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:
I have another free therapy slide deck to share today. This build a snowman activity is an interactive Google slide deck that kids can use to work on eye-hand coordination, spatial awareness concepts, visual scanning, and handwriting (or typing) skills. This snowman activity is based off our popular disguise a turkey slide deck and our decorate a gingerbread house slide decks from earlier this year. If these slide decks are helpful for your virtual occupational therapy interventions, grab this free resource at the bottom of this post and browse the other free slides there.
Build a Snowman Virtually!
Looking for a creative winter-themed activity that builds essential skills while keeping kids engaged? This interactive virtual snowman activity allows kids to make a snowman right on the screen using a Google Slides deck.
No mittens required! Whether you’re using it in a therapy session, classroom, or at home, this snowman building activity makes screen time meaningful. Children can drag and drop pieces to assemble their own snowperson, building a frosty friend AND they’re also strengthening developmental skills.
Why a Snowman Building Kit Supports Development
This digital snowman building kit includes a variety of hats, eyes, noses, arms, scarves, and accessories, allowing endless combinations for children to customize their snowman to make.
As they move items across the screen, kids practice mouse control, keyboard navigation, and visual-motor coordination. These are all essential components of classroom readiness. It’s a playful way to incorporate fine motor skills and eye-hand coordination into a virtual setting, especially when trying to target specific skills.
These perceptual skills are essential for handwriting, reading, and self-care tasks. For occupational therapy practitioners, educators, or caregivers, this snowperson activity can be used intentionally to target specific developmental goals in a motivating way.
Use in Virtual Therapy or In-Person Sessions
This interactive snowman deck is ideal for virtual therapy sessions, making it easier for OT providers to deliver engaging and goal-based treatment even through a screen. But it’s just as powerful for in-person use to let kids take turns to build a snowman as part of a winter-themed group activity or 1:1 skill-based intervention. Use it as a warm-up before handwriting practice or as a fun reward for task completion.
Adapt the Activity Across Ages and Skill Levels
Younger children in preschool or kindergarten can use the snowman slide deck to learn basic directional concepts (left, right, above, below), while older students can use it for more advanced visual memory or spatial planning tasks. Therapists and teachers can modify the directions: ask the child to copy a model, remember a sequence, or write a short story about their snowperson after building.
Make a Snowman That’s Uniquely Theirs
Kids love expressing creativity, and giving them the chance to create a snowperson that’s silly, fancy, sporty, or magical is a great way to build confidence. Add accessories like earmuffs, snowflakes, or pets to increase the challenge or fun factor. Use this snowman making activity in your next therapy plan, snow day learning schedule, or as part of your winter fine motor activities. It’s a no-prep, no-mess way to bring the magic of winter indoors while building essential skills.
Build a snowman activity
I love this slide deck for many reasons. One is that it’s a cute building a snowman activity that kids will love doing. It’s fun to move the pieces on the slide deck and can be a break from the normal virtual lessons or teletherapy.
Therapeutically, this snowman activity can help kids with several skill areas:
Eye-hand coordination
Visual scanning
Spatial relations
Size awareness
Handwriting
Typing
Visual memory
Kids can visually scan the slide to actually build the snowman using different sized snowballs. They can arrange the snowballs to make the snowman.
Then, users can scan the slide to find various pieces for the snowman. Depending on your goals for the child, they can independently build the snowman and decorate their snowman. Other students can be given verbal directions for scanning for eyes, carrot noses, arms, or other individual pieces. The items are scattered around the slide to challenge visual perceptual skills such as visual memory and visual attention.
NOTE– When you access the slide, you are prompted to make a copy onto your Google drive. Once you make that copy, it is yours to edit to meet the needs of your students. You can remove some of the items or make duplicates of some snowman decorations, depending on the needs of your client or student.
Once students are happy with their snowman creation, they can go to the next slide. There, they can type or write details about their snowman. This can challenge visual memory skills and be a great practice for handwriting or typing skills.
Get the Build a Snowman Slide Deck
Enter your email into the form below to access this free slide deck.
A term you may have heard when it comes to sensory processing is sensory dysregulation. What does this mean? Are there clues for dysregulation? We all have differing sensory needs, and dysregulation can look like different things for everyone. Have you ever wondered about specific sensory strategies for regulation to support a dysregulated sensory system? We’ll cover all of this in this post.
Sensory Dysregulation
Remember your last temper tantrum? Do you remember what it felt like to be suddenly so sad, mad, and completely out of control? Most of us probably had our last true temper tantrum more recently than we care to admit.
A majority of those emotional outbursts were probably exacerbated due to a number of reasons; lack of sleep, poor diet, undesirable environment, discomfort, or pain. Deciphering the difference between a tantrum and sensory meltdown is a must.
One ongoing debate in the pediatric therapy world is discussing what behaviors are due to sensory-related reactions, and what behaviors are due to something else. How many toddlers (or teenagers!) temper tantrums may actually be related to their sensory experience? If it really is sensory-based, then what are the solutions?
The OT Toolbox is here to do our best to answer your sensory-related questions. A great first step in determining whether unwanted behaviors are based on sensory experiences, is to learn about what sensory dysregulation is. To get started, here is an article about sensory processing red flags.
Sensory dysregulation refers to a mind or body state which occurs when the body is out of balance due to experiences in the sensory environment. Think about how sounds, textures, exercise, movement, smells, light, and other input can affect your mood. Sensory dysregulation is the result of either too much or too little stimulation for best functioning or self-regulation.
For example, overstimulation anxiety can be a result of too much sensory stimulation that results in overwhelming worries or anxiety. This is just one way that the overload of sensory input can impact us.
Read more about mood and affect and how these terms are connected to sensory dysregulation.
It’s more than sensory touch and the input we receive through our skin. It’s the inability to regulate sensory input from ALL the sensory systems.
A key component outcome of sensory dysregulation is self-regulation. There are many ways to define self-regulation, but generally, it is one’s ability to remain at an acceptable level of emotion, energy, behavior, and attention – given the demands of their environment.
In order to achieve self-regulation, one must also have good sensory regulation.
Sensory dysregulation is something that anyone can experience, and most people probably have experienced a level of sensory dysregulation to some degree.
Everyone has sensory preferences, like how loud they listen to music, or if they enjoy lots of hugs. If your preference is to have less, your systems would become out of balance with the music too loud or people getting too touchy.
Each of us has our own limits given any situation – but once you are in tune with your body’s needs, you know when it has become too much. When the system is unbalanced, maladaptive behaviors (tantrums) occur, if no coping strategies are implemented. We covered this individualized preferences and nuances of neurodiversity in greater detail in our post on Sensory Diets for Adults.
People with sensory processing disorder, which is an issue on a larger scale that affects a much smaller portion of the population, feel dysregulated more often and have far less ability to self-regulate. While sensory processing disorders can exist in isolation, they may be most prevalent in those with Autism or ADHD.
One example of dysregulation is the individual with sensory needs dealing with a fire drill. There are a lot of sensory inputs all at once, and navigating that stressor is distressing!
Check out our resources at the end of this article for great coping tools!
WHAT DOES DYSREGULATION LOOK LIKE?
Sensory dysregulation, much like emotional dysregulation, feels uncontrollable. Something is “wrong” and a person may not know what is causing them to feel “off”, or how to solve the problem. Sensory dysregulation may look and feel similar to emotional or behavioral dysregulation, that can cause temper tantrums.
The main difference is that sensory experiences are the root cause of the behavioral responses – not social disagreements or the like. It is complicated to tease out whether the issue is behavior or sensory. Look first at the triggers.
A simpler way to understand of sensory dysregulation, is by breaking it down into two categories: over-responsiveness or under-responsiveness to the environmental stimuli.
Over-responsiveness may look like: sensory avoidant behaviors such as excessive covering of the ears, hiding, avoiding touch, or extreme picky eating. The body may be responding too muchto the incoming information. One reaction is to avoided it to, remain at baseline.
Under-responsiveness may look like: sensory seekingbehaviors such as excessive or repetitive body movements, touching everything, making sounds, or licking/chewing on non-food items. Pushing other students while waiting in line. The body may be responding too little to typical input, to the point that the seeker looks for more of it to remain at baseline.
It is important to begin to recognize sensory over-and-under responsiveness and the role it plays in sensory regulation. Understanding what kind of behaviors a child has, will allow you to choose the right remedy.
Over-responsive → Sensory Avoider → Need for less
Solution – calming activities, breathing exercises, variety of activities to slowly increase comfort level
Under-responsive → Sensory Seeker → Need for more
Solution: heavy work, brain breaks, fidget tools, variety of sensory experiences
Sensory dysregulation is NOT the same as behavioral or emotional dysregulation, which may look like:
Not sensory dysregulation:
Crying at the store after they were told “no”
Pushing their brother after he took their toy
Eating all foods but never what the family is eating
Dumping/throwing toys after being told it’s time to clean up
Covering their ears during a fire alarm
Screaming after a sibling teased them
You may be thinking, wait a minute…some of those actions are sensory-based behaviors!
You are correct! However, just because something is related to the sensory experience, does not always mean that sensory dysregulation is occurring.
As an example; the sound of a fire alarm is loud auditory input, however, covering your ears during a loud sound is a normal response. If there is more of a reaction than that, for instance, if a child is inconsolable or unable to move on after the fire alarm, that may be considered sensory dysregulation.
Sensory Dysregulation Symptoms
When symptoms of sensory dysregulation is in question, you should be asking:
What does the environment look like? Feel like?
What is the child communicating with their actions?
When and where does this behavior typically occur? In what similar situations does it not occur?
Some behaviors, like pushing, can be tricky to determine if it is sensory or behavior; Look at the trigger. The proprioceptive system can be dysregulated. Is the child pushing for sensory reasons?
Bumping into things during play, crashing often, seemingly unaware of their body? Then they may have some sensory dysregulation going on that is increasing their need for input. Pushing people who get too close, hugging too hard, or bumping into people, may also be signs of sensory dysregulation.
If a child pushes a friend after they did something mean, that is just poor social skills.
WHAT ARE THE SYMPTOMS OF DYSREGULATION
Usually we notice the symptoms of dysregulation first. It manifests in behavioral reactions, health consequences, stress, and cognitive difficulty.
You are constantly on edge – you feel nervous, stressed out, overwhelmed, and have the sense that you can not keep up
Frequently irritable, snappy, and disagreeable. You might overreact, feel tense, get frustrated easily, and have mood swings like going from happy to sad quickly
Chronic pain and illness – aches and pains that do not go away, easily getting colds and other illnesses, see several specialists without relief
Highly sensitive to stimuli. You might identify as a highly sensitive person. Things that people may not even notice bother you. Smells, the sound of people snapping gum, fabrics, clutter, or being in crowds may feel overwhelming. You might be anxious, depressed, or stressed by the amount of information coming in.
Sleep problems and daytime fatigue – your nervous system has a hard time relaxing to go to sleep, or is hypervigilant during the night. You wake with your gas tank half full, so by mid morning you are fatigued. It may be difficult for you to regulate your temperature and heart rate during the night, leading to additional fatigue.
Chronic attention and concentration problems – because your system is on high alert, signaling danger, it might be hard to concentrate and pay attention to important information. You may find it difficult to tune out non important stimuli.
Cravings and extreme appetite changes
Immune and hormonal symptoms
Gut and skin conditions like rosacea and IBS. These can be aggravated by stress and dysregulation
You are highly sensitive to other people’s emotional states – you might be considered an empath. This may seem like a great trait, except it is draining. You take on the emotions of those around you and are constantly trying to help people. No matter how much you do, it never seems enough.
You do not have to have all of these symptoms to be considered dysregulated. Even if you have a couple of these symptoms, it can feel overwhelming and draining.
HOW CAN YOU support Sensory Dysregulation?
If a child’s sensory system is dysregulated, there is good news: there are many ways to help! There is a catch though – there is no “one size fits all”. Trial and error is the name of the game with sensory interventions.
Once you and your child find out what works for them and their changing environments, they will have a deeper understanding of themselves, and display improved behaviors in no time!
Check out these resources for sensory integration, calming exercises, self-regulation activities, and more! Also be sure to read our blog post on Ayres Sensory Integration for information on the theory behind this process, and how it all works together. It’s fascinating!
If you have tried everything, and are feeling a bit lost, you are not alone! Sensory dysregulation is tricky. It should be considered alongside many other aspects of why a child reacts a certain way. In addition to behavior, emotions, and self-regulation; history, habits, trauma, and mental status can have a powerful influence on actions, too.
Keep trying – some things may feel like a roadblocks but there are specific action strategies you can use!
The Sensory Lifestyle Handbook walks you through sensory processing information, each step of creating a meaningful and motivating sensory diet, that is guided by the individual’s personal interests and preferences.
The Sensory Lifestyle Handbook is not just about creating a sensory diet to meet sensory processing needs. This handbook is your key to creating an active and thriving lifestyle based on a deep understanding of sensory processing.
dysregulated nervous system
After reading all of the above about dysregulation, and what a dysregulated nervous system looks like, let’s take a step back. In order to understand the symptoms and signs of dysregulation, we need to understand the basics of the nervous system. That’s a really important piece of the puzzle to help parents that we are supporting as the pediatric occupational therapy provider on a child’s team.
The dysregulated nervous system impacts practically everything that we do and what we see in the form of behaviors, sensory needs, emotions…it’s at the base of it all.
But when we hear from our clients’ families or the parent, the school counselor, the teacher of a child with issues impacting day to day life and learning, the nervous system isn’t’ the first thing to come to mind.
NERVOUS SYSTEM BASICS
The nervous system is made up of two parts; the central and peripheral systems. Together these systems regulate our consciousness, movement, response to the environment, and bodily functions such as digestion, heart rate, and breathing.
The central nervous system is made up of the brain and spinal cord. It interprets incoming signals, formulates responses, and plays a big role in memory and cognition.
The peripheral nervous system extends out from the central nervous system out to the limbs. It communicates with the CNS to respond to information coming from the environment and inside our bodies.
Under the peripheral nervous system is the autonomic nervous system. This can be thought of as the “automatic” nervous system. This system works without conscious thought, controlling the heart rate, digestion, respiratory rate, and fight or flight response.
The stress we feel impacts social emotional skills, behaviors, functioning, learning, and more.
Understanding the stress response
The fight or flight response is important to our survival. It alerts us to dangerous situations to protect us from harm. This is a great system, until it over-responds.
A chronically over-reacted fight or flight response leads to dysregulation. There are times when our nervous system, including the fight or flight response, becomes dysregulated.
This can be caused by stress, genetic predisposition, or trauma. When the system is dysregulated, it can cause more stress, burnout, anxiety, and various types of chronic pain and illness.
Dysregulation and Trauma
Understanding the impact on a dysregulated nervous system trauma has is important because we as pediatric occupational therapy providers see a huge variety of trauma responses in our therapy clients. There can be so many levels to this but one thing is for certain: there will be some level of a dysregulated nervous system when trauma exists.
One thing that comes up from parents or educators who see the results of regulation troubles is the “why”. We need to explain, as occupational therapy providers, the causes of dysregulation so that the child’s team can better understand why they are seeing the resulting behaviors, social emotional challenges, learning struggles and functional task issues.
An over-response of the fight or flight system is often the cause of dysregulation. Where does this come from?
Chronic stress – when the nervous system suffers from chronic stress, it remains in a state of high alert. Over time, this state of high alert can lead to hypervigilance and overwhelm.
Trauma can lead to dysregulation. This might come from witnessing traumatic events, abuse, accidents, or surgeries.
Adverse childhood experiences – negative childhood experiences such as emotional or physical abuse, neglect, living with caregivers who abuse substances, or have mental health issues.
Genetic factors – certain gene variations make people prone to anxiety and stress.
Lifestyle factors – poor diet, lack of exercise, and inadequate sleep can contribute to nervous system dysregulation. Stimulants like caffeine, alcohol, and certain medications can lead to dysregulation
Underlying health conditions – fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, hormonal imbalance, and some autoimmune disorders can lead to dysregulation of the nervous system. Deficiencies in certain vitamins such as magnesium, B, and omega fatty acids can also lead to dysregulation.
Environmental factors – heavy metals, pesticides, chemicals, mold, noise pollution.
When you think about the people in your life, especially the young ones, can you see some of these factors in their life? Children chronically have lack of exercise, poor diet, not enough sleep, exposure to chemicals, additives in their food, and often some sort of trauma.
With this type of lifestyle becoming the norm, it is no wonder so many littles are dysregulated.
EMOTIONAL/BEHAVIORAL DYSREGULATION CHANGES
We often notice behavior before other symptoms of dysregulation. This is a classic sign in regulation disorders such as ADHD, ADD, Autism, and bipolar disorder. The behaviors are caused by dysregulation, that usually has an underlying factor. You might feel overly intense emotions, impulsive behavior, lack of emotional awareness, trouble making decisions, inability to manage behavior, and avoiding difficult decisions.
People with emotional/behavioral changes struggle to make and keep friends, difficulty with compliance, can be defiant, and have difficulty completing tasks.
TREATMENT FOR DYSREGULATION
If your dysregulation is part of a larger disorder such as ADD, medication can help with the symptoms.
Therapy – both talk, play, and occupational therapy to help with regulation and identifying triggers. Dialectical behavioral therapy helps you with mindfulness, identifying your emotions, and separating emotions from facts.
Be consistent and organized – kids thrive on routine. Give your child/partner a heads up if you plan on changing the plans
Adjust accordingly – sometimes you need to make accommodations and adaptations to be successful
Reward positive behavior
Journal – writing down feelings and thoughts can help you process them. Also looking back at journal entries can give you clarity
Heavy work helps organize the central nervous system. Chores, exercise, physical activity or taking a walk can help
Reverse or reduce some of the triggering factors such as sensory overload, overeating, environmental toxins, processed foods, toxic people, drugs, caffeine, technology, and stress
Add things that are missing such as critical vitamins, healthy food, exercise, communication, and fresh air
Take care of yourself physically. Seek medical attention for chronic or undiagnosed illnesses. Some illnesses like IBS can go away once stressors are reduced
What to Do When a Child is Dysregulated: Support Strategies That Work
When a child is melting down, shutting down, or acting out, it can feel overwhelming for both the child and the adult supporting them. In these moments, logic, reasoning, and consequences simply don’t work. Why? Because a dysregulated brain can’t access higher-level thinking skills like problem-solving or impulse control.
But the good news? There are ways to help, and they start with understanding what dysregulation is, why it happens, and how to respond in the moment using evidence-based sensory and regulation tools.
What Does It Mean When a Child Is Dysregulated?
Dysregulation refers to a state where the child’s nervous system is overwhelmed. Their body and brain are no longer in a calm, alert state, they may be overly aroused (hyperactive, emotional, aggressive) or under-aroused (shut down, frozen, withdrawn).
In these moments, the prefrontal cortex (responsible for thinking and reasoning) essentially goes offline. They are in a fight or flight response.
Why Can’t They Just Listen or Calm Down?
This is a question many parents, educators, and therapists ask. The answer lies in brain science: when a child is dysregulated, they can’t process rewards, consequences, or reason. Asking them to “make a better choice” or “use their words” won’t be effective until they feel regulated and safe again.
So What Should I Do Instead?
Here’s how to help when a child is dysregulated:
1. Focus on Regulation First, Not Correction
Before offering consequences or even explanations, help the child feel physically and emotionally safe.
Stay calm and grounded yourself. Children borrow regulation from the adults around them.
Speak slowly, softly, and clearly.
Use phrases like: “You’re having a hard time. I’m here with you.” “Let’s help your body feel calm first.”
2. Use Sensory Strategies to Regulate the Body
Support the child’s sensory needs to calm their nervous system. Heavy work activities are especially effective because they engage the proprioceptive system, which promotes a calming, organizing effect on the body.
Get Ongoing Support Inside The OT Toolbox Membership
Inside our Membership, you’ll find hundreds of downloadable tools that help support regulation every day, including:
Heavy work printable packs
Brain break visuals
Sensory check-ins
Calm down tools
Zones of Regulation supports
Social emotional learning printables
And so much more
Join today to get instant access to tools that help you prepare for dysregulation before it happens, and support kids in the moments they need it most.
Sometimes just thinking about all the things wrong in this world can make you feel stressed. Trying to fix everything and everyone is overwhelming. Focus on one thing or one person at a time. Take care of one part of your lifestyle, rather than making radical changes all of a sudden.
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.
If working on developing fine motor skills this Fall is something you’re focusing on, these Fall fine motor worksheets are the way to go. Add these printable clip cards use clothes pins or paper clips to develop hand and finger dexterity and grip and pinch strength to a Fall theme. Use these Fall leaves clip cards to several of our favorite Fall fine motor activities for developing hand strength, pinch, grip, and dexterity in the hands.
These fall fine motor worksheets are clip cards that combine a print and play activity.
It’s easy to set up this Fall fine motor worksheet into an interactive, and hands-on fine motor activity:
Just print out the Fall leaves worksheets.
Then laminate or use as a paper form. Cut out each circle.
Then, kids can clip clothes pins or paper clips onto each circle as they count and match clips to the Fall leaves on the cards.
Fall Clip Cards for Fine Motor Development
Fall clip cards are a seasonal and engaging way to build essential fine motor skills in young children. These hands-on tools typically feature colorful autumn-themed images—like pumpkins, leaves, or acorns—and require children to clip a clothespin to the correct answer or matching image. This simple action offers big benefits, especially for developing the small muscles of the hands that are needed for tasks like handwriting, buttoning, and using scissors.
Using clip cards targets pincer grasp, which strengthens the muscles between the thumb and index finger. This grasp is essential for pencil control and other precision-based movements. In addition to hand strength, clip cards promote hand-eye coordination, bilateral coordination (using both hands together), and visual scanning, all of which are important foundational skills for classroom success.
The fall theme adds an extra layer of excitement and relevance, especially for preschoolers and early elementary students. Kids can work on matching letters, numbers, shapes, or even simple math problems, all while building motor skills in a fun, low-prep way. Clip cards can be used in centers, therapy sessions, or at home, making them a versatile tool for both educators and therapists during the autumn season.
Why Use Fall Fine Motor Tasks Like this one?
This activity is a powerful hands-on activity because it builds skills in many areas. Clipping clothes pins to paper or cards like this Fall themed activity develops several skill areas:
address hand separation into a fine motor side and a power side
Separation of the two sides of the hand allow for more precise use of the thumb. Hand separation starts when a baby bears weight through their arm and ulnar side of the hand while carrying a toy in the radial side. This simple activity developmentally lengthens the muscles of the ulnar side.
Intrinsic strength-The intrinsic muscles are the muscles in the hand that define the arches of the hands, bend the knuckles, and oppose with the thumbs.
Arch development: Arch support in the hand is related closely to the separation of the sides of the hand. Refinement of fine motor skills in the hand (the radial side) happens when the power half (the ulnar side) is stabilized.
When kids hold the circle card, they use their non-dominant hand to hold the card, and can use their dominant hand to clip clothes pins onto the cards. Kids can count the number of leaves on each card and attach the same number of clothes pins.
A functional fine motor grasp and manipulation of objects is more accurate when the ring and pinky fingers are flexed (bent) into the palm. This positioning stabilizes the MCP arch and allows for control of the pointer and middle fingers.
This repeated clipping task combines heavy work proprioceptive input through the hands and develops refined strengthening of the arches of the hands. All of this occurs while children count and combine fine motor skills with math.
It’s a great Fall preschool activity or a Fall kindergarten math center where kids are combining math with fine motor skills…and a Fall theme!
Be sure to find out more information on development and when this type of activity is appropriate by reading about fine motor milestones.
Free Fall Worksheets
Want to add these Fall fine motor worksheet clip cards to your therapy toolbox? Enter your email address into the form below. You’ll receive these fine motor math worksheets in your inbox!
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.
When kids really struggle with handwriting, it is difficult to improve because sometimes doing hard things is just too hard. In this blog post we have strategies and support ideas to help kids become more motivated to practice handwriting.
How to Make Handwriting Practice Motivating
Handwriting practice doesn’t have to be boring, especially for kids who struggle with motivation. When we shift away from rote repetition and worksheets and instead tap into children’s interests, handwriting becomes more meaningful and enjoyable. Kids are more likely to engage when writing is connected to things they care about or when it feels like a game instead of a chore.
Instead of copying random sentences, try embedding writing into creative play, movement, or sensory-based activities. Write secret codes, make lists of favorite foods, or create silly stories together. By giving kids a purpose for their writing—like labeling an art project or writing a card to someone they love—they naturally become more invested in the process.
As pediatric occupational therapists, we know that motivation is key to building functional skills. The goal isn’t constantly using neat handwriting in every situation, but rather function. You want to see developing confidence, independence, and a positive relationship with written communication. Through fun, intentional activities, kids can build endurance, pencil control, and letter formation in ways that actually stick.
3 Quick and Fun Handwriting Activities That Motivate Kids
Write a menu for a pretend cafe– Kids can create and decorate their own menus with silly foods or themed snacks (great for working on spacing and letter alignment).
Design and write a card– Have them write a short message to a grandparent, sibling, or teacher, then decorate the card with drawings or stickers.
Handwriting target game– Tape paper targets with writing prompts to a wall. Kids throw a soft ball or beanbag to hit a prompt, then copy it onto a clipboard or whiteboard nearby.
Here, we’re talking all about reluctant writers. We’ll cover WHY kids hate to write, and we’ll discuss strategies to engage kids that are reluctant to write. You’ll also find TOYS and TOOLS to engage and motivate children that hate writing.
We’ve already covered fine motor toy ideas and pencil grasp toys, which can be a resource for reluctant writers. Today is all about play–based strategies to support reluctant writers.Our related blog post on name practice in kindergarten offers more strategies to support the child who is reluctant to write, particularly for beginners struggling with underlying skills needed for handwriting.
Amazon affiliate links are included in this blog post. As an Amazon Influencer, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Reluctant Writers
It’s very common for kids of all ages to be a reluctant to write. Challenges such as not knowing letter formation, struggles with dysgraphia, or difficulties with visual perceptual skills or visual motor skills that impact legibility can mean that kids just hate to write.
They hate to practice handwriting.
Motivating struggling writers to actually practice the underlying areas in which they struggle can be a challenge. For kids that HATE to write, meaningful and motivating is key! These writing activities for reluctant writes will make handwriting fun so that kids can work on the skills they need to work on.
Practice writing? “But Mom! I don’t like to write!” Sound familiar? Many kids (Many, many!) just aren’t into practicing their handwriting at home. School and homeschooling can be exhausting for kids when they have to do certain topics that they just aren’t interested in. And handwriting is often one of those topics.
Hopefully, you’ll find some motivating handwriting activities in today’s post that will help your reluctant writer pick up that pencil and start writing!
Handwriting Ideas for Reluctant Writers
Many kids just aren’t into practicing their handwriting at home. School and homeschooling can be exhausting for kids when they have to do certain topics that they just aren’t interested in. And handwriting is often one of those topics.
Often times, kids balk at having to do repetitive writing. I mean, would you want to write a word or sentence 10 times in a row? Sometimes a functional activity that is meaningful and helpful can motivate a child to want to pick up a pencil. In the end, emphasize handwriting quality over quantity and functional handwriting over perfection.
Here are a few easy hands-on strategies to help with “non-handwriting” ways to work on handwriting:
Motivating Handwriting Activities Quick Tip: Try using “handwriting toys” to sneak in the handwriting practice in fun ways that seem more like play than writing practice.
Try a fun activity like our ice cream writing activity! Kids love it.
Fine Motor Quick Tip: Using a neutral or extended wrist is so important for pencil grasp, endurance in handwriting, and small motor movements of the fingers in isolation of the wrist. If your student is using a flexed (or bent) wrist, try paper position and placement. Encourage fine motor activities performed on a vertical surface or slanted surface.
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How to engage reluctant writers
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You can throw in the fun colored ink pen for extra smiles from your reluctant writer, but we wanted to share ideas to work on functional skills like handwriting using mainly items you can find around the home.
Try a few of these fun ideas with your student or child:
Write Jokes. Look up jokes in a joke book and write them on index cards. Send them to a friend in the mail, drop one in a neighbors mailbox (if you know the neighbor and first let them know to expect something in the mail!) or give one to teachers. Find a buddy who would be interested in exchanging jokes.
Write letters to favorite celebrities. Use those interests and look up addresses to your child’s favorite artist, musician, or sports hero. Kids can compose a letter and address the envelope.
Exchange letters with a pen pal. Kids can exchange letters with friends and relatives in other states or towns. Getting mail addressed to themselves is very rewarding for a child.
Pass notes. Write short notes to members of the family. Leave them in places where they will be found, like on bedroom dressers or in shoes. Notes might be simple things like, “Don’t forget about soccer practice today.” or fun things like, “Do you want to play checkers?”
Plan a scavenger hunt. Write out hints on slips of paper. The child can plan the steps and hide notes for family members or friends.
Practice letter formation during fun games like Tic Tac Toe. Instead of x’s and o’s, write printed or cursive letters in the squares.
Write your own comic books. Draw large rectangles on a page for a comic story. Students can draw pictures and write comic bubbles for handwriting practice.
Make a creative journal full of creative handwriting ideas. We did ours with a cursive handwriting, but you could use these ideas for printed handwriting, too.
Tape paper to a window and write on the paper.
Location, location, location! Change spaces for something fun and different: go to the library and try the tables there. Write outside with a clipboard. Where can you go to write that is new and fun?
Change positions. Sit on the floor and write on the chair seat. Lay on couch cushions and write on the floor on a clipboard.
Take brain breaks. Every 3-4 minutes, take a mini-break for jumping jacks or wall push-ups.
Write to classical music.
Functional Handwriting for reluctant writers
Often times, kids balk at having to do repetitive writing. I mean, would you want to write a word or sentence 10 times in a row? Sometimes a functional activity that is meaningful and helpful can motivate a child to want to pick up a pencil, especially when they are hesitant to try a writing task. Try some of these functional handwriting tasks:
Write out the family grocery list.
Write your family’s return address on bills.
Write out a family calendar with sports schedules, outings, and family night events.
Write out the phone messages from an answering machine.
Write out the day’s schedule on a weekend day.
Write out favorite television shows. Add the day, and time of each show.
Write out a holiday or birthday gift wish list.
Write out a list of items to pack for vacation. Include little squares next to each item to check off as items are packed.
Practice forming letters and words in shaving cream.
Want to print off a list of handwriting ideas for reluctant writers to send home with your therapy caseload? Now you can add this list to your therapy toolbox! Join us in the free, 5 day email series where you’ll get this free 2 page list of writing ideas for reluctant writers. You’ll also access other handwriting handouts to cover areas of handwriting issues.
Looking for more ways to help your reluctant writer get more “into” writing? These toys, tools, and games will inspire and encourage your child to want to pick up the writing tool and play.
The best thing is, they won’t even realize they are practicing handwriting and doing “work”! While these tools and toys are not free, they are ideas to try. If you have family asking for gift ideas, you might want to pass a few of these ideas along. Here’s to writing and loving it!
Amazon affiliate links included below.
Kids love a dry erase board and this Crayola Dry Erase Activity Center (affiliate link) will be fun for them to practice letter formation and writing.
The Crayola Dry-Erase Activity Center Zany Play (affiliate link) can be a fun way to practice individual letter formation. Ask your child to practice letters in each box. Kids can also work on starting/stopping the writing tool on the dots, which is great pencil control practice and needed for handwriting legibility.
Writing on this Crayola See Thru Light Designer (affiliate link) is bright and colorful and a great way to really work on letters while your child is captivated by the light animations and color effects.
For students who love to draw (or have a slight interest in drawing), this Crayola Light Designer (affiliate link) will be a huge hit. Even though they will not be writing letters and words, kids can draw with the writing tool to create 3D images of their drawings. This is a motivating tool for reluctant writers, and beneficial for pencil control and dexterity, helpful in handwriting.
For kids who say “I can’t think of anything to write!” (sound familiar?) This creative storytelling game, Rory’s Story Cubes (affiliate link), will be a fun way to inspire. Play the game and write out stories as a family. This sounds like a great Family Night activity!
Completing mazes are a great way to practice pencil control, line awareness in handwriting.
Try a maze book like this Extreme Mazes (affiliate link) with your reluctant writer.
Mad Libs Game (affiliate link) is a great way to practice handwriting on lines and in smaller spaces. For kids who can not write as small as needed to write in the book, use a piece of paper for filling in the answers.
The handwriting practice that kids get with a Spirograph (affiliate link) is big: Pen control, bilateral hand coordination, and proprioceptive feedback. Creating these fun art pieces are motivating and fun!
Toys for Letter Formation
Helping kids to work on letter formation can help them to become more confident in their handwriting. Try these engaging toys to support written work:
Chuchik Magnetic Drawing Board-(affiliate link) Use the magnetic pen to “write” letters and then erase them, adding repetitions in letter formation.
Coogam Wooden Letters Practicing Board– (affiliate link) Use the wooden board to trace and form letters. Then place a paper over the board and use a crayon to form the letters using the textured letters.
Want a printable copy of our therapist-recommended toys to support reluctant writers?
As therapy professionals, we LOVE to recommend therapy toys that build skills! This toy list is done for you so you don’t need to recreate the wheel.
Your therapy caseload will love these handwriting toy recommendations. (There’s space on this handout for you to write in your own toy suggestions, to meet the client’s individual needs, too!)
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.
One very fun Thanksgiving activity that supports development in occupational therapy is using Thanksgiving printables to work on specific skill areas and these free turkey templates are just one more. Not only are printable sheets perfect for using at the Thanksgiving dinner table, but kids can have fun working on turkey puzzles, turkey coloring pages, and even using as Thanksgiving decorations. Below, you’ll find some free Thanksgiving printables to build skills!
This is one version of our free printable turkey templates. Cut out on the bold lines. It’s a simple cutting shape for kids working on scissor skills. Then, we colored the turkey. Finally, we used push pins to press the turkey into our foam board.
Thanksgiving Printables
These printable Thanksgiving worksheets are awesome tools to encourage gratitude and foster learning…and with a Thanksgiving theme! What better way to bring in the season of giving and counting blessings than starting at home?
Occupational therapy crafts are crafts that support skill development through the functional task of crafting. We love to use items like the turkey templates shown below, because you can adapt and modify the craft template to meet the needs of each individual. You can find other Fall crafts here on the site that support these goals.
Fire up those printers, because this round-up has you covered for Gratitude and Learning everyday up to Thanksgiving!
Some of our favorite printable Thanksgiving activities include:
Be sure to add these printable resources to your therapy toolbox and learning fun!
Print off these Thanksgiving turkey templates!
turkey cut out template
We wanted to make a turkey cut out template that you could use with a variety of ages and skill levels. This free Thanksgiving activity includes several turkey printables:
Several color and cut turkey templates with guided lines for scissor skills. You can use the turkey with the cutting lines that meet the needs of each student on your caseload or in your classroom. Focus on line awareness and visual motor skills to cut along the graded lines.
Thankful Turkey Craft- Color and cut out the turkey craft template. Then work on handwriting skills to write in something that the student is thankful for. This would go well with our Thanksgiving tree or our gratitude leaves.
How to use a Printable Turkey Template
Not only are they a fun way to support development, you can use these printable turkey templates for many areas of skill development:
Once you’ve printed out your turkey templates, you can use them in a variety of ways to extend the skill-building:
Disguise the turkey printable- Glue a variety of small objects on the turkey (like covering them in glitter!) or make the turkey a costume to disguise him into something or someone else. You can also use our disguise the turkey digital activity.
2. Decorate the turkey printable with tissue paper art- Crumble up bits of tissue paper and cover the turkey. This is a great finger strength activity.
3. Dot painting turkey- Use bingo dabbers or the end of an eraser dipped in paint and paint the turkey with dot art. This is a great activity for eye-hand coordination skills, and if you use a pencil to paint the turkey, or cut a cotton swab into half, you can work on developing pencil grasp.
There are more ways to extend this turkey template activity, too:
Hang the free turkey printable on the wall and use it for coloring or placing stickers on the turkey (pin the feathers on the turkey, anyone?). This is a nice way to work on shoulder stability and wrist extension, which are needed for fine motor control and finger dexterity.
Use the turkey printables in scavenger hunts and obstacle courses.
Glue real feathers to the turkey templates to incorporate various textures.
One activity that we did was to work on a variety of fine motor skills using the turkey printable. I selected one of the turkey cut outs that had a thick cutting line.
Then, we cut out the turkey and colored in the sections of the turkey’s feathers and body. Some of the crayons were broken to encourage a tripod grasp.
You can see the final activity in the image and a video showing how to do this craft below.
There are so many ways to use these Thanksgiving printables!
Free Thanksgiving Printables
This free turkey printable is just one of the many free Thanksgiving printables we have here on the site. You’ll also want to grab these other Thanksgiving printable sheets:
Below we have a set of free Thanksgiving printables created into a printable pack that you can use this time of year. To grab the set, enter your email address into the form. You’ll receive an email where you can download the free activities and go from there.
These PDF resources are included in our OT Toolbox Member’s Club. Inside the club, you’ll find a Thanksgiving Therapy Theme with many other turkey and gratitude themed Thanksgiving printable materials. You’ll also find inspiration for Thanksgiving themed, hands-on activities to incorporate fine motor skills and hand strengthening this time of year.
Thanksgiving Printables for Learning and Gratitude!
Grab the Thanksgiving Fine Motor Kit for printable, hands-on activities to support development this time of year.
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.
Fall is the perfect season to incorporate scissor skills and fine motor activities into fun, themed crafts, and this scarecrow project checks every box. Whether you’re working on cutting practice, pencil grasp development, or visual motor integration, this craft combines it all with a seasonal twist. Plus, it’s a great way to tie in academic skills like math facts or handwriting practice. Be sure to explore our collection of scissor skills activities, fine motor tasks, fall fine motor activities.
If you need a math craft idea that is perfect for this time of year, this is a good one because you can target the skills or areas that you need to based on the child’s needs.
This scarecrow craft can be used for any grade or age. Kids can be resistant to practicing extra math facts and practicing skills that they’ve learned in school or homeschool. But often times, math skills like adding and composing numbers up to 1000 in this second grade math activity NEED additional practicing at home. So how do you get that extra practice in without pulling teeth (or pulling out your own hair!)?? Playful Math activities make learning and practicing skills fun. We made this Math Scarecrow Craft to practice second grade math, including place value and composing numbers…but you can make it age-appropriate for preschool on up through elementary-aged kids.
Scarecrow Craft
This post contains affiliate links.
To make this scarecrow craft, you’ll need a few materials:
To make the scarecrow craft (and totally sneak math into this Fall craft):
Scarecrow Craft for Kids
First, snip the Goldenrod cardstock into long strips about 1/2 inch wide. Cutting the cardstock in long cutting lines is an excellent exercise in scissor skills. The cardstock provides a thicker resistance than construction or printer paper. This added resistance provides feedback to kids who are working on line awareness and smooth cutting lines.
You can draw lines on the cardstock with a pencil/pen, or if the child needs more assistance with scissor skills, make the lines with a thick marker. Cutting the long strips of cardstock require the child to open/shut the scissors with smooth cutting strokes as they cut along the lines. Cutting all of the hair straw strands for the scarecrow craft is quite an exercise in scissor skills!
Next, you’ll have the child cut a large circle from the Ivory Cardstock. We used a bowl and traced a circle, but you could also have the child draw their own circle. This will become the face of the scarecrow. Cutting a circle with smooth cutting strokes is a more difficult task for children than cutting strait lines. Kids may need verbal and physical prompts to cut along the curved line with accuracy.
You can draw a hat-ish shape from the brown paper bag. I say hat-ISH because a scarecrow often has a floppy and battered hat on his head, so a hat shape that looks mostly like a hat is just about perfect for this scarecrow craft!
Kids can cut the hat shape and may require more assistance with this part. Cutting a material like a brown paper bag is more difficult than cutting regular printer paper, so the flimsy-ness of the paper requires more skill and accuracy with scissor control and line awareness.
Jagged lines make this scarecrow look authentic, though, so feel free to add more snips and cuts into the hat, too!
Next, you will crumble up the paper hat shape. My daughter really got into this part. “Crumble up this paper?? Awwww Yeah!”
Crumbling paper is a great fine motor strengthening exercise for children. They really strengthen the intrinsic muscles of their hands with paper crumpling. What a workout this scarecrow craft is!
Glue the hat in place on the scarecrow’s head.
Scarecrow Math Craft
To make the hair of the scarecrow, glue the goldenrod strips on the head and along the hat. Cut a triangle from the orange cardstock for the scarecrow’s nose. Use buttons, paper scraps, and ribbons to dress up your scarecrow, adding eyes, mouth, and any other decorations. We received the buttons we used to make the eyes from our pals at www.craftprojectideas.com. Add a smile and your scarecrow is ready to decorate walls and doorways this Fall!
But wait! Make this cute scarecrow into a Math activity that the kids will Fall in love with. Yep, I went there.
Place Value Craft
To incorporate math into this scarecrow craft, use those paper strips. We made this activity perfect for practicing second grade addition skills.
My second grader has been working on building numbers up to 1000. On the strips, I wrote a three digit number on the end of many of the paper strips. She then chose different ways to describe that number. She wrote out the number in words on some strips.
On other strips, she built the three digit number using Common Core strategies. For example, I wrote the number 421 on one strip. She demonstrated how to “build” that number by writing “400 + 20 + 1”. This technique helped her practice skills she’s learned at school while understanding what makes up a three digit number. She was able to identify the hundreds, tens, and ones in a three digit number. Work on and discuss place value and number order with this activity.
The nice thing about this scarecrow craft is that you can adjust the math to fit any age…or just make the craft without the math facts for a super cute Fall Scarecrow!
Scarecrow Math Tips
How can you make this Math Scarecrow Craft work for your child’s needs? Try these ideas:
Adjust the activity slightly by working on math facts. Write a number on the end of the strip and ask your child to write the addition or subtraction problem on the length of the hair.
Write the SAME number on the end of each strip. Ask your child to write each strip with different math addition problems that make up different ways to reach the number. For example, write the number 16 on each strip. Your child can write 8+8 on one strip, and other strips with 10+6, 12+4, 20-4, etc.
More Scarecrow Activities
Looking for more scarecrow activities? Below are scarecrow activities for kids that cover a variety of areas: math, language arts, art, and more.
Stop by and see what our friends have come up with using this week’s Scarecrow theme:
Scarecrow Syllables for Second Grade – Use a scarecrow activity to help with early literacy skills in this creative scarecrow activity from Look! We’re Learning!
Scarecrow Measures – Another scarecrow math activity, this one from Crafty Kids at Home is a fun addition to a Fall themed learning plan.
Scarecrow Silhouette Art Project – A Scarecrow craft that the kids will love is fun to add to your therapy plan. Use this idea from School Time Snippets.
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.
Moving the pencil within the tips of the fingers to switch from writing to erasing. Passing small beads from the palm of the hand to the finger tips. Holding a stack of coins in the palm while counting out the amount needed to pay for an item.
These are all in-hand manipulation tasks, and can be a problem when it comes to performing functional tasks related to these fine motor tasks. Sometimes a child appears clumsy with their small motor movements. They use two hands for tasks that normally require just one. Today, I’ve got a fun way to help with these difficulties by working on in-hand manipulation skills using coins.
The Three types on In-hand Manipulation
There are different types of movements which allow us to manipulate objects within the hand. Every task that we do within the hand uses a combination of these movements. These are the three different types or components of in-hand manipulation:
Translation
Shift
Rotation
Translation is using your fingers to moving a little item from your palm to your finger tips (or your fingertips to squirrel the item into the palm). When you hold a coin in your palm and manipulate it to your finger tips to push it into a piggy bank or vending machine, you are demonstrating palm-to-finger translation.
Shift is moving an object using the pads of your fingers…adjusting the pencil grip is demonstrating finger shift. Another example might be manipulating a button or a zipper with the finger tips.
Rotation is rolling an object using the fingertips. Examples of rotation are rolling a pencil in your fingertips, turning a pencil over to use the eraser, or opening a bottle top by rotating the lid on your finger tips.
These fine motor skills are needed for functional tasks like managing a pencil or crayon during handwriting, opening containers, managing coins or small items, manipulating a spoon/knife/fork, adjusting the paper when cutting with scissors, and fastening buttons or shoe laces.
In-Hand Manipulation Activity with Coins
I grabbed a piece of cardboard from a pizza box lid. Cut the cardboard into a manageable sized rectangle and use a sharp knife to cut a slit. Make sure the slit is vertical as this is similar to a coin machine and encourages efficient positioning of the wrist and fingers for functional use.
To work on in-hand manipulation needed for functional tasks, use play money to press the money through the slot. Ask your child to grab up a handful of the coins and push them through the slot one at a time. Using the non-dominant hand to hold the cardboard is an exercise in bilateral hand coordination, making this a great pre-handwriting exercise. (Use this activity as a writing warm-up exercise!)
How to use coins to work on in-hand manipulation:
Rotate the coins between the pads of the thumb and pointer finger/middle finger.
Grab a handful of coins and place them into a slotted container.
Pick up coins one at a time and “squirrel away” into the palm.
Push coins into a piggy bank or slotted lid (Slice a hole in a recycled plastic container like a yogurt container)
Slice a slit in a piece of cardboard like we did below. Using a small piece of cardboard allows you to hold the cardboard when pushing the coin through the slot. Read on:
When a person writes, they need to hold the paper steady with their non-dominant hand while manipulating the pencil with only their dominant hand. They need to adjust the pencil motions, twirl it around to erase, pinch and “crawl” up the pencil to adjust small movements in the hand as they write on the paper. Holding the cardboard in the non-dominant hand prevents the child from managing the money with both hands.
While pressing the coins into the cardboard, work on money and change making skills like we shared here.
This post contains affiliate links.
More Fine Motor activities you will LOVE for working on handwriting, pencil grasp, and manipulating small items:
3 Fun & Practical Coin-Based Fine Motor Exercises
All you need is a handful of coins to start working on fine motor skills, including in-hand manipulation. Here are some ideas:
1. Coin Flip and Store– Place a pile of coins on the table. Have the child pick up one coin at a time, flip it from palm to fingertips (translation), and place it into a small container.
Challenge upgrade: Use smaller coins or require the child to sort coins by size after flipping.
2. Coin Stack Race– Give the child a handful of coins to hold in their palm. Using just one hand, have them move each coin to their fingertips (one by one) and stack them into a tower without dropping any.
Skills targeted: In-hand manipulation, precision control, fine motor endurance.
Therapist tip: Time the child or challenge them to beat their own record.
3. Coin Slot Shoebox Game– Cut narrow slots into the lid of a shoebox labeled with coin values. Have the child sort and insert coins using only one hand, pulling them from their palm to fingertips before dropping into the correct slot.
Skills targeted: Translation and rotation, finger strength, visual-motor integration.
Home version: Use piggy banks or DIY coin banks made with containers and lids (a yogurt container or small butter container works well.
Here are more ideas to work on in-hand manipulation skills:
Besides using just coins, you can add other fine motor ideas to improve the coordination and dexterity needed for the three types of movements of in-hand manipulation. In our Yearlong Fine Motor and Data Collection Bundle, we have a full year of activities.
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.
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.
We’ve shared much information on visual processing over the last few months. You’ve seen tips for addressing convergence insufficiency, visual tracking concerns, and other visual skill areas. Today we are talking about saccades and activities to improve saccades. These are the eye movements that allow the tracking skills necessary for reading comprehension, handwriting, and so many other areas. The saccade activities listed below are eye exercises that can help enhance visual processing skills. These visual tracking exercises can help with smooth pursuit of vision, in order to improve learning problems and other visual therapy concerns.
Visual Saccades Activities
You’ve identified impaired saccadic movements, the child has seen a developmental optometrist and maybe has corrective lenses, but is still struggling. Now what? Check out the activities below to incorporate into therapy and home programs that address poor saccadic movements directly.
This activity addresses saccadic movements on a large scale and challenges the child to stretch their eye muscles into the peripherals and back again. The objective is to hit the first target, catch the ball and hit the second target while moving only your eyes. This pattern is completed for as many times in row the kiddo can without dropping the ball or missing the target.
The larger the distance between the targets, the harder the challenge is. Wall Ball also doubles as a dissociation activity of the eyes from head movements.
All you need for Wall Ball is a ball, two targets and a wall or solid structure to bounce the ball off of. The ball can be any size as long as it bounces back directly to the child. Tennis balls and kick balls work the best. The smaller the ball, the more challenging the task is. Grade the activity to meet the kiddo’s needs and abilities as he/she progresses.
How to Play Wall Ball
Begin with the target approximately four feet apart at eye level on the wall. Start with a horizontal line progressing to vertical, and then diagonal.
The kiddo should be standing approximately 3 feet from the wall so that they can see both targets without having to turn their head. This part is important as we want to work only the eye muscles. If the child cannot see both targets without moving their head, adjust the distance of the targets first and then the position of the child as needed.
Increase the challenge by adding paired colored targets and calling out what pair to hit one at a time or in a sequence. As the kiddo’s saccadic patterns become better and smoother, the time needed to complete the task will be shorter.
Read Word Searches to work on Saccades
Reading requires very precise and accurate eye movements. When these patterns and muscle movements are not natural, they have to be taught and can be a significant challenge for children with impaired saccadic movements.
The objective of Word Search Reading is to have the kiddo read the letters or symbols of the word search out loud without deviating from the line, or skipping a line once back at the beginning of the pattern.
Word Search Reading Directions:
Begin with a simple word search to establish the child’s abilities. A 4×4 line word search is usually a good place to start. As the child’s skills increase or this is too easy, increase the size of the word search. The larger the word search, the harder the child has to work to move their eyes in a smooth movement across the page and back to the next line.
Word search reading can be completed as a table top task, or a vertical surface. It is good to practice both skills as saccadic movements are needed in a variety of settings, not just for reading and writing.
Word Search Reading patterns can be left to right/top to bottom, or top to bottom/ left to right. There should be an emphasis on left to right patterns initially as this is the way that we read and write. As the child’s skills increase, patterns can be reversed right to left/top to bottom and top to bottom/right to left. The more patterns that the child’s eyes are exposed to, the easier fluid movements between any given set of points will become.
While I have listed very set patterns for this activity, it is important to remember that saccades is the fluid, coordinated movement of both eyes between ANY given set of points in ANY plane or position.
Modifications for Word Search Reading to Address Visual Tracking Needs
Word Search Reading activities can be very difficult and result in the kiddo being frustrated as it is making their eyes work in ways that they are not used to. However, there are a few modifications outside of the size of the word search that you can utilize to develop the just right challenge for each kiddo.
The first modification is blocking out lines they are not supposed to be looking at. A ruler or a sheet of paper is a great place to start with this modification. If this is still not enough support and they are skipping letters in the line or reversing letters, try having them track with their finger or a special “tracking tool” (pencil with topper, fun pen, etc.).
Sometimes, even utilizing a finger or tracking tool is not enough and there is still too much visual input and their eyes are trying to jump ahead. In this case, an index card with a slot cut to fit one to five letters at a time can help keep their eyes moving in a nice line.
While word searches are great, if you have a child that is struggling with letter recognition, this task can be completed with numbers or symbols. The main premise is that whatever items you use, are in a grid pattern.
Adjust the challenge and supports as the kiddo gets better at reading the letters in the given pattern to create the just right challenge.
Saccadic Eye Movement exercises
Below are some scanning exercises to work on visual saccadic eye movements.
1. Letter Stick Scanning
Materials: Craft sticks, marker How-to: Write random letters or numbers down a craft stick. Hold two sticks up and have the child call out each letter as they jump their eyes back and forth between sticks. You can also use colored dots or shapes to make this easier. Goal: Promotes left-right eye jumping and visual accuracy.
2. Wall Sticker Walk
Materials: Stickers, index cards, masking tape, flashlight How-to: Place one sticker on each index card. Tape the index cards to the wall. Use a flashlight to highlight a letter or word for the child to find. Have them “jump” their eyes from one target to the next while standing or walking between the cards. Goal: Combines gross motor and eye movement coordination.
3. Pyramid Saccade Challenge
Materials: Printed saccade pyramid (e.g., letter A to D, F to G, etc.) How-to: Print a saccadic pyramid with non-linear letter patterns. Call out letter pairs and have the child find and track them quickly across the page. Goal: Strengthens diagonal and complex saccade patterns.
4. Visual Scanning Tape Lines
Materials: Masking tape, wall space, marker How-to: Create two vertical tape lines on a wall with random letters spaced down each line. Call out letter pairs and have the child visually scan between them without moving their head. This is a larger version of the craft stick scanning activity mentioned above. You can also position the tape strips in different planes. Try putting one on a slight diagonal. Or place both in a horizontal line. Mix it up. Goal: Encourages head stability and horizontal saccades.
5. Letter Ball Toss
Materials: Ball, marker How-to: Write letters or shapes on a ball. Toss it to the child and ask them to name two shapes or letters as their eyes land on them. Goal: Engages saccades under dynamic, moving conditions.
6.Word Search Scan
Materials: Word search page, pen How-to: Circle random letters on a word search page. Ask the child to scan from circle to circle and name the letters. Goal: Boosts scanning, attention, and accuracy.
9. Paint Dot Tracker
Materials: Dot art worksheet page, paint daubers or dot markers, pencil How-to: On a dot art worksheet, use a pencil or pen to write in letters of the alphabet in random order. Kids must scan and name the alphabet letters in order as they jump from dot to dot to fill in the worksheet. Goal: Adds a visual discrimination and color recognition element.
10. Emoji Eye Movements
Materials: Printable eye emoji picture, mirror How-to: Have the child copy different eye directions or mimic eye movements while watching themselves in a mirror. Goal: Increases awareness of eye position and movement range.
Visual Saccades Activity: Timed Copying Tasks
One of the best activities to work on saccades is to complete table top activities. This simulates what kids do in school the best, and allows you to find where the breakdown is, and provide supports as needed.
Start with a small activity like a spelling list or site words on table next to the child and have them copy the words onto a piece of paper. Once they are able to do this in a reasonable amount of time increase the challenge to 3-4 words in sequence or short sentences, and then eventually a whole paragraph or short story. This set of activities is referred to as near point copying and is the foundation block for other copying tasks.
When they have mastered near point copying, it is time to move onto far point copying. This is when the items that are being copied are more than 18 inches from the child. Examples include copying from a SmartBoard or whiteboard, or off posters around the classroom. Eventually, this translates into taking notes in higher level education.
The same premise of starting small and building into larger tasks applies to far point copying as well. Utilize a timer to challenge the child to beat their best time and also to track progress. As they become stronger at looking between the two points without losing their spot, the faster the activity will go.
Visual Saccade Exercise: Speed Popsicle Sticks
Like Word Search Reading, this activity challenges the precise movements needed for efficient saccadic movements. Speed Popsicle Sticks is more exercise based then the other activities presented in this post and should be monitored for fatigue and strain like other exercise based activities. This activity is challenging and should be done with children who are able to follow directions and verbalize feelings of discomfort in their eye muscles.
The premise of this activity is to have the child look as quickly as they can between two points without losing focus or deviating from the path in a given amount of time. Popsicle sticks with stickers at the end of them work great at points to focus on.
1. Begin with the child sitting in front of you with their feet grounded.
2. Hold the popsicle sticks approximately 12-15 inches apart, and 15-18 inches away from the child’s face.
3. Then instruct them to look at first one sticker, bring it into focus, and look at the next sticker bringing it into focus before moving back to the first sticker.
Start with a short amount of time, such as 10 seconds to begin, and 2-3 repetitions with a break in between each repetition. Increase the amount of time to complete the activity as the kiddo’s eyes get stronger and they are not complaining of fatigue. Set a cap on time around 45 seconds for this exercise, and keep repetitions low.
Be sure that you listen to the child if they are complaining or are requesting a break. You do not want to cause eye fatigue or strain accidently.
Games to Encourage Saccades
There are some great ready-made games on the market these days that challenge saccadic movements. Below is a list of a few of my favorites to utilize in therapy or for gift ideas for parents and home programs.
Frequently Asked Questions About Saccadic Eye Movements
Here are some of the most common questions that come up about visual saccades:
What is a visual saccade? A saccade is a quick movement of the eyes that allows us to shift our gaze from one point to another. These precise eye movements are essential for reading, scanning, and daily tasks that require eye tracking and visual perception. Poor saccadic control can impact coordination, reading fluency, and attention.
What controls saccadic eye movements? Saccadic movements are controlled by the visual system and areas of the brain responsible for motor planning and cognitive skills. Healthy saccades rely on the integration of proprioception, oculomotor skills, and central processing.
Can saccades be trained or improved? Yes! Vision therapy guided by an eye care professional or vision therapist can strengthen saccadic movements. Training exercises improve accuracy of eye movements, hand-eye coordination, and overall visual perception.
How do you treat saccadic eye movement problems? Treatment may include a comprehensive approach using vision training, toys, and puzzles to target eye tracking. Activities like flashlight tag, reading grids, or even scanning games help retrain saccades with professional guidance.
What are saccadic and smooth pursuits exercises? Saccadic exercises involve shifting the gaze quickly between two or more targets—like reading alternating letters or tracking flashing lights. Smooth pursuit exercises help eyes glide smoothly to follow a moving object. Together, they build strong oculomotor coordination and support academic and daily activities.
How to perform saccades at home? Try holding two targets (like stickers or pencils) about 12 inches apart. Have your child move their eyes back and forth quickly without turning their head. Keep sessions short and fun, and include activities in their daily routine for consistency.
What causes poor saccadic eye movements? Issues like delayed oculomotor development, concussion, or visual perception disorders can lead to poor control of tracking. Children with reading difficulties or attention issues may struggle with saccades, often needing professional evaluation and support.
What do saccadic eye movements indicate? They reflect how well the brain and visual system are working together. Inaccurate or jerky saccades may signal challenges in coordination, attention, or underlying visual field concerns.
Are there recommended tools or toys to improve saccades? Yes! Activities like flashlight tag, puzzles, and tracking games help. You can also use printables, reading strips, or worksheets that guide the eyes between targets. Some families benefit from apps or computer-based vision training programs.
How can I get more guidance on this topic? Talk to a qualified vision therapist or eye care professional for individualized support. You can also sign up for our newsletter to get related resources, exclusive offers, and in-depth information on topics like saccades, smooth pursuits, and the future of eyewear.
Final Note on Activities to Improve Saccades
Practice, practice, practice! That is one of the biggest parts in helping a child develop motor patterns, and saccades are no different. With the just right challenge in place and encouragement, the kiddo’s saccadic patterns should become stronger and more fluid leading to increased success with visual tasks.
Looking for more information on vision deficits? Check out my OT Vision Screening Packet for useful handouts, checklists and a screener tool.
This visual screening tool was created by an occupational therapist and provides information on visual terms, frequently asked questions regarding visual problems, a variety of visual screening techniques, and other tools that therapists will find valuable in visual screenings. Click here to read more about the Visual Screening Packet. This is a digital file. Upon purchase, you will be able to print the 10 page file and print off to use over and over again in vision screenings and in educating therapists, teachers, parents, and other child advocates or caregivers.
This article was written by The OT Toolbox Contributor, Kaylee:
A little about Kaylee:
Hi Everyone! I am originally from Upstate N.Y., but now live in Texas, and am the Lead OTR in a pediatric clinic. I have a bachelors in Health Science from Syracuse University at Utica College, and a Masters in Occupational Therapy from Utica College. I have been working with children with special needs for 8 years, and practicing occupational therapy for 4 years. I practice primarily in a private clinic, but have experience with Medicaid and home health settings also. Feeding is a skill that I learned by default in my current position and have come to love and be knowledgeable in. Visual development and motor integration is another area of practice that I frequently address and see with my current population. Looking forward to sharing my knowledge with you all! ~Kaylee Goodrich, OTR
In this blog post, we are covering therapy for picky eaters. Occupational therapists and speech therapy practitioners often cover extremely picky eating in therapy sessions, but how do they know where to begin with food therapy? Let’s cover specifically how to help extremely picky eaters, food for picky eaters, and therapy suggestions for extremely picky picky eating disorder.
Therapy for Picky Eaters
Fifty years ago, feeding therapy this would not have been a popular topic. Children ate what was provided, like it or not. Sometimes parents would spare the child and leave the offending objects off of the plate. More often than not, children over the age of four were expected to eat what everyone else was eating.
Fast forward to 2022. There has been a huge rise in allergies, picky eaters, and problem feeders. How to help extremely picky eaters has become the forefront of many occupational therapy sessions and referrals.
There has been a marked rise in food sensitivity (gluten intolerance, lactose intolerance) or allergies to certain foods. This goes hand in hand with the rise of anxiety, illness, ADHD, autism, and poor immune response.
Understanding Picky Eating in Young Children
Picky eating is a common concern among parents of picky eaters, especially during early childhood. It’s not unusual for a toddler to reject unfamiliar foods or stick to a very limited range of favorites. While many children outgrow picky eating, others may need additional support from professionals such as pediatricians or psychologists to ensure they’re receiving the right treatment and nutritional balance.
Picky Eater List
There is a difference between oral motor skills that impact feeding abilities and a child’s picky eating. Foods that make the “picky eater’s list” might include certain food texture issues, food mixtures, food sensory issues like crunchy foods, and even foods that require utensils.
A short list of some foods that are not on the plate of extremely picky eaters might include:
Sandwiches
Rice
Chicken breast or other meats
Carrots
Cheese
Sauces
Vegetables
Fruits
Obviously this is a short list and any number of foods, food types can be on a picky eater list. Any other number of foods or food combinations
Looking at this list, you can see the limitations in nutrients, vitamins, proteins, and brain-building foods that are missing from the plate of an extremely picky eater.
It is not productive to get stuck in the “why is my child a picky eater”, but move forward to “what can I do about picky eating”. I am not just an experienced feeding therapist, I too had two picky eaters who survived on 3-4 different foods in their second and third year of development.
In order to help my daughters, I had to remove my thoughts impacting how I approached tackling that picky eater list for each child. That includes putting aside parenting/worry/anxiety/they’re starving persona, and put on my therapist hat. I am happy to report they are thriving adults who eat a huge variety of foods!
NOTE*The term, “learner” is used throughout this post for readability and inclusion. Not all picky eaters are children. This information is relevant for students, patients, clients, preschoolers, kids/children of all ages and stages or whomever could benefit from these resources. The term “they” is used instead of he/she to be inclusive.
When to Seek Support
If picky eating interferes with a child’s diet over an extended period or leads to issues like constipation or significant weight loss, it’s important to consult a pediatrician.
In some cases, psychologists can help address the sensory, behavioral, or emotional components of picky eating. These professionals may work alongside occupational therapists to explore strategies that support healthy eating habits in young children.
How to help extremely picky eaters
To learn how to help extremely picky eaters, it is important to define it first.
Picky eating is different from problem feeding. Often, but not always, extremely picky eating is actually a problem feeding disorder. This has recently been renamed Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder ARFID. ARFID is not classified with eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia, as persons with ARFID or problem feeding do not restrict their intake due to body image.
The term picky eating includes:
Selective eating habits
Eats 10-20 different foods (preferred foods)
Will often eat more if hungry
Not missing entire food groups
Can often be bribed or rewarded for good eating
Can be distracted into eating
Adds new foods to their diet
Problem feeding (extremely picky eating) refers to:
Refusal to eat
Rigid eating habits (no food touching, specific brand, same plate, cut a certain way)
Eats less than 10 different foods
Will starve before they eat unwanted foods
Missing entire food groups
Behavioral reactions: gagging, vomiting, crying, anxiety, refusal to sit at the table
Increased sensitivity to the taste and/or texture of foods
No amount of rewards, bribing, punishing will magically make this go away
What is the difference between picky eating and problem feeding?
The picky eater will survive. They are likely to consume at least one meat, fruit, and vegetable and a bunch of carbs.
Continue to put out expected foods on the plate and encourage tasting of new foods. The problem feeder on the other hand, is not consuming enough calories, or getting the right nutrition.
A person surviving on four foods often gets tired of one of them, eating only three foods now. This is more of a dire situation and the treatment is complicated.
If you have a problem feeder, seek treatment from a therapist who is certified or has attended classes in feeding therapy. There is a lot that can go wrong working with problem feeders.
After viewing the list, if you feel the learner is more of a picky eater, there are several strategies that can help.
Following a feeding evaluation, feeding therapy can begin. Start a structured feeding problem including the following:
1. Feeding Therapy Interview
Interview the caregiver to determine the following:
What foods the learner eats – a specific list will determine texture, variety, color, or patterns. Are all the foods crunchy? Are they all brown?
How many foods the learner eats – less than 10 is a problem, 10-15 is picky, and above 20 is average. Count two different cookies as two items, two cereals as two items.
Medical history – Is there a history of reflux, G-tube, or NG-tube, swallowing issues?
Time frame for eating – A typical meal should last 20-30 minutes for a child.
Where the learner eats – Does the learner eat at the table or in front of the television? Do they run around the room catching a bite here and there?
Behavioral reactions during meal times – Does the child flee the table? Turn their whole body away from the food, vomit, cry, refuse to open their mouth, gag, spit out food?
Record information from caregivers and look for clues to feeding issues, other than the exhibited behavior. The person may have a history of reflux that makes eating very uncomfortable. They may have been verbally abused and shamed during mealtime, making eating an unpleasant experience. Perhaps the child has never had structure or routine during meal time, thus not making eating a priority.
2. Planning for Feeding therapy
Start treatment planning
Begin with the provided list of preferred foods to determine what foods to try first. A Food Inventory Questionnaire can be used for this step.
If the learner eats: crackers, pancakes, waffles, bread, and dry cereal, they may have a preference for white/brown foods that are dry. Some are crunchy foods and some are soft foods, but all are dry.
The next in order would be another dry brown food such as toast, bagel, cookie, or different type of cracker.
Once the child tolerates more brown dry foods the next texture in the same color family would be a banana or plain macaroni.
For the learner who eats only purees or smooth foods like pudding, yogurt, and baby food, the next step would be to try different flavors of yogurt or pudding. For a learner who only eats smooth foods, it is important not to vary the texture yet. After the child tolerates this texture, then a trial of applesauce may work.
Adding flavor choices and additional nutrients can be found in sauces or dips. While this can be a source of refusal for some kids, others prefer dips such as ketchup or ranch dressing.
Take a look at what the individual is gaining from these dips. Both can be high in sodium and that salt intake is preferred. Can you offer other foods to dip into the preferred choices?
Think about other similar options that may offer a similar sensory input through texture or taste:
butter for pasta rather than sauces
pizza sauce in place of ketchup
3. Feeding Therapy Treatment session
Ask the learner or their caregiver to provide two favored foods and 2-3 non favored foods. Having preferred foods decreases anxiety as the child is not presented with a plate of non favored foods.
It is important for the learner/caregiver to provide the food. Possible allergic reactions are diminished, as the caregiver is more aware of the learner’s diet. There may be cultural or dietary foods that the family prefers.
It doesn’t do any good for the therapist to work for weeks on waffles and applesauce, if the family does not offer these foods.
Food presentation – Present all foods on the plate in small portions, or a choice of two options with small bites of each. Avoid huge piles of non-preferred food, as it increases anxiety or sensory aversion.
Divided plates help ease anxiety, as do small portions. It can help to present the food as snacks, using a snack plate or small tea plate.
Food exploration- Start to encourage eating, or at least food exploration. Have the learner look at the food, touch the food, touch it to their face, give a kiss, give a lick, take a bite, chew, and swallow. This resource on sensory touch can offer more information and strategies to support tactile exploration.
There are 27 steps to eating from being in the same room as the food, to chewing and swallowing it. This makes learning to eat new foods challenging.
Offer food options- Allow the child to touch foods or use their fingertips to pick up and eat or taste the foods. In some cases, muscles and coordination are not appropriate for utensil use, limiting options.
Offer various food temperatures. Consider the sensory input offered by cooked carrots vs. raw carrots.
Offer various food cuts. Consider the amount of force needed to bite baby carrots vs. shredded carrots.
Food Therapy Progression
Food therapy interventions are about progressing through with small incremental changes to food offerings with observation and food challenges. Some food therapy goal banks are included below.
Learner is able to:
Be in the same room as the food, then in the same area as the food.
Sit near the food, then in front of the food without turning away.
Look at food, touch the non preferred item, smell the food.
Touch the food to face, then lips, then give it a kiss.
Lick the food, take a bite and spit it out, chew the food with the option to take it out.
While presenting and working on the feeding portion, observe for signs of oral motor issues that might indicate oral motor development considerations.
Does the learner chew from side to side or munch up and down?
Do they have good lip closure?
Do they have an intense gag reflex?
Can they move the food around effectively?
Can they bite into the food?
4. Carryover of Therapy for Picky Eaters
The ultimate goal is to carryover skills achieved in therapy sessions into a functional environment. Discuss techniques with caregivers and encourage them to try the same foods later in the day.
Remind them to be calm and not emotional during feeding time. The goal is to have fun with food and find mealtime enjoyable.
For more information on how to help extremely picky eaters, I have also published a helpful resource book (Amazon affiliate link) Seeing your Home and Community with Sensory Eyes for to understand different environments that may be impacting the eating habits of your child/clients, including the cafeteria, kitchen, restaurants, and more.
Feeding and toileting are two of the most frustrating, anxiety producing stages of childhood. Children start to exert their free will at this stage and can no longer be forced to do certain things.
Encourage parents, educate yourself on this topic, and spread the word, so problem feeding does not continue to rise along with other scary diagnoses.
This post is part of a series on feeding disorders/picky eating. Other resources you will find helpful include:
If you’re just getting started with feeding evaluations, it’s helpful to first learn how to do a food evaluation to better understand the root of picky eating.
If motor coordination is contributing to eating challenges, this post on oral motor problems and feeding covers what to look for and how to help.
Safety and Health Concerns
Parents should also be aware of the risk of choking, particularly if children avoid certain textures or refuse to chew foods properly. Offering bite-sized pieces and observing during meals is key to safety, especially when introducing new items into the rotation. Constipation can also become a problem for children with limited diets, making fiber and hydration critical areas to monitor.
Building Confidence at the Table
Support from parents of picky eaters is essential. Offer a consistent routine around mealtime, serve familiar and unfamiliar foods together, and avoid pressuring your child to eat. Sometimes the stress of focusing on the “next meal” can escalate picky eating behaviors. Patience and gentle encouragement go a long way in helping children gradually expand their food preferences.
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.
(THESE are my favorite brand and what I always recommended as a school-based OT!)
