Rainbow Activities for Child Development

rainbow a

Here, you will find rainbow activities that are powerful and effective activities to help with child development. I’ve strived to pull together rainbow sensory activities, crafts, fine motor activities, visual motor activities, and movement ideas. Scroll through the various rainbow theme ideas to promote skills for all ages. These are great additions to your Spring occupational therapy activities!

One of our favorite ideas is a fruit loop rainbow craft, but you’ll love the others below, too.

We’ve also added a free printable therapy activity sheet with rainbow activities that can be used in planning therapy sessions. Scroll to the bottom of the blog post to grab this resource.

rainbow activities

These are developmental activities to add to your occupational therapy interventions.

Rainbow Activities for Therapy

Each rainbow therapy activity below is designed to promote multiple aspects of child development. These are powerful motor activities for developing areas that help kids with functional tasks, coordination, movement, and learning.

Rainbow activities for child development and occupational therapy interventions

Some of our favorite rainbow activities include colorful sensory bins, rainbow markers and crayons, and making rainbow crafts. The nice thing about using a rainbow theme in therapy is that you can use what you have on hand.

  • Sort paperclips or craft pom poms by color.
  • Pick a colored pencil out of a box and use it to write the name of the color.
  • Ask the students to name their favorite color and then use it as a rainbow writing prompt to write about things that are typically that color.
  • Cut colorful paper into strips and glue it to a cloud shape cut from paper.

There are so many easy ways to come up with rainbow ideas that build on skills. Let’s take a look at a few more ideas…

Rainbow activities for kids to use in occupational therapy sessions to develop skills like fine motor skills, sensory processing, and executive functioning skills.

Rainbow Fine Motor Activities

A rainbow therapy theme is great during the Spring months.

This time of year, rainbows are the way to go for building fine motor skills. Try some of these activities to work on fine motor strength, coordination, hand eye coordination, motor planning. You’ll see improvements in pencil control, dexterity, precision, in-hand manipulation, and fine motor skill work.

rainbow pencil control activities

Rainbow pencil control activities– All you need is some colored pencils and paper to work on pencil control, visual motor skills, and hand strengthening.

color mixing rainbow handwriting activity

Rainbow Color Mixing Handwriting Activity– Grab a pack of markers. Kids can work on color mixing and letter formation, letter size, spacing, and handwriting legibility.

Rainbow beads

Rainbow bead bracelets– Use beads and pipe cleaners to make a set of rainbow beads and develop pincer grip, in-hand manipulation skills, bilateral coordination, open thumb web space, arch development, and eye-hand coordination skills.

Pipe Cleaner Rainbow Craft– An alternative to the rainbow bead bracelet is our pipe cleaner rainbow that we made many years ago. This activity was fun because we built a 3 dimensional rainbow…and then used it in our leprechaun trap!

To make the rainbow pipe cleaner, use colorful pipe cleaners and colorful beads. Ask your students to sort the beads into colors of the rainbow, and then match the beads to the same colored pipe cleaner. Bend the pipe cleaners into a rainbow arch. Then, push the ends of the pipe cleaners into a foam block.

teach prewriting lines to kids with a rainbow theme

Rainbow PreWriting Lines Activity– This free therapy slide deck is a fine motor and gross motor activity to help kids with pre-writing skills. Kids can work on finger isolation, eye-hand coordination, visual motor skills, and more.

Pot of Gold Coins– Cover cardboard circles or washers with foil to make gold coins. If you can grab some gold wrapping paper or tissue paper, use it to wrap the circles while kids develop bilateral coordination, precision, hand strength, and motor skills.

In this blog post, you’ll also see how to tie scraps of fabric to create a rainbow. This is a fun bilateral coordination activity that builds hand eye coordination skills as well.

Rainbow Play Dough Fine Motor Activity – Use this hand strengthening activity to work on finger isolation, in-hand manipulation, dexterity, and arch development. Here is a rainbow play dough recipe.

Rainbow Bottle Activity– All you need is an empty water bottle and colorful craft pom poms to work on finger isolation, in-hand manipulation, bilateral coordination, hand eye coordination, and dexterity. This is a great rainbow activity for preschoolers or toddlers.

Rainbow Fine Motor Sort– All you need is an ice tray and colorful craft pom poms to work on in-hand manipulation skills, sorting, precision, dexterity, and finger isolation.

Rainbow Scoop and Sort– A simple rainbow sensory bin can include beads, yarn, or any colorful materials and a handful of cotton balls. Add a kitchen utensil or scoops, tongs, or other tools to scoop, manipulate, and work on coordination, and fine motor skill development.

Rainbow Fine Motor Work on the Window– Kids can cut foam sheets into strips to work on scissor skills. Then, stick these to a window or even a shower wall to work on precision, wrist extension, wrist stability, shoulder strength and stability, core strength, and the coordination skills needed for fine motor tasks like pencil control and dexterity.

Rainbow cups

Rainbow Cups– Make a set of these colorful cups and work on bilateral coordination, eye-hand coordination, core strength, motor planning, and more.

Fine Motor Flip and Fill A-Z Letter Pages

Rainbow Flip and Fill Fine Motor Activity– Kids can use these alphabet worksheets to fill the upper case or lowercase letters and develop fine motor skills like in-hand manipulation, eye-hand coordination, precision, open thumb web space, and more, with these color activities in the Colors Handwriting pack and bonus pages.

More ideas for supporting fine motor skills with a rainbow theme include:

Fruit Loop Rainbow Craft: One therapy tool that I love to use during the Spring months is Fruit Loop cereal rings. Why? It’s a great shape for little fingers to work on pincer grasp and eye hand coordination, but it’s also an inexpensive therapy tool, too.

  1. All you need to do is create a rainbow template on paper or cardstock.
  2. Ask your student to separate the cereal by color. This is a great color sorting activity.
  3. Next, show your student how to glue the cereal pieces onto the rainbow.

This activity encourages fine motor skills such as picking up small objects, hand-eye coordination, and color recognition. Here are more Fruit Loop Rainbow craft ideas.

Rainbow Writing: If you need an inexpensive therapy activity that uses items you already have, rainbow writing is it. Kids like to rainbow write, especially if you use motivating words or a different writing surface than they are used to.

  1. First, gather your materials. You’ll need a surface and colorful writing utensils (dry erase board and markers, sidewalk and chalk, paper taped to a window and crayons, fabric and markers, or just use paper and crayons).
  2. Show the students how to make a rainbow shape using one color. Ask them to draw a large arch.
  3. Next, use each color of the rainbow to draw right over the first arch.

You’ll end up with a colorful mess…but it’s a great activity for building skills!

This activity supports visual motor skills, pencil control, and crossing midline. If you use a dry erase board or a window, ask your students to use a spray bottle with water to erase the colors and then watch those colorful rainbow drips!

Color Rice for Sensory Bin: One sensory motor activity that I love is a good old fashioned sensory bin. Kids love a sensory bin, and as the OT practitioner, you can add or pull out a couple of items to meet specific needs, and then use the sensory bin with your caseload.

  1. Dye rice with different colors like we do in our rice sensory table blog post.
  2. Fill a large container with the colorful rice.
  3. Add tools and cups to scoop and pour. (Spoons, funnels, containers)

Of course, with any sensory bin, you would need to consider the safety of the child, and a color rice sensory bin would be no different. This activity works on motor planning, sensory touch, and motor skills.

Rainbow rice sensory bins can be used for other skill areas like handwriting by adding color words and asking kids to copy the word that they find in the sensory bin.

Rainbow Worksheets: The members in The OT Toolbox membership know that we have many rainbow worksheets that support a variety of skill areas. There are handwriting activities, coloring tasks, fine motor activities, scissor tasks, rainbow crafts, rainbow self regulation activities, rainbow sensory bin materials, and much more. Like all of the materials in The OT Toolbox membership, our rainbow worksheets support hands-on skill building through play.

Rainbow Visual Motor Activities

Visual Motor integration activity using a marker ladder activity

Rainbow Ladder– Use this rainbow visual motor activity to work on visual scanning, visual tracking, visual figure ground, form constancy, visual discrimination, and other visual motor skills needed for handwriting and reading. We used this in a cursive handwriting activity, but you could use the same concept in teaching upper and lowercase letter identification, number writing, sight words, or other multi-sensory learning strategies.

Copy a rainbow visual motor activity

Rainbow Drawing Visual Motor Activities– Use this occupational therapy teletherapy slide deck to encourage kids to copy rainbow drawing forms and build pencil control, visual perceptual skills with simple and complex drawing skills.

Emotion Matching Game– Use this rainbow matching game to teach emotions and social emotional developmental milestones and skills. It’s a powerful way to work on visual perceptual skills too, including visual scanning, eye-hand coordination, visual discrimination, and other visual motor skills.

Colors Pre-Writing Pencil Mazes

Rainbow Colors Pre-writing Lines Mazes– These mazes are great for developing pencil control, eye-hand coordination skills, fine motor dexterity, and visual motor skills.

Rainbow Sensory Play

When kids participate in sensory play experiences, they develop tactile sensory exposure and can explore tactile experiences. Use these activities to learn colors, and learn through play! Try these multisensory learning activities to teach colors, and develop sensory exploration through play.

rainbow breathing exercise

Rainbow Deep Breathing Exercise– Use this rainbow deep breathing exercise as a calming self regulation activity to help with coping strategies and mindfulness.

Rainbow Sensory Bottle– In this rainbow sensory bottle, we used friendship thread to incorporate all the colors of the rainbow, but making a calming sensory bottle can use any materials you have on hand. Use the sensory bottle as a calming sensory tool.

Rainbow Playdough– When kids play with play dough, they gain proprioceptive input through their hands and fingers. This heavy work input is a powerful resistive activity that “wakes up” the hands but also can be calming.

Rainbow Sensory Bins– Making rainbow sensory bins are easy but there are big benefits. Kids can use sensory bins as a tactile sensory experience, but with fine motor benefits like tool use, scooping sorting, fine motor precision, dexterity, manipulation skills, coordination, and so much more. Add sight words and high-frequency words, or math manipulatives to use these rainbow sensory bins in multi-sensory learning opportunities.

Gold Coin Sensory Bin– Use a sensory bin base and add some ribbons and the yellow pieces from a Connect 4 game for a sensory bin.

rainbow xylophone

Rainbow Xylophone– Kids can explore sound, STEAM concepts, and motor skills in this auditory processing activity.

Rainbow Crafts to develop skills

These rainbow crafts are powerful ways to work on fine motor skills, manipulation of tools, dexterity, strength, motor planning skills, handwriting, and more.

Rainbow binoculars craft– Kids can make this rainbow binoculars craft and work on scissor skills, bilateral coordination motor planning, and precision. Then, use this rainbow craft to encourage visual scanning, visual perceptual skills, and more. Can you use this in a color scavenger hunt?

Egg carton rainbows– Use a recycled egg carton and kids can paint in this process art activity that develops grasp, precision, eye-hand coordination, and sensory experiences.

Rainbow Snacks

When children are active in the kitchen, they develop so many fine motor skills, executive functioning skills. The kitchen is a prime location for developing working memory, attention, direction following, as well as offering learning opportunities, as well. Fine motor skills in the kitchen are just some of the benefits of cooking with kids!

Try these rainbow recipes that kids can make and are a perfect addition to a rainbow theme.

Rainbow Snacks– These rainbow snack cups are perfect snacks for preschool. When kids help to make them, they can work on cutting foods, sorting, visual scanning, and fine motor skills, too!

Color Snack– Pair kitchen activities with a popular children’s book to explore colors and developing skills in the kitchen with kids.

Colors Handwriting Kit

Rainbow Handwriting Kit– This resource pack includes handwriting sheets, write the room cards, color worksheets, visual motor activities, and so much more. The handwriting kit includes:

  • Write the Room, Color Names: Lowercase Letters
  • Write the Room, Color Names: Uppercase Letters
  • Write the Room, Color Names: Cursive Writing
  • Copy/Draw/Color/Cut Color Worksheets
  • Colors Roll & Write Page
  • Color Names Letter Size Puzzle Pages
  • Flip and Fill A-Z Letter Pages
  • Colors Pre-Writing Lines Pencil Control Mazes
  • This handwriting kit now includes a bonus pack of pencil control worksheets, 1-10 fine motor clip cards, visual discrimination maze for directionality, handwriting sheets, and working memory/direction following sheet! Valued at $5, this bonus kit triples the goal areas you can work on in each therapy session or home program.

Click here to get your copy of the Colors Handwriting Kit.

More Rainbow Ideas

For more rainbow crafts and ideas to support development of skills, check out the Spring themed activities in our Spring Crafts library. There are fun ways to use a paper plate to create a rainbow while working on scissor skills…and just so many other Spring tools for supporting the development of kids of all ages.

Free Printable List of Rainbow Activities

One tool we have in The OT Toolbox membership club is therapy themes. Rainbow themed activities is one of them! We’ve put together a list of rainbow activities that can be used in therapy sessions to build skills and created a printable therapy lesson plan.

This resource is a hit with therapy providers because they can pull out the sheet and plan their week of therapy sessions with just a handful of activities. This printable is inside The Membership Club but you can grab a copy here as well. Enter your email address into the form below and we’ll send it to you.

Rainbow Lesson Plan for Therapy

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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.

    Snowy Farm Sensory Bin

    farm sensory bin

    Welcome to a winter wonderland on the farm! In today’s blog post, we’re diving into the magical world of sensory play with a snowy farm sensory bin. This delightful activity combines the charm of a farm theme with the sensory joys of winter, creating an engaging and therapeutic experience for children. This is one of our favorite winter sensory bins because you can focus on so many different underlying skills through play.

    Farm sensory bin

    Whether you’re a parent looking for creative winter activities or a therapist seeking effective tools for skill development, this farm sensory bin is tailored to captivate young minds while addressing various therapeutic areas. Read all about sensory bins in general as a therapy tool to support skill development.

    Farm Sensory Bin

    We love a great occupational therapy sensory activity because cold winter temps and less daylight hours mean you might not have a chance to get little ones outside as often as you might like. Plus, a farm sensory bin goes great with a Farm theme in preschool or in occupational therapy sessions.

    This farm sensory bin has a winter theme, but you could actually set up a farm sensory bin any time of year. In fact, we loved this play dough farm activity that goes along with a farm theme and supports fine motor skills as well as sensory input.

    The base of shredded paper sets the stage for a snowy landscape, providing a tactile experience that stimulates sensory exploration and fine motor skills.

    This winter-themed sensory bin features a collection of farm toys and mini figures, turning the snowy setting into a farm scene ready for imaginative play.

    Farm Animal Sensory Bin

    The farm animal sensory bin takes the excitement a step further, introducing miniature figures of beloved farm animals. As children dive into the bin, they engage in hands-on exploration, feeling the textures of the shredded paper, maneuvering the farm toys, and creating their own farm stories.

    This sensory-rich experience enhances tactile input, encouraging self-confidence as children express themselves through play.

    Farm Theme Sensory Bin Setup

    Setting up the farm theme sensory bin is a breeze:

    1. Begin with a large container filled with shredded paper to create a snowy base. You could also use other sensory bin base materials if you don’t have shredded paper on hand.
    2. Add farm toys such as barns, tractors, and mini figures of animals to bring the farm to life.
    3. Encourage creativity by incorporating small props like faux trees or fences. This simple yet effective setup provides a canvas for endless imaginative scenarios.

    Before this weekend, we’ve had a super cool spring.  With a handful of days where it snowed.  We are ready for outside play in short sleeves, running in the yard, and grass stained knees.

    But, we have been loving this fun play activity too 🙂

    We had a boat load of shredded paper from doing taxes recently.  It came in pretty handy for a small world snowy farm scene!

    We put some farm animals, the Little People barn, and of course, Little Guy’s construction vehicles.

    (how else can the farmer move allll that snow??)

    Little Guy went to farm-town with imagination stories and pretend play.

    Baby Girl loves to make the animal sounds and had a blast finding them in the shredded paper.

    Why This Farm Sensory Bin Helps Development


    Beyond simply playing in the sensory bin, this farm sensory bin serves as a therapeutic tool to foster development in various areas.

    You can target areas in:

    Fine motor skills are particularly important in early childhood development, as they lay the foundation for more complex tasks in the future. 

    Tactile discrimination, exploration, and sensory desensitization are effectively addressed with sensory bins as they are playful and present in a non-threatening way. The playful nature of sensory bins allows children to control their tactile experiences, fostering confidence in their interactions with materials and gradually increasing their comfort with different sensations. 

    The hands-on nature of the activity promotes fine motor skills as children manipulate the farm toys and engage with the sensory materials. Communication skills blossom as they create farm narratives, fostering language development.

    In addition, occupational therapy providers love sensory bins because they can offer a unique and enjoyable way to engage reluctant children who may initially be hesitant about engaging in the sensory elements of tactile defensiveness challenges.

    Tactile input and sensory exploration contribute to a holistic sensory experience, supporting overall sensory processing.

     

     
     
     
     
    My fun-loving Baby Girl instigated this little incident…
     
    she just couldn’t help herself 🙂
     
     
    What are we learning through play?

    Imagination Play

    Pretend Play

    Learning Animals

    Animal Sounds

    Visual Scanning

    Sensory Play

     

    Farm Sensory Bin Ideas

    You can pair this farm sensory bin with other therapy ideas, too. Use some of these tools and resources to support skills like gross motor skills, coordination, brain breaks, and more:

    • These Farm Brain Breaks can add movement and gross motor input to a child’s day and fit in great with a farm animal theme. Print off the cards and use them in the classroom or home.
    • These heavy work cards includes a set of 8 farm themed heavy work activities that can be used as a brain break or added proprioceptive input.
    • Free Farm Scissor Skills Packet
    • This barn craft is fun because kids can make a barn and use it in the farm animal sensory bin.
    • This Farm Fingerprint art activity supports visual closure, visual tracking, and visual scanning activity, too.
    • The Farm Therapy Kit has a bunch or activities to support sensory needs, handwriting, motor skills, dexterity, and more.

    Get your copy of the Farm Therapy 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.

    Penguin Activities for Kids

    Penguin activities

    Brrrr it is COLD out there! This is the perfect time of year to add a few penguin activities to a penguin theme or set of winter activities. Here, you’ll find penguin themed ideas for movement, play, cooking, learning, and crafting. Browse these ideas and add them to an occupational therapy intervention therapy plan or learning at home.

    The penguin activities for kids here will give you plenty of fun indoor play ideas.    When we went through the links this week to pick our features, we had to go with a penguin theme.  We’ve been doing a few penguin activities around here (and are so excited to share them with you!) after we got a handful of penguin books out from the library.  The features this week show songs, games, crafts, sensory play, books, and even snacks…all about PENGUINS!  

    Penguin activities for kids

    Penguin Activities

    Penguin I Spy Worksheet– (FREE) This printable activity targets visual perception, fine motor, handwriting, and more.

    Penguin Therapy Kit– A penguin-themed therapy kit designed to develop motor skills, self-regulation, handwriting, and scissor skills. Includes 99 pages of therapy activities to develop fine motor strength, dexterity, core strength, regulation, functional grasp, and endurance.

    FREE Penguin Fine Motor WorksheetThis printable activity can be used to target pencil control, tracing skills, visual motor skills, and fine motor skills. Attach it to a wall to work on strength and stability, or even cut along the lines to target scissor skills.

    FREE Penguin Gross Motor (Penguin Yoga)- Use these yoga positions to incorporate gross motor skills, coordination, motor planning, balance, heavy work input (proprioception), and changes in positioning (vestibular input). This is a free Google slide deck. Click here for the penguin yoga activities.

    Penguin Executive Functioning Activity (Make a Penguin Treat)- Cooking in the kitchen is a powerful way to develop fine motor skills and executive functioning skills. Try making these penguin snacks for a family treat.

    FREE Penguin Self-Regulation Activity– This penguin deep breathing activity can be a coping tool or a sensory strategy to help with self-regulation skills. Included is a free printable deep breathing worksheet.

    Penguins Emotions Game- This free penguin emotions therapy slide deck challenges kids to identify emotions based on facial expressions. It’s a great way to work on visual perception, too.

    Tactile Sensory Play– Use this Snow and Ice Penguin Small World activity from Stir the Wonder for penguin sensory fun. This Penguin Sensory Play from Fantastic Fun and Learning is another fun activity. Or, make a Winter Sensory Bin like this one from There’s Just One Mommy.  A Snow Dough Arctic Sensory Bin like this one from House of Burke is another fun idea.

    Auditory Processing Activity- Use this 5 Little Penguins Counting Songs from Let’s Play Music to work on listening, sounds, and auditory memory. 

    Tacky the Penguin Activities

    For Tacky the Penguin activity ideas, pair a book with any of the activities listed here. Or try this Fun With Tacky The Penguin idea from Learning is Messy

    Penguin Fine Motor Activities

    You can add fine motor skills with crafts and motor activities. This penguin craft only requires paper and glue. Use colored paper or use crayons to color your penguin. It’s a fine motor folding craft to work on hand strength and precision.

    Or, try this Penguin Math Activity to work on Scissor Skills– This counting/adding/subtracting fish activity builds eye-hand coordination too. Make and cut out fish from paper and catch them to feed the penguins.

    Another fine motor Penguin Craft is this Penguin Craft with Printable Pieces from ABC Creative Learning to add fine motor fun to a penguin theme.

    Use the fine motor activities, lacing cards, toothpick art, and crafts in the Penguin Therapy Kit. It’s a 100 page packet with all winter themes, and you’ll find penguins there!

    Click here for more information on the Penguin Therapy Kit.

    Penguin Themed Therapy Plan

    Want a printable sheet of therapy plans with a penguin theme? This printable sheet has activities designed to build skills. Enter your email address into the form below and we’ll send you the printable therapy activity sheet!

    This printable is also available inside The OT Toolbox membership. members can Log In to their account and get this printable, along with many other penguin activities on our Penguin Therapy Theme page.

    Penguin Activity Sheet

      Are you interested in resources on (check all that apply):
      We respect your privacy. Unsubscribe at anytime.

      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.

      Pipe Cleaner and Bead Snowflakes

      pipe cleaner and bead snowflakes

      Having a snowflake party? Or maybe just doing a few snowflake activities in your therapy sessions or classroom and want to hit on fine motor skills with a winter theme? You’re in luck! We’ve got a fun pipe cleaner and bead snowflake activity along with a few snowflake crafts, pipe cleaner snowflakes, craft stick snowflakes, and more!

      pipe cleaner and bead snowflakes

      pipe cleaner and bead snowflakes

      We’ll start off the snowflake activities with our favorite…pipe cleaner and bead snowflakes. This is one of the best fine motor activities during the winter months for several reasons: it uses items you likely have on hand, and you can target a variety of skills and needs with a single craft.

      This fine motor winter activity is a great addition to a winter classroom door decoration, too. Pair it with our My Snow Globe worksheet for a winter handwriting activity.

      To thread beads onto a pipe cleaner, you’ll need several underlying skills, making this a great occupational therapy craft during the winter months.

      Some of those skills include:

      Making pipe cleaner and bead snowflakes can also be a great Indoor Recess Ideas for the winter months, too.

      Materials:

      To make the pipe cleaner and bead snowflakes, simply place your materials on a table.

      1. Blue or white pipe cleaners
      2. Beads in wintery colors: blues, greys, greens, and white

      Then, start making the pipe cleaner bead snowflakes:

      1. Twist pipe cleaners together to create an 8 sided snowflake.
      2. Add beads to each “stem” of the snowflake.
      3. When the beads have been added, bend the end of the pipe cleaner so the beads don’t fall off.
       
      One day last week, us Aunts got together for some much-needed sister hang-out time, play time for the cousins, and a little “blog meeting”.
       
      We had a snowflake party planned with a bunch of fun little ideas to do with the kids. 
      I mean, we found these snowflake cups big-time discounted after Christmas, and had to use them somehow, right??
       
      ((The babies had fun putting crafting popsicle sticks into one cup, and then one-by-one, putting them back into the other cup…sounds fun to me!))
       
       
      We set the table with some cotton batting and silver tinsel. 
       
      Blue Legos are optional. 
      A little helper thought it fit in with the blue theme pretty well 🙂
       
       

      Snowflake Sensory Play

      We already had a batch of fake snow made up.  We added into the bag, foam snowflakes, glass gems, and glitter for fun Snowflake themed fine motor and sensory play!
       
      Did you see the post where we shared our Mess-Free Fake Snow?
       
       

       

      Snowflake Crafts

       
      We made snowflakes with pipe cleaners and beads.  This is a great fine motor activity and SO much fun.  My kids are always asking to make necklaces and bracelets with beads and pipe cleaners. So, they really loved this one.
       
      Another snowflake craft…
      Glue crafting sticks together in a star shape and dip strips of Scotch tape into glitter.  Press the tape down onto the sticks.  Instant glittery and mess-free snowflake!
       
       
      We also showed the kids how to fold and cut paper to make snowflakes.  They loved cutting triangles and snips into the paper.  And especially LOVED opening them up to see the pretty snowflake.  They helped us hang the snowflakes and all of the crafts on the window.
       
       
      There was a little break from the snowflake theme and party mode to take a Super hero break with dish towels for capes.
      FUN STUFF!  And so cute 🙂
       

       

      Snowflake Snacks

      Snowflake snacks were marshmallows  (they were snowballs of course 🙂
      And bugles (Hats!)
       
       
       
       
      Have you done any fun snowflake crafts or activities?  We would love to hear about them 🙂
       
       

      If you are hanging these pipe cleaner bead snowflakes on a window, you can use a suction cup hanger.

      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.

      What if you had themed, NO-PREP activities designed to collect data and can help kids build essential fine motor skills?

      Take back your time and start the year off with a bang with these done-for-you fine motor plans to help kids form stronger hands with our Winter Fine Motor Kit. This print-and-go winter fine motor kit includes no-prep fine motor activities to help kids develop functional grasp, dexterity, strength, and endurance. Use fun, winter-themed, fine motor activities so you can help children develop strong fine motor skills in a digital world. 

      The Winter Fine Motor Kit includes reproducible activity pages include: pencil control strips, scissor skills strips, simple and complex cutting shapes, lacing cards, toothpick precision art, crumble hand strengthening crafts, memory cards, coloring activities, and so much more.

      Winter Bird Activities and Crafts

      winter bird crafts including Cheerio bird feeder, cardinal craft, bird puppets, text reads "winter bird crafts"

      These winter bird crafts are fun winter crafts that support fine motor skills with all things winter birds. We love these as preschool bird crafts because they support skill development, are are great for the winter months when you see cardinals, blue jays, and even a robin or two as winter comes to an end. Kids love these bird ideas, and you will to!

      winter bird crafts including Cheerio bird feeder, cardinal craft, bird puppets, text reads "winter bird crafts"

      Winter Bird Crafts

      Occupational therapy practitioners love crafts for kids because of the skill development that happens with cutting, gluing, and creating. It’s easy to foster skill achievement by adapting or modifying a craft while supporting finger and hand strength, tactile sensory input, scissor skills, and more.

      Some of the skills that you can target using our bird craft ideas support occupational therapy goal areas, including:

      Here are more winter fine motor activities to build hand strength, dexterity, motor coordination skills, and more.

      Bird Ideas for Therapy

      Winter Birds of a feather craft together.  These bird crafts and activities are sure to keep the kids having fun this winter. We loved this week’s round up of features and added a few extra bird ideas for winter bird fun and play.

      Let’s get to the bird craft ideas!

      Blue Jay Painting activity- One of our favorite bird crafts is our Blue Jay Craft. This is a great fine motor strength activity because we use a cotton swab to paint in details of the blue jay’s feathers. OT practitioners love to use cotton swab painting because it’s a powerful hand strengthening activity that supports arch development.

      Robin craft- One great fine motor activity is our robin egg carton craft. You might see robins throughout the winter and as winter months come to an end. This robin activity is nice because it’s a fun pincer grasp activity for kids.

      Bird Play Dough Activity- We have a great, free bird play dough mat available here on The OT Toolbox. You can use it along with this B is for Birds and Beans Play Dough activity from My Bright Butterfly- perfect for winter-time indoor play.

      Owl Crafts for Kids- We have some great owl activities here on the website, and these winter birds offer crafts, activities, and games that kids love. Some activities include our free Owl Directed Drawing worksheet and owl brain breaks. These Owl Finger Puppet from Crafts On Sea are another great addition to an owl theme.

      Fine Motor Angry Birds- Building coordination and hand strength is fun with an Angry Birds theme. WE love how Therapy Fun Zone made Catapult Birds using craft pom poms and bird flashcards. I LOVE this activity for fine motor play!

      Felt Bird Craft- We love this Felt Bird Ornament craft from Red Ted Art. While the sewing craft is great for older kids, you can grade the activity down by cutting pieces of felt and gluing the pieces together.

      Bird Puppets- Making puppets with kids is a nice fine motor craft for preschoolers. These Silly Bird Puppets from Housing a Forest hit the mark.

      Cheerio Bird Feeder- This winter bird feeder craft is perfect for the winter months. Plus, when kids thread cereal loops onto a pipe cleaner, they are building skills in bilateral coordination, precision, and eye-hand coordination. These Cheerio Bird Feeders from Happy Hooligans are an easy bird craft for kids.

      Cardinal Craft- Cardinals and red birds are often seen during the winter months. This Redbird Craft from Craftulate is an easy winter craft for children working on scissor skills.


      Winter bird crafts and activities for kids

       


      Winter Bird Crafts and Activities

      What other ways can you create crafts with winter birds? These ideas can hopefully get you started!

      For more winter fun, check out:

       

      What if you had themed, NO-PREP activities designed to collect data and can help kids build essential fine motor skills?

      Take back your time and start the year off with a bang with these done-for-you fine motor plans to help kids form stronger hands with our Winter Fine Motor Kit. This print-and-go winter fine motor kit includes no-prep fine motor activities to help kids develop functional grasp, dexterity, strength, and endurance. Use fun, winter-themed, fine motor activities so you can help children develop strong fine motor skills in a digital world. 

      The Winter Fine Motor Kit includes reproducible activity pages include: pencil control strips, scissor skills strips, simple and complex cutting shapes, lacing cards, toothpick precision art, crumble hand strengthening crafts, memory cards, coloring activities, and so much more.

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

      Easy No-Sew Felt Christmas Cookies

      felt Christmas cookies on a baking tray

      This holiday season, why not incorporate no sew felt crafts with a set of felt Christmas cookies? Many years ago, we created these felt Christmas cookies as a holiday dramatic play activity with pretend Christmas cookies. Not only is this a fun Christmas dramatic play idea, it’s also a way to build skills this time of year…making it a fun Christmas activity for occupational therapy!

      felt Christmas cookies on a cookie tray with kitchen utensils

      Felt Christmas Cookies

      In this blog post, we will explore the world of no-sew felt crafts, delve into the realm of Christmas cookie dramatic play, and understand how these activities contribute to the development of essential skills in children, including fine motor, bilateral coordination, and eye-hand coordination.

      There are so many dramatic play benefits, and these felt Christmas cookies fit the bill!

      No Sew Felt Craft

      No-sew felt crafts like the felt Christmas cookies that we made are a tool for creating imaginative and interactive projects. Felt is a great tool because it is a soft and pliable fabric, and wonderful for fine motor skill work.

      For parents, educators, and occupational therapists alike, no-sew felt crafts offer a chance to engage children in a hands-on, mess-free activity that stimulates creativity and fine motor skills.

      Christmas Cookie Dramatic Play

      These felt holiday cookies are perfect for a Christmas cookie dramatic play, where children get to experience the magic of the holiday season through imaginative scenarios.

      This pretend play activity involves crafting felt cookies that look remarkably real, providing a multisensory experience for children. From rolling out felt dough to “baking” and decorating cookies, this activity fosters creativity, social skills, and cognitive development.

      We love this activity because it builds skills through play.

      Engaging in felt Christmas cookie activities is more than just play; it’s a learning experience that targets key developmental areas in children.

      1. Fine Motor Skills: The intricate nature of crafting felt cookies requires children to use their fingers with precision. Cutting, shaping, and decorating felt pieces contribute to the refinement of fine motor skills, essential for tasks such as writing, buttoning, and tying shoelaces.

      Manipulating felt pieces during play can contribute to the refinement of fine motor skills. Studies have indicated that engaging in fine motor activities positively impacts hand-eye coordination and manual dexterity in children.

      2. Bilateral Coordination: Rolling out felt dough, cutting shapes, and assembling cookies involve the use of both hands in a coordinated manner. This promotes bilateral coordination, crucial for activities like tying shoelaces, using scissors, and participating in sports.

      3. Eye-Hand Coordination: The process of crafting felt Christmas cookies encourages children to visually guide their hands as they manipulate the felt pieces. This enhances eye-hand coordination, a fundamental skill for tasks such as handwriting, drawing, and playing musical instruments.

      4. Social and Emotional Skill Development: Collaborative felt play, where children work together on projects, can contribute to social and emotional development. Research suggests that cooperative play helps children develop interpersonal skills, including communication, negotiation, and teamwork (Guralnick, 2011).

      These skills are listed on our social skills checklist resource.

      Incorporating felt Christmas cookies into your child’s playtime not only adds a festive touch to the holiday season but also promotes skill development in a fun and engaging manner. Through no-sew felt crafts and Christmas cookie dramatic play, children can explore their creativity, refine motor skills, and lay the foundation for future cognitive and social success.

      How to make Felt Christmas Cookies

      This was the play invitation I had set up for Big Sister today.  It was so easy to make these No-Sew Felt cookies…15 minutes tops.  And, with an hour+ of imaginative play time, I think it was a good investment!

       

       

       
      Christmas Cookie Pretend Play No Sew Felt Food. By Sugar Aunts
       
       
       
      I had the felt here at the house, but I’ve seen packs of multi-colored (Amazon affiliate link) felt sheets at the dollar store.  You could make a bunch of these little cookies for less than a buck.
       
      Christmas Cookie Pretend Play No Sew Felt Food. By Sugar Aunts
       
      I don’t have any pictures of the process of making the cookies, because it seriously was so easy to make…
       
      1. Trace the (Amazon affiliate link) cookie cutters onto the felt sheet.
      2. Cut the shape just inside of your pen mark.
      3. Trace another of the same shape on the “icing” color.
      4. Cut the “icing” color about 1/2 inch smaller than your pen mark.
      Done!
       
      Add some of your (Amazon affiliate links) whisk, spatula, cookie sheet, oven mitt, and get ready for some cheers in your house 🙂
       
       
       
      Mixing up a little gingerbread dough with the whisk requires bilateral hand coordination to hold the bowl and stir the whisk.
       
       
      After mixing, you cut out the shapes with the cookie cutters.
       
       
       
       
      Then, “spread” on the icing!
       
       
       
      These cookies were perfect for pretend play, multi-step direction following, child-led play, bilateral hand coordination, and imagination.
       
       
       
      Big Sister had so much fun making cookies for Baby Girl and me…adding sprinkles, matching the icing shape to the cookie shape.  It’s a new addition to the play kitchen food.  I’m ready for lots of yummy fuzzy cookies 😉
       
       

       

      UPDATE to this post: We’ve been playing with these felt cookies all year long and they are still staples in the kitchen pretend play.  We’ve been enjoying fuzzy cookies all year long!

      Looking for more Christmas-themed play? Try scented snowman playdoh!

      Looking for done-for you therapy activities this holiday season?

      This print-and-go Christmas Therapy Kit includes no-prep, fine motor, gross motor, self-regulation, visual perceptual activities…and much more… to help kids develop functional grasp, dexterity, strength, and endurance. Use fun, Christmas-themed, motor activities so you can help children develop the skills they need.

      This 100 page no-prep packet includes everything you need to guide fine motor skills in face-to-face AND virtual learning. You’ll find Christmas-themed activities for hand strength, pinch and grip, dexterity, eye-hand coordination, bilateral coordination, endurance, finger isolation, and more. 

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

      Thanksgiving Tree

      Thanksgiving tree

      This blog on about how to make a Thanksgiving tree was originally published 11-13-2012 and was updated 11-9-2023.

      Today we have a Thanksgiving occupational therapy activity that kids and adults love…a Thanksgiving Tree! This gratitude activity is a powerful and meaningful way to express thanks and gratitude this time of year.

      Thanksgiving tree

      What is a Thanksgiving Tree?

      A Thanksgiving tree is a creative and interactive way to express gratitude and celebrate the spirit of Thanksgiving. It typically involves a visual representation of a tree where individuals can attach leaves or notes expressing what they are thankful for.

      The Thanksgiving tree serves as a visual representation of collective gratitude, creating a positive and uplifting atmosphere within the classroom or therapy clinic…and it’s an occupational therapy craft that builds skills, too.

      A Thanksgiving tree can be set up in the home, school classroom, or public space such as a therapy clinic. This is a great way to build skills with OT, ST, or PT clients with a group activity.

      In a therapy clinic setting, a Thanksgiving tree can be a meaningful and therapeutic activity because all clients and therapy employees can help to decorate the Thanksgiving tree with their own thoughts of gratitude.

      How to Make a Thanksgiving Tree

      You’ll want to start by creating the tree, and this can be a group activity , or you can set up the tree base and then students and clients can decorate the tree. You can do this in several different ways:

      • Use a branch collected from outside (this is how we made our Thanksgiving tree shown in the images below). You can tape paper leaves right to the branch.
      • Use posterboard or construction paper to create a tree outline on the wall. With this option, you can use sticky tack to attach gratitude leaves to the wall.
      • Use a Christmas tree that isn’t yet decorated for the Christmas holiday. Attach paper leaves using string.

      Gratitude Leaves

      Next, create the gratitude leaves, made from construction paper. Or, you could use the gratitude leaf template we have inside the OT Toolbox Membership club under Thanksgiving Therapy Theme.

      1. Provide cut-out leaves or paper shapes for individuals to write or draw their expressions of gratitude. Or, you can ask the students to cut out their leaf shapes if you are working on scissor skills.
      2. Students can write a word or sentence right onto the paper.
      3. Add lines using a (Amazon affiliate link) LegiLiner.

      The leaves can be made from colorful construction paper to embrace the Thanksgiving season by incorporating autumn colors. Or, just use markers to write on printer paper.

      You can even use the same leaves to create a gratitude leaf garland to show thankfulness this time of year.

      Classroom Gratitude Tree

      This could be a great classroom activity for all of the students in a classroom to do as a group. The paper leaves can be used as a handwriting prompt for older students or a Thanksgiving handwriting center for younger students.

      Students can hang their own leaf on the tree as part of the exercise.

      This can include things like personal achievements, positive experiences, or the support they’ve received.

      Thanksgiving Group Activity:

      Make the classroom Thanksgiving tree a group activity where students and even other classrooms can collaboratively contribute to the Thanksgiving tree. This fosters a sense of community and shared positivity.

      In the therapy setting, a thanksgiving tree can support therapeutic goals, too. Connect the activity to therapeutic goals. For example, it can be linked to building positive affirmations, reinforcing coping strategies, or acknowledging personal growth.

      Thanksgiving Tree Mindfulness Activity

      You can use a Thanksgiving tree as a Thanksgiving mindfulness exercise, too. The activity allows students to engage in a mindful moment as they focus on what they are thankful for. This can be particularly beneficial in promoting a growth mindset.

      We know the benefits of mindfulness and how expressing gratitude can support students in the classroom or kiddos receiving therapy services.

      To extend the activity, pair the gratitude leaves with a Thanksgiving mindfulness activity, our deep breathing turkey visual prompt.

      Simple Thanksgiving Tree

      We have a tradition of making a Thanksgiving Tree this time of year.  It is one of my favorite things about this season.

      We started the tradition of making a Thanksgiving Tree three years ago.  The kids and I will pick a stick from out in the yard and bring it in for a centerpiece on our dining room table.  
       
      One of the kids or I will cut leaves from construction paper and they will tell me all of the things that they are thankful for.  

       

       
      I love to hear the things that they are thankful for. 
       
      I have been saving the leaves from each year in an envelope labeled with the year and keep it in a storage bin in our attic, along with the rest of our fall decor.  
       
      It was so much fun this year to read the leaves along with the kids. They loved hearing what they said last year and the year before.  We had quite a few leaves dedicated to various stuffed animals, a leaf expressing Big Brother’s thankfulness for our neighbor’s dog, and a leaf that commemorates Big Sister’s fondness for Miss. Hannigan from Annie.  There are the sweet ones that say “my little brother”, “my baby sister”, “Grandparents”, “my sippy cup”, and “Mommy and Daddy”.



       

      Thanksgiving Tree

       

       
      Planes and Fuzzballs got some thanks in this house last year….
       
       
      …And Zebras, Phones, and Annie the year before 🙂
       
       

      We tape the leaves on the stick and prop it up in a centerpiece to enjoy all season long.  They love to look at it during meals and say “What does that brown one say, Mom”, or “Does this one say cousins?”

       
      In previous years, I would start them out and say “I am thankful for…” and write my own leaf.  Big Sister did a pretty god job the first year of coming up with her own ideas.  Last year Big Brother was 2 and was able to identify some things on his own (“my silky blanket”).
       
       
       
      This year, Big Sister helped to write them in her upper case letter, new-writer handwriting… and I know I am going to look back at them years from now and LOVE reading them!
       

       

      They love this centerpiece on the table during meals…and this year, big sister is able to read some of the words herself.  Little Guy will ask her what they say and she’ll tell him “It says HOME”.

       

       
       

      Some of the cute ones this year…“God and Jesus”, “the mall”, “mac and cheese”, and Little Guy was sure to express his gratitude for “mustard”.

       
      And of course, where would Big Sister’s rock collection be without the dresser???
       
       
       
      Have you done a Thankful tree before?  I would love to hear about it!
       

       

      If you are looking for more Thanksgiving activities to do along with your Thanksgiving tree, be sure to grab a copy of the Thanksgiving Fine Motor Kit.

      Thanksgiving 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 Hole Punch Activity

      Christmas tree hole punch

      This hole punch Christmas tree craft was originally published 11-19-2015 and was updated 11-8-2023.

      This Christmas Tree Hole Punch activity is an OLD fine motor activity on our site, but it’s one you’ll want to add to your Christmas occupational therapy activity line up. Why? Because the simple Christmas tree activity is easy to set up and builds many skills all at once: fine motor, bilateral coordination, eye-hand coordination, hand strength, and much more are all developed with one fun activity. All of this skill-building makes it a Christmas craft for kids that is a must this time of year!

      Christmas tree hole punch fine motor activity

      Christmas Tree Hole Punch for Therapy

      This Christmas Tree Fine Motor Activity is a Christmas themed busy bag that will hopefully help some of that hectic holiday craze that happens this time of year.  Give the kiddos this proprioception powerhouse punching activity and be assured that the kids will be learning, getting out a little holiday wiggles, and you, Mama, can cross off an item from that post-it note.  

      Or grab a cup of coffee and just relax for a second.  Both are equally important.

      Check out these Christmas Fine Motor Activities for more creative ways to work on fine motor skills and address development of skills this Christmas season. 

      This activity will help your child with:

      Christmas Tree hole punch activity

      Affiliate links are included in this blog post.


      Christmas Tree Hole Punch

      This activity is perfect for an Occupational Therapist‘s treatment bag in the days leading up to Christmas.  Kids get a little bit excited (right?) and the wiggles and giggles may end up leading to sensory overload.  A proprioception activity like punching holes is perfect to provide heavy work input to the hands and add calming input.  

      Using a hole punch provides a gross hand grasp strengthening work to the hands.  This activity is perfect for a Christmas themed warm-up activity before handwriting this season.

      A busy bag is intended to keep little hands busy, while learning, exploring, and getting stronger through fine motor play!  And, what does a mom need on occasion for little ones, but busy activities for quiet time.

      RELATED POST: CHRISTMAS JINGLE BELL SORT BUSY BAG

      Christmas tree hole punch and punching holes each each tree


      Materials Needed for a Christmas Tree Hole Punch

      This Christmas Tree activity is easy to put together.  We used just a few items:

      Amazon affiliate links:

      How to make the Hole Punch Christmas Tree


      To make the Christmas tree counting busy bag:

      1. Cut the Green Cardstock into tree shapes.  
      2. Add trunks with the Brown Cardstock.  Glue these in place at the base of each triangle.  
      3. Use the black marker to write a number on each tree trunk.
      4. Next, show your child how to name the number on the Christmas tree and then to punch the corresponding number of holes into the branches of the tree.

      Christmas Tree Busy Bag Counting and proprioception activity

      RELATED POST: EGG CARTON CHRISTMAS TREE FINE MOTOR CRAFT

      hole punch Christmas tree

      Christmas Hole Punch Activity

      Enjoy this time as your kiddo counts, hole punches, and works on so many skills.  And rest assured that they will be doing a productive activity…and not adding more to that to-do list!

      As mentioned above, this Christmas hole punch task covers a variety of skills, but we should go into more detail on the hand strengthening component when using a hole punch to create holes in each Christmas tree.

      Squeezing a hole puncher challenges a grasp pattern with an open thumb web space to strengthen grip strength.

      Finger strength is developed by squeezing a hole puncher. Plus, when the hole punch is held, wrist stability is needed to hold the hole punch in an optimal position to squeeze it completely.

      Then, when you have the holes punched in the trees, you can use them to create a hole punch Christmas tree craft!

      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.

      Looking for done-for you therapy activities this holiday season?

      This print-and-go Christmas Therapy Kit includes no-prep, fine motor, gross motor, self-regulation, visual perceptual activities…and much more… to help kids develop functional grasp, dexterity, strength, and endurance. Use fun, Christmas-themed, motor activities so you can help children develop the skills they need.

      This 100 page no-prep packet includes everything you need to guide fine motor skills in face-to-face AND virtual learning. You’ll find Christmas-themed activities for hand strength, pinch and grip, dexterity, eye-hand coordination, bilateral coordination, endurance, finger isolation, and more. 

      Sensory Goop Painting

      goop painting with pink goop and cookie cutters

      This blog on sensory goop painting was originally published 1-23-14 and updated 11-8-23.

      This goop painting activity is a creative painting idea that uses messy sensory play to build skills in a creative way. Pair this goop activity with one of our oobleck activities for more ways to foster skill-building through messy play.

      You can add utensils to scoop and pour to build hand eye coordination, work on handwashing hands, or just be creative!

      goop painting

      Goop Painting

      There are many sensory benefits of oobleck, and goop painting activities support those skills.

      When you use goop painting as a therapy tool, you can support a variety of needs. Whether you are focusing on the tactile benefits listed above, or using the goop paint activity as a calming or alerting sensory medium, you can support regulation needs.

      How to make Goop Paint

      The goop paint that we used in the activity below actually used left over moon sand that we made using cornstarch and lotion.

      The cool thing about “goop” is that as a sensory material, you can basically mix up any ingredients to get a messy sensory material.

      To make this type of goop paint, use these ingredients:

      • 2 cups cornstarch (or baking soda or flour would work as well)
      • 1 cup water
      • 1/4 cup glue
      • food coloring

      To make the goop paint, mix all of the ingredients together. Use a spoon or craft stick to stir until they are combined.

      You will need to adjust the ingredients, depending on the type of glue used and the type of dry material. You’ll want the goop mixture to be liquidly, but not too runny.

      Then, you are ready to paint!

      Paint with Goop

       
      Valentine’s Day is just around the corner.  We don’t normally do holiday crafts and activities this far ahead, but our Valentine’s Day Goop Painting came about from a previous material…and it was so much fun, that I was excited to share, haha! This Valentine’s Day activity is perfect to add to occupational therapy plans this time of year.
       
      Sensory Play is so much fun.  We do a ton of sensory activities, crafts, and play every day. 
       
      Whether the kids are messing around in the sink, exploring textures in a bin of toys and “stuff”, or crawling under blankets and cushions…sensory play happens ALL the time in a child’s daily play.  Inviting a child to try new experiences like with this goopy Valentine’s day play activity is just another way to learn through play.
       
       
      Valentine's Day Goop Painting
       

      Valentine’s Day Goop Painting

      You may have seen our Candy Cane Scented Moon Dough post back around Christmas-time.  That post turned into this Valentine’s Day Goop activity (and sensory-tastic painting fun!).   When we finished up that activity back in December, I saved the red and white (turned pink once we were done playing!) moon dough in a gallon sized baggie.  This was the perfect shade of pink for a Valentine’s’ Day themed sensory activity!

      Note: This post contains affiliate links.  

      Valentine’s Day Sensory Activity

      The powdered left-overs from our Candy Cane Moon Dough and a little water were all that we needed to make this goopy fun. 

      We had about 2 cups of the powdered material…Check out the post here to see how we made it.  I added a half cup of water and got a nice goopy, messy, sensory texture to play with.  The peppermint scent was still really strong and when we were playing, Baby Girl said it “smells like candy canes, Mom”! 

      I threw in a few (Amazon affiliate link) heart cookie cutters
      and Baby Girl got to playing.  She liked to have a wet washcloth right next to her to wipe her hands off every once in a while.  This was some messy stuff!

      We had paper and a felly roll pan next to the bin of goop and did some goop painting by stamping the cookie cutters onto the paper.  It was so meant to paint like this!  Baby Girl sat there for a LONG time stamping, and stamping, and stamping some more. 

      (seriously…we had 14 pages filled with hearts!!)

      Messy, sensory, goopy fun!
       
       
      The goop made the heart stamps a big lumpy texture.  So much fun to stamp!  I joined Baby Girl and stamped a bunch of hearts too…
       

      When the hearts dried, they were a pretty stamp.  However, this is not something that can be saved to decorate cards or hung on the wall.  The hearts flaked away if you touched them.  Maybe a little glue added would help to preserve these pretty hearts?  We’ll try that next time!

      Let us know if you try this activity.  We would love to see your play in action!

       

      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.