Occupational Therapy

Foam Beading: fine motor. scissor use. tripod grasp.

Colleen Beck OTR/L

Colleen Beck, OTR/L is a pediatric occupational therapist and the owner and author of The OT Toolbox website. She manages all of The OT Toolbox social media accounts and runs the popular newsletter. 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:

by Colleen Beck OTR/L
June 13, 2013

Use this fine motor activity to address the underlying skills needed for functional tasks like pencil grasp, scissor use, clothing fasteners, and more in a fun and playful activity that kids will love! We used simple foal curlers and a pipe cleaner to create a tool for boosting bilateral coordination, visual motor skills, motor planning, and more!

Fine motor activities for kids using foam curler beads.

We spent a “maybe-it’s-going-to-rain-maybe-it’s-not” afternoon this week making these fun foam bracelets.

Or, maybe it’s just typical Western Pennsylvania weather 🙂

We had a cousin play date this week and between searching for worms, picking flowers, and sandbox play…had fun making these

Foam Bracelets.

We started with foam rollers and pipe cleaners.

Fine motor activity for kids using beads cut from foam hair rolls and pipe cleaners.

The older kids snipped the foam rollers into pieces. I drew lines along the roller with a pen, and they were able to cut along the lines.

Be careful with cutting these. Only older children should cut the rollers, and under supervision. Use your best judgment based on your child’s abilities.

Cutting the foam roll was a neat sensation! It took a little cutting “oomph” concentration. That different texture is great for cutting practice and line awareness.

Kids can improve fine motor skills using foam curlers.

We used the foam pieces to “bead” onto pipe cleaners. The center hole fits perfectly onto a pipe cleaner. We had a 3 year old, a 4 year old, and a 5 year old who sat for a while and filled up their pipe cleaners with foam beads.