‘I Spy’ series are other great places to start. There are towns of great vision books recommendations for you that work to develop skills through reading.

      You can also involve younger children in these types of activities by having them sort colorful cereal into the color categories, dig through the laundry basket to find matching socks, or really, anything that makes sense in your home. 

      Figure Ground Worksheets

      Sometimes, relating the vision skills to a reading or writing task is needed, and that’s where the figure ground worksheets come into play. Worksheets can get a bad rap, but it is possible to make worksheets functional, fun, and meaningful for kids so that they develop essential skills.

      We have an awesome apple activity set that was developed to target visual skills, as well as tons of free resources for you to build visual figure ground skills! 

      These free printable resources target figure ground skills and cover a variety of themes.

      Visual processing bundle
      Visual Processing Bundle is a collection of resources on visual processing skills.

      One of our most popular tools to address visual figure ground is our Visual Processing Bundle. It’s a collection of printable resources, worksheets, handouts, and activity booklets geared towards all things vision.

      Sydney Thorson, OTR/L, is a new occupational therapist working in school-based therapy. Her
      background is in Human Development and Family Studies, and she is passionate about
      providing individualized and meaningful treatment for each child and their family. Sydney is also
      a children’s author and illustrator and is always working on new and exciting projects.

      Christmas Tree Activities

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      Christmas tree activities

      Check out the Christmas Tree Activities on this blog post for creative ways to incorporate a Christmas tree theme into occupational therapy interventions. Tis the season for Christmas tree crafts and festive holiday activities that develop skills and learning. A lot of these Christmas crafts and sensory ideas only require a few items to make and they can last for many years to come. Add these Christmas occupational therapy ideas to your therapy toolbox.

      Christmas tree activities for kids including fine motor Christmas tree crafts, and Christmas tree sensory activities.

      Christmas Tree Activities

      These activities are listed below in sections, so you can pick and choose the holiday activities that meet the needs of the child you are working with in therapy (or at home as a parent).

      Kids can work on fine motor skills, visual scanning, visual tracking, in-hand manipulation skills and grasp patterns with a holiday theme. The tree activities below develop skills through Christmas tree ornaments, garland and Christmas themed sensory bins.  

      Christmas Tree Crafts

      These are fine motor crafts that build motor skills, coordination, planning, and hand strength with a Christmas tree theme.

      Make a bottle cap Christmas tree

      Bottle Cap Christmas Tree craft-Save those bottle caps and make a Christmas tree. Help you kids paint and arrange the bottle caps into a Christmas tree. This is a great fine motor eye- hand activity for kids.

      Fine motor Christmas tree craft
      Clothes pin Christmas tree

      Christmas Tree Craft– Have some clothespins siting in a drawer? Gather those up with some paint, stickers and paperclips to make a fun craft for the holidays.

      Gift tag Christmas tree art
      Christmas tree stamp art

      Christmas Tree Stamp Art– have your child make homemade gift tags. This activity will work on fine motor skills (scissor skills and grasp patterns). 

      A Very Merry Occupational Therapy Christmas –This article provide a variety of activities focused around Christmas for the whole month! Scroll down to activity eight to make a craft of stringing  cranberries and popcorn to make garland for your tree. Stringing items works on so many important skills. Bilateral coordination, visual tracking and visual scanning, fine motor skills and patterning. 

      Christmas tree made from egg cartons

      Fine Motor Egg Carton Christmas Tree Craft-Save your egg cartons to make this fun Christmas tree craft. Grab some green paint and decorations to help your child make a table decoration. 

      Christmas Tree Fine Motor Craft– Grab a hold punch and paper and let your kids have fun by making Christmas trees with various amounts of holes. Can be used as a great way to count as well. The squeezing of the hole punch provides proprioceptive input and strengthening to the hands. 

      Christmas Tree Scissor Skills Craft– Use the same concept and have kids work on scissor skills with this easy cutting activity. These Christmas trees would look great on a holiday garland.

      Make a pine cone Christmas tree and build fine motor skills.

      Pine Cone Christmas Tree  Ornaments-Take a walk outside and gather up pinecones. Grab some paint and glitter, pom poms and make these cute ornaments with your kids. 

      Christmas suncatcher craft
      Christmas tree suncatcher

      Christmas Tree Suncatcher Craft-what is better then seeing the sun in the winter? Having a beautiful sun catcher to see it through. This activity works on pincer grasp and in-hand manipulation skills. 

      Make a pattern Christmas tree with beads

      Pattern Christmas Tree Ornament– This fine motor craft is a fun one to work on pincer grasp, tripod grasp, in-hand manipulation, and more.

      Christmas Tree Sensory Activities

      Christmas tree sensory activity
      Christmas tree sensory play

      Christmas Tree Sensory Play-make a fun Christmas tree with foam shapes and water. A fun sensory activity that works on cutting, patterning and sorting. 

      Christmas Sensory Bin–kids love playing in sensory bins. We used green peas and potpourri as the items in the bin. To make it a Christmas tree them use the green peas and add round ball for ornaments.

      Fine motor Christmas card craft
      Christmas tree card to build fine motor skills

      This Christmas tree card kids can make is a fine motor skill activity that builds scissor skills, hand strength, eye-hand coordination, and more.

      Christmas tree drink wrap

      Christmas Tree Oral Motor Activity– Did you know that drinking from a juice box offers kids heavy work through the mouth as they suck on the small juice box straw? This Christmas tree craft can be used with a juice box for a bit of calming sensory input through the mouth.

      Use this Christmas mindfulness activity as a coping strategy for kids during the holidays.

      Christmas Tree Mindfulness Activity– Use this Christmas tree deep breathing activity as a sensory break to address self-regulation for sensory needs or emotional needs. Print and go!

      About Christina: Christina Komaniecki is a school based Occupational Therapist. I graduated from Governors State University with a master’s in occupational therapy.   I have been working in the pediatric setting for almost 6 years and have worked in early intervention, outpatient pediatrics, inpatient pediatrics, day rehab, private clinic and schools. My passion is working with children and I love to see them learn new things and grow. I love my two little girls, family, yoga and going on long walks.

       

      Hot Chocolate Craft

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      Hot chocolate craft

      One of the best ways to be an efficient therapist is to find activities that combine multiple skills at once and this printable hot chocolate craft does just that! Building crafts in occupational therapy is a tool that combines critical skills of coloring, cutting, and gluing that ends with a (sometimes) recognizable product. While it is “easy enough” to hand draw circles and squares for students to practice coloring and cutting skills, why not challenge learners to go one step further? This post not only introduces a great new printable, but offers ways to use and adapt it.

      Hot chocolate craft

      BUILD A HOT Chocolate CRAFT

      The older I get, the more I hate winter, especially cold weather.  Introducing hot cocoa into my diet this time of year helps make this season more bearable.  For those of you who do not love coffee, with all of its variations and super special flavors, cocoa is a great winter substitute to hit the spot. 

      I am not sure if children share the same fondness for this wonderful drink, but they certainly love the marshmallows, sprinkles, and whip cream that decorate the top!

      Motivating learners to work hard is difficult. It takes an engaging assignment that is meaningful to them to produce a willing crowd. 

      That’s where this winter craft comes in!

      This build a hot chocolate craft has a cup that is reminiscent of a very popular drink store. 

      Won’t it be fun to see how your learners decorate this cup, given what they know about popular culture?  My cup might not have a lid, but be overflowing with marshmallows and chocolate chips!

      Color Cut and Glue Crafts in Therapy

      You can use this printable hot chocolate craft template and modify the activity to meet a variety of needs in therapy sessions.

      Modify the Hot chocolate craft download:

      • Lowest level learners may need the pieces cut for them ahead of time, so they can practice color and paste. Alternatively hand this out and see what is created!
      • Middle level learners can cut, color, and paste the craft, working on basic level skills and following directions
      • Higher level learners can decorate their cup, add details, or try and copy a coffee shop logo onto their cup.  
      • Add a writing or story telling prompt to go with this.  Something as simple as, “what do you think this is” or “what would be the best drink to put in your cup”
      • Make this part of a larger lesson plan including gross motor, sensory, social, executive function, or other fine motor skills
      • Gross motor – run across the room collecting pieces to add to the build a hot cocoa craft.  Gather pompoms by squatting and bending to retrieve them.
      • Sensory – touching all of the elements of hot cocoa. Describing it in detail. Talk about how it feels, smells, and tastes, or what emotions it might evoke.
      • Executive function – hand the papers out with very limited instruction. Record how well your learners can follow instructions and make the picture look exactly like the example
      • Social skills – sharing resources promotes social function. Talking about a themed lesson plan builds social skills
      • Branch out – add a cooking activity, field trip, movie, or a book to make this build a hot cocoa craft multi-level. This snowman activity pack is full of fun activities
      • Check out these Winter Snow Day activities for more fun
      • Vary the paper. Cardstock might be more challenging to cut through, but it is sturdier to work with
      • Use different writing tools for different effects and skills.  Watercolor, paint, dot markers, chalk, glitter glue, crayons, and markers are some of the options
      • More or less prompting may be needed to grade the activity to make it easier or harder
      • Use a bottle of squeeze glue for sensory input from touching the wet glue, as well as fine motor strengthening from squeezing the bottle
      • Learners can explore other games they could make using this activity 
      • Write a report about hot cocoa, different variations, the history of hot cocoa, jor different celebrations or activities that go with this hot beverage
      • Have students write on a slant board, lying prone on the floor with the page in front to build shoulder stability, or supine with the page taped under the table
      • Add glitter!  Glitter makes everything wonderful

      Make clinical observations using the hot chocolate craft

      When you use this printable color, cut, and glue craft in therapy sessions, you can make several clinical observations using this single printable.

      Collect Data- This printable has a top portion with areas for data collection. The printable includes space to document the amount of support, modifications, verbal cues, and accuracy for coloring, cutting, and glueing aspects of the craft building process.

      Set up the craft at the level needed for the individual user. Then, make observations for collecting data on goal areas:

      • There could be 1,000 observations to be made during any one activity.  The key is to know what you are looking for and measuring.  Coloring skills, executive function, fine motor strength, following directions, attention/focus, self regulation, scissor skills, grip strength, and bilateral coordination, are just a few
      • Watch your students closely as they do their task.  Sometimes teachers and other providers sit back while learners complete their activities.  This reveals an end product, but gives no clues how they got there.  What skills were lacking to make this look nothing like the model? 
      • The “how” is very important as skills get progressively harder. Some learners can get by with poor grasping, strength, or coordination skills while learning to snip with scissors or scribble with a crayon, however, intricate coloring and cutting requires a more mature grasping pattern, executive function, and overall attention to details
      • Observe which skills are holding the learner back, which need more direct practice, and what compensatory strategies you see struggling learners use
      • Need more scissor skills practice?  Check out this color, cut, paste workbook!
      • Here is an Animal Cut and Paste pack.

      More Winter cut and paste crafts you might like include:

      1. Build a Snowman printable
      2. Paper Icicle Craft  
      3. Snow Globe Letter Match 

      Free Hot Chocolate Craft Printable

      All this talk about cocoa has me craving some.  I’ll take mine extra hot, dark chocolate with whipped cream.  Throw in a piece of cake, a chilly day, and a great book, and you have the makings of a wonderful afternoon.  

      Don’t forget to put your email in the box to receive your free worksheet!

      • Level 2 members can access all winter themed activities in one place in our Winter Therapy Theme.
      • Level 1 members can access this resource in our Scissor Skills area along with other free downloads on this site.

      Hot Chocolate Craft 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.

        Occupational Therapy Obstacle Course

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        Occupational therapy obstacle courses

        Occupational therapy practitioners often times use obstacle courses in therapy sessions to target specific skills through the child’s primary occupation: play. It is through an occupational therapy obstacle course that one can work on sensory input, balance, coordination skills, heavy work input, visual motor skills, bilateral coordination, visual motor skills, direction following, and so much more. Let’s break down OT obstacle courses for functional performance.

        Obstacle courses, and the components of gross motor obstacles are a great tool to have in your “therapy bag” of tricks!

        Occupational therapy obstacle course ideas

        Occupational therapy obstacle courses

        Life is full of obstacles. Navigating life’s obstacles builds strength, character, resilience, and focus. Occupational therapy obstacle courses can do the same!

        There are so many ways to target occupational therapy goals using an obstacle course. For example, you can use the various types of crawling to incorporate different heavy work input, targeting strength, stability, and motor planning skills. these are great ways to support lower extremity strength and core strength!

        Obstacle courses are naturally a sensory obstacle course, through the actions and activities involved, however specific themes and underlying targets can be incorporated as well.

        Occupational therapists and occupational therapy assistants use obstacle courses, to address a variety of needs. 

        In this blog post you will discover the benefits of obstacle courses, how they help development using obstacle course, and ideas to build amazing obstacle course activities.

        Benefits of obstacle courses

        What are the benefits of occupational therapy obstacle courses?

        At first glance, obstacle courses build muscle strength, coordination, and motor planning.  This is just the tip of the iceberg. While occupational therapy obstacle courses are great for building strength and coordination, they do so much more. 

        • Executive function – following directions, attention, focus, sequencing, planning, initiation, and  task completion
        • Social function (if working with peers) – working together in a group, problem solving, turn taking, waiting, sharing, and negotiation
        • Behavioral skills – compliance, behavior, and work tolerance
        • Sequencing – remembering all of the tasks in the correct order
        • Motor planning – Target motor planning by working through new obstacles and movement patterns builds new skills and motor pathways
        • Kinesthetic learning – learning by doing, rather than talking about an action
        • Strength – core strength, shoulder and wrist stability, head control, balance, and hand strength are built through obstacle courses. These skills lead to improved sitting balance and fine motor skills
        • Bilateral coordination – Bilateral coordination refers to coordinating both sides of the body to do the same action such as holding onto a rope, or alternating actions such as climbing a ladder
        • Proprioception – information comes into the body through the muscles and joints. This information helps with arousal level, coordination, and attention
        • Sensory information – tactile, visual, olfactory, vestibular, and auditory receptors are activated during obstacle courses

        How do occupational therapy obstacle courses help development?

        All of the skills above are core skills needed for further development. Fine motor skills are built from core strength. Attention and focus are built and regulated from sensory input. Following directions builds working memory. Executive function and social skills are necessary for academic and professional development. 

        How to develop an obstacle course in occupational therapy

        One thing that comes up often is that one will see an OT clinic full of fun toys and think, “OK, in occupational therapy, we play.” This is true! However there is purpose behind each skilled selection of the toys and therapy equipment, and this is particularly true in an OT obstacle course.

        ere are the important steps in setting up an OT obstacle course:

        1. Determine the goals to be addressed.  What is the priority for your learner?  
        2. Build your course around the goals, with emphasis on the highest priority goal
        3. Add motivators – learners work harder given motivation
        4. Create a beginning and ending point – everyone needs to know how far they need to go
        5. Check out Pinterest for obstacle course ideas
        6. Select your obstacle course ideas
        7. As always, Amazon (affiliate link) is full of resources for items to incorporate in your obstacle course

        Obstacle Course Ideas

        Depending on the goals in which are being targeted, you can select from many different obstacle course equipment and activities:

        By using any combination of the occupational therapy goal areas above, you can create a “course of action” to move through a therapy session while accomplishing goals. Combine these target areas with a client’s interest such as super heroes, animals, sports, events, or therapy themes, and you’ve got a client-centered therapy activity that is not only meaningful but also motivating

        Examples of occupational therapy obstacle courses

        Build your course around your prioritized goal(s) to target specific areas:

        • Following directions – set up several obstacles in succession with different variables to follow and remember.  Over, under, times 10, backward, clap your hands, touch your toes.
        • Executive function – have your learner develop and organize the obstacle course for themself or another partner. They can write it down, draw pictures, or use verbal skills to describe the course
        • Self regulation – incorporate heavy work into the course. This could include wearing ankle weights, pushing a ten pound ball, wearing a heavy backpack, and several repetitions of the course
        • Frustration tolerance – make the course very challenging. Add several elements that will challenge your learner, then change the sequence to continue to add more of a challenge
        • Social function – have one learner teach another, pair two learners of different levels to work on waiting, taking turns, and tolerance.  Two similar peers can build competition, or dealing with emotions
        • Coordination – vary the difficulty of the course to build different levels of coordination. Time your learner to measure improvement in coordination without falling
        • Visual motor skills – each time your learner finishes a round of the obstacle course, they have to write a letter, draw a picture, cut out a design, or put pieces into a puzzle

        sensory obstacle courses

        Obstacle courses naturally offer sensory input. By moving through and around obstacles, a child can participate in organizing and regulating sensory processing tasks in a very real and functional manner. It’s through play that this happens.

        Sensory obstacle courses are in fact, every obstacle course! In a typical obstacle activity, sensory input includes:

        • Proprioceptive input– Heavy work input occurs through movement activities but also by using obstacle course equipment such as ladders, ball pits, tumble pits, foam equipment, crawling, animal walks, etc. Each activity offers different motor planning opportunities and different types of body awareness input.
        • Vestibular input– crawling, scooting, sliding, jumping, rolling, tumbling, climbing, etc.
        • Visual input– Visual processing skills are part of navigating in, through, around, under, over obstacles on a course.
        • Tactile input– Moving through a course offers tactile input through movement and manipulation of objects and equipment.
        • Auditory– While not always a necessary aspect of sensory obstacle courses, auditory processing can be targeted in obstacle course objectives.

        You’ll notice that the first three areas listed are the “big three” sensory systems that calm and regulate the body and play a major role in sensory processing. Because of this, an obstacle course is a great therapy tool and often used in sensory interventions. Sensory obstacle courses can be used as part of a sensory diet.

        The Tactile Sensory System is one of the earliest developed senses of the body.  The skin is the largest and the most prevalent organ. The skin performs unique duties for the body.  Most importantly, the skin protects and alerts us to danger and discriminates sensation with regard to location and identification.

        These two levels of sensation work together yet are distinctively important.  Discrimination of touch allows us to sense where a sensation is felt on the body.  With discrimination, we are able to discern a fly that lands on our arm. 

        The second level of the tactile system alerts us to danger.  It allows us to jump in response to the “fight or flight” response when we perceive a spider crawling on our arm. The information received from the tactile system also includes light touch, pain, temperature, and pressure.

        When either of these levels of sensation are disrupted, tactile dysfunction can result.  This presents in many ways, including hypersensitivity to tags in clothing, a dislike of messy play, difficulty with fine motor tasks, a fear of being touched by someone without seeing that touch, a high tolerance of pain, or a need to touch everything and everyone.

        When the tactile system is immature or impaired, the brain can become overly stimulated with resulting poor organization and regulation of input.  Children can then experience difficulty with behavior and concentration as a result.

        Treatment for the child with an impaired tactile sensory system focuses on providing a variety of deep- and light-touch experiences (Koomar & Bundy, 1991).  Additionally, resistance activities, much like those indicated for decreased discrimination of vestibular and proprioceptive information, may be used in the therapeutic sensory diet.

        The Proprioception Sensory System is the recognition and response to the body’s position in space with an internal feedback system using the position in space of the joints, tendons, and muscles.  This sensory system allows the body to automatically react to changes in force and pressure given body movements and object manipulation.  The body receives more feedback from active muscles rather than passive muscle use.  Related to the proprioception system is praxis or motor planning.  Individuals are able to plan and execute motor tasks given feedback from the proprioceptive system. Praxis allows us to utilize sensory input from the senses and to coordinate hat information to move appropriately.

        Treatment for the child with an impaired proprioceptive sensory system focuses on providing intense proprioceptive information and improving postural responses.

        The Vestibular Sensory System is the sense of movement and balance, and uses the receptors in the inner ear and allows the body to orient to position in space.  The vestibular system is closely related to eye movements and coordination. 

        Vestibular sensory input is a powerful tool in helping children with sensory needs.  Adding a few vestibular activities to the day allows for long-lasting effects.  Every individual requires vestibular sensory input in natural development.  In fact, as infants we are exposed to vestibular input that promotes a natural and healthy development and integration of all systems. 

        The sensory vestibular activities listed in this book are playful ways to promote performance and tolerance to movement activities.  They are also challenges against gravity to help kids with difficulties in equilibrium, balance, self-regulation, and adjusting to typical sensory input. 

        The vestibular system operates through receptors in the inner ear and in conjunction with position in space, input from the eyes, and feedback from muscle and joint receptors, is able to contribute to posture and appropriate response of the visual system to maintain a field of vision. 

        This allows an individual to detect movement and changes in the position of the head and body.  Dysfunction in the vestibular system may result in hypersensitivity to movements or hyposensitivity to movements. 

        Attention and focus are built and regulated from sensory input.

        Printable sensory stations in obstacle courses

        Sensory paths and sensory stations can support the areas listed above by simply printing off materials to use in a simple or complex sensory obstacle course.

        An obstacle course can be anything.  It can start as simple as furniture, couch cushions, and a puzzle, or become as elaborate as American Ninja Warrior. First, determine your “why”, then come up with the “what and how”. 

        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.

        New Year Activities for Preschool

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        New Year activities for preschool

        At the end of the year, having a few new year activities for preschool (or any age) isn’t always on your mind, but it can be fun to come up with a creative New Years theme for therapy lesson planning while building skills. These New Year Activities are great for preschool but they can also be adapted to meet any age level. For example, our New Year’s Eve Countdown Chain works on handwriting skills for older children and provides a take home end product for the countdown into the New Year. You can adapt it to use with any age!

        New year activities for preschool

        Preschool activities for preschool

        Can you believe that a new year is already here?  Ring in the New Year with these fun activities that will build some important skills while also celebrating the positivity that comes with the New Year holiday! 

        Use these activities as part of your therapy plans in the school or the clinic as they are great for either setting. 

        There are fun ideas for kids to work on gross motor, fine motor, visual motor, and sensory skills as you get them grasping, pinching, squeezing, blowing, creating, drawing, writing, moving, and, well celebrating. Check out these fine motor activities for preschoolers to extend your thinking to more ideas.

        That’s right! All of these actions are included with the completion of these fun and festive New Year’s activities. Not only will kids be engaged, but they will be motivated to do some of the most challenging of tasks. 

        Also included are a few resources that YOU, as a practitioner, will enjoy using as YOU ring in the New Year. They will help your reflect, mark your achievements, and plan for a new year of progress and growth.  So, come with me and let’s get to ringing in the New Year!

        Sensory New Year Activities

        First, are some fun sensory activities that children will find engaging and provide some tactile, visual, oral, and auditory input. Take your pick:  

        New Year Celebration Play Dough gives you the recipe to create some sparkly, squishy play dough that makes for a wonderful contribution to an invitation tray that helps a child work on fine motor strengthening and provides tactile input as children will not be able to wait to get their hands in it!

        New Year’s Slime gives you a recipe for a slippery way to celebrate the New Year while providing an ultimate tactile activity that provides a plop of science too! Fascinating to make and fascinating to squeeze and squish.  Use these slime recipes and add gold glitter, confetti, or other fun add-ins.

        Confetti Writing Tray provides a fun idea for a simple-to-make writing or drawing tray that only needs kosher salt and glitter confetti which are mixed together and spread into a baking sheet. Children can help create it while working on eye-hand coordination to pour and scoop or the motor skills involved in shaking, and stirring while creating the mixture.  Once it is made, it provides a fun sensory tool for children to work on letter, number, and shape formation.  Easy and festive!

        New Year’s Sensory Bottles shares how to make a New Year-themed sensory bottle that can be used as a calming tool or simply for visual discovery. It includes numbers for the New Year and sparkly items galore! 

        New Year’s Sensory Bin has a festive New Year-theme by using shredded paper, tinsel, candle numbers for the year, party hats, colorful sequins, glitter pipe cleaners and pom-poms, confetti pieces, silver wands, and party blowers. This bin will provide a fun way to work on sensory skills in a variety of ways. 

        New Year’s Eve Bubble Wands provides a craft opportunity with the end product serving as bubble fun for younger kiddos who find a firework celebration a little too noisy and scary. Bubbles get blown into the air and kids enjoy the visual effects and the ability to pop, pop, pop bubbles to make them explode like fireworks. 

        New Year’s Pom-Pom Race is a fun game for kids to play with the use of two simple items: pom-pom balls and a party blower!  Kids blow their party blower to push the pom-pom ball from the start to the finish line.  This a fun game with breath control and deep breathing too!

        New Year’s Eve Noisemaker is a jingle bell craft stick children can make and then literally use it to ring in the New Year! This one can be loud so those kiddos with auditory defensiveness may not find this a pleasurable activity to make or to use.  

        New Year Crafts

        Next, are some fun New Year arts and crafts activities that can help if you need festive ideas for building those fine motor skills such as strength, coordination, grasp, hand dominance, tool use, and a few other skills like bilateral coordination and sequencing. These are fun New Year activities preschoolers will love, but you cna make them more difficult to meet the needs of older children with a few simple modifications.

        Take a look at how you ring in the New Year while being crafty:

        DIY New Year’s Eve Glasses uses pipe cleaners and an old pair of sunglasses with the lenses popped out to work on coordination and manipulation in order to wrap pipe cleaners around the frames and create flower or fireworks designs around the lenses.  

        Sparkly Fireworks Pipe Cleaner Ring uses glitter pipe cleaners to create a fireworks ring children will love to wear and will probably want to create many so be sure to buy multiple colors! This craft activity builds manipulation and coordination as well as direction following with the activity being most appropriate for older children.

        Craft Stick Party Hat Craft is the perfect way to celebrate the New Year while crafting a party hat ornament. Works on overall hand skills and tool use by painting, cutting, and pasting! 

        Fireworks Craft is a colorful way for children to use bilateral coordination and manipulation as they create festive fireworks by bending and twisting pipe cleaners into spirals and zigzag patterns.

        New Year’s Countdown Clock is a fun way to address time management of sorts by building a clock face and creating the countdown clock. With the turning of the clock hands, children can work on identifying time of day and countdown to the New Year. A great way to address manipulation as a child works on twisting pipe cleaners in a spiral to decorate the edge of the clock. 

        New Year’s Eve Scene is for older kiddos who will work on drawing skills while drawing a New Year skyline with buildings and fireworks.  There is also opportunity to discuss what the New Year means to them.

        New Year’s Eve Joke Teller is a folded paper craft for older kids which, when finished, will provide kids with finger movement fun as they play it! 

        New Year Fine Motor Activities

        With this list of activities, you simply use the numbers of the New Year to work on hand and finger strengthening, pincer grasp, dominance, manipulation, and bilateral coordination. 

        Take a look at this exciting list that uses:

        New Year Activities for Visual Motor Skills

        Next, are some visual motor and visual perceptual skill work that help children to work on handwriting, eye-hand coordination, coloring, visual scanning, visual discrimination, and memory skills.

        New Year’s Eve Countdown Game with the object of the game being to cross out all the numbers 1-10 to get the lowest number possible. Dice rolling is a great way to work on cupping of the hands to achieve an arch in order to shake the dice around in the hands. Most kids flatten their hands together or throw the dice from the fingers so work on those arches and bilateral hand cupping. Grab this freebie! 

        New Year’s Counting Memory Game with the object of the game being not only to work on counting, but to recall where they saw the same number of items in order to make a match. Use buttons, coins, whatever you have! Memory skills are challenged with this game.

        New Year’s Where’s My Match Memory Game is like a typical memory game with a little extra twist where the players only look for certain matches working on a higher level of visual memory. 

        New Year’s I Spy Games works on visual scanning and visual discrimination skills to identify and count the number of each game board picture. A free set with multiple boards for play!

        New Year’s Eve Word Scramble works on handwriting skills and is better for use by older children and for those that have good spelling skills.  Handwriting is not a preference for most older kiddos so making it fun is essential.

        New Year Games

        Next, are some super fun gross motor activities that could be used for addressing transitions for children while also addressing gross motor skills and motor planning. They are fun and a festive!

        New Year Gross Motor Dice can easily be used as a break for the brain with a New Year theme! You can use them while at home, during a transition, in the classroom, or while online. These gross motor moves can help anyone ring in the New Year. 

        New Year Exercise and Yoga Game Boards are themed for the New Year and provide a fun game board approach to having kids work on gross motor exercises and yoga poses to keep kids fit and healthy as they start the New Year. The best part? You can play them all year long!!

        Lastly, do you need a little focus and direction in your life as a practitioner? Are seeking an organized approach to your next year in practice? Then these are the two resources you need for the upcoming New Year as they help with reflection, direction, and organization.

        Take the time to reflect on the past year and determine your path and focus for the New Year, you’ll be happy you did! 

        Regina Allen

        Regina Parsons-Allen is a school-based certified occupational therapy assistant. She has a pediatrics practice area of emphasis from the NBCOT. She graduated from the OTA program at Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute in Hudson, North Carolina with an A.A.S degree in occupational therapy assistant. She has been practicing occupational therapy in the same school district for 20 years. She loves her children, husband, OT, working with children and teaching Sunday school. She is passionate about engaging, empowering, and enabling children to reach their maximum potential in ALL of their occupations as well assuring them that God loves them!