Whew, what a week this has been! We’ve been talking all about Christmas Activities for Kids here on The OT Toolbox and today ends the week of Christmas activities in this series. We’ve talked about all the ways to make this holiday season special while working on underlying skill areas and incorporating occupational therapy goals. Today, it’s all about Christmas Sensory Activities that can be used in the classroom, clinic, or home programs over the holiday break. Use these Christmas play ideas in sensory diets, to create sensory bin ideas or sensory bottles!
Christmas Sensory activities
If you’ve missed any of the blog posts this week, you might want to catch up on all of the ideas! You can check out all of the Christmas Activities for Kids here on our main Christmas page.
Some of the ideas we’ve covered are Christmas activities for preschoolers, Christmas activities for toddlers, Christmas crafts for kids, and Christmas party ideas. All of these activities have a therapy mindset where they encourage movement, play, and motor development with a Christmas theme!
With the upcoming holiday season, kids can be all over the place when it comes to excitement for holiday events. Try incorporating some of the Christmas sensory activities listed below to encourage sensory play with a learning twist.
Christmas activities for kids
First, you’ll want to check out a previous post here on The OT Toolbox where we shared sensory processing activities and sensory experiences perfect for the month of December.
Try this scented peppermint sorting activity to work on fine motor skills and eye-hand coordination. Add motor skills like finger isolation to count the peppermints or use tongs to move the peppermints and strengthen the hands.
Mix up a batch of candy cane moon dough for sensory play with a fresh scent! Moon dough can be used as a writing tray to practice letter and number formation or to work on eye-hand coordination in scooping and pouring.
Have you ever let the kids play with cooked pasta as a sensory play experience? It’s a tactile challenge for some! This noodle sensory activity can boost fine motor skills. Try cutting them to sneak in some scissor work, too.
We shared this Christmas tree sensory experience the other day on our Christmas activities for preschoolers post, but it’s worth mentioning again. There’s a reason why: manipulating wet pieces of foam is a fantastic tactile sensory experience that doubles as a fine motor activity, too.
For a sensory recipe, try this scented playdough for creating miniature snowmen. Add a few manipulatives to make it a fine motor powerhouse. This is an OLD post here on the website. Beware, the pictures are small and dark!! That doesn’t stop the play dough from being fun though! Add this activity to your holiday lineup.
Another sensory recipe is this DIY snow recipe, perfect for play and fine motor work. This would make a great addition to a home program for the holiday break!
Add a few colored ice cubes and scoops, spoons, and ladles to a big bowl for eye-hand coordination and fine motor precision with a Christmas theme. Kids love water play and this Christmas water activity is no different!
This easy Christmas sensory bin can be a go-to activity for settling holiday excitement in the days leading up to Christmas. Use materials you have in your home to work on fine motor skills, eye-hand coordination, crossing midline, and more through sensory play.
Getting the kids into the kitchen is a great way to work on so many skills with kids! Direction following, executive functioning skills, motor skills, strengthening, and more are developed through cooking with kids. Make a batch of this Gingerbread Salt Dough for sensory play and ornament-making. These ornaments are still on our tree years later! Check out the pictures on this OLD blog post. This takes me back to those busy days as a mom of toddlers and preschools! Tears!
Colder weather doesn’t mean outdoor play needs to stop. Take a sensory potpourri hike outside with the kids and explore nature by creating a potpourri. Add bits and pieces such as various pine needles, pine cones, and add in orange peels or cinnamon sticks. Kids can cut pine needles with scissors and add them to the scented collection.
Need another scented DIY play dough recipe? This one is a peppermint scented play dough, perfect for rolling, needing, and strengthening those hands!
Working on handwriting with kids this Christmas season? Grab your copy of the Christmas Modified Handwriting Packet. It’s got three types of adapted paper that kids can use to write letters to Santa, Thank You notes, holiday bucket lists and much more…all while working on handwriting skills in a motivating and fun way! Read more about the adapted Christmas Paper here.
If you are looking for Christmas activities for preschool, then you are in the right place. In the weeks leading up to Christmas, so many of us occupational therapists, teachers, and parents are looking for fun and easy holiday activities for preschoolers. First, check out our Christmas occupational therapy activities for skill-building this holiday season. Then, grab some ideas from our list of Christmas Fine Motor Activities.
Christmas Activities for Preschool
You’ve probably seen the Christmas excitement as kids get amped up for Santa, Christmas trees, candy canes, presents, and the upcoming holiday!
Why not mix therapy and learning with a Christmas theme and build on that excitement?
With the Christmas activities for preschoolers listed below, you’ll be able to add some learning or therapy work into holiday activities, all while getting into the Christmas spirit in the preschool classroom!
Thiscollection of preschool activities with a Christmas theme is part of this week’s Christmas Activities week here on The OT Toolbox. Each day this week, we’re rounding up collections of holiday themed activities, crafts, games, and ideas to fill your therapy toolbox.
Be sure to stop back each day this week to catch all of the holiday fun!
Christmas Activities for Preschoolers
Now on to today’s collection of activities that preschoolers will love all while working on the skills your kids need!
Work on Scissor Skills- Preschoolers are just getting the hang of managing scissors in one hand and the paper in another, all while snipping along a line. This Icicle Scissor Skills Craft is perfect for the preschool age range. It’s got simple lines that can be adjusted in width to meet the child’s needs and can be a huge help in teaching preschoolers to manage and turn paper to cut angles. Then, hang those icicles in the window and your preschooler will feel so proud of their work!
Work on Bilateral Coordination- Kids in preschool are just learning to manage clothing, tools, and other tasks that require coordinated movement of both hands with greater precision. Tasks like buttoning and zippering clothing require bilateral coordination with fine motor work. This Recycled Lid Ornament Garland is a power tool in promoting bilateral coordination and refined dexterity in order to thread and create ornaments. This Christmas activity is another that a preschooler will be proud of. Hang the garland on a tree or across a window sill.
Work on Visual Tracking Skills- Visual tracking is a necessary skill for reading and writing. While preschoolers aren’t at this stage yet, they soon will be! That makes a marble run a fantastic visual processing tool for building a base n the skills kids need down the road. Add a Christmas twist with jingle bells on the marble run! It’s perfect on the floor or in a sensory table and is a fun activity preschoolers will love this season.
Work on Scissor Skills with a Christmas Tree Craft- Just like the icicle craft listed above, this Christmas Tree Scissor Skills Activity is perfect for preschoolers who are developing and refining their scissor skills. Use thicker paper like cardstock (or even green paper plates!) for younger kids who are still learning to work those scissors! You can encourage preschoolers to cut through to the edge instead of turning the paper when first learning to cut angled lines.
Encourage Sensory Play- The preschool age is the perfect time to encourage sensory play with sensory bins. You can use any sensory bin fillers and create a sensory bin based on infinite themes! Here are lots of Christmas Carol Sensory Bin ideas. Use them to promote visual motor skills like scooping and pouring through tactile sensory play. This Away in a Manger Sensory Bin is just one of the ideas.
Build Shoulder and Wrist Stability on a Vertical Surface- Working on a vertical surface like an easel is a powerful way to strengthen the shoulder and wrist. This Christmas Tree Sensory Activity combines scissor work with fine motor skills and sensory play.
Promote Hand Strength with a Counting Activity- This Christmas Counting Activity is a DIY activity that uses clothespins and fun Christmas decorations to work on fine motor skills and early math.
Work on Pre-Writing Skills- Working on pre-writing lines is a powerful early writing skill for preschoolers. These Christmas Pre-Writing Activities can give preschoolers the tools they need to form letters. Teaching horizontal and vertical lines, crosses, curved lines, diagonal lines, “X”s, and simple shapes can be completed with a Christmas theme to make things fun this time of year.
Work on Direction Following- This Christmas Tree Stamp Art is a process art craft that preschoolers can make as a gift tags or DIY wrapping paper for family! Stamp Christmas trees, while working on fine motor skills and eye-hand coordination to dot on paint decorations with a cotton swab. This stamp art is a hit with kids!
Looking for more Christmas activities? Stop back the rest of this week for more holiday ideas that boost development through movement and play.
Christmas Writing Activity
In preschool, children it is developmentally appropriate to work on letter recognition, saying letters, singing letters, and fine motor play with letters. So often, we see kiddos who are being asked to write letters or even words before they have developed the fine motor skills and eye-hand coordination to even manage a pencil. It happens very often, and it can lead to kids who struggle down the road with pencil grasp, visual motor skills in writing, letter formation, and other concerns.
I wanted to include in this post a link to Christmas paper for older kids. Note that the lined paper below is not recommended for the preschool age set. Even the pre-k kiddos who are 5 who may be working on letter formation, writing numbers, and name writing, shouldn’t be given the Christmas paper. The lines and spacing is just too much for this age.
I did want to include the paper here for our older kids. Many times therapists and parents are seeking out resources that fit a variety of needs in age ranges. The modified lined paper is Christmas and winter-themed for writing with awareness of spacing and lines. Remember that these lined paper resources shouldn’t be used with preschoolers, just school-aged kids on up!
Christmas Preschool Activities for Occupational Therapy
You’ll love incorporating these other activities and ideas into OT sessions with preschoolers:
Make a fine motor egg carton tree craft to support bilateral coordination, precision grasp, and graded resistance in fine motor skills.
Create a Fine Motor Christmas Card and work on precision, hand strength, scissor skills, and name writing. Kids will love to give this holiday card to friends and family!
Finally, use the holiday crafts and activities found in our Christmas Therapy Kit. It’s a great way to develop skills in OT sessions during the holiday season.
Looking for done-for you therapy activities this holiday season?
This print-and-go Christmas Therapy Kit includes no-prep, fine motor, gross motor, self-regulation, visual perceptual activities…and much more… to help kids develop functional grasp, dexterity, strength, and endurance. Use fun, Christmas-themed, motor activities so you can help children develop the skills they need.
This 100 page no-prep packet includes everything you need to guide fine motor skills in face-to-face AND virtual learning. You’ll find Christmas-themed activities for hand strength, pinch and grip, dexterity, eye-hand coordination, bilateral coordination, endurance, finger isolation, and more.
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.
Need a few Christmas Activities for Toddlers? This time of year, there is just not enough time to search for activities that the kids will love. Today we’re sharing Christmas activities for kids that help to promote underlying skills like fine motor, gross motor, coordination, and balance. These are holiday games and Christmas activities for 2-3 year olds with a focus on fun. The best part is, they are here and all in one place for you!
Christmas Activities for Toddlers
The toddler years is a busy time as kiddos are learning, moving, and are on the go! The Toddler stage of development is a critical one as kids are developing the underlying fine motor and gross motor experiences skills they need down the road for tasks like pencil grasp, handwriting, coordination, and gross motor tasks. These are Christmas activities that 2 and 3 year olds will love!
Use the Christmas Activities for toddlers below to create motor experiences for toddlers, all with a Christmas theme!
These are activities, games, and ideas for kids with a Christmas theme that can be used in occupational therapy treatment in the home, school, or clinic!
If you missed the announcement post on our Christmas Activities for Kids series, you’ll want to check it out. We’ll have a different theme each day this week!
Christmas Activities for kids
Jingle Bell Sort- Toddlers will love this Christmas Jingle Bell Sort activity and won’t even realize they are building skills they need for development. This activity can be used all season long to help kids develop in-hand manipulation and separation of the two sides of the hands as kids sort colored jingle bells.
Christmas Coloring- Use the crayons for toddlers that support development of fine motor skills and visual motor skills. Use aa blank page and draw or color simple holiday themed shapes. Or, use a Christmas coloring book as a quiet time activity. Don’t have these items? They make great stocking stuffers for toddlers!
Christmas Discovery Bottle- A sensory bottle is great for toddlers. It’s a tool that can help them as they discover how their hands move to shake a bottle to make noises from the filler. What an experience in cause and effect! This Christmas Discover Bottle uses green split peas and holiday themed foam shapes.
Christmas Sensory Bin- Something as simple as throwing cookie cutters, ribbons, and bows into a low bin can be a great discovery sensory bin that is perfect for Toddlers. This Christmas Sensory Bin is an activity that requires close supervision (like all of the activities listed here). Toddlers can explore different items while moving items, sorting, experiencing different textures.
Christmas Water Play– Freeze a few holiday shaped ice cubes, toss them into water, and add some scoops and spoons. Toddlers can work on scooping, bilateral coordination, eye-hand coordination, and other skills, all with a simple set-up activity that Toddlers will love. We used Christmas shaped ice cube trays but any ice cubes would work. Here is more information on scooping ice as a fine motor activities for toddlers.
Easel Art- Working on a vertical surface is a great way to strengthen promote balance, coordination, and bilateral coordination. In this easel art activity, we used red, white, and blue paper scraps, but it could easily be re-created with green and red Christmas colors!
Fine Motor Activity for Toddlers- Work on fine motor skills with toddlers by using red and green crafting pom poms and a recycled plastic bottle to promote development of the fine motor skills kids need down the road for fastening clothing fasteners, coloring, and writing with a pencil.
Fine Motor Pipe Cleaner Activity for Toddlers– Use that recycled plastic bottle again to work on even more fine motor skills in toddlers by using red and green pipe cleaners. Add a handful of jingle bells to create a sensory bottle that is as much fun to create as it is to play with.
Ornament Explore– Toss a handful of plastic or shatter proof ornaments into a basket for a toddler-safe exploration play. This is a great way for little ones to explore textures, promote bilateral coordination, visual motor skills, crossing midline, and other skills, all in a safe way!
Empty Box Fine Motor Activity-Wrap an empty box with wrapping paper. Using a screwdriver, poke holes in the box. Then, show your toddler how to push pipe cleaners into the holes. Using pipe cleaners for fine motor was a HUGE hit when I had toddlers in my house. It’s a great activity for developing precision, coordination, crossing midline, bilateral coordination, grasp development, and more!
Sensory Light Box- This time of year, it seems like there are cardboard boxes arriving at the house every day. Use an empty cardboard box to make a sensory light tunnel. All you need is a big box, and a strand of Christmas lights to create a sensory calm down zone and Toddler play space.
Don’t forget to stop back tomorrow for more occupational therapy Christmas ideas. You can also catch all of the Christmas Activities for kids here.
If you work with kids, you might be thinking about Christmas activity ideas that promote the development of fine motor skills. These Christmas Fine Motor Activities are creative ideas that boost dexterity, build fine motor strength, promote precision of grasp, enhance separation of the two sides of the hand, and enhance tripod grasp with a Christmas theme.
Christmas Fine Motor Activities
These fine motor activities can be used in the classroom as a Christmas craft that doubles also develops the underlying fine motor skills that are needed for so many functional tasks.
Go through the activities below and find your favorite way to play and develop fine motor skills this holiday season!
Christmas theme fine motor activities
When kids make crafts or holiday decorations, they are using and developing many skills. Manipulating tools such as scissors, glue, hole punches, tape, glitter, etc, kids experience various tactile experiences.
Creating with paper or other material requires visual motor skills (eye-hand coordination), fine motor manipulation and strength, dexterity, bimanual coordination, visual perceptual skills, visual attention, prehension, midline crossing, and visual spatial awareness.
By using tools such as scissors or a hole punch, children can gain proprioceptive input that can be calming within the classroom environment.
Here are Christmas themed Fine Motor Activities that can be used in the classroom, home, or clinic this holiday season: Use this Christmas Tree Hole Punch activity to develop strength in the hands and more. This activity uses a hole punch to create lights for each Christmas tree. The bonus with this craft is the learning and math component. Add a colorful twist by adding colored tissue paper to the backs of the trees with glue.
Make a fine motor Christmas card that kids can make too, while working on hand strength, coordination, and eye-hand coordination skills…with a fun Christmas card that kids can make and gift to friends or family!
Use crumbled tissue paper to create this Fine Motor Christmas Tree from Crafts on Sea. Crumbling paper develops the arches and builds strength in the hands. Kids will love this Christmas Jingle Bell Sort activity and won’t even realize they are building skills they need for development. This activity can be used all season long to help kids develop in-hand manipulation and separation of the two sides of the hands as kids sort colored jingle bells.
Make these Fine Motor Lacing Christmas Trees from Happy Hooligans to develop skills like visual motor integration, bilateral coordination, tripod grasp, and more. Creating this Snowman Fine Motor Craft is a fun way to develop skills like bilateral coordination, pincer grasp and more. This craft is one that builds fine motor strength and precision while creating a fun holiday decoration.
Boost fine motor skills like grasp, strength, and more when making these Craft Stick Christmas Trees from Easy Peasy and Fun. This Fine Motor Christmas Tree Craft addresses many skills needed for development and function. This craft has been very popular here on The OT Toolbox. It’s a way to recycle egg cartons while working on various skills: bilateral coordination, fine motor strength, visual attention, spatial awareness, arch development, wrist extension and stability, and more.
These Fine Motor Christmas Trees from Stir the Wonder are fun decorations that promote bilateral coordination skills. Use recycled bottle caps to make this Bottle Cap Fine Motor Christmas Tree Craft. This fine motor activity can be a holiday decoration that boosts fine motor skills such as precision, in-hand manipulation, tip-to-tip pincer grasp, rotation and dexterity of the fingers needed for in-hand manipulation, and bilateral coordination.
You can find more Christmas themed play and fine motor crafts and activities here on this 25 days of Christmas Play series that we shared a few years back.
Christmas Handwriting Activities
Writing out that Christmas wish list is a difficult task that brings out tears instead of holiday excitement. I’ve got a solution for your kiddo with handwriting difficulties: a packet of modified paper for all of the Christmas handwriting tasks that come up each year. Use this handwriting pack to help kids who struggle with handwriting to participate in holiday traditions while even working on and developing their handwriting skills!
Working on handwriting with kids this Christmas season? Grab your copy of the Christmas Modified Handwriting Packet. It’s got three types of adapted paper that kids can use to write letters to Santa, Thank You notes, holiday bucket lists and much more…all while working on handwriting skills in a motivating and fun way! Read more about the adapted Christmas Paper here.
Christmas Theme Handwriting
For more Christmas fine motor work, try paringin the activities in this post with Christmas handwriting. Use the modified paper to work on areas such as line awareness, spacing, letter size, and legibility with bold lines, highlighted lines, and color-coded lines.
Looking for done-for you therapy activities this holiday season?
This print-and-go Christmas Therapy Kit includes no-prep, fine motor, gross motor, self-regulation, visual perceptual activities…and much more… to help kids develop functional grasp, dexterity, strength, and endurance. Use fun, Christmas-themed, motor activities so you can help children develop the skills they need.
This 100 page no-prep packet includes everything you need to guide fine motor skills in face-to-face AND virtual learning. You’ll find Christmas-themed activities for hand strength, pinch and grip, dexterity, eye-hand coordination, bilateral coordination, endurance, finger isolation, and more.
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.
This time of year, the hustle and bustle of the season can make all of us feel a little out of sorts. For the child with sensory issues, the holiday season can be a real challenge! Try adding Christmas Proprioception Activities into your child’s day for calming strategies to meet sensory needs.
Occupational Therapists can add these proprioception activities to sensory diet plans or to make home programs this time of year. Ad these heavy work ideas to your therapy plans this month. They are great Christmas activities for sending home to parents for a home program over the holiday break.
Parents and teachers can use these activities as part of an individualized plan that meets the child’s needs.
The calendar’s activities are outlined in an easy to follow therapy plan, however as parents and therapists know, a day that involves children does not always go as planned. The activities can be shifted around to suit the needs of the child and the family. An activity can be completed on a different day or used in combination with another day’s therapeutic activities.
Try adding these activities into the child’s day to challenge sensory issues or as a way to help kids focus during overstimulating times that the holidays bring.
Christmas Heavy Work Ideas
1. Shovel activity- Use a small child’s sized snow shovel or sand shovel to scoop couch cushions.
2. Mitten Toss- Fill a plastic sandwich bag with dry beans.Push the filled bag into a mitten.Close the opening of the mitten by rolling the top over on itself like you would roll socks together.Use the mitten as a DIY bean bag in tossing target games.
3. Gift Push- Load cardboard boxes with heavy objects like books.Ask the child to push the boxes across a room.For less resistance, do this activity on a carpeted floor.For more heavy work, do this activity outside on the driveway or sidewalk.
4. Reindeer Kick- Promote proprioceptive input through the upper body with wheel barrow race type movements.Kids can also stand on their arms and legs in a quadruped position and kick their legs up.
5. Sleigh Push- Load a wheelbarrow, sled, or wagon with objects.(Try the weighted boxes from number three activity listed above.) Ask kids to push, pull, and tug on the “sleigh” through the yard.
6. Peppermint Candy Stick Oral Motor Activity- Did you know you can make a peppermint candy stick into a straw?It’s a great oral motor activity for kids.Cut an orange in half and then stick the peppermint stick into the orange.Next, suck the peppermint stick. The juices from the orange will begin to work their way up through the peppermint stick.
7. Cocoa Temperature Taste- Make a batch of hot cocoa. Pour it into an ice cube tray and let it freeze. Next, make another batch of hot cocoa. Divide it out into several mugs. Add a cocoa ice cube to the first mug, two ice cubes to the second mug, and so on. Mix the mugs up on a table.Place a straw into each mug.Children can position the mugs in order of coolest to hottest or vice versa.If doing this activity with several children, use small paper cups so that each child gets their own set of cups.
8. Christmas Chewy and Crunchy Food Breaks- A calming sensory snack can be just the thing that children need to organize their sensory system during the hustle and bustle of the holiday season.
Calming Sensory Foods for Christmas
Adding chewy or crunchy foods to a sensory diet has a calming effect. These types of food provide heavy work through the jaw and mouth.
Try these calming Christmas foods:
Peppermint snack mix with peppermint chocolate candies mixed with dry cereal and raisins
Use these modified paper with a Christmas theme to work on handwriting this time of year. Add a sensory component with proprioceptive feedback to add heavy work through the hands. Here are some ideas for adding adding proprioception to sensory writing activities:
Write over a sheet of sandpaper.
Tape the Christmas paper to a wall or easel and write on a vertical surface.
Use a grease pencil to add proprioceptive input resistance.
Making holiday ornaments like this bear ornament with kids is such a fun way to develop fine motor skills, and then see the work hanging on the Christmas tree. Kids will love this teddy bear ornament but occupational therapists will love it even more for the developmental aspects! Add this bear ornament craft to your occupational therapy Christmas crafts.
Bear Ornament
Check out these Christmas Fine Motor Activities for more creative ways to work on fine motor skills and address development of skills this Christmas season.
Today, I have a fun bear craft to share with you. This bear ornament is such a fun way to get kids creating and crafting during the Christmas season. We used this as a bear Christmas ornament, and a children’s book extension activity for the Bear Books by Karma Wilson.
We made the bear craft based on Bear Stays Up for Christmas. It’s true that in our house, we do love to come up with crafts and activities based on children’s books and this Christmas book themed Christmas ornament craft was no exception.
How to make a Bear ornament
This post contains affiliate links.
When we came up with this bear craft, we knew we wanted to create a cute bear that matched the bear in Karma Wilson’s Bear Stays Up for Christmas. The bear books are such a fun series to read and we loved to see Bear’s friends help him stay up to celebrate Christmas.
Bear Stays Up for Christmas is the perfect book to add to your reading list this Christmas season. It shows us how bear discovers the best gift of all is giving. How fun would it be to read this book, make the cute bear craft Christmas ornament, and then give it to a friend?
You’ll need just a few materials to make this bear craft:
This is such an easy bear craft. It would be perfect for preschool aged kids or grade school children. To start, you’ll need to cut a bear face shape from the cardboard.
Bear Craft
Bear crafts can be made this time of year, or all year long to work on skills like fine motor work, eye-hand coordination, bilateral coordination, and more.
Then, use the brown twine to wrap all around the cardboard face shape. Tape the twine to the back of the bear to keep it in place.
Fine motor tip: This activity is a great way to address bilateral coordination skills. Wrapping the twine around the cardboard shape allows kids to coordinate both hands together with a working hand and a non-dominant, assisting hand. This type of activity requires a child to work at midline while looking down toward their hands. It is a good activity for kids to seem to switch hands when writing or require prompts to hold the paper when writing and other tasks that utilize an assisting hand and precision work with the dominant hand.
Finally, use a small piece of twine on the back of the bear craft to create a loop in order to hang the bear craft Christmas ornament onto the Christmas tree.
While this bear craft was based on a popular children’s Christmas book, it would be a great accompaniment for any bear themed preschool book or children’s book.
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.
Working on handwriting this time of year can be like pulling teeth when kids are excited for all of the things the holiday season brings. That’s why we’ve got these Christmas Worksheets available in highlighted lines writing pages with a Christmas theme. Use the holiday worksheets for writing Christmas lists, thank you notes, or a letter to Santa while working on line awareness with modified paper in the form of highlighted lined paper.
Christmas Worksheets
Kids can sometimes try a handwriting trick and you will see the light bulb switch on. What if you had a Christmas light strand switch on when you were working on written work with kids? One way that helps kids develop written work skills and legibility is using highlighted lines on the paper. A highlighted bottom space on lined paper is helpful in so many ways.
This Highlighted Lines Christmas Paper is part of our modified Christmas paper packet. It’s a Christmas worksheet for kids that will help with handwriting this season. I decided to break the packet up into parts so that those of you who are interested in just one type of paper can benefit from a lower price.
Highlighted Lines Christmas Worksheets
Highlighted Lined paper is beneficial to many kids for several reasons. Using a highlighted space can provide a visual cue that allows kids to form letters with appropriate size, spacing, and placement.
There are many areas of handwriting that this type of paper can address:
Want to try color coded paper with a Christmas theme? This is a great paper to use for letters to Santa, holiday wish lists, thank you notes, shopping lists, recipe sharing, and Christmas time to-do lists.
Kids can practice handwriting in a way that is fun and meaningful with color coded Christmas handwriting paper.
What’s in the Highlighted Lines Christmas Worksheet packet?
(1) 10 pages of paper for practicing handwriting, including:
4 Christmas border designs in single space (narrow rule lines)
4 Christmas border designs in double space (wide rule lines)
“Dear Santa” writing prompt paper in narrow rule and wide rule
(2) Christmas themed writing prompt for ideas to encourage handwriting in a fun and meaningful way
(3)A How to Use This Paper writing guide
Christmas Worksheets for handwriting
Highlighted lined paper is a useful tool for kids who struggle with visual perceptual needs or visual motor challenges in handwriting. Children who write with letters placed haphazardly on the lines or have trouble with spacing between letters and words will benefit from this paper. Kids who write with letters of mixed size or those who write with a mixture of upper and lowercase letters will like this modified paper.
Teachers in grades Kindergarten on up will benefit from the different styles of paper in this packet. The packet comes with different sized lines and a variety of rules with each holiday-themed styles.
Therapists who work with children on handwriting goals will love to use the motivation of the Christmas and holiday season to work on underlying skills needed for accuracy and function in handwriting.
Parents who want their children to write out Christmas lists or Thank You notes will LOVE this modified paper that allows independence in written work.
OR, if you want to try several types of paper (bold lined paper and highlighted lined paper are also available), you can purchase the packets that work for your child or students. For teachers or therapists, the whole bundle might be a better option. You’ll find 30 pages of printable modified paper bundled together and will save.
Get 30 pages of modified paper with a Christmas Theme for legible and neat Letters to Santa, Christmas Wish Lists, Thank You Notes, Holiday Lists, and MORE!
Practicing handwriting can be a struggle. Sometimes, making the writing task fun can be just the thing to encourage practice. This Color Coded Christmas Paper is part of our modified Christmas paper packet. I decided to break the packet up into parts so that those of you who are interested in just one type of paper can benefit from a lower price.
Christmas Handwriting Worksheets for Kids
Color Coded Christmas Paper
Color coded paper is beneficial to many kids for several reasons. Kids can address handwriting needs when presented with color specific lines. Knowing where to place their pencil to start and stop pencil strokes can help with legibility.
There are many areas of handwriting that this type of paper can address:
Line awareness Letter size Letter placement Spatial awareness Proper letter construction
Want to try color coded paper with a Christmas theme? This is a great paper to use for letters to Santa, holiday wish lists, thank you notes, shopping lists, recipe sharing, and Christmas time to-do lists.
Kids can practice handwriting in a way that is fun and meaningful with color coded Christmas handwriting paper.
Who is the Color-Coded Modified Lined Christmas Modified Paper Packet for?
Color-Coded modified lined paper is a useful tool for kids who struggle with visual perceptual needs or visual motor challenges in handwriting. Children who write with letters placed haphazardly on the lines or have trouble with spacing between letters and words will benefit from this paper. Kids who write with letters of mixed size or those who write with a mixture of upper and lowercase letters will like this modified paper.
Teachers in grades Kindergarten on up will benefit from the different styles of paper in this packet. The packet comes with different sized lines and a variety of rules with each holiday-themed styles.
Therapists who work with children on handwriting goals will love to use the motivation of the Christmas and holiday season to work on underlying skills needed for accuracy and function in handwriting.
Parents who want their children to write out Christmas lists or Thank You notes will LOVE this modified paper that allows independence in written work.
What’s in the Color Coded Christmas Paper packet?
(1) 10 pages of paper for practicing handwriting, including:
4 Christmas border designs in single space (narrow rule lines)
4 Christmas border designs in double space (wide rule lines)
“Dear Santa” writing prompt paper in narrow rule and wide rule
(2) Christmas themed writing prompt for ideas to encourage handwriting in a fun and meaningful way
(3)A How to Use This Paper writing guide
You can grab this printable packet for $4.99 and print to use over and over again. OR, if you want to try several types of paper (bold lined paper and highlighted lined paper are also available), you can purchase the packets that work for your child or students. For teachers or therapists, the whole bundle might be a better option. You’ll find 30 pages bundled together and will save.
Get 30 pages of modified paper with a Christmas Theme for legible and neat Letters to Santa, Christmas Wish Lists, Thank You Notes, Holiday Lists, and MORE!
