crafts

Penguin Activities for Kids

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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 Worksheet– This 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!

Penguin Therapy Kit

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

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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.

    Pipe Cleaner and Bead Snowflakes

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    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. 

    winter fine motor kit
    Winter Fine Motor Kit

    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

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    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. 

    winter fine motor kit
    Winter Fine Motor Kit

    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

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    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. 

    Click here to grab the Christmas 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.

    Thanksgiving Tree

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    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

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    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!

    There are many benefits to doing hole punch activities with kids and this Christmas tree counting task has big benefits.

    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. 

    Click here to grab the Christmas Therapy Kit.

    Sensory Goop Painting

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    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.

    Process Art Monster Cupcake Liner Craft

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    monster craft made from cupcake liners, googly eyes, and craft pom poms. Hands squeezing glue to add craft items to cupcake liner

    These cupcake liner monsters are a fun monster craft and all you need are craft supplies from your recycle bin, googly eyes, and cupcake liners! We love this cupcake liner art for building fine motor skills through play! It’s a great kids craft that is perfect for building underlying skills through crafting…and having fun!

    As an Amazon Influencer, I earn from qualifying purchases.

    This cupcake liner craft is great for Halloween. Making cupcake liner monsters works on many fine motor skills.

    Cupcake Liner Monsters

    These cupcake liner monsters are not just fun to make. They build skills, too.

    Use a variety of craft materials to make process art with a monster theme, perfect for Halloween occupational therapy activities.

    Manipulating the materials for this cupcake liner monster craft builds several underlying skill areas:

    Process Art Craft for Kids

     
    Process focused play is a great way to create and explore.  What is process art?  It’s creative and open-ended art that focuses on the child’s thought processes.  
     
    We made these super cute monsters with a pile of crafting supplies and no clear end in mind.  We went with the flow of creativity all while working on fine motor skills, language, creativity, and more.

     

     

    Cupcake liner monster craft made with process art.
     
    This post contains affiliate links. 
     



    Start with Wilton mini cupcake liners (Amazon affiliate link) in primary colors.

     
    Glue them flat onto a piece of  black construction paper (Amazon affiliate link).  Add googly eyes.  Monsters need lots of googly eyes.
     

    Pile up a bunch of craft items.  Pom poms, feathers, colored paper, glitter, string, pipe cleaners…This looks like fun, right??!



    It was fun to watch the kids as they created.  Each made their monsters in their own way, and it suited their personalities.  We let the creativity flow!



    Little Guy needed a lot of spikes for his monsters.  We told a few jokes.  
    Who is the messiest monster? 
    Slopzilla


    Hilarious!

    These monsters took a ride on their feather taxi. 

    Create, imagine, explore.  We did that!  What a fun way to practice fine motor skills, textures, and materials.  If you make process art monsters, share them with us! We’d love to see them!

    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.

    Stellaluna Activities

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    Bats cut from construction paper with sight words written in chalk. Text reads "stellaluna activities"

    Today we have several Stellaluna activities that we created many years ago. This Halloween fine motor task doubles down on the skill-building. With one bat craft based on the children’s book, Stellaluna, we’re covering skills like handwriting, scissor skills, math, reading, bilateral coordination, visual scanning, and much more!

    As an Amazon Influencer, I earn from qualifying purchases.

    Stellaluna activities

    Stellaluna Activities

    If you haven’t read the children’s book, Stellaluna, then you are in for a treat. The Stellaluna activity and bat games we have to share today are fun ways to read the book and play with a bat theme, and the bat activities would work for a Halloween party with kids, too!

    Scroll on for Stellaluna games that teach and are fun!

    Stellaluna by Janell Cannon is a sweet story of a bat who is adopted by a bird family after he is knocked from his mother’s grasp during a flight.  We see how different and same the bat and the birds are and also notice the differences.  We were able to talk about how we as family members are all the same, yet different, and how other people we meet or know might be different and do things differently, but inside we are all the same.

    Going on the theme of differences and similarities among the bat and his new bird family, we decided to examine sight words, Upper case letters, and numbers with bats! For more fun, make a bat craft to go along with your Stellaluna game, too!

    While this is a great preschool book extension activity, the best thing about our Stellaluna game is that we modified it to fit the needs of my three older kids.  

    We practiced upper case letter identification with the 3 year old preschooler, sight word identification with the Kindergartner, and math facts with the Second grader. The 16 month old toddler just liked grabbing the bats from the wall.  

    Very fun and age appropriate, but we’ll share more about what the older kids did today 😉

    Stellaluna Bat Activity

    This post contains affiliate links.
    If you haven’t read the book Stellaluna (affiliate link), grab it up at your library!  This was a new book to us, and one that I’m so glad we read. 

    For this Stellaluna craft, you’ll need just a few materials:

    • Black construction paper
    • Bat template
    • White crayon

    Then, if you want to work on visual processing skills needed for reading and writing such as the skills:

    1. visual scanning– Needed to scan on the page or overhead on the board to copy words and sentences. When the eyes shift back to the page and then back to the copying source, sometimes the eyes shift and get lost. This is how we have omissions in handwriting tasks.
    2. visual tracking– This visual skill is essential for following along a line of words in a reading task.
    3. visual attention– When the eyes shift on the pages without sustained attention, we see missing words or lines of text.
    4. visual memory– This skill is difficult for many children, and it’s how we recall what we’ve seen to work on memorizing, reading, and writing skills.

    then you’ll also need:

    • Flashlight(s)
    • Tape
    • A yardstick or ruler (for visual tracking skills)
    Bat template for a Stellaluna activity

    Let’s start with using the bat template to make the bat craft.

    1. First, print off this free printable bat stencil.  Cut out the bat and trace it onto black cardstock (affiliate link) paper.  
    2. We cut out about 15 bats, but you can cut out as many bats as you need.  If you’ll be practicing letters, you may want one for each letter of the alphabet.
    3. Write on the bats with a white crayon.  We practiced sight words first and wrote out the words my Kindergartener has been working on. 
    4. Tape the bats to the wall and get ready to play!  
    Stellaluna book bat games including sight word games, math facts game, letter identification game. This is a fun twist on learning facts and words for preschoolers, kindergarten, and second grade, with a bat theme! I love the flashlight game!

    StellaLuna Activity for Sight Words

    First, we played a flashlight sight word activity as a warm-up.  I read through a few pages of the book and when we got to a sight word, my son used the flashlight to find the matching sight word on the wall.  He really got into this activity.  

    Note that this activity was done many years ago (2015) and we were focusing a lot on sight words in reading.

    Now, this might not be the optimal way to target reading skills. Using vocabulary words from Stellaluna may be more ideal for working on reading skills. Feel free to use this activity with the reading curriculum or standards that work for your classroom or school.

    Stellaluna Game

    Next, to make this Stellaluna activity into more of a game, we created a flashlight race using the same bat cut outs.

    We pulled out a second flashlight and when we reached a sight word in the book, the two older kids raced to flash their light on the sight word.  

    The first to light it up was the winner.  

    Using the flashlights in a dark-ish room reminded us of Stellaluna (affiliate link) flying at night and how the birds would need a flashlight to see.

    Again, feel free to use the words from the book on the bats. Just turn down the lights in the classroom and pull the shades to darken the room. Then, use the flashlights to “race” to find the word that you call out.

    StellaLuna Math Activity

    We also used these same bat cut outs to work on math skills.

    1. To play the math facts game with my second grader, I wrote out numbers 10-20 on the bats.  (Just flip the bats over and use the other side if you are playing more than one game!  No need to cut out more bats, unless you need them.)  

    2. Tape the numbered bats to the wall in a random arrangement.  This game was fun for her to practice her math facts up to 20.  

    3. I called out a number and then had her roll a die.  

    4. She then had to add the number to the number that I called out and run over to the wall and hit the right number.  

    We also did a round of subtraction.  You can make this more of a game by adding a second player. Then, extend the math activity by using a couple of flashlights to make this a fun racing game in a dark room.

    Here are more Halloween math activities that you can also try.

    Bat Letter Identification Activity

    Finally, we used the same bat shapes to work on letter identification skills.

    For my preschooler, we wrote upper case letters on the bats and taped them to the wall.  

    She played a version of the flashlight game as we scanned through the book.  I pointed to a lower case letter and named it and she had to flash the light on the letter on the wall.  

    We also practiced letter sounds by saying the sound the letter makes and she had to find the letter on the wall.

    Scanning for the correct bat on the wall was a great way to incorporate visual scanning and visual perceptual skills into this learning game activity.  

     
    Stellaluna book bat games including sight word games, math facts game, letter identification game. This is a fun twist on learning facts and words for preschoolers, kindergarten, and second grade, with a bat theme! I love the flashlight game!
     

     

     

    Stellaluna book bat games including sight word games, math facts game, letter identification game. This is a fun twist on learning facts and words for preschoolers, kindergarten, and second grade, with a bat theme! I love the flashlight game!
     

    More Stellaluna Activities

    Looking for more Stellaluna (affiliate link) activities?  Here are some fun bat activities that pair well with the book:
     
     
      
     
     
     

    Free Stellaluna Bat Template

    Print off the template and trace it onto construction paper. Enter your email address into the form below to access this resource. You’ll also find this item inside our Membership club, along with many other bat themed activities and resources.

    Free Bat Stencil

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