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Empathy Activities for Kids

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empathy activities for kids

Many years ago, we made empathy bracelets as one of our favorite empathy activities for kids. Empathy activities like this bracelet craft are easy ways to teach kids about empathy as a foundation for social emotional skills. We made empathy bracelets as a way to develop social-emotional awareness and self-awareness of others and how they feel.  When you use a hands-on activity like this bead activity to teach abstract concepts like empathy, children can stimulate thinking and allow kids to grasp the perspectives of others. Use the empathy beads and the Quick as a Cricket activity idea here to help kids think about others and the world around them.

empathy activities for kids

Empathy Activities for Kids

One fun way to teach kids about empathy is with the children’s book, “Quick as a Cricket”. By using this book about feelings, and a fun activity that can be adjusted to meet the needs of various kids, teaching about feelings and values is meaningful.  

This book really hits on the self-awareness of a child as they see that each feeling in the book makes up a part of him.  We thought that if this boy is feeling all of these emotions about himself, then others are too! If you are looking for for more activities based on children’s books then we have a lot to share with you!

Use empathy beads and make an empathy bracelet to teach kids empathy. Its one of many empathy activities to show respect and awareness of other's feelings. This busy bag activity is based on the book, Quick as a Cricket.

Activity to teach empathy

Teaching kids about empathy is important. There are studies that show us that specifically teaching kids about empathy makes a difference. In fact, when we teach kids about empathy in ways that make sense to them (or are meaningful), we may see more positive positive social behaviors, such as sharing. 

Helping others becomes more meaningful as well. Additionally, research tells us that kids that learn about empathy are less likely to be antisocial  or present with uncontrolled aggressive behaviors.   

Additionally, it’s been said that empathy and perspective taking serve an important role in what  is called prosocial behavior, or helping others, sharing, taking turns, etc.  

After reading the book Quick as a Cricket, (just a few dozen times–this is a book you WILL read over and over again!), we talked about how each of us has many feelings that can be seen in animals.  

Some of our feelings happen daily, and some not for a while.  Other feelings pair together (feeling small and sad).   

Kids can have a difficult time with learning to be empathetic.  My kids really got an understanding of empathy as we talked about how other people might feel these feelings and we should be aware.  To take the empathy lesson a bit further, we made Empathy Bracelets with our empathy beads!    


Empathy Activity

Today, I have a fun friendship activity that uses a classic children’s book. Kids can struggle with the abstract concept of empathy and the perspectives of others.

This Quick as a Cricket activity will be a hit at your book club play date, or any day!  I loved the simplicity of our activity as it really went well with the simple rhyme of the book’s text.  

How to teach kids' empathy? Make an empathy bracelet with empathy beads to show respect and awareness of other's feelings. This busy bag activity is based on the book, Quick as a Cricket.

  This post contains affiliate links.  

To discuss and learn more about empathy, we used just a few items. First, we read the book, Quick as a Cricket, by Audrey Wood.   If you haven’t read this classic book, it’s one you definitely want to find!  

The boy in the book discovers the characteristics of animals make up parts of himself.  The book has simple rhyming words and captures children’s attention.  It’s a great book to discuss self-awareness and feelings that make up all of us.  

Quick as a Cricket activity for kids. Make a bead bracelet and talk about empathy, acceptance, and perspectives of others.


Empathy Bracelets

You’ll need just two items to make empathy bracelets with kids:

  1. Pipe cleaners
  2. Beads
How to teach kids' empathy? Make an empathy bracelet with empathy beads to show respect and awareness of other's feelings. This busy bag activity is based on the book, Quick as a Cricket.

We grabbed a handful of colorful pipe cleaners.

To make our empathy bracelets, we used a bunch of different colored beads.  Some of the beads were different shapes and sizes, and that fit in perfectly with our empathy talks.  

People come in different shapes and sizes but we all have the same feelings inside!  

To create the Quick as a Cricket activity, I used our snap and stack containers.  This worked great as a busy bag storage system so the kids could create bead bracelets whenever they wished as a quiet activity.  

How to teach kids' empathy? Make an empathy bracelet with empathy beads to show respect and awareness of other's feelings. This busy bag activity is based on the book, Quick as a Cricket.

 

Before making the empathy bracelets, we read through the book once more.  

We looked at each of the animals and talked about their color and found a bead that went along with the animal.  

We discussed the feeling or description of the animal and how we sometimes show those feelings.  

Then we made our bracelets.  It was fun to see how each of my kids made their bracelets differently.  One just plucked the beads from the bin and said the feeling that went along with that color.  

Another flipped through the book and matched up beads to the animal.  

Each empathy bracelet is different as it is made by a different child.  But, they all mean the same thing; they represent the feelings that we all share!  

When you make these empathy bracelets, you could pull out colors to match the animals or feelings, or you could just let the child create as they wish.  It is completely up to you!    

You can talk about empathy and kindness in many ways using activities with kids.  Mine loved this Little Blue and Little Yellow book activity to promote kindness, too.   

Kids will love to wear their bracelets and fiddle with the beads.  As they fidget with the individual beads, they can remember the feeling that is associated with that bead.  They might see someone who is having a bad day and recognize the emotion.    

Encourage empathetic respect of other’s feelings even when your child is not feeling that same way.  You can explain that not everyone has the same beads or colors of beads on their bracelet (or might not be wearing a bracelet!) but they still have those feelings and emotions inside of them.    

How to teach kids' empathy? Make an empathy bracelet with empathy beads to show respect and awareness of other's feelings. This busy bag activity is based on the book, Quick as a Cricket.

Empathy Activities for Kids

For fun and hands-on empathy activities for kids, grab our social emotional skills resource, Exploring Books Through Play: 50 Activities based on Books About Friendship, Acceptance, and Empathy, that explores friendship, acceptance, and empathy through popular (and amazing) children’s books!  It’s 50 hands-on activities that use math, fine motor skills, movement, art, crafts, and creativity to support social emotional development.    

  • Use plastic eggs to work on empathy by writing various scenarios on strips of paper. Kids can open an egg and state how they would feel in the scenario. This is a great group activity.
  • Use dolls and puppets. Act out scenarios and record the story on a phone or tablet. Kids can re-watch and describe the various feelings and how the characters felt and acted. 
  • For kids with autism, modeling, prompting, and reinforcement are strategies that can help.
  • Read books! These chapter books that teach empathy are great for the older kids or using as read-aloud books with the whole family. They are great ways to spark conversations about empathy. 
  • Writing about Friendship Slide Deck – writing prompts, writing letters to friends, and handwriting activities to develop friendship skills, all on a free interactive Google slide deck.

  • Children can benefit from perspectives of others, including through personal space. Use this Personal Space Friendship Skills Slide Deck as a tool to address body awareness and personal space among others. Friendship involves allowing personal space, and body awareness and all of this is part of the social skill development that some kids struggle with. Use this free Google slide deck to work on body awareness and personal space.
  • Here are five simple activities to teach empathy to preschoolers.
  • Pretend play is a wonderful way to teach empathy to young children. You can do this as an adult directed activity, through puppets or assigning roles to children during large group times. Encouraging a child child to be sad for a specific reason and having another child take care of them, will help children learn body language of others. 
  • Emotion activities that are available to complete on a daily basis, help children learn how to name different feelings in themselves and identify those feelings in others.
  • Friendship activities such as these friendship activities.
  • Using Book-related play activities- This digital download contains 50 hands-on, multi-sensory play-centered activities for anyone helping kids learn about friendship, acceptance, empathy, compassion, and differences in others. These activities encourage cooperation, negotiation and communication through play.
Use this Quick as a Cricket activity to teach kids about feelings. It's a fun hands-on empathy activity for kids.

More Quick as a Cricket Activities

Expand on the empathy activities with other Quick as a Cricket activities that involve play and movement. First, pick up the book, Quick as a Cricket. Then use the empathy beads activity here along with these functional activities to inspire development:

Quick as a Cricket Snack from Craftulate can get kids busy in the kitchen building skills like executive functioning and fine motor skills.

Quick as a Cricket Sensory Play from Still Playing School includes play and sensory based learning.

Quick as a Cricket Art from Fun-a-Day inspires fine motor skills and motor development.

hands-on activities to explore social emotional development through children's books.

References on empathy skills

Schrandt, J. A., Townsend, D. B., & Poulson, C. L. (2009). Teaching empathy skills to children with autism. Journal of applied behavior analysis, 42(1), 17–32. doi:10.1901/jaba.2009.42-17  

What is Empathy?

Empathy is the development of care for others. When I was young, my mom always told me to say “I’m sorry” when I was in a conflict with my cousin. Sometimes I didn’t feel sorry (after all, he’s the one that took the ninja turtle from me first,) but I did what I was told. After a while, saying “I’m sorry” felt repetitive with no actual meaning behind it. 

Instead of teaching children to say “I’m sorry,” what would happen if we helped our kids understand how another person is feeling, and respond with care for that person’s feelings. This is called empathy. 

Empathy Development in Kids

Did you know the ability to use and practice empathy in everyday situations is not a born skill and that there are actually specific and defined stages of empathy development? It’s true!

There is real power to the development of empathy in the first five years of a child’s life. Not only do children need to understand who they are as a person, but how others feel. Empathy isn’t something that can be forced on a child, but it is something they can become familiar with and understand through adult support and play based activities. 

stages of empathy development

Here, we are covering the stages of empathy development and some activities that preschoolers can participate in, to understand and practice empathy. 

Empathy is a complex skill that is learned over time.

From the time a child is born, they open their eyes and notice that they aren’t the only being! There’s mom, dad, nurses and they all do everything possible to get the baby’s needs met. As a child grows, they are introduced to siblings, cousins, peers and other adults. Every interaction a child has, provides them with opportunities to understand social structure and engagement. 

According to this article by Professor Martin L. Hoffman, the main theorist on the development of empathy in childhood, “there must be parallelism of feelings and affections with thoughts, moral principles, and behavioral tendencies.”

According to this article in “The Matter of Style” the 4 stages of empathy include the following:

“ First stage (global empathy)

It comprises the first year of a person’s life and consists of the fact that the child does not yet perceive others as different from himself. For this reason, the pain that he perceives in the other is confused with his own unpleasant feelings, as if it were happening to himself. For example, the baby who, on seeing his mother crying, dries his own eyes.

Second stage (egocentric empathy)

It corresponds to the second year of life, and the child is aware that it is the other person who is going through the unpleasant situation. However, she assumes that the internal states experienced by the other person are being felt by herself.

Third stage of the child’s development of empathy (empathy for the feelings of others)

It runs from the second to the third year. The child is aware that the feelings he experiences are different from those of the other person, and is able to respond to them in a non-self-centered way. At this point, she is already in a position to understand that the other person’s intentions and needs differ from her own and, therefore, that person’s emotions may also differ from her own. Thus, for example, she becomes able to console.

Fourth Stage (empathy for the life condition of others)

It comprises the final period of childhood. The feelings of others are perceived not only as reactions of the moment, but also as expressions of their general life experience. That is, they respond differently to transitory and chronic states of pain, since they take into consideration the general condition of the other.”

How to support empathy development in each stage

Ages 0–12 Months:  Supporting strong, secure attachments in infants, is essential at this age. As children learn that others are understanding how they are feeling, and are supported by getting their needs met, babies learn that their emotions and feelings can be understood by other, even before they can talk. 

Ages 1–3 years: To help toddlers develop empathy, describe their feelings to them, and the feelings of others around them. This is helpful when they are engaging in play with other kids, as toddlers have a harder time managing their emotions. For example, “When Sandy was sad, it was so nice that you gave her some ice to help her leg feel better.” 

Ages 3–5 years: In the preschool years, children are learning how to respond to their feelings and the feelings of others. Adults can support empathy development by asking open ended questions and providing concrete ways for children to calm down and express their feelings. Through using emotional tools such as pretend play-based activities, children are able to regulate their feelings and learn how to communicate their needs to others.

A 6 year old boy recently saw his 3 year old brother become upset because he couldn’t climb as high on the play structure. The 6 year old could use toys to help his brother and asked him if he needed help calming down. Once calm, his brother helped his 3 year old get a step stool so he could reach the rung on the bottom of the play structure. 

The social and emotional measures in this preschool rating scale, includes empathy goals for children ages 19 months and up. As empathy development becomes a focus in Early Childhood and essential for Kindergarten readiness, teachers and parents are looking for more easy to teach empathy through play. 

A final note on empathy

Empathy is something that isn’t taught to children, but a skill developed over time. Starting with strong, positive attachments in early childhood. When children have the opportunities to practice developing their social skills by being provided a variety of opportunities to engage in play throughout early childhood, their empathy grows exponentially. Adults can support the development of empathy in early childhood by asking open ended questions, creating opportunities for children to practice developing friendships through play, and providing children with concrete ways to respond to big feelings in themselves and others. 

105 Creative Painting Ideas

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creative painting

This list of 105 creative painting ideas is a fun way to build skills through creative art. We’ve pulled together creative painting to support child development through creation play! Whether you are looking for painting ideas for toddlers, preschoolers, for the classroom, or for the occupational therapy clinic, these creative paint activities will get your brain ticking with ideas to support creative expression, emotions, sensory play, fine motor skills, and more! 

Add these ideas to your list of occupational therapy crafts that build skills.

Creative painting

Creative Painting

In Occupational Therapy interventions, OTs and OTAs love to support their clients through creative outlets, specifically those that are meaningful to the client. For some children, art and painting is just that: a tool that inspires movement, sensory challenges, visual motor integration, crossing midline and more. OTs can use creative painting as a motivating strategy to develop skills…and maybe add in a bit of creative expression at the same time! Some of these are sensory paint ideas but most involve problem solving and creativity expression through creative paint!

Why Use Creative Painting?

Creative painting with clients develops skills. When painting in creative ways, you’ll see movement and sensory experiences that they typical canvas and brush don’t allow:

  • Fine motor skills
  • Gross motor skills
  • Crossing midline
  • Problem solving
  • Executive functioning skills
  • Motor planning
  • Tactile exploration
  • Sensory experiences
  • Bilateral coordination
  • MORE!

Creative Painting materials

The ideas listed below will get your creative juices flowing for your next paint project. Kids love when a creative painting idea is presented to them because it’s a bit of the unexpected! Out-of the box thinking when it comes to painting ideas is part of the magic.

Gather some of these materials for your next painting adventure:

  • Paints– tin of watercolors, washable paints, acrylics, finger-paints, etc.
  • Painting surfaces– canvas, cardboard box, paper, newspaper, paper towel, clothing, paper plates, styrofoam, bubble wrap, piece of paper, watercolor paper, etc.
  • Sensory mediums to mix paint into– shaving cream, sand, salt, dough, bubbles, etc.
  • Tools to paint with– brushes, paintbrushes, rolling pin, flowers, feathers, forks, ice, crayons, cotton swabs, pencils erasers, etc. You can even go on a nature walk to gather items to use to paint with.

This list is just a starting point…the creative ways to paint is literally in your imagination. Take these ideas and run with them to make your next creative painting masterpiece.

The Mess of Creative Painting

It can be common to immediately think about the mess involved with all of this creative art making, however there is therapeutic benefit as well, and focusing on those aspects can help with the mess issue.

Plus, the clean up portion of painting is a great time to work on those OT self-care goals that aren’t some of the more fun parts of childhood: 

  • hand washing – a paint activity is great motivation for washing little hands!
  • cleaning the body
  • scrubbing hard enough to remove the paint
  • cleaning up one’s surroundings
  • wiping down a table
  • cleaning out a sink
  • washing paintbrushes
  • drying a table

Creative Painting Ideas

There are so many fun ways to explore color, texture, and creativity through paints listed here. We can not wait to try them ALL!   There is just something about painting that is relaxing and satisfying…

  1.  Textured Paint Sensory Play
  2. Paint with Bottle Caps
  3. DIY Shape Stamps 
  4. Paint with kitchen utensils
  5. Paint with feathers
  6. Paint cardboard boxes
  7. Painting Bubble Wrap
  8. Feather Flower Craft
  9. Paint snow
  10.  Paint snow painting with watercolors
  11. Paint with flowers
  12. Stamped Art Flower
  13. Noodle Garland
  14. Goop Painting
  15. Paint with water on a sidewalk or driveway
  16. Gift Bow Stamp Art
  17. Painting With Yarn
  18. Paint a shower stall or bathtub using bath paints
  19. Paint a driveway with liquid chalk paint
  20. Concentric Circles Stamp Art
  21. Sparkle Collage Art
  22. Creative Painting Art Ideas
  23. Concentric Circles Stamp Art
  24. Paint your body with body paints
  25. Sparkle Collage Art 
  26.  Creative Painting Art Ideas 
  27.  Monster Cupcake Liner Craft
  28. Paint your hair with hair chalk (watered down hair chalk works best for this)
  29. Paint an old egg carton
  30. Baking Soda Paints 
  31. Painting With Pinwheels
  32. Fireworks Art
  33. Paper Roll Apple Stamps
  34. Paint a brick wall with the hose
  35. Paper Roll Turkey Stamp Art
  36. Paper Roll Pumpkin Stamps
  37.    Glitter Paint Snowman Craft
  38. Paint newspaper
  39. Snowflake Stamp Art
  40. Fine Motor Sparkle Craft
  41. Paint with a comb and hairbrush
  42. Noodle Garland
  43. Goop Painting
  44. Shamrock Thumbprint Art
  45. Feather Flower Craft
  46. Stamped Art Flower
  47. Make Your Own Textured Paint
  48. Make Your Own Colored Sand
  49. Stamp Roll Painting
  50. Clay Rocks Outdoor Decoration Craft
  51. 3D Drip Paint
  52. Make flour paint
  53. Mix baking soda and food coloring and then add vinegar for science art
  54. Paint toilet paper rolls
  55. Paint paper towels
  56. Paint toilet paper
  57. Paint recycled materials
  58. Scrape painting on a canvas
  59. Ice painting with ice cubes
  60. Fingerpainting with watercolours
  61. Make a paint pendulum with an erector set or tinker toys
  62. Preschool Paint Decorating from From ABCs to ACTs
  63. Painting with Trains from Where Imagination Grows
  64. Number Painting Boards from Left Brain Craft Brain
  65. Color Theory Activity from Gift of Curiosity
  66. Paint with Carrots from Stir the Wonder
  67. Paint pumpkins
  68. Paint rocks
  69. Paint sticks
  70. Paint using a cotton ball in a clothes pin
  71. Paint with toothpicks
  72. Paint with a plastic fork
  73. Paint a paper plate
  74. Paint on a window with soap paint
  75. Paint bark on a tree
  76. Paint with dirt paint (painting outdoors is a good idea with this one! And keep the hose handy!)
  77. Paint on styrofoam for beaded paint
  78. Paint with a turkey baster
  79. Pour paint to work on bilateral coordination
  80. Paint with string
  81. Paint with tweezers holding a craft pom pom
  82. Paint using a rolling pin
  83. Paint with homemade water colors
  84. Paint wooden crafts using acrylic paints
  85. Paint on a swing
  86. Paint with your body
  87. Paint a ball and roll it on paper
  88. Paint on Easter eggs
  89. Paint on coffee filters
  90. Mix up marbled milk paint
  91. Make homemade puffy paint
  92. Paint sand
  93. Paint on an easel or vertical surface
  94. Face paint on a baby doll
  95. Paint your hand and make handprint art
  96. Paint with a potato
  97. Paint with magnets by moving one magnet under a box and the other magnet moving through paint on the inside of a box
  98. Paint on large paper using a broom
  99. Paint a cardboard box using a paint roller
  100. Paint DIY cardboard bricks
  101. Paint with cotton swabs (Qtips)- Here is a cotton swab painting activity for Spring
  102. Paint a rubber duck
  103. Paint inside a plastic baggie
  104. Make 3D drip paint
  105. Paint on a train table or water table

These creative painting ideas are fun crafts to build skills through fantastic fun! Which self-expression activity are you going to choose first? 

 
 

 

 
 
Check out these great ideas for creative ways for kids to paint!
 
    

 

 
 

 

 

 

 
40. Pour Painting with Pixie Stix from Fantastic Fun and Learning
 
41. Outdoor Window Painting from Simple Fun for Kids

 

 

 
 

 

 

 
Some of our favorite ways to paint from past blog posts:
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

Valentine’s Day Occupational Therapy Activities

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Here, you’ll find Valentine’s Day Occupational Therapy Activities that you can use this time of year to help kids develop skills. This is the time of year that red and pink hearts are everywhere, so why not use the theme of love and friendship in therapy interventions with fun Valentines day activities? Add these heart crafts, and love ideas to your therapy toolbox to work on things like fine motor skills, regulation, scissor skills, and more, all with a Valentine’s Day theme!

Be sure to grab these printable Valentine’s Day cards, too!

Use these valentine's day occupational therapy activities in therapy planning, classroom activites, and to work on skills like handwriting, fine motor skills, scissor skills and other developmental areas.

Valentine’s Day Occupational Therapy Activities

There are so many love and heart themed activities here on The OT Toolbox. Over the years, we’ve done a lot of fun activities that double as a skill building strategy. Check out these ideas and pick a few to add to your therapy line up and plans over the next few weeks. Some of these hear crafts and sensory ideas or games would make great additions to a Valentine’s Day party that builds skills, too!

One great tool is our Valentines Day I Spy activity for visual motor and fine motor skill-building.

Free Valentine’s Day Printables

We love to create multi-purpose free worksheets and printable activities that support development. Worksheets can get a bad rap, but we at The OT Toolbox attempt to create occupational therapy worksheets that focus on play as a function.

When we can use a printable founded in play, the user is performing a daily occupation that is important to them, and the play is both the tool and the skill that is being developed. That’s why these Valentine’s Day worksheets are so loveable!

Valentine’s Day Hat Craft– Print off this hat template and work on coloring skills, scissor skills, and executive functioning to build and create the Valentine craft.

Valentine Hole Punch Cards– These free pintables are perfect for occupational therapy Valentine parties. Use the printable activity to build skills in eye-hand coordination, hand strength, bilateral coordination, arch development, visual scanning, and more.

Heart Deep Breathing Exercise– Print off this heart poster and use it to develop skills in mindfulness, self-regulation, and even proprioception through the chest and upper body. It’s a very calming activity that can be a great addition to the sometimes chaos and unexpected situations in a classroom Valentine’s Day party. use it to support sensory needs at a Valentine’s Day party!

Valentine’s Day Activity Sheet– This printable tool is a great activity that can be used to develop many different skills depending on the needs of the individual. Use a single activity sheet to target: visual scanning, visual memory, visual peripheral skills, form constancy, fine motor skills, eye-hand coordination, dexterity, pencil control, motor planning, coloring and more.

Valentine Matching Alphabet Cards– Cut out these love letter cards and match uppercase to lowercase letters. These cards are used for cursive letters to build skills in letter recognition, visual discrimination, and more.

Valentines Fine Motor Worksheet– Print off this Valentine worksheet and build motor skills in many ways. have fine motor races with small objects like beads or mini erasers. Use tweezers to move items along the path. Work on pre-writing lines by using the paths on a vertical or diagonal. Work on a vertical plane to build core strength and shoulder stability. Use the sheets to practice letter formation by writing in the circles. There are so many ways to play and develop skills with a heart theme!

More Valentine’s Day Activities

That’s not all! Use the activity ideas below in planning OT sessions, or in Valentine’s day parties that also build skills.

One thing I love about holiday events this time of year is that kids are excited about Valentine’s Day activities. It’s fun, friendly, and full of kindness and empathy. However, there are so many ways to develop skills with the old-fashioned Valentine fun:

  • Cut out paper hearts- Cut hearts from cardstock or construction paper for more resistance
  • Fold paper hearts in half- This is great for bilateral coordination, hand strength, pinch strength, eye-hand coordination, motor planning, and visual perception.
  • Stick heart stickers on paper- Add small targets by drawing dots and placing the heart stickers on the dots. This is great for fine motor precision and eye-hand coordination. Place the paper on a vertical surface and further develop core strength and balance.
  • Write on Valentine’s Day cards- what a functional and fun way to work on handwriting and to teach kids to write their name.
  • Make a Valentine’s Day box- Don’t worry about the fancy Pinterest V-Day boxes! Some of those require way too much parent help. Help a child wrap the box in wrapping paper (anther great functional life skill!) and then cut out hearts or draw right on the box.
  • Make a Valentine’s Day snack– Work on executive functioning skills, direction following, fine motor skills, and more.

Valentine’s Day Therapy Slide Decks

Working virtually? Use a done-for-you therapy slide deck. These are therapist-created and designed to meet the needs of a variety of levels of users. Adjust the slides and therapy activities to meet your needs and the needs of the learners you are working with.

If you are needing occupational therapy teletherapy resources, check out the hands-on Valentine’s Day activities below. They are great for February parties and therapy at home activities for this time of year, too.

Valentine’s Day Sensory Activities

From sensory bottles, to discovery activities, to heart painting and more, these sensory play activities can be a fun way to help kids develop skills through the senses. How can you use these Valentine’s Day occupational therapy activities in sessions or at home?

Valentines day sensory bottle for self regulation and sensory processing or visual processing

Valentine’s Day Sensory Bottle– Use this sensory bottle activity as a way to build fine motor skills while kids help to create the sensory bottle and add materials. Then use it in self-regulation, sensory processing needs as a calm down bottle. Sensory bottles are fantastic to work on visual processing skills like visual discrimination, figure-ground, and other visual perceptual skills.

Olive You Thumbprint Craft– Fingerprint art is a great way to work on finger isolation, an essential fine motor skill that kids need to manipulate items and improve pencil grasp. Here is more information on how fingerprint art improves fine motor skills. Add this artwork to a card or Valentine’s Day craft for fine motor fun.

Valentines Day play dough to build fine motor skills

Valentine’s Day Play Dough Activity– Use a recycled chocolates box in a play dough activity that builds skills like strengthening of the intrinsic muscles and arches of the hands. This is a fun Valentine’s Day activity that can be used in classroom parties or in the therapy room to build skills.

Bilateral coordination activity for valentines day

Bilateral Coordination Heart Sensory Tray– Use sand, rice, or other sensory bin material to create a bilateral coordination and visual motor activity for kids. They can work on eye-hand coordination, motor planning, and other skills. The point of the activity is to establish direction and orientation relative to the child’s body.  The movement activity addresses hand-eye coordination in different visual fields, promotes spatial awareness and visual discrimination, addresses left and right awareness, improves peripheral vision, promotes body awareness and coordination with specialization of the hands and eyes, and works on gross motor movement skills.

Valentine’s Day Fine Motor Activities

Try these Valentine’s Day fine motor activities in your occupational therapy interventions or home programs. The activities here are fun ways to help kids develop hand strength, dexterity, precision, grasp development, and motor control.

Be sure to check out the Valentine’s Day Fine Motor Kit. In the 25 activity printable kit, you’ll fine hands-on activities to build fine motor skills. Activities include coloring and cutting cards, pencil control sheets, heart crafts, Valentine’s Day write the room activities, hole punching exercises, and so much more. Grab the Valentine’s Day Fine Motor Kit here.

Visual perception activity and heart maze for valentines day

DIY Heart Maze- Look out visual motor skills…this heart maze is one you can make and print off for your whole caseload. Adjust the use according to your kiddos. Children can place objects like paper hearts, mini erasers, etc. on the hearts in the maze to double down on fine motor work, or color in the hearts to work on pencil control. This maze is a visual processing powerhouse. Find more information on visual processing here.

Fine motor heart activity

Teeny Tiny Sprinkle Heart Activity– This is a fine motor activity that builds precision and dexterity in the hands. It’s a fine motor workout kids can use to build hand strength and endurance for fine motor tasks. Use it in math centers to work on one-to-one correspondence and counting or sorting.

Heart fine motor and eye hand coordination activity

Heart Eye-Hand Coordination Activity– Work on eye-hand coordination and fine motor skills tongs and heart s cut from cardboard. If you are like me, you have a ton of delivery boxes coming to the house. Use those boxes in a fine motor skills building activity. Write numbers or letters on the hearts to make it a sorting, math, or spelling activity.

heart keychain made with salt dough

Salt Dough Keychain– This is a fun heart craft that goes along with the children’s book, “The Kissing Hand”. Use it to help kids work on fine motor skills, and hand strengthening. This keychain craft makes a great Valentine’s Day gift idea too!

Valentines Day crafts

One Zillion Valentines Book and Craft– Pairing a book with therapy or when working on skills with kids is a fun way to open up conversation, problem solving, and strategizing to create a project or activity based on the book. This Valentine’s Day book for kids is just that. One Zillion Valentines is one children’s book that pairs nicely with a fine motor craft for kids.   Kids can work on fine motor skills, motor lanning, direction following, and executive functioning skills while folding and making paper airplanes, and the cotton clouds in this fun craft idea.

Valentines day handprint art

I Love Ewe Handprint Craft– Use a handprint art activity as a tactile sensory experience. Pair scissor skills, pencil control, direction following, and copying skills to work on various areas needed for handwriting and school tasks. Pls, this makes a great Valentine’s Day craft or addition to a card!

Valentines Day activities to build skills for kids
valentines day color sorting fine motor activity

Valentines Day Color Sorting Fine Motor Activity– Grab a couple of cookie cutters and some beads. This is a fine motor activity that kids can use to build skills like in-hand manipulation, separation of the sides of the hand, finger isolation, open thumb webspace, and more.

love bugs valentines day crafts

Love Bugs Crafts– Work on fine motor skills, scissor skills, direction-following, eye-hand coordination, bilateral coordination, and more with these cute bug crafts for kids.

valentines day sensory bin

Valentine’s Day Sensory Bin– There are so many benefits to using a sensory bin in building fine motor skills. Pour, scoop, and stir with the hands for a tactile sensory experience. Using a sensory bin can be a great way to work on visual perceptual skills like figure-ground, visual discrimination, and other essential visual processing areas. Find and ovate objects or add a learning component by writing sight words or math problems on hearts. This is an open-ended activity that can be used in so many ways.

valentines day books

I Love You Books for Kids– These Valentine’s Day books for kids are a fun way to combine books with crafts or love themed activities. Use them to work on copying words or sentences for handwriting practice. The options are limitless. What love and heart themed books would you add to this list?

Valentines day activities to build fine motor skills
heart play dough

Valentine’s Day Crayon Play Dough– Use play dough to work on so many areas: hand strength, arch development, separation of the sides of the hand, endurance, eye-hand coordination…But have you ever had trouble getting a a really vivid red play dough when using food coloring? The answer to the red play dough problem is using vivid crayons! Here is our crayon play dough recipe that gives you the brightest colors, perfect for using in Valentine’s Day play dough activities!

heart craft to work on fine motor skills like scissor skills

Heart Bookmark Craft– This is such a fun and easy Valentine’s Day craft to use when working on scissor skills with kids. The strait lines of the bookmark and curved lines of the heart make it a great activity for kids just working on the basics of scissor skills.

Valentines day craft for kids

Heart Butterfly Craft- Work on scissor skills, handwriting, and fine motor skills to make this fun card. The directions to make this Valentine’s Day craft are over here on a guest post we did for Hands On as We Grow. Use this fun craft with a group. It’s a great Valentine’s Day party idea!

Valentines Day craft for kids to work on fine motor skills and scissor skills

Valentine’s Day Tea Craft– This Valentine’s Day craft is a fun way to work on scissor skills, handwriting, and fine motor skills. Kids can make this craft as a gift for friends or parents and work on skill development, too.

More Valentines’ Day Activities

Try some of these other ideas:

Valentine’s Day Sensory Bin with Fine Motor Paper

Valentine’s Day Snacks for Kids

Valentine’s Day Goop Painting

Valentine’s Day Fine Motor Sparkle Craft

Crunchy (Sensory Diet!) Heart Tortilla Snack

Teach Buttoning with Heart Buttons

So, what are your favorite ways to work on skills with a holiday theme? Try some of these heart activities at Valentine’s Day parties, at home when making cards for loved ones, or in therapy planning! Have fun!

Want to add more Valentine’s Day activities and movement tools to your skill-building?

he Valentine’s Day Fine Motor Kit is here! This printable kit is 25 pages of hands-on activity sheets designed to build skills in pinch and grasp strength, endurance, eye-hand coordination, precision, dexterity, pencil control, handwriting, scissor skills, coloring, and more.

When you grab the Valentine’s Day Fine Motor Kit now, you’ll get a free BONUS activity: 1-10 clip cards so you can challenge hand strength and endurance with a counting eye-hand coordination activity.

Valentines Day fine motor kit

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.

Christmas Tree Activities

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Christmas tree activities

Check out the Christmas Tree Activities on this blog post for creative ways to incorporate a Christmas tree theme into occupational therapy interventions. Tis the season for Christmas tree crafts and festive holiday activities that develop skills and learning. A lot of these Christmas crafts and sensory ideas only require a few items to make and they can last for many years to come. Add these Christmas occupational therapy ideas to your therapy toolbox.

Christmas tree activities for kids including fine motor Christmas tree crafts, and Christmas tree sensory activities.

Christmas Tree Activities

These activities are listed below in sections, so you can pick and choose the holiday activities that meet the needs of the child you are working with in therapy (or at home as a parent).

Kids can work on fine motor skills, visual scanning, visual tracking, in-hand manipulation skills and grasp patterns with a holiday theme. The tree activities below develop skills through Christmas tree ornaments, garland and Christmas themed sensory bins.  

Christmas Tree Crafts

These are fine motor crafts that build motor skills, coordination, planning, and hand strength with a Christmas tree theme.

Make a bottle cap Christmas tree

Bottle Cap Christmas Tree craft-Save those bottle caps and make a Christmas tree. Help you kids paint and arrange the bottle caps into a Christmas tree. This is a great fine motor eye- hand activity for kids.

Fine motor Christmas tree craft
Clothes pin Christmas tree

Christmas Tree Craft– Have some clothespins siting in a drawer? Gather those up with some paint, stickers and paperclips to make a fun craft for the holidays.

Gift tag Christmas tree art
Christmas tree stamp art

Christmas Tree Stamp Art– have your child make homemade gift tags. This activity will work on fine motor skills (scissor skills and grasp patterns). 

A Very Merry Occupational Therapy Christmas –This article provide a variety of activities focused around Christmas for the whole month! Scroll down to activity eight to make a craft of stringing  cranberries and popcorn to make garland for your tree. Stringing items works on so many important skills. Bilateral coordination, visual tracking and visual scanning, fine motor skills and patterning. 

Christmas tree made from egg cartons

Fine Motor Egg Carton Christmas Tree Craft-Save your egg cartons to make this fun Christmas tree craft. Grab some green paint and decorations to help your child make a table decoration. 

Christmas Tree Fine Motor Craft– Grab a hold punch and paper and let your kids have fun by making Christmas trees with various amounts of holes. Can be used as a great way to count as well. The squeezing of the hole punch provides proprioceptive input and strengthening to the hands. 

Christmas Tree Scissor Skills Craft– Use the same concept and have kids work on scissor skills with this easy cutting activity. These Christmas trees would look great on a holiday garland.

Make a pine cone Christmas tree and build fine motor skills.

Pine Cone Christmas Tree  Ornaments-Take a walk outside and gather up pinecones. Grab some paint and glitter, pom poms and make these cute ornaments with your kids. 

Christmas suncatcher craft
Christmas tree suncatcher

Christmas Tree Suncatcher Craft-what is better then seeing the sun in the winter? Having a beautiful sun catcher to see it through. This activity works on pincer grasp and in-hand manipulation skills. 

Make a pattern Christmas tree with beads

Pattern Christmas Tree Ornament– This fine motor craft is a fun one to work on pincer grasp, tripod grasp, in-hand manipulation, and more.

Christmas Tree Sensory Activities

Christmas tree sensory activity
Christmas tree sensory play

Christmas Tree Sensory Play-make a fun Christmas tree with foam shapes and water. A fun sensory activity that works on cutting, patterning and sorting. 

Christmas Sensory Bin–kids love playing in sensory bins. We used green peas and potpourri as the items in the bin. To make it a Christmas tree them use the green peas and add round ball for ornaments.

Fine motor Christmas card craft
Christmas tree card to build fine motor skills

This Christmas tree card kids can make is a fine motor skill activity that builds scissor skills, hand strength, eye-hand coordination, and more.

Christmas tree drink wrap

Christmas Tree Oral Motor Activity– Did you know that drinking from a juice box offers kids heavy work through the mouth as they suck on the small juice box straw? This Christmas tree craft can be used with a juice box for a bit of calming sensory input through the mouth.

Use this Christmas mindfulness activity as a coping strategy for kids during the holidays.

Christmas Tree Mindfulness Activity– Use this Christmas tree deep breathing activity as a sensory break to address self-regulation for sensory needs or emotional needs. Print and go!

About Christina: Christina Komaniecki is a school based Occupational Therapist. I graduated from Governors State University with a master’s in occupational therapy.   I have been working in the pediatric setting for almost 6 years and have worked in early intervention, outpatient pediatrics, inpatient pediatrics, day rehab, private clinic and schools. My passion is working with children and I love to see them learn new things and grow. I love my two little girls, family, yoga and going on long walks.

 

Christmas Activities Calendar

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Christmas activities calendar

If you are looking for a few Christmas activities (or a holiday calendar to send home for the Christmas break), then this December occupational therapy calendar is for you! We pulled a few of our favorite Christmas occupational therapy activities and put them onto a printable holiday activities calendar so you can print and go!

You’ll also want to check out our 25 days of Christmas ideas because you can grab 25 printable OT ornaments…perfect for decorating the tree in a therapy clinic!

Christmas activities calendar

Christmas activities calendar

The Christmas season is a hectic and chaotic time.  With holiday parties, altered schedules, and never-ending to-do lists, Christmas can be overwhelming for adults and kids.  Children see and hear everything and the Christmas time stress is no exception. These Christmas occupational therapy activities can be used in the clinic, home, or in a home program during the holidays. Scroll on for some fun OT holiday activities the whole family will enjoy while targeting various needs!

Christmas Occupational Therapy Activities

Adding to the therapy plans, a few occupational therapy Christmas activities is as easy as adding a holiday themed therapy activity or a planning to use a Christmas item such as a stocking, wreath, or candy canes into therapy games.

Children with sensory or developmental needs and typically developing kids feel the sense of chaos this time of year. The overload of sensory input can be exhausting to children with difficulty in processing input from their environment.  I mean, it’s overwhelming for me, too! 


With all of the excitement of the season, it can be hard to keep to sensory integration strategies to help with coping in over stimulating situations. Sensory kiddos can also show over or under-responsiveness to new situations, too.  Imagine walking into a crowded holiday party with music, lights, a dancing crowd, scents of different and weird foods, and lots of overlapping voices.  


A child can easily become over excited or over protective as they attempt to protect themselves from this noisy, smell party!

OT Christmas activities

Christmas OT Activities for kids

Kids who are working on specific skill areas like fine motor or gross motor development can easily become distracted in the excitement of the season and allow practice areas and goals to slide just a bit.  I mean, there are a lot of fun things a kid can be doing…why would they want to work on their letter formation and handwriting??! Adding a few Christmas OT activities for kids to work on various needs can make the therapy “work” more fun and meaningful.


So, with the upcoming season of busy craziness, I wanted to put together this Occupational Therapy Christmas Calendar.

Celebrate the Christmas season with Occupational Therapy goal areas and calming strategies during this hectic season, allowing families to connect and focus on the true meaning of the season while working on developmental areas.

It’s a way for kids and families to connect and cope during this busy season through holiday festivities, while simultaneously working on many Occupational Therapy goal areas.  Work on fine motor skills while building that gingerbread house.  Calm down with proprioceptive input while snuggled up in a blanket with the family and a good Christmas book.  These are Christmas-y ideas that will keep your whole family connected this year.

This post contains affiliate links.

Occupational Therapy Christmas Activities

Celebrate the Christmas season with Occupational Therapy goal areas and calming strategies during this hectic season, allowing families to connect and focus on the true meaning of the season while working on developmental areas.



Add these ideas to your Advent calendar for a Very Occupational Therapy Christmas!


NOTE:  Many skill areas are addressed with each activity.  You might be working on specific areas like calming activities, or handwriting.  Try to adapt the activities below to fit your child’s needs.


The list below can be done in any order.  This is meant to be an easy way to fit Occupational Therapy practice areas into everyday Christmas fun.  

If a day is a little too hectic to fit in an activity, switch it around and do a different activity.  The most important message is to connect with your family and meet the needs of each member in fun and festive ways this Christmas!

Christmas OT activities

Christmas Calendar Ideas

Note that some of the calendar days are slightly different than on the printable Christmas activity calendar below.

Day 1 Make gingerbread salt dough to address fine motor, proprioceptive, and olfactory areas.  Cut out gingerbread men and make a garland…or just play with the dough! You can keep it in a covered dish or plastic bag to play again and again.


Day 2 Wrap up tight in a blanket and read Christmas stories for proprioceptive input.  A warm blanket is calming.  Wrap your child up like a burrito or full body proprioception.


Day 3 Write a letter to Santa.  Provide creative handwriting modifications for fun.


Day 4 Play outside and collect nature items.  Use them to make collage art or create a table-top sensory table.


Day 5 Carry boxes of donations for heavy work input. This time of year, many families donate to others.  Kids can carry boxes and bags for proprioceptive input while doing a good deed.


Day 6 Make snowballs and throw at targets.  If you don’t have snow where you live, make fake snow for sensory fun.  Be sure to take this activity outside! Throwing at a target is a great hand-eye coordination activity. Packing together snowballs requires bilateral hand coordination and proprioceptive information to determine how much pressure is needed. Don’t let that snowball smash in your hands by packing it together too hard!


Day 7 Have a family dance party to Christmas music. Be sure to swing, twirl, jump, and spin or loads of vestibular input.


Day 8 Work on fine motor skills and string cranberries and popcorn on thread with a needle. Managing a needle and thread is a fine motor skill similar to tool use.  Threading popcorn and cranberries works on tripod grasp, bilateral hand coordination, hand-eye coordination, visual scanning, visual tracking, patterning, and more.


Day 9 Carry shopping bags in both hands for bilateral coordination and proprioceptive input.  Not going shopping?  Fill shopping bags at home with cans from the cupboard.  Create an obstacle course to work on motor planning.


Day 10 Cut paper snow flakes to work on scissor skills.  Try cutting coffee filters, newspapers, cardstock, foam craft sheets. and tissue paper for lots of textures and line accuracy practice.


Day 11 Build a gingerbread house and work on fine motor skills. Encourage tip to tip pincer grasp by providing very small candies.  To amp it up a bit, add a pair of tweezers and have your child pinch with a tripod grasp.  Provide an icing bag to work on gross grasp, too.


Day 12 Play Christmas Charades for gross motor and vestibular input.  Encourage movement actions like Santa filling his bag, building a snowman, wrapping presents, and shopping.


Day 13 Encourage proprioceptive input by showing your kids how to build a Santa’s workshop with couch cushions and pillows.  Lifting heavy cushions is a great heavy work activity.  Once done, kids can calm down in their couch cushion workshop under blankets and pillows.  Add a few toys and pretend hammers from a toy tool set for pretend play and problem solving in this Santa’s workshop activity.


Day 14 Make scented potpourri with scents of the season.  Kids can work on scissor skills and fine motor skills by cutting evergreen stems, orange peels, and pulling bits of bark from evergreens.  The scents of this potpourri will fill the home and a fun way to explore the olfactory sense.


Day 15 Make a Christmas Tree Craft and work on fine motor skills, bilateral hand coordination, and strength. Kids will feel a sense of accomplishment when they see their tree decorating the house all season long.


Day 16 Provide a visual sensory activity by stringing a strand of Christmas lights in a surprising place like on the ceiling, along the tops of doorways, or under a dining room table.  Twinkly lights can be used in a calm-down area. Kids can help to string the lights and use bilateral hand coordination, executive functioning and motor planning to figure out where to place lights, hold up the strand, peel and tear tape, and stick it to the lights. 


Day 17 Work on visual scanning and other visual perceptual skills like figure ground by playing a Christmas version of “I Spy”.  Use the decorated Christmas tree as a decoration station: Ask your child to locate a specific colored ornament as they visually scan the tree.  For more fun, play the game while lying on the floor and looking up at the tree. 


Day 18 Make and drink hot cocoa.  The warm drink provides a temperature sensation that is different and new.  Add ice cubes and candy canes for more textural taste sensations. Following multiple step directions in a cooking with kids activity works on so many problem solving, math, and sensory skill areas.


Day 19 Use Christmas lights to create a DIY light table.  Use it for handwriting practice including line awareness, spatial awareness, letter formation, tracing, and drawing.  This is a visual activity that kids will love.


Day 20 Cook up goodies (or wrap pre-packaged treat!) and plan a good deed for neighbors.  Load up a wagon or sled and deliver the treats around the neighborhood.  Pulling a wagon or sled is a proprioceptive activity that can be calming and grounding.


Day 21 Improve hand strength with this fine motor Christmas Tree craft using a hole punch for proprioceptive input to the hands.  Decorate the house with the trees, or create a banner for the mantle.


Day 22 Work on gross motor skills by playing “Santa Says”.  Just like the game Simon Says, kids can copy and listen to directions and motor plan, actions.  Be sure to incorporate bilateral coordination and crossing midline for a brain break activity.  Use these Simon Says commands to get you started.


Day 23 Explore the sense of touch and scent with this Candy Cane Moon Dough sensory bin.  Work on fine motor skills and tool use by scooping and filling cups and cookie cutters.


Day 24 Wrapping presents is a powerhouse of developmental activities:  Measure paper to fit packages, Cut paper with scissors in a strait line, Fold paper, Tear and Cut tape, Stick tape along edges of paper.  Practice motor planning, problem solving, and executive functioning by crossing an item from your to-do list and wrapping a present or tow with your child.


Day 25 Celebrate Christmas Day with big Christmas bear hugs with family and friends. Hugs are great for proprioceptive input to the body. 


Enjoy the season with your family and make each and every moment count

Printable Christmas Activity Calendar

Want to print off a calendar of occupational therapy ideas to support parents? It’s a great way to send kids off to the holiday break with therapy ideas that support skill-building AND celebrate the season. You can grab a copy of this printable calendar by entering your email address into the form below.

The OT Toolbox Member’s Club members will also find this printable calendar inside the Member’s Club in the Therapist Tools section (Level 1 members) and in the Christmas Therapy Theme (Level 2 members).

FREE Christmas Activities Calendar

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    OT Christmas ACTIVITIES

    Extend the OT Christmas activities further by asking kids to write out the therapy schedule on Christmas modified paper to work on handwriting. This is a great holiday activity for the clinic while working on a variety of occupational therapy goals. Clients can then cross off items as they are completed. Grab a copy of this modified Christmas handwriting paper here and work on handwriting with bold lined paper, highlighted lined paper, and color coded paper…all with a Christmas theme!

    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.

    Christmas Crafts for Kids

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    Christmas crafts for kids

    If you are looking for therapy ideas that build skills this time of year, then you will love these Christmas crafts for kids. These are craft ideas driven by fine motor skill development but also promote skills like hand strength, bilateral coordination, eye-hand coordination, precision of grasp, motor planning, direction following, and creativity. These holiday crafts are perfect for adding to your Christmas occupational therapy ideas.

    From garlands to DIY Christmas ornaments, you AND the kids will love these holiday craft ideas. We’ve pulled our favorite Christmas tree crafts, reindeer crafts, snowman crafts, and Santa crafts all into one place. The best part is that these crafty ideas are perfect for the whole family (or therapy caseload…check out the fun Christmas crafts below for ideas that suit kindergarten up through the older kids! 

    Christmas craft for kids


    Christmas Crafts for Kids

    If there is one most of us are short on this time of year, it’s time. There is just NO time to search Google for fine motor craft ideas or Christmas crafts to add to the occupational therapy activities in December. That’s why I wanted to put together a list of tons of ways to be creative with a Christmas craft for kids.

    Christmas Crafts for kids for the holiday season crafting. These Christmas crafts for kids will keep the kids happy while strengthening fine motor skills, visual motor skills, coordination, and more while working on the skills kids need, all with Christmas crafts!


    Most of these Christmas crafts are process-based but some are not, making them the perfect mix for the therapist looking for crafts that meet the needs of a varied occupational therapy caseload. Use the Christmas craft ideas below to add a holiday theme to your therapy plans this month!

    This post is part of our Christmas Activities for Kids series we’ve got going on this week. It’s all designed to share holiday activities so you don’t need to search all over the internet! If you missed yesterday’s post, you’ll want to check out Christmas Activities for Toddlers to find occupational therapy activities designed for the 2-3 year old age range.

    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 Christmas activity theme each day this week!

    Christmas Craft for Kids Supplies

    This time of year, it’s a great idea to have a craft supply center out for kids to get crafting. Use the kid-made crafts as holiday gifts for family, package toppers, or to attach to a family holiday card. You can even attach a small craft to a candy cane for easy gift-giving.

    Most of the Christmas crafting supplies can be found in a dollar store or for fairly cheap, making this December bucket list item easy and a fun way to spend days leading up to the holidays. 

    Some Christmas craft supplies you can have on hand include:

    • Pipe cleaners
    • Glitter
    • Craft pom poms
    • Glue
    • Cotton balls
    • Paper plates
    • Clear plastic Christmas ornaments
    • Clothes pins
    • Googly eyes
    • Popsicle sticks
    • Beads
    • Buttons
    • Construction paper or card stock
    • Yarn
    • Ribbon
    • Hot glue
    • Thread
    • Plastic lid
    • Wreath form
    • Mason jar

    Once you have a collection of materials, you can start making an easy Christmas craft!

    As a therapist, I love to see the fine motor skills, scissor skills, and sensory input accomplished through crafting as an occupation. But there is the opportunity for creative thinking, executive functioning skill work, and motor planning at work too. 

    Set out a bin or basket of the crafting materials above and let the child explore and create. You can give them an idea of what to create…Ask them “Do they think they can make a Santa Claus using the materials they have in front of them?” By offering a crafting target and the materials with an open-ended craft idea, you are adding in skills such as planning, prioritization, working memory, problem solving. These skills are very much related to the emotional regulation when a project is needing completed but there are challenges in the way. A simple holiday craft can be a fun way to address and develop this skill. 

    Some Christmas crafting ideas include:

    • Santa Claus
    • Elf
    • Angels
    • Christmas gifts
    • Rudolf 
    • Reindeer
    • Christmas tree ornaments
    • Snowman craft
    • Christmas wreath
    • Gnome
    • Santa’s beard
    • Cookies
    • Christmas tree
    • Christmas art

    You can also challenge kids to use specific forms of crafting: fingerprints art, handprints, salt dough crafts, or one of our Christmas templates. Whatever the type of craft, you’ll find tons of ways to develop skills.

    Christmas Craft Ideas

    Some of our favorite ways to craft this time of year include:

    Our new hot chocolate craft uses a printable template that you can modify to meet the needs of each child on a therapy caseload (or at home or in the classroom!) Just print off the template and go. There are even visual step-by-step directions and a data collection form for this holiday craft.

    Bear Christmas ornament craft
    Bear Christmas ornament craft



    Scissor Skills Reindeer Craft- Another Christmas craft that is based on a children’s book is this Olive the Other Reindeer Ornament that doubles as a scissor skills craft. Wouldn’t it be fun to make a whole Christmas tree full of ornaments made in therapy sessions?

    Bilateral Coordination Bear Craft- This bear craft Christmas ornament helps kids use bilateral coordination and motor planning to wrap twine around a bear, making it a fun craft and a powerful therapy tool too! This Christmas craft goes along with a popular children’s book, making it a great craft to share as “occupational therapy homework” over the holiday break!

    Christmas tree craft



    Hand Strength Christmas Tree Craft- Use this Christmas Tree Fine Motor Craft 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.

    Fine motor Christmas tree craft
    Build a Christmas tree with clothespins

    Clothespin Christmas Tree Craft- Paint clothes pins and a painters stick and ask students to build a Christmas tree while developing fine motor skills. You can use this activity over and over again in therapy sessions. Read the instructions and the why behind this Christmas tree craft.

    Pinecone Christmas tree
    Pine cone Christmas tree

    Pine Cone Christmas tree- This is another Christmas tree craft that kids will love. It builds fine motor skills, eye-hand coordination, and bilateral coordination skills, too. Read the instructions to make a pine cone Christmas tree of your own.

    Fine motor Christmas card craft
    Christmas card with tree




    Hand Strengthening Christmas Card Craft- This Homemade Christmas Card for kids is a fun Christmas card kids can make for family or friends. It provides an opportunity for hand strengthening with the hole punch Christmas tree. Sneak some handwriting practice in, too!

    Bottlecap Christmas tree craft
    Bottlecap Christmas tree craft




    In-Hand Manipulation Bottle Cap Christmas Tree- 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.

    Christmas tree fingerprint
    Christmas tree fingerprint craft



    Finger Isolation Ornament- This ornament craft is based on the well-known children’s book, Little Tree. Read the book and then make the ee cummings Little Tree Christmas Ornament AND sneak in fine motor skills like finger isolation, scissor skills, and so many other skills.

    Christmas holly craft made with bottle caps
    Christmas holly craft made with bottle caps




    Process Art Ornament- This Bottle Caps Holly Ornament  is a creative process craft and if you make them with friends or in a classroom setting, there will be no two that look exactly alike. This Christmas craft for kids is a powerhouse for the fine motor development that occurs:  Scissor skills, bilateral coordination, eye hand coordination, and more.

    Plastic lid ornament craft.
    Plastic lid ornament craft.

    Plastic Lid Ornament Craft– Use recycled plastic lids to make an ornament craft using washi tape. We then used a bunch of the lids to make an ornament garland. Read the instructions for this ornament garland craft.

    Snowman craft for Christmas
    Snowman craft to build fine motor skills.



    Paper cup snowman craft- This snowman craft uses crafting materials that build fine motor skills and pencil control skills. Add details with a fine tipped marker to work on pre-handwriting or pencil control skills.

    Egg carton snowman craft
    Snowman egg carton craft

    Snowman Fine Motor Craft- 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.

    Make an egg carton Christmas tree
    Make an egg carton Christmas tree to build fine motor skills.




    Fine Motor Christmas Tree Craft- 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, and for a good reason!  It’s a way to recycle egg cartons while working on various skills: bilateral coordination, fine motor strength, precision, eye-hand coordination, visual attention, spatial awareness, arch development, wrist extension and stability, and more.

    Pipe cleaner Christmas tree craft
    Pipe cleaner Christmas tree craft builds fine motor skills.


    Tripod Grasp Christmas Tree- Kids will love this Pattern Christmas Tree Craft because they can make it as sparkly as they like! Encourage a little math and visual motor work with patterns on the Christmas tree while promoting a tripod grasp. 

    spaghetti wreath christmas craft
    Spaghetti wreath craft is a great sensory craft for Christmas.



    Tactile Sensory Play Wreath Ornament- This Spaghetti Wreath Ornament is another process art Christmas craft that kids will love. In fact, it’s a sensory goldmine and can be used for sensory play along with fine motor work and crafting! 

    Christmas tree suncatcher
    Christmas tree suncatcher craft



    Precision Christmas Tree Suncatcher Craft- Need a Christmas craft that helps with precision and dexterity? This Christmas Tree Sun Catcher Craft will make the windows look festive!




    Holiday Crafts without a Christmas Theme- To switch things up, here are several Winter Bird Crafts that boost fine motor skills and can be done this month or all winter long.


    Kid-Made Christmas Ornament Crafts– Looking for ornaments the kids can make? This collection of ideas has something for everyone. It’s a great way for kids to make a holiday gift for their family while working on fine motor skills and other occupational therapy goals.

    Easy Christmas Crafts

    Therapy professionals are always looking for craft ideas that can be graded to meet the different needs of a variety of skill levels. Especially during this busy time of year, it can be so difficult to manage all of the holiday events in a school day (holiday parties, parades, school-wide assemblies, special events, sick kids that miss days of school, etc.) that meeting required IEP minutes during the month of December is tricky sometimes.

    That’s why a school based OT needs a quick craft idea that builds skills no matter what level the student is at: from preschool or pre-K up through high school and with a variety of skill-building areas. These craft ideas are simple, and can be graded up or down depending on the abilities of the student:

    Pipe cleaner stars are an easy Christmas craft for kids
    Thread beads onto pipe cleaners to work on fine motor skills.
    1. Thread beads onto pipe cleaners like we did in at our winter party.
    Popsicle stick snowflake
    Use craft sticks to make a snowflake.

    2. Use popsicle sticks to make a snowflake to challenge tactile sensory touch and fine motor skills.

    paper icicle craft
    Cut paper icicles to work on scissor skills.

    3. Cut out paper icicles (we have a template in that post) to work on scissor skills and eye-hand coordination.

    Need more Christmas ideas? These Christmas Activities for Preschoolers are a big hit, too!

    Need Christmas craft ideas for this holiday season? These Christmas crafts for kids will keep the kids happy while strengthening fine motor skills, visual motor skills, coordination, and more while working on the skills kids need, all with Christmas crafts!

    More Christmas Activities for Kids


    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.

    Need Christmas craft ideas for this holiday season? These Christmas crafts for kids will keep the kids happy while strengthening fine motor skills, visual motor skills, coordination, and more while working on the skills kids need, all with Christmas crafts!

    Christmas Crafts and Handwriting

    Pair the Christmas crafts with Christmas handwriting. Use one of the Christmas crafts for preschool parties or school holiday parties this time of year.

    Then, students can use the modified paper below to write a list of holiday words or even directions to complete the Christmas tree craft or reindeer antlers! 

    Bat Template Fine Motor Activity

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    Bat stencil template

    This bat template is a fine motor activity, perfect for building motor skills with a Halloween twist. Use the bat printable as a stencil to cut out, trace, and then use in fine motor work. Add this to your Halloween occupational therapy activities!

    Bat Template

    Fall is here and that means it’s time to pull out the Halloween crafts! This bat Halloween craft is a favorite in our house, and it’s actually a fun way to celebrate Halloween with kids without spooky decorations.

    We also used this bat template in a Stellaluna activity that also challenged visual processing skills. Be sure to check that activity out for another way to use this printable bat stencil.

    The nice thing about using our bat template is that it becomes an open-ended Halloween craft idea is one that doesn’t need a lot of materials. In fact, it’s a simple craft idea that is big on the fine motor skill development! When kids make this bat craft, they will be boosting skills such as fine motor strength and dexterity in a big way.

    For more Halloween craft ideas, check out some of the ideas at the bottom of this post…it’s the perfect addition if you’re looking for Halloween crafts for toddlers or Halloween crafts for preschool parties.

    Related, check out these spider activities for more spooky but fun ideas.

    Printable bat stencil to use in fine motor crafts for Halloween


    Bat Template Craft

    We made this bat craft with a fun sensory twist.  And, since we have a certain second grader that is cursive handwriting obsessed, we decided to add a cursive handwriting twist to this activity.  This activity could work to help kids with letter formation of upper case letters, lowercase letters, or numbers too. The possibilities are endless. 

    We arranged the bat template so you can print out one bat printable page and then get 3 bats from the one page.

    Or, if you are using the bat templates with a group of kids like in a classroom Halloween party activity, you can easily cut the bat template page into three sections with one bat stencil for each child.

    This post contains affiliate links.

    Cut out bat template and trace onto black paper with yarn

    Bat Printable

    To make your bat craft, you’ll need just a few materials.

    Affiliate links are included.

    • Bat printable (get your copy below)
    • black cardstock 
    • black yarn 
    • Glue 
    • Scissors (THIS is my favorite brand and the ones that I always recommended as an Occupational Therapist!)
    • Pencil or marker

    This is a great Halloween craft for preschoolers because it’s a fantastic way to work on scissor skills with a Halloween activity.

    Make the Bat Template

    1. First print out the Pat printable onto printer paper.
    2. Cut out the bat templates on the page. Each template has three bats. Students can cut out the bat printable or the adult can do this as preparation work.
    3. Trace the bat template onto cardstock or black construction paper. This is another good task for students to do as tracing the bat template supports development of bilateral coordination skills, eye-hand coordination, crossing midline, and pencil control skills.  
    4. Cut out the bat template.

    Kids can cut out the shape using their Scissors for great scissor skill work.  The bat shape is a complex cutting shape and can be done by Elementary aged students.  

    Cutting the angled wings and curves can be difficult, but by using the cardstock, kids will get a bit fore proprioceptive feedback from the thicker resistance of the paper material.  

    To make the task easier, cut wings without the jagged lines or use thicker cutting lines when you draw the bat shape.  

    Decorate the Bat Cutout

    Once you have the bat, you’ll need to cut pieces of the black yarn.  Have your child cut long or short pieces, it doesn’t really matter what length they wish to cut for their bat’s texture.  

    1. Cut black yarn for the bat cutout.

    Cutting the yarn is a great material to practice appropriate scissor positioning and bilateral hand coordination.  

    If a child is holding the scissors on an angle, cutting the yarn will be more difficult.  (You may see them trying to “saw” at the yarn!) Encourage them to hold the scissors straight up and down and the blades of the scissors at a 90 degree angle to the yarn.  You can find more of our Scissor Skills activities.

    Child dipping black yarn into glue to stick to the bat printable

    2. Next, pour some glue into a shallow dish or plate.  Show your child how to drag the yarn through the glue and get it nice and saturated with the glue.  Use both hands to pinch and “scrape” off excess glue from the piece of yarn.  

    3. Next, drape the black yarn on the bat shape.  You can let your child get as creative as they wish with this part.  Some might like to outline the bat shape and others, just pile it up on the bat.  

    4. Let the glue and yarn harden and you’ll have a textured bat craft to use in Halloween decorations this Fall.  You will have to wait for the glue to dry, probably overnight.

    Use the Bat Printable in Handwriting Practice

    Occupational therapy practitioners know the value of using a single activity or material to develop a variety of skill areas. That is the case with this bat printable…use it to work on handwriting skills too!

    We used those saturated yarn pieces to build cursive letters, but you could build printed letters as well, using our letter construction method.

    This would be an excellent way to practice cursive letter formation in our Creative Cursive handwriting journal activity.

    Make letters with yarn and decorate the bat printable.

    Use this Bat Craft for kids to work on letter formation of any kind. It’s a creative writing activity that they will be sure to remember. Work on forming individual letters, spelling sight words, or making Halloween words.

    Bat template and letters made with black yarn.

    Use the Bat Printable in Learning

    This would work as a very fun…and very sensory…classroom Halloween party idea or learning activity for this time of year, while working on team work skills, and learning components.

    1. Split kids up into teams. Give each team a collection of cut black yarn and a bowl of glue.
    2. Write a spelling word, or a Halloween word on the board or hold up a sign with a Halloween word.
    3. Each team has to work together to use the cut yarn and glue to spell the Halloween word on a piece of paper or cardboard.
    4. Once a team has completed the word, they have to hold up their paper or cardboard. The first team to spell the word with the letters sticking wins! (Too much glue or not enough glue will make this a fun race for Halloween parties for kids of all ages.)
    Use black yarn to decorate the bat printable template and then write words with black yarn.

    Build printed letters with the glue yarn, too.  We had a lot of fun with this Halloween craft and it was a hit with all of my kids…from preschool on up to grade school.

    Check out some of these other Halloween activities and crafts:

    Free Bat Template

    Want a copy of this free bat template printable? Enter your email address into the form below to get a copy of this Halloween printable. This activity is also available inside The OT Toolbox Member’s Club under our Bat Therapy Theme. Members can log in and get the bat template there without entering an email address. Not a member yet? Join us today.

    Free Bat Stencil

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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.

      Classroom Halloween Party Ideas

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      Classroom Halloween party ideas

      This collection of classroom Halloween party ideas are from an old blog post here on the website, but they are fun and engaging Halloween ideas for a school party. When it comes to party activities, as an occupational therapist, I always encourage sensory motor skills, movement games, and play-based games. Because of this, you’ll want to start with our resource on Halloween occupational therapy activities because there you’ll find activities and ideas based on development and play, perfect for adding to a spooky classroom party! Check out the Halloween activities for elementary students below, too.

      Classroom Halloween party ideas

      Classroom Halloween Party Ideas

      all is in the air and that means Halloween is coming!  Halloween parties happen in preschool, playdates, the library, and even farms.  What better way to bring the whole family together than with a kid-friendly Halloween party? We’ve got tips and ideas for a frugal and fun Halloween party that you can use to play a school or play date party.  

      We’re excited to plan our fun and frugal kid-friendly Halloween parties.  We put together a family-friendly ghost game and spider craft using feature products from the celebration that would be a hit at any Halloween party.  

      Start with pumpkin breathing exercises to warm up (and sneak in some education on sensory deep breathing at the same time!)

      Ghost Catch Game

      This Halloween game is great for elementary aged students, and a fun one for the whole classroom.

      Part of the ghost catch game is making the ghosts, so this can take up some time during the classroom Halloween party, but the fine motor benefits are great. Consider having a ghost-making station first. You’ll need just a few materials:

      • Boxes of tissues
      • Recycled paper
      • Rubber bands
      • Black marker

      To make the ghosts for the catch game, it’s actually very simple, but the fine motor skill development are high:

      1. Each student can have a small stack of recycled paper. Ask students to crumble up a ball of recycled paper. This is a great source for hand strengthening and gross grasp.
      2. Then, ask students to pull a facial tissue out of the box. This is an opportunity for eye-hand coordination and pinch strength as well as intrinsic muscle development of the arches of the hand.
      3. Show the students how to wrap the tissue around the recycled paper crumbled ball.
      4. Then, use a rubber band to secure the tissue around the crumbled paper. Allow part of the tissue to hang down like the trailing tail of a ghost. Providing the rubber band offers precision skills, pinch and grip strength as well as bilateral coordination skills.
      5. Finally, use a black marker to draw on a face.

      That’s it! Students can create 1 or more ghosts each. They can write their name on the ghost or they can create several for a ghost catch game.

      Other ideas include using tissue paper or coffee filters. If using a tissue paper cover to the ghost, you can create different colored ghosts. If using coffee filters, you can create smaller ghosts for more refined fine motor practice.

      How to play the ghost catch game:

      There are so many ways to play with these ghosts in a classroom Halloween party. You can make the game work for the space you have, and the specific elementary age. Some ideas include:

      • Break students into pairs. Each can play catch with a ghost by tossing the ghost back and forth. After each toss, the pair takes a step back and tosses the ghost again. If they drop the ghost, they are out. The pair that remains longest wins.
      • Students can take turns tossing their ghosts into a target. The student with the most ghosts in the target wins.
      • Use the ghosts like a bean bag game toward a target.
      • Play ghost cornhole- Play the classic cornhole game but use the ghost crafts.
      • Use these ghost milk cartons to play a ghost catch game.
      Use the ghost bean bags in catching games or tossing games in a school Halloween party.
      Play catch games with the DIY ghost beanbags.

      Classroom Halloween party Games

      Use the above ghosts in different Halloween games. These tag games are easily incorporated into a Halloween theme.

      Halloween I Spy- Kids love this real toy I Spy game, and you can use all of those old party favors that end up sitting around. Gather some Halloween items:

      • Halloween mini erasers
      • Plastic spider rings
      • Pencil toppers
      • Bat cut outs
      • Halloween stickers
      • Halloween candy
      • Plastic vampire fangs
      • Wind up toys

      Place the toys on a tray or in a bag and work on visual scanning, visual memory, visual attention, and even stereognosis if you blindfold the students first.

      Halloween Worksheets that Build Skills-

      1. It’s great to have some back-up ideas if kids plow through the Halloween activities very quickly. Use this printable Halloween color and find worksheet. It builds visual perceptual skills and is great for coloring, too.

      2. These Halloween pumpkin puzzles are fun too. Just print them off, cut out the squares and pass them out. Kids can color, cut, and build them onto a party bag or treat bag.

      3. Use the pumpkin deep breathing coloring page to work on fine motor skills, coloring skills, and use as a self-regulation tool.

      Classroom Halloween party crafts

      Some of our favorite Halloween crafts support the development of fine motor skills, executive functioning skills, scissor skills, and encourage sensory experiences in a spookily fun way.

      These are great ideas for the elementary aged Halloween party.

      Make bean bag ghosts for a school Halloween party and party game in the classroom.
      These tissue ghosts are like bean bags for classroom games at a Halloween party.

      Noodle Spider Craft

      This spider craft is just one of the many spider activities we have here on the website.

      Use dry elbow noodles to make a spider. This is a great one for building fine motor skills. Dye the pasta ahead of time or make the dying process part of the party experience . (Note that the pasta takes a while to dry. If you are dying the pasta during the Halloween classroom party, it make more sense to use washable black paint incase the colors get onto clothing or hands).

      How to dye pasta for a spider craft. Use dyed noodles for a spider craft for a Halloween school party.
      Make a noodle spider craft with students at a Halloween school party.

      To make this noodle spider craft, you’ll need just a few materials:

      • Elbow noodles
      • Closable plastic zip top bag
      • Black paint or black food coloring
      • Hand sanitizer

      If you are dying the pasta at home before the party, just take in the colored noodles. If you are coloring the noodles in the classroom, you’ll need the above items.

      Toco color the noodles black:

      1. Toss the elbow pasta in a plastic closable baggie with black food coloring or black paint and add a little squirt of hand sanitizer.  
      2. Spread the noodles out on newspaper to dry.  

      Also need:

      • Black paper
      • scissors
      • Glue
      • Marker

      Next, use the colored pasta to make the spider craft:

      1. Each student can pick out 8 pieces of pasta. This is a great exercise in pincer grasp and in-hand manipulation skills.
      2. Cut out a black circle from construction paper. About the size of a bottle cap is good.
      3. Glue the circle onto paper. Use squeeze glue to glue the dyed pasta to a paper around a black circle cut from construction paper.  

      What a cute craft to send home with the kids!  Keep in mind that once the pasta is used for a craft, it shouldn’t be eaten!

      Halloween Pasta Spider Craft
      Make a Halloween spider craft using colored pasta at a Halloween classroom party, especially good for Halloween school parties for older kids.

      Other Halloween crafts for a school party include:

      Make a ghost craft for sensory play– This is a fun one for kids to make but also use in sensory bins or fine motor activities.

      Make a ghost craft with construction paper and hole punches. Glue them to tissue paper for spooky eyes. This is an easy way to work on scissor skills. Kids can also address skills such as bilateral coordination, hand strength with a simple Halloween craft that uses just paper, crayon, scissors, and a hole punch. Use these ghosts to decorate for Halloween and monitor scissor skills.

      Make a ghost craft with recycled materials. This is a fun Halloween party craft that can be a tool for working on dexterity, precision of grasp, in-hand manipulation, bilateral coordination, hand strength, and more! These ghosts would make a fun addition to the therapy clinic, OT doorway, or even a bulletin board decoration.

      Use the Halloween Therapy Kit or Pumpkin Fine Motor Kit! These kits are included inside The OT Toolbox Member’s Club, or grab them below.

      Pumpkin activity kit
      Pumpkin Fine Motor Kit

      Grab the Pumpkin Fine Motor Kit for more coloring, cutting, and eye-hand coordination activities with a Pumpkin theme! It includes:

      • 7 digital products that can be used any time of year- has a “pumpkins” theme
      • 5 pumpkin scissor skills cutting strips
      • Pumpkin scissor skills shapes- use in sensory bins, math, sorting, pattern activities
      • 2 pumpkin visual perception mazes with writing activity
      • Pumpkin “I Spy” sheet – color in the outline shapes to build pencil control and fine motor strength
      • Pumpkin Lacing cards – print, color, and hole punch to build bilateral coordination skills
      • 2 Pumpkin theme handwriting pages – single and double rule bold lined paper for handwriting practice

      Work on underlying fine motor and visual motor integration skills so you can help students excel in handwriting, learning, and motor skill development.

      You can grab this Pumpkin Fine Motor kit for just $6!

      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.

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