crafts

Bear Ornament

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Bear ornament


Making holiday ornaments like this bear ornament with kids is such a fun way to develop fine motor skills, and then see the work hanging on the Christmas tree. Kids will love this teddy bear ornament but occupational therapists will love it even more for the developmental aspects! Add this bear ornament craft to your occupational therapy Christmas crafts.

Bear Ornament

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

Today, I have a fun bear craft to share with you. This bear ornament is such a fun way to get kids creating and crafting during the Christmas season. We used this as a bear Christmas ornament, and a children’s book extension activity for the Bear Books by Karma Wilson.  

We made the bear craft based on Bear Stays Up for Christmas.  It’s true that in our house, we do love to come up with crafts and activities based on children’s books and this Christmas book themed Christmas ornament craft was no exception.

Bear ornament that kids can make for a book related Christmas ornament.

How to make a Bear ornament

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When we came up with this bear craft, we knew we wanted to create a cute bear that matched the bear in Karma Wilson’s Bear Stays Up for Christmas.  The bear books are such a fun series to read and we loved to see Bear’s friends help him stay up to celebrate Christmas.

Bear Stays Up for Christmas is the perfect book to add to your reading list this Christmas season.  It shows us how bear discovers the best gift of all is giving.  How fun would it be to read this book, make the cute bear craft Christmas ornament, and then give it to a friend?

Such a cute bear ornament for Christmas.

You’ll need just a few materials to make this bear craft:

This is such an easy bear craft.  It would be perfect for preschool aged kids or grade school children. To start, you’ll need to cut a bear face shape from the cardboard.

Bear craft that kids will love to make while working on fine motor skills.

Bear Craft

Bear crafts can be made this time of year, or all year long to work on skills like fine motor work, eye-hand coordination, bilateral coordination, and more.

Then, use the brown twine to wrap all around the cardboard face shape. Tape the twine to the back of the bear to keep it in place.

Help kids work on fine motor skills with a bear craft that is perfect for a Christmas ornament.

Fine motor tip: This activity is a great way to address bilateral coordination skills. Wrapping the twine around the cardboard shape allows kids to coordinate both hands together with a working hand and a non-dominant, assisting hand.  This type of activity requires a child to work at midline while looking down toward their hands.  It is a good activity for kids to seem to switch hands when writing or require prompts to hold the paper when writing and other tasks that utilize an assisting hand and precision work with the dominant hand.

Read here for more information on creative ways to address bilateral coordination. 

Continue to wrap the twine around the cardboard until most of the cardboard is not showing, including around the bear’s ears.


Add a small piece of tape to the back of the bear craft to hold the end of the twine down.


Next, stick the peel and stick googly eyes on the bear’s face.

Kids love to make crafts like this bear craft based on a popular childrens book.

Use a dab of glue or a glue dot to stick the crafting pom pom onto the bear craft.


Finally, use a small piece of twine on the back of the bear craft to create a loop in order to hang the bear craft Christmas ornament onto the Christmas tree.




While this bear craft was based on a popular children’s Christmas book, it would be a great accompaniment for any bear themed preschool book or children’s book.

Kids can make this bear craft based on the book, Bear stays up for Winter, or any bear book for kids.

Make this bear craft Christmas ornament based on Bear Stays Up for Christmas childrens book.

Need more ornament crafts? 



Nativity Tree Decorations 

Spice Jar Lid Star Ornaments 

Dog Ornament 

Pine Tree Ornament

Looking for more kid-created Christmas ornaments?  Here are some of our favorites:

Bottle Caps Holly Ornament

Spaghetti Wreath Ornament

ee cummings Little Tree Christmas Ornament

Olive the Other Reindeer Ornament

Cutest ever bear craft Christmas ornament for kids.
Every Christmas tree needs this kid-made Christmas tree bear craft ornament!


 

 

 

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.

Surprising DIY Pretend Toys from Bottle Caps

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Today, I’m sharing a few fun DIY pretend toys made from bottle caps! These craft ideas that are irresistible for imagination, pretend play, and creative time.  In fact, make that super cute bottle cap crafts.  These are fun ways to inspire pretend play with toys using recycled materials from around the home to create toys, pretend play, and just plain old fun. I am trying to figure out which of the DIY pretend toys to make first!
Make DIY pretend toys from bottle caps!
Scroll around and check out some of these super cute crafts using bottle caps! I love that so many of these can be used in pretend play.  Get the kids involved in the creating process for DIY pretend play fun!

Make DIY pretend toys from bottle caps!

DIY Pretend Toys for Kids

Bottle Cap Rattle Snake Craft  from Moms and Crafters

Rudolf Ornament Craft from Red Ted Art

Bottle Cap Holly Craft from Sugar Aunts

Bird Puppet Craft from Messy Little Monster

Treasure Magnets from Hattifant

Bottle Cap Ornaments from Life Over Cs

Bottle Cap Snowflake from Zing Zing Tree

Bottle Cap Truck Craft from Swoodson Says


Polymer Clay Bottle Cap Pies from Adventures in a Box


DIY bottle cap toys would be fun for pretend play with kids.





Make DIY pretend toys from bottle caps!

Which of these DIY pretend toys from Bottle Caps do you want to make first?


Bottle Caps Holly Craft

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We have quite a few activities and crafts that use recycled materials here on the blog.  Why not use those items that will otherwise get tossed out?  I am going to admit that almost all of the crafts that we create do end up getting thrown away at some point (You simply can not keep every.thing.)! However, I love to use recycled items in crafts and activities with my kids before they meet the recycle bin!  These bottle caps are a tool that we LOVE to use in play, learning, and crafts!  Today, I’m sharing a fun Bottle Caps Holly Craft that my preschooler made with me.  You can make a few and add them to Christmas trees, wreaths, and even as a gift topper!

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. 



Make this bottle caps holly craft using recycled bottle caps for a fun Christmas tree holly ornament, a gift topper, or a holiday wreath.

Bottle Caps Holly Craft 


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You’ll need just a few materials to get started:
Red plastic bottle caps
Green felt
Green cardstock
Scissors
Marker
Ribbon (if you make yours into an ornament)
Glue (We go through so much glue that I love to have a glue in bulk on hand to save money, storage, and shopping.)
Hot glue gun
RELATED READ: Christmas Tree Counting Activity

This is a pretty easy Christmas craft for kids to make.  It’s 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.

I love this craft for the fine motor development that occurs:  Scissor skills, bilateral coordination, eye hand coordination, and more.

To make the Bottle caps holly craft:

Make this bottle caps holly craft using recycled bottle caps for a fun Christmas tree holly ornament, a gift topper, or a holiday wreath.
First,  place  a few of the red bottle caps on the green cardstock.  Draw holly leaves around the bottle caps.  

Make this bottle caps holly craft using recycled bottle caps for a fun Christmas tree holly ornament, a gift topper, or a holiday wreath.
Then, cut out the holly shape.
Make this bottle caps holly craft using recycled bottle caps for a fun Christmas tree holly ornament, a gift topper, or a holiday wreath.
Make this bottle caps holly craft using recycled bottle caps for a fun Christmas tree holly ornament, a gift topper, or a holiday wreath.

Use the cardstock as a template.  Trace the shape onto the felt.  Cut out the felt holly shape.  

Use glue to attach the felt to the cardstock.

Glue the bottle caps onto the holly shape using the hot glue gun.  This is a job for parents or much older kids. 

Make this bottle caps holly craft using recycled bottle caps for a fun Christmas tree holly ornament, a gift topper, or a holiday wreath.

If using these as a Christmas ornament, attach a loop of ribbon with glue.

Make this bottle caps holly craft using recycled bottle caps for a fun Christmas tree holly ornament, a gift topper, or a holiday wreath.
How would you use this holly craft?  We strung ours onto a wreath and also made some Christmas ornaments with our bottle caps holly craft.

RELATED READ: Christmas Tree Card Craft for Kids
Make this bottle caps holly craft using recycled bottle caps for a fun Christmas tree holly ornament, a gift topper, or a holiday wreath.
Make this bottle caps holly craft using recycled bottle caps for a fun Christmas tree holly ornament, a gift topper, or a holiday wreath.

Looking for more crafts that use recycled bottle caps? 

Bottle Cap Mental Math~ Fine Motor Development
Christmas stamps with recycled bottle caps~ fine motor development
Recycled bottle cap sight word stamps~ sight word learning, visual scanning, matching
Letter learning with recycled bottle caps~ letter learning, visual scanning, matching

Fine Motor Garland Crafts for Older Kids

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I share a lot of crafts and activities here that are designed to help kids develop and build fine motor skills.  It’s usually the preschooler who is working on pre-writing skill work and building a base for holding a pencil or using scissors, or the early elementary aged child who writes with an awkward pencil grasp and needs to boost hand strength.  

Sometimes, though, I’ll get questions on how to help older kids develop hand strength and fine motor skills.  Children who are beyond the early grade levels and have aged out of the younger crafts and activities will love these garland crafts that are perfect for promoting fine motor sills and hand strength.

Use garlands as a craft to help older kids or teenagers build fine motor skills needed for pencil grasp and handwriting.

Garlands are a fun craft that can be used and created year round.  From parties to holidays, or any day, a garland is a nice way to boost self-confidence in a household decor item.  This makes garlands just the fine motor tool that can help older kids who are aware of their weaknesses and might be a little (or a lot!) proud to see their handiwork hanging on the stair banister.  

Try using these fine motor garland crafts with your teen or older kid!



This beaded garland is a great way to build fine motor skills.  Threading beads helps open the thumb web space, promote separation of the two sides of the hand, and work in-hand manipulation skills.


A craft that provides an opportunity for painting, cutting, and threading is a nice way to help kids establish and build fine motor skills. This Newspaper Leaf Garland does just that!


Kids can prepare for a party or celebrate the day while addressing bilateral coordination needs while making this balloon garland craft.


A wooden name garland would look great in a teen’s room or hanging on a door.  Older kids can customize and create a woodworking project as detailed as they like.


Older children find coloring just as stress relieving as adults do.  This woodland animal garland allows teens to cut, customize, and create a garland using printable shapes.  Make this craft for a friend.


Teens can benefit from threading activities just like smaller kids do.  This fall leaf garland provides an age-appropriate threading task to create a fun fall festive home decoration.


Making yarn pom poms is a fantastic way to work on bilateral coordination, motor planning, and in-hand manipulation skills.  Allow older kids to make several pom poms to create a pumpkin pom pom garland.


Tying knots is a great way to help kids strengthen their fine motor skills.  This knot garland would look great hanging in a teen’s room!


Older kids will love to head outside to grab some colorful leaves in order to create a fall leaf garland. While threading the leaves, they are addressing eye-hand coordination, tripod grasp, and bilateral coordination.


Teens can help prepare for a party or celebration by creating a garland like this new baby garland. Creating a pattern while putting the parts together allows for bilateral hand coordination.

Use garlands as a craft to help older kids or teenagers build fine motor skills needed for pencil grasp and handwriting.



Do you have an older child or teenager who needs to build fine motor skills? What are their favorite ways to work on these areas?

Monster at the End of This Book Grover Craft

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Do you have a book that you remember reading as a child and LOVING? The Monster at the End of This Book is that one for me.  I loved this book as a kid. It is so neat to introduce my kids to books that I loved as a child and now, they are huge Monster at the End of This Book fans, too! Share this book with your kids and make your own Monster at the End of this Book Grover craft.
 
We love creating fun crafts and activities based on popular (and not-so-popular children’s books and this is just one more creative children’s book extension idea that you and the kids will love! 
Also, use some of the ideas from our Elmo birthday decorations post for Grover play dough and Sesame Street party ideas.


 
 
Monster at the End of This Book children's book and Grover craft from Sesame Street
 
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We decided to create a based on our lovable, furry old friend, Grover!  If you are new to this book or loved it as a kid, it’s time to request it from the library, grab it on Amazon, or pull it out of your parent’s attic and share the gem that is Sesame Street with your own kids.  Then grab some paint and make our own The Monster at the End of This Book Grover craft!
 

Grover Craft kids will love!

 
Besides the book being completely awesome, (I mean Grover tries to nail the pages together to keep the reader from reaching the end of the book!) it’s a sure giggle inducer ask kids defeat Grover’s every attempt at keeping us from meeting the monster at the end of the book. 
 
We have this book with a DVD that has Story Vision so that kids can use the remote control to “turn the pages” in an interactive manner.  The Monster at the End of This Book with Story Vision is a fun option and my kids have been enjoying watching the story play out.  But, the real-deal book is just so much fun. By the time you finish the book, your kids will be begging to read it again.
 
For our Grover craft, we used just a handful of materials:
 
Monster at the End of This Book 
Coffee filters
Blue paint
Pink paint
White paint
Black paper
Marshmallows
Plastic fork
Glue
 
We used the technique we used to make the monsters in our Leonardo the Terrible Monster craft (which is another pretty fantastic monster book if you are on a monster kick!)
 
Monster at the End of This Book children's book and Grover craft from Sesame Street
To make the Monster at the End of This Book craft:
 
Dip the fork in blue paint.  Use it to make monster-y fur all over the coffee filter. Once the monster is filled in with love-able blue furry paint, add the eyes.  To make them, dip a large marshmallow into white paint. Then create the eyes by pressing the marshmallow onto the monster’s face.  Create a nose the same way by dipping a marshmallow into pink paint and pressing it onto the monster’s face. 
 
Monster at the End of This Book children's book and Grover craft from Sesame Street
 
Cut two ovals from the black paper and glue them onto the eyes.  Cut a mouth shape and glue it onto the monster’s face.  
 
Enjoy your furry old Grover craft and get ready to read that addictive book again!
 
Monster at the End of This Book children's book and Grover craft from Sesame Street

More crafts and activites based on children’s books that you will love:

Big Red Barn puppets  




   

Balloon Garland for Parties

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We had a birthday in our house this week.  I have a new five year old and when you are five, parties mean balloons.  I made this super simple balloon garland for the birthday girl’s special day.  Making a balloon party garland is perfect for busy moms because they come together so quickly.  With four kids and MANY parties under my belt, I love easy party decor.  

Make this balloon garland for a photo backdrop, a draping across a doorway, or a tablescape feature.  



Balloon garland for parties- This would be perfect for kids' birthday parties as a photo backdrop, tablescape feature, or strung across the room.

Balloon Party Garland

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You’ll need just a few items for this DIY garland:
Balloon garland for parties- This would be perfect for kids' birthday parties as a photo backdrop, tablescape feature, or strung across the room.
Use the Balloon Hand Pump to blow up the balloons.  Tie the balloons off with a knot.  Use the tape to tape the balloon knot down over the yarn.  Position the balloons close together on the yarn.  Make the garland as long as you need for your party decor.
Balloon garland for parties- This would be perfect for kids' birthday parties as a photo backdrop, tablescape feature, or strung across the room.
Tape the garland to a wall for an easy photo backdrop like we did for this birthday girl!
Balloon garland for parties- This would be perfect for kids' birthday parties as a photo backdrop, tablescape feature, or strung across the room.

Looking for more birthday party inspiration?  You’ll love these:

Boost Fine Motor Skills with Felt Scraps

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Kids can use arts and crafts as a therapy tool.  From the relaxation and calming sensations that crafts inspire to the fine motor skills and therapeutic motor movements that cutting, building, and creating provide, crafts have long been a therapy tool for every diagnosis.


Using what you’ve got in the house or therapy clinic is one of the best ways to encourage creativity.  When you’ve got the materials on hand, creating is as easy as pulling out the glue.  Today, I’m sharing a collection of creative and fun crafts that use felt scraps.  


Use felt scraps to create felt crafts while building fine motor skills and other therapy skills like eye-hand coordination, strength, problem solving, range of motion, and more.

Use Felt Scraps in Therapy to Boost Fine Motor Skills



Try these activities as a therapeutic craft to boost fine motor skills, visual motor integration, problem solving, imagination, upper body range of motion, posture, endurance, participation, and social emotional skills.


Felt Mosaic Votive Holders from Mom and Crafters are a great way to encourage scissor skills and eye-hand coordination. 


Rainbow Cork Penguin Ornaments from Red Ted Art can boost fine motor skills including pincer grasp and bilateral coordination.


Nature Owls from Messy Little Monster encourage scissor skills, bilateral coordination, pincer grasp, and eye-hand coordination.


Felt Owls from Hattifant may provide neat pincer grasp, bilateral coordination, pinch and grip strength, and eye-hand coordination.


Kandinsky Inspired Felt Trees from Mum in the Mad House provide an opportunity for developing scissor skills, bilateral coordination, and visual perceptual skills.


Felt Coasters from Zing Zing Tree encourage a development of bilateral coordination, eye-hand coordination, pinch and grip strength, and in-hand manipulation.


DIY Pattern Blocks use felt to create tangrams.  Use them to boost visual perceptual skills.  Pair these with our Visual Perception and Tangrams workbook to help with handwriting skills.


A DIY Woodland Play Mat from Adventure in a Box builds imagination and pretend play, encouraged language and self-confidence and can help with social emotional skills.


Felt Scraps Fairy Wands provide a fine motor activity while encouraging range of motion, pinch strength, and eye-hand coordination.


Affiliate links are included in this post:


Felt scraps craft book for kids
Felt Fantastic book shares 25 felt crafts that are perfect for building fine motor skills in every age range.
Kids Crafternoon Felting Projects is perfect for boosting problem solving skills through arts and crafts with a fine motor component.
Felted crafts for kids
Felted Friends  are great for developing eye hand coordination and bilateral coordination.
Use felt scraps to create felt crafts while building fine motor skills and other therapy skills like eye-hand coordination, strength, problem solving, range of motion, and more.

How would you use felt scraps to build fine motor skills in your therapy clinic or home activities?

Yarn Fine Motor Jewelry Craft

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You know we love to share fine motor activities here on the blog, right? Kids’ crafts that promotes fine motor development is one that can be used to work on developmental goals, functional skills, and dexterity.  This yarn fine motor jewelry craft is a process art project that uses this month’s process art material in the Process Art Challenge.  
 
Each month’ we’ll join several other bloggers to create an art project that uses a specific material in a process art activity.  We used yarn and washers to work on fine motor skills with a fun result: yarn washer jewelry!
 
Use yarn and washers to create fun jewelry in this creative process art kids'craft.


Yarn Washer Jewelry Craft

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Use yarn and washers to create fun jewelry in this creative process art kids'craft.
You’ll need just two materials to create this process art project:
Yarn (in several colors)
Washers (different sizes are fun)
 
Use yarn and washers to create fun jewelry in this creative process art kids'craft.
For this art project, I pulled out our supply of yarn, a pair of scissors, and the washers. I showed my kiddos how to push the yarn through the washers and how to tie knots around the edges.  They were pretty excited to try their own version of necklaces, bracelets, and rings.
 
We tried making a few lace ribbon designs, too.
 
To make the looped washer necklace, push several strands of the yarn through a washer. Send it through another time and then on to the next washer.  To make this task easier, try using tape to create a hard end for threading.
Use yarn and washers to create fun jewelry in this creative process art kids'craft.
Use yarn and washers to create fun jewelry in this creative process art kids'craft.
Try tying knots for more fine motor work.


Fine Motor Jewelry Craft

Working the yarn through the washer is an exercise in tripod grasp and improving strength of the intrinsic muscles of the hand.  The muscles that define the arches of the hands are essential for separating the two sides of the hand which is needed for tasks such as pencil grasp, manipulating buttons, zippers, snaps, shoe laces, and scissors.  
When a child pushes the yarn through the washer, they are building their visual motor integration skills.  Manipulating the flimsy yarn into the washer can be a difficult task for kids who have difficulties with coordinating and integrating visual input with the coordinated motor output of their hands in order to accomplish this fine motor task.  

Use yarn and washers to create fun jewelry in this creative process art kids'craft.
 
For kids who are struggling with this activity, try using cording as it will not fray with multiple attempts to thread the washers, or for assistance, a thicker cording would work, like this one.
 
Want to see all of the yarn projects in this series?

Yarn and string process art activities for fun kids crafts
More Yarn and String Process Art Activities:
Sewn Circuits from Teach Beside Me 
Yarn Rubbing Art from Views From a Step Stool 
Yarn Wrapped Pumpkin Lanterns from Mum in the Mad House   
Use yarn and washers to create fun jewelry in this creative process art kids'craft.

Felt Scraps Fairy Wand Craft

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If you are like me, you have a ton of crafting supplies sitting around the house.  And by that, I mean stuff that we used for one kids’ craft project or another and then saved the leftover parts “just in case” we need them in the future.  Sound familiar? It’s a good thing we had felt scraps left over from a previous project because we had a chance to use them in this felt scraps craft!

We joined a few other bloggers in a monthly craft challenge where we are each using one specific medium and coming up with our own crafts.  You can find all of the other bloggers that are in this challenge in an upcoming round-up post (that I’ll link here when it’s live!).

I would love to hear how YOU would use felt scraps in a craft!

Use felt scraps to make fairy wands for pretend play and imagination activities with kids.


Felt Scraps Fairy Wand Craft

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This craft is super easy to make.  You’ll need just three items:

  • Felt scraps in a variety of colors (THIS set has 42 colors for only about $11)
Use felt scraps to make fairy wands for pretend play and imagination activities with kids.
To make the fairy wands, you’ll need to first cut the felt into small 1/4 inch strips.  Cut those strips into 2-3 inch long pieces.  
Use felt scraps to make fairy wands for pretend play and imagination activities with kids.
Then, stack several colors together and pinch them in the center.  

Finally, wrap one end of the pipe cleaner around the felt very tightly.  This craft is an excellent way to work on fine motor skills such as pinch strength and scissor skills.

You can also bend the pipe cleaner in half to make the wand more stable.
Use felt scraps to make fairy wands for pretend play and imagination activities with kids.
Now it’s time to play!
Use felt scraps to make fairy wands for pretend play and imagination activities with kids.

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