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Welcome to the Pencil Grasp Challenge!
I am SO excited about this challenge. What is the Pencil Grasp Challenge? Well, if you know a child who struggles with pencil grasp, holds the pencil with a tight or inefficient grip, uses all of their fingers to hold a pencil, or writes with an awkward grasp, the Pencil Grasp Challenge is for you!…
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Indoor Recess Ideas
There are certain times during the school year when indoor recess becomes a must. When the temperatures are below freezing or there is constant rain, i seems like there are days on end of indoor recess. We wanted to put together a list of indoor recess activities that can support attention spans and keep kids…
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Assistive Technology to use After You’ve Tried Everything with Handwriting
If you are a school-based OT or on a team along with school based occupational therapy professionals, you’ve probably heard this conversation before. We’re talking about what to do to support students that have tried everything when it comes to handwriting interventions. At a certain point, after we’ve exhausted all attempts with handwriting modifications and…
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Backward Chaining in Teaching Kids Skills
Here at the OT Toolbox we write about many topics that include “how to” suggestions. One of the suggestions we often recommend is Backward Chaining. There have been several people asking recently about Backward Chaining. In this post, we will review or highlight what “chaining” is, the difference between backward and forward chaining, and explore…
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Toys to Improve Pencil Grasp
Have you ever used pencil grasp toys to support development of handwriting? Helping kids with pencil grasp can be a challenge, so using motivating and fun activities to support the underlying skill areas is essential. Today, we’re going over the best occupational therapy toys that target pencil grasp development. Pencil grasp toys to challenge precision,…
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Spatial Awareness Toys and Activities
For kids that struggle with body awareness, position-in-space, and overall spatial understanding, spatial awareness toys are fun ways to develop a specific set of skills that impact function of every day tasks. Occupational therapy toys like these space-based play support development of these areas. Want to help kids become more aware of their body position,…
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Toys and Tools to Help With Attention and Focus
Here we are talking toys that help kids pay attention. These focus toys can be ways to support concentration or toys to help kids with the working memory skills needed for functional tasks, by allowing them to sustain attention during an activity. Part of our occupational therapy toys lists, this resource supports the development of…
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Bilateral Coordination Toys
Here we are covering all things bilateral coordination toys. When it comes to bilateral integration, coordinating both sides of the body in play can be a challenge for some children. These bilateral skills impact functional use of the body, motor planning, and bilateral integration as a whole. It’s through play with occupational therapy toys targeting…
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Visual Tracking Tips and Tools for Treatment
Here we are covering all things visual tracking, including what visual tracking means, how to improve visual tracking skills, and visual tracking toys to support development of this visual processing skill. What is Visual Tracking Visual tracking is typically defined as the ability to efficiently move the eyes from left to right (or right to…
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Toys to Improve Scissors Skills
Today we are talking all about the very best toys to improve scissor skills. When kids are learning to cut with scissors, developing scissor skills precision through actual use of scissors to cut various grades of paper is the primary goal and means. But, did you consider different toys that support scissor skill development? These…
