Easy Eye-Hand Coordination Activities Using Paper

Here, you’ll fine easy eye hand coordination activities using paper. Paper is something that most parents, teachers, and therapists have easy access to.  

It’s usually pretty plentiful even if it is sourced from the recycling bin.  Whether it’s a roll of easel paper, a packet of construction paper, or yesterday’s newspaper, most of us have paper of some kind sitting around the house.  And for teachers, lined paper is one of those supplies that are typically provided by the classroom.  

So, it makes sense to use paper for a tool that provides way more therapeutic benefit than it seems a simple stack of paper can provide.   These easy eye-hand coordination activities use paper to develop fine motor skills and visual motor integration so that kids can carry over these necessary skills to tasks such as cutting with scissors, handwriting, fine motor tasks, and self- care tasks like clothing fasteners or shoe tying.

Easy Eye-Hand Coordination Activities Using Paper

You’ll need paper of any size and any variety to complete these activities.  Use what you have available or plan ahead when preparing visual motor activities for the classroom, therapy plans, or home programs.

Some paper ideas that can be used in eye-hand coordination activities

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• Construction Paper
• Recycled Newspapers
• Printer Paper (It is ALWAYS a hit when a child receives their very own ream of paper as a gift!)
• Recycled Junk Mail
• Lined Yellow Composition Paper (a classroom staple!)
• Spiral Notebook
• Wide-Ruled Composition Paper
• Journal Notebook
• Roll of Easel Paper
• Recycled Yellow Pages (or other phone directory)
• Cardstock
• Used Coloring Books
• Paper Towels
• Tissue Paper
• Paper Shopping Bags
• Paper Lunch Sacks
• Coffee Filters
• Cupcake Liners
• Post-it Notes

Use paper to develop eye-hand coordination activities 

• One such way to work on eye-hand coordination skills in kids is to tear paper. 
• Play games with paper clips.
• Make paper dolls- Cut, fold, and decorate paper people of all kinds.
• Create paper chains- Make a pattern and string it across a room.
• Make and cut paper snowflakes- Make it creative by folding and cutting paper towel snowflakes or cupcake liner snowflakes, too.
• Fold paper airplanes.  Then try to fly it into a target.
• Fold a paper fan.
• Throw paper snowballs into a basket.  Move back farther and add in obstacle course types of motor movements.
• Fold origami- Follow step-by-step instructions in a how-to book.
• Make paper helicopters- Fly them from a high space such as a step stool and try to drop them into a target. These paper helicopters are another fun way to work on eye hand coordination skills.
• Make coin rubbings- Read about this eye hand coordination activity in our coin activities post. Trace other items such as leaves, paper clips, or keys.
• Make a paper fortune teller- Add educational aspects such as math facts or definitions.
• Fold paper footballs– Make it educational by adding math concepts or sight word practice.
• Create paper hats.
• Make paper boats.  Try to see how far they can float with added weight.
• Play paper and pencil games such as tic tac toe, dots-and-boxes, or other paper and pencil games
• Scrunch paper into small pieces and glue them onto artwork.  
• Tear paper in long strips- Tear long strips or simple shapes.

All of these activities are simple to set up and require little preparation work.  Use this list as a backup activity list for those times when kids need something to do between lessons in the classroom, or a rainy day activity.  Some of these paper activities would be great for when waiting in a restaurant.  Use the down time to build eye-hand coordination skills with paper!

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Colleen Beck, OTR/L has been an occupational therapist since 2000, working in school-based, hand therapy, outpatient peds, EI, and SNF. Colleen created The OT Toolbox to inspire therapists, teachers, and parents with easy and fun tools to help children thrive. Read her story about going from an OT making $3/hour (after paying for kids’ childcare) to a full-time OT resource creator for millions of readers. Want to collaborate? Send an email to contact@theottoolbox.com.