This post includes a FREE download of the Valentine Cursive Alphabet Uppercase and Lowercase printable. Start here with understanding how to teach cursive…then check out this post on which cursive letters to teach first. Then use the free cursive letters printable at the bottom of this page to work on cursive letter writing with a Valentine’s Day theme! This is a great activity to incorporate into your Valentines Day occupational therapy activities.
Another great free resource is our printable Valentine’s Day cards and our newest printable, Valentines Day I Spy. Add both along with the Cursive letter activity below for a whole theme of skill development.
Cursive Alphabet Upper Case and Lower Case Activity
Because of the importance of cursive writing, the OT Toolbox has included cursive alphabet worksheets in it’s “Toolbox”. This uppercase and lowercase Valentines printable alphabet PDF is a great learning tool for beginning to recognize the letters.
In recent years there has been a lot of back and forth opinions about the validity and necessity of writing cursive. Some of the people creating school curricula feel this is an old language since it is not used in books any more, and most written expression is done on keyboards. While there is the argument that people only need cursive for signing their signature, and it should be abolished, cursive is so much more important than just a signature on a page. This article from the New York Times debates reasons to reinstate cursive writing in schools:
Students with learning differences such as dyslexia greatly benefit from learning cursive. Cursive letters such as “b and d” are different from manuscript, therefore easier to decipher.
Flowing letters connected together in cursive are often easier for young learners to write. There are fewer diagonals, a definite direction of the letters eliminating bottom to top formation, and not having to keep stopping and starting can be a very efficient form of written expression. This post on cursive letter families is helpful in breaking down letters into formation patterns.
The first stage to learning something new is being able to identify before being able to reproduce it. These upper and lowercase cursive alphabet worksheets for kids or other learners, are a great addition to your cursive curriculum. The OT Toolbox archives has an informative post on teaching cursive writing.
What better way to teach a new skill than to tie it to an adorable Valentine theme? Learners are more compliant when there is a motivating fun theme. While these uppercase and lowercase alphabet worksheets can be introduced around Valentine’s day, they are versatile enough to be used year round. YouTube has a great video highlighting the History (and importance) of Cursive Writing
How can I use these cursive alphabet upper and lowercase letter printable cards?
Incorporate this cursive letters printable into occupational therapy sessions to work on individualized goals no matter what level or skills the learner is working to address:
Ask learners to write the letters as they match them
Higher level learners can write down, or describe the directions to the game
Print these on colored paper for more visual appeal or contrast, color the pictures, or laminate the pages to make these more sturdy and reusable
Learners can explore other games they could make using these Valentine match cards (perhaps hiding the letters around the room and having learners run around collecting them, or creating a “memory” game out of these upper and lowercase writing cards)
Practice scissor skills by cutting these cards apart
Change the weight of the paper – heavier paper is easier to handle
Make these into tracing cards with or without laminating them.
Research and talk about the importance of cursive writing, and have a debate
Project onto a smartboard for a group task using a pointer to push the pieces together
Enlarge or shrink this task to change the degree of difficulty
Turn it into a gross motor task, sensory activity, following directions game, or combination of all of these
Use this task during more than one session by adding cursive practice, letter recognition, copying from a model, or putting letters together to make words.
Skilled OT Observations with this Cursive Activity
When working on this Valentine upper and lowercase cursive matching activity, there are several observations that can be made:
Can your learner scan the pages to identify the correct letters? Are they recognizing what they are matching or merely matching shapes? Can they match items that are related but not the same (form constancy)?
How many items can your learner correctly match?
Can your learner correctly hold and manipulate the scissors? How much assistance do they need to grip the scissors and cut on the lines?
Can your student continue to hold the scissors while trying to manipulate the paper?
How many times do you need to repeat the directions so your learner can follow them?
How many reminders does your learner need while doing this activity?
Can they stay on task during this upper and lowercase cursive matching task?
As with this Cursive Alphabet Uppercase Lowercase Valentine Worksheet, or any of the worksheets and activities on the OT Toolbox, you can teach one or ten different skills while teaching them. Working on letter recognition? Skip the cutting and coloring section. Focusing on visual perception? Don’t have students write the letters after matching the cards. Beginning cursive learners? Have a letter page example with all of the letters as a reference.
You may decide you are focusing your treatment on task completion or compliance with a non preferred task. Therefore your observations would lean more toward behaviors and reactions, than written expression.
Make several observations while your learners are working on these cursive letter matching pages. See how you might need to grade or modify the task for your next group of learners. Decide what works, and what does not work using this set of cards.
Use the other Valentine’s printables available on the OT Toolbox to create an impressive lesson plan. Here is an entire Valentine Fine Motor Kit!
Whether you are searching for Valentines Slide Decks, posts highlighting Valentines Day ideas, or anything you want to build into your lesson plan, type your ideas into the search bar and tons of activities, posts, free printables, and kits will be available to you.
Whenever you get the urge to jump on the bandwagon to eliminate cursive, just take a look at the handwritten notes from your grandmother, or other elderly people. It is simply beautiful penmanship and should not be lost in favor of typing.
Cursive – it’s more than just a signature!
Free Upper Case and Lowercase Cursive Letters Printable
Enter your email address below to download this free cursive alphabet Uppercase and Lowercase Valentines Worksheet
Victoria Wood, OTR/L
Victoria Wood, OTR/L is a contributor to The OT Toolbox and has been providing Occupational Therapy treatment in pediatrics for more than 25 years. She has practiced in hospital settings (inpatient, outpatient, NICU, PICU), school systems, and outpatient clinics in several states. She has treated hundreds of children with various sensory processing dysfunction in the areas of behavior, gross/fine motor skills, social skills and self-care. Ms. Wood has also been a featured speaker at seminars, webinars, and school staff development training. She is the author of Seeing your Home and Community with Sensory Eyes.
Today, you’ll find a fun winter math worksheet with 100 snowballs. This is a great activity for the 100th day of school…and working on writing numbers with kids. Number formation skill can be a challenge, so making practice fun and engaging is key. Use this 1 to 100 writing practice sheet with other winter occupational therapy activities all winter long! This hands-on, fine motor math worksheet supports many skills!
This 100 snowballs activity is a winter math worksheet that is perfect for the 100th day of school. Incorporate it into other number formation goals along with these number formation resources:
When it comes to working on numbers and handwriting skills, meaningful and motivating activities is key. So when winter brings snow and ice, you can incorporate this functional practice activity into goal areas.
Winter and 100 snowballs
If you have read my other winter blog posts, you already know I am not a fan of winter. The temperature hit 61F last night and I was FREEZING! I do not know how I am going to survive the southern winter at this rate. Speaking of survival, I know I survived my childhood in the Northern US and lived to tell about it, but right now I don’t know how you do it.
Snowball fights were a staple of my winter childhood. We spent hours creating our stockpile of balls, to be ready to ambush an unsuspecting neighbor or sibling. Have you seen the new snowball maker contraption? That is one cool tool. Perfectly round balls of snow in five seconds flat. I am not sure why I remember liking snowball fights at all. I am not good at throwing anything, especially a flimsy ball of snow (we didn’t have that ball maker when I was young). I can dodge ok I suppose, but who wants to just dodge all the time?
We went to a man-made snow place in Georgia last winter. I temporarily forgot how bad my aim is. I loved making the snowballs with the new snow packer tool, but still got pummeled. Based on the popularity, I am going to venture a guess that snowball fights are still a “thing.”
What better way to reminisce about winter than creating a lesson plan about it? For adults it will be a great story telling opportunity (unless you have never ventured to the snow covered mountains), and for learners an excellent tie in to what is going on around them. If your learners live where it is warm, use this opportunity to teach about snow with video clips, worksheets, activities, fine motor games, making an all inclusive lesson plan.
Winter Math Worksheet
To start off your Winter Lesson Plan, the OT Toolbox has you covered! Check out the new 100 Snowball Math Worksheet.
The winter math worksheet that you can grab below is a great way to work on number formation and filling in numbers. Add it to a 100th day of school lesson plan, or therapists can use this as a complementary winter math lesson while still working on goal areas to support educational needs.
In its simplest form, this is a great PDF printable to address counting, number formation, and writing to 100. Add this to the other winter worksheets from The OT Toolbox and your Winter Lesson Plan will be well on its way.
Let’s take a look at the plethora of other ways to use this worksheet and incorporate it into treatment.
Make tiny snowballs of tissue or playdough to work on in hand manipulation. Place the tiny balls on each of the numbers.
Use a dot marker to dab the snowballs as they are being counted. This adds color and flair as well as building critical grasping skills.
Cut all of the numbers, putting all of the snowballs back in order like a puzzle.
Make large snowballs out of crumpled paper, then work on upper body coordination throwing the snowballs at a target.
Build this into a gross motor task by running back and forth with snowballs.
Ways to modify this task for different levels of learners:
Count aloud as a group to find the next number
Encourage students to remember the numbers, instead of starting back at one each time
Enlarge this worksheet onto a board, for a group activity or to make more readable
Laminate this task and use markers to fill in the numbers
Print it onto colorful paper for visual contrast and readability
Color the winter math worksheet before laminating it, or have learners color after filling in the numbers
Provide a model for copying for learners who do not know the numbers yet
Make a dotted version of the answers for tracing into the open spaces
Use different writing tools for different effects (read our resource on tracing sheets for a better understanding of the skills that are impacted by tracing too soon).
Cut the page into smaller chunks if your learners can not yet write to 100
How to document about this 100 snowball printable worksheet?
The most straightforward way to document your lesson plan with this math worksheet is to note the number of correct responses. Then take it further and note number formation, the number of reversals, correct formation, sizing, legibility, placement inside the provided spaces, grasping pattern, and pressure on the paper. To continue, make note of your learners’ attention to detail, frustration tolerance, number of cues needed, number of physical assists, overall attention, behavior, self regulation, working in a group, sitting posture, and 100 other observations.
The great thing about worksheets like the 100 Snowball Printable from the OT Toolbox is the versatility of it. My documentation might not have anything to do with number formation, grasping pattern, sizing, or spacing at all. I can solely focus on social function and sensory strategies if that is the nature of my learner’s goals.
For this reason, these winter worksheets can be used for a good variety of learners, not just the ones working on number formation.
What else does the OT Toolbox have to offer?
100 Snowballs- 100 snowballs, 1 to 100 writing practice sheet, winter math worksheets
For more snowball and snow themed activities, be sure to check out the Snowman Therapy Kit. It’s loaded with fine motor activities, crafts, gross motor tasks, coordination, motor planning, scissor skill tasks, and handwriting activities all with a snow and snowman theme.
Free 100 Snowballs Worksheet
Want to add this 100 snowballs worksheet to your therapy toolbox for winter occupational therapy activities this time of year? Enter your email address into the form below to access this printable. OT Toolbox Member’s Club members will also find this worksheet inside the membership, along with hundreds of other resources and tools.
My treatment plans are all about efficiency, effectiveness, and getting the most out of each session…and this winter math worksheet fits the bill!
I will keep practicing my aim, just in case!
Victoria Wood, OTR/L
Victoria Wood, OTR/L is a contributor to The OT Toolbox and has been providing Occupational Therapy treatment in pediatrics for more than 25 years. She has practiced in hospital settings (inpatient, outpatient, NICU, PICU), school systems, and outpatient clinics in several states. She has treated hundreds of children with various sensory processing dysfunction in the areas of behavior, gross/fine motor skills, social skills and self-care. Ms. Wood has also been a featured speaker at seminars, webinars, and school staff development training. She is the author of Seeing your Home and Community with Sensory Eyes.
When school is cancelled for a snow day, it can be fun to think of things to do in the snow. For parents or therapists, sometimes kids need things to do on a day at home so they stay off the video games and screens. Here, you will find therapist-approved winter family activities, things to do in the snow, and a special printable handwriting worksheet with snow writing prompts…perfect for a home therapy task that helps kids build skills through motor skills, PLAY, and even motivating and functional handwriting.
Things to do on a snow day
Whether you live in the snow, are dreaming about wintery conditions, or are happy to never have to see it again, there is a lot to be said about a winter day. Check out these snow and ice activities, for snowy fun that doesn’t involve all of the cold, ice, and snowflakes!
Snow days represent different things to different people. Does it represent winter family activities? As a child in Connecticut, winter and snowy days were great! There were endless things to do outside in the cold. These winter days meant bundling up layers and layers of clothing to head outside, building forts, rolling a snowman, shoveling sidewalks, climbing snow drifts, making snow angels, creating paths of footprints across the fresh, untouched snow, walking across a frozen pond, sledding down a huge hill, or skiing.
Some of my fondest childhood memories were made on winter days. During the blizzard of 1978, the snow was piled up over our heads. We walked on top of huge piles over ten feet tall. We had a sheepdog for many winters, it was funny to see his fur covered in snowballs from jumping in the wet snow. Not so funny having to take them all off after coming inside.
Snow days can also mean NO SCHOOL! We watched and waited for the announcement that there would be no school. While parents dread this news, kids everywhere cheer for a day off.
A day or two of fresh snowfall can mean some indoor cozy fun also. If the power went off, we had a rare chance for pizza from the little town. I think the neighbor had a snowmobile to trek down and collect it. It also meant hot cocoa and home baked cookies. In the 70’s and early 80’s TV was not really for kids, except Saturday mornings. School cancellations did not mean lazy days by the TV or playing electronics. Out came the board games, the Easy Bake Oven, puzzles, Legos, coloring books, and all of the other things we never seemed to find enough time for.
What does a winter snow day mean to you? Did you grow up with cold winters, or just read about it? Did you long for just one flurry during a southern winter? Winter days feel different to me now, than as a child. Today I would treat a winter day as a cuddle up under a blanket with hot cocoa, cookies, a good book, and a dog.
Snow days are now virtual school days?
What does a snow day mean to your learners? It could mean 100 different things. This is a great snow writing prompt for digging up memories, stories, shared ideas, and working on critical handwriting skills.
But, in many cases, a school cancellation means parents who still need to work while the kids are at home. There can be more screen time, video games, and YouTube watching than normal. Sometimes parents need a quick list of things to keep the kids busy and OFF screens.
Even more recently, in many areas, a school cancellation day is no longer a day off from school. Snowy conditions and ice or other weather conditions that may have previously meant a day off from school now may mean a virtual learning day. This change for many kids, is a change that may not go away now that many schools have virtual learning opportunities in place. In these cases, kids attend virtual school, but then they are finished early or have breaks during the school day. The last thing parents want their kids doing during a break from virtual learning is hopping onto another device!
That’s where a quick list of things to do on a snow day comes in handy.
In these cases, therapists who may be seeing students virtually can offer therapeutic activities that actually develop the very skills that the students on their caseload are working on.
Therapists may need a quick activity or task list that specifically addresses the skills their kids are working on, so the child can have an action list of activities to do outside in the winter.
These snow day activities can even be followed-up on and used as writing prompts in a later session to address executive functioning skills, handwriting, memory, and other skill areas.
That’s where the snow day activities worksheet available below comes into play. Print off the worksheet and use it to identify winter ideas. Then, when students do have a day off from school, they can use it as a winter bucket list. It’s also a great family activity list for winter days. Or, just use the worksheet in virtual or face to face learning to work on handwriting skills and executive functioning skills.
Things to do in snow Worksheet
This winter printable helps learners create a list of Things to do on a Snow Day.
Each person will have a different experience to write about. Encourage your learners to explore all different aspects of winter days, whether they have experienced them, or just read about it. Learners will write something to do in the snow in each snowball.
This activity can be modified for all levels of learners:
Lowest level learners can dictate what they would like written in the snow balls
This printable can be projected onto the board to work as a group task
Pictures of activities can be printed separately, cut and glued onto the snow balls. Use this Snow Day bingo game board to cut out ideas or play snowy bingo
The snowballs can be cut and glued onto a separate sheet of paper to add cutting and gluing to the task
Middle level learners can write one or two words in each ball.
Higher level learners can write an idea in each ball, then create a story or memory out of each idea. This turns into a multilevel activity to use during many sessions.
Skills addressed? As always, therapy or teaching is more than just fun and games. There are goals and objectives to be addressed. This Things to do in the Snow printable, while being fun and relevant, also works on key skills
Handwriting – Work on letter formation, letter size, spacing, word and letter placement
Letter formation – correctly forming the letters top to bottom
Letter sizing – correctly fitting the letters into the size boxes
Copying – copying words from a model, transferring the letters from one place to another
Fine motor strengthening, hand development, and grasping pattern
Sequencing – will your learner do the words in order? Will they go in a haphazard pattern all over the page?
Following directions, attention to detail, turn taking, waiting, social skills, compliance, behavior, and work tolerance
Cutting on the line ( if you choose to add this step), within half inch of lines, in the direction of lines
Pasting using glue stick or drippy glue with accuracy
Bilateral coordination – remembering to use their “helper hand” to hold the paper while writing. Using one hand for a dominant hand instead of switching back and forth is encouraged once a child is in grade school or demonstrates a significant strength in one or the other.
Strength – core strength, shoulder and wrist stability, head control, balance, and hand strength are all needed for upright sitting posture and writing tasks.
Remember, you can address all of these skills at once, or focus on one or two. Some skills above will be addressed without your conscious knowledge, while other skills will be directly worked on.
Documentation in Therapy with this Worksheet
Use this snow day worksheet to document and track skills for data collection. Take note of these areas to collect data for documentation:
the percentage of correct letters,
how many letters are formed correctly/directionality/legibility
size of letters in relation to the boxes
grasping pattern, hand dominance
attention to detail, following directions, prompts and reminders needed, level of assistance given
Therapist-recommended Winter Activities
If kids are filling out the worksheet and need some ideas to fill in the spaces, try these ideas. You can even fill out a worksheet to have as a copying activity for some student’s skill needs.
These things to do in snow are perfect for a day off of school or winter family activities:
What would you add to this list? Do any of these look like winter family activities that you would like to do on your next snow day?
Free Snow Day Worksheet
Make this snow writing prompt just part of your winter lesson plan. Print off this worksheet and get started with winter activities for the whole family! This winter worksheet is also available in the OT Toolbox Member’s Club. Members can log in and download this resource along with hundreds of other resources and tools to help kids thrive.
Gotta go get my cocoa and marshmallows!
Victoria Wood, OTR/L
Victoria Wood, OTR/L is a contributor to The OT Toolbox and has been providing Occupational Therapy treatment in pediatrics for more than 25 years. She has practiced in hospital settings (inpatient, outpatient, NICU, PICU), school systems, and outpatient clinics in several states. She has treated hundreds of children with various sensory processing dysfunction in the areas of behavior, gross/fine motor skills, social skills and self-care. Ms. Wood has also been a featured speaker at seminars, webinars, and school staff development training. She is the author of Seeing your Home and Community with Sensory Eyes.
Grab the Snowman Therapy Kit for more things to do on a snow day, or just in winter, whether you are on a snow day, or don’t even live in an area with snow!
Questions about the best apps for occupational therapy come up often. It is possible to address developmental skills through app play. Let’s cover various occupational therapy apps for the iPad or tablet.
Children of today have technology very much integrated into all aspects of their daily lives. Technology is an occupation in and of itself. As occupational therapists, we strive to support functioning and full lives in our clients. Using apps in occupational therapy services serves two purposes: a meaningful and motivating tool to support functional skills by addressing underlying skills, AND as an extrinsic factor impacting function: using a device, filling form fields on apps, scheduling appointments, making calls, and other performance areas. Apps are a part of function because technology is so integrated into daily life.
Let’s look at various areas of development where app use can help support kids, teens, and adults:
Apps for Occupational Therapy
Normally at this time of year in therapy, it can be hard to keep the kids attention spans on track. Having a free app that builds skills can be one way to stay on track with addressing specific skills.
Here, you will find free apps for occupational therapy that can be used as a supplemental activity or as a quick activity in between other occupational therapy activities. The OT apps for the ipad or tablet can be used in many different ways:
Use the OT apps as a supplemental activity for home recommendations or classroom down-time.
Use the occupational therapy app as a transition activity that continues to develop skills addressed in therapy sessions.
Others may want to use these apps for therapy breaks or as a reward at the end of the session.
Use the apps for occupational therapy homework so that kids are motivated to participate and incentivize OT home programs, fostering the carryover we don’t sometimes see.
Still others may find the occupational therapy apps perfect for home occupational therapy programs or ways to keep kids busy while parents are working from home.
Whatever your need, these educational games and special education supports can be a powerful tool in distance learning and learning at home.
Free Apps for Occupational Therapy
The free apps below are broken down into targeted skill area. I’m adding apps for handwriting and letter formation, visual motor skills, executive functioning skills, and other areas. Some of these apps are IOS apps and others are Android apps.
The apps that are available for Android on Google Play may be accessed through a Google account on a desktop and then accessed through the Google play app or via a Google account on an Apple device. Here is more information on how to access Google Play apps on an Apple device.
I tried to locate only free apps in this resource. There are many great apps for occupational therapy out there, but I wanted to cover all the bases when it comes to OT interventions with free apps that can meet the needs for free!
The apps listed below are some of the best apps for occupational therapists to use in therapy sessions, and to recommend to parents and teachers, when appropriate. Remember that all kids are different and all have specific needs, so these recommendations may not work for every child or individual.
All About Shapes- This free app is available on IOS and is a shape drawing app. Users can draw and identify shapes.
Vision Tap- This free IOS app is a great one for addressing visual processing and visual efficiency skills. Visual tracking, visual scanning, and oculo-motor skills are challenged with this one!
Broom, Broom- This free IOS app allows children to draw paths for the vehicles in the game to drive on, building eye-hand coordination, motor planning, visual memory, and precision of fine motor skills.
Visual Memory- is a free app available on Google Play. The game is designed to develop visual memory and improve attention. Users can find the image that appears at each level.
Piko’s Blocks- this free IOS app really challenges the visual spatial skills for older kids.
Memory Game- is another free app on Google Play. The game is just like the classic concentration game, helping users to build visual memory skills.
Learning with Wally is an Android app available on Google Play. The visual discrimination app challenges users to discriminate between differences, recognize, and attend to details in visual forms, including pictures, letters, words and sentences.
Sorting and Learning Game 4 Kids- This app is available on Google Play and challenges users to categorize and match themed objects while helping to build visual attention, visual memory, and focus with a concentration on visual perception.
Visual Attention Therapy Life is an app available on Google Play. The free app allows users to address and build visual scanning, visual memory, and visual attention. It also helps rehab professionals to assess for neglect and provide more efficient and effective therapy for attention deficits.
Sensory Baby Toddler Learning- This Google Play app is great for younger kids as they work on cause and effect and develop hand eye coordination skills.
Connecting Dots is Fun- This free IOS app allows users to work on visual perceptual skills such as visual discrimination, form constancy, figure-ground and visual processing skills of tracking and scanning. Users create dot-to-dot activities in the app.
Alphabet Puzzles For Toddlers- This Google Play app helps younger children work on letter identification and letter recognition. The letter learning app is a great app for preschoolers or toddlers. The visual perceptual app allows children to address form constancy, visual discrimination, figure ground, and other visual perceptual skills.
iMazing- In this free IOS app, users can complete maze activities while challenging visual perception and visual motor skills. Skill Game- This free app is available on Android. The game allows users to draw lines to connect numbers while building eye-hand cordination, precision, motor planning, visual memory, and more.
On the Line- This IOS app is great for working on visual motor skills using a stylus.
Squiggles- This free app is a great one to work on pre-writing skills. Users can draw lines and figures and watch as they become animated.
Handwriting Apps
These handwriting apps are occupational therapy tools that support the underlying skills needed for handwriting. Some apps allow kids to “write” letters using a resistance-free surface on the tablet or iPad. This input can be the “just right” level for some kids. Other Handwriting apps listed address other skills. Let’s take a look at how to use these apps in occupational therapy services.
ITrace is a handwriting app that does have a price for the main version, however, there is a free version available with some activities. Users can trace letters, numbers, words, and shapes while working on visual motor skills and letter formation.
Writing Wizard- This app is available on Google Play and allows users to trace letters along a visual guide. There are various fonts available and size can be adjusted for different ages.
Writing Wizard-Cursive- This handwriting app is created by the makers of the regular, print version of Writing Wizard. Users can practice letter formation in cursive.
Start Dot- This app addresses letter formation using visual, auditory, and movement cues. These prompts fade to address accuracy and independence.
Ollie’s Handwriting and Phonics- This free app allows users to trace and copy individual letters and words on the app’s chalkboard wall.
Write ABC – Learn Alphabets Games for Kids- This handwriting app is available on Google Play. The app helps younger children work on letter formation using visual cues for starting points and ending points.
Sand Draw- This free Google Play app provides a sandy beach for kids to practice writing letters, words, or phrases in. Use it to practice spelling words for a fun twist.
Snap Type- While this app has a paid version, the free version also allows users to create digital versions of worksheets. Students can take a picture of their worksheets, or import worksheets from anywhere on their device. They can then use their Android device keyboard to add text to these documents. When complete, students can print, email.
Apps for Fine Motor Skills
These apps for fine motor skill development might not be your go-to fine motor task when it comes to strengthening hands and promoting dexterity. But for the child that struggles with fine motor skills, a tablet or iPad app can be a motivating and meaningful way to address developmental skills.
With an app, it is possible to address functional, fine motor skills:
The fact is that devices are not going away. In fact, our youth are likely to see all aspects of their future lives managed by screen technology. For kids that struggle with dexterity, hand strength, motor planning, and other motor skills, we can help them to be the most functional and independent individuals.
These fine motor apps are just one more strategy in our OT toolbelt.
Dot to dot Game – Connect the dots ABC Kids Games- This free app is great for toddlers, preschoolers, or young children working on precision, dexterity, and fine motor work. the app addresses letter and number formation.
Tiny Roads- This free app allows children to connect objects while working on precision and finger isolation.
Montessori Fine Motor Skills Game School Numbers- This fine motor app helps users work on eye-hand coordination, precision, and finger isolation while working on numbers, letters, and shapes.
executive function apps
When addressing attention, distraction, planning, prioritization, time management, and other executive functioning skills, using apps in occupational therapy is a no-brainer. Kids are exposed to the technology of devices every day and the ability to complete daily tasks using devices is just part of advances in our time.
Use these executive function apps in occupational therapy as a support tool: devices to help with challenges like attention, organization, scheduling, and planning. Or, use these executive functioning apps in OT to work on cognitive skills that enable function; Apps are a great way to practice filling out forms, recalling and typing passwords, addressing online distraction, and other functional tasks that kids and adults are faced with every day. App use is an occupation, or task that occupies our daily lives, in a very real way. There are many typing programs that target these skills.
CogniFit Brain Fitness- This Google Play app uses memory games, puzzles, reasoning games, educational games, and learning games to train memory, attention, concentration, executive functions, reasoning, planning, mental agility, coordination and many other essential mental skills.
Lumosity: Brain Training- This free executive functioning skills app uses games to exercise memory, attention, speed, flexibility and problem-solving.
Memory Games: Brain Training– This executive functioning skills app uses memory and logic games to improve memory, attention and concentration.
Alarmy- This free alarm app allows users to set alarms for attention building, and scheduling.
The Google Tasks app– This free app creates checklists and sub-lists and allows users to add details about the areas that users need need to focus on in order to accomplish tasks. The app helps users to stay on track with due dates and notifications.
The 30/30 app- This free app helps with executive functioning skills such as starting tasks, staying organized, and prioritization in tasks. This app is useful to address procrastination and motivation on bigger tasks or projects.
Forest- This app helps with procrastination, productivity, and motivation.
Study Bunny- This free productivity app helps students pay attention and focus on studying and larger school projects or tasks.
Habitica- This task completion app allows users to track habits, and add gamification to tasks to build motivation and help with productivity.
HabitNow- This free habit tracker app helps users to track habits and build habits to improve productivity and time management. This is a great app for scheduled activities or daily tasks such as chores or morning/evening routines.
Brain N-Back- This working memory app helps to train working memory.
Clockwork Brain Training- This memory training app helps with working memory and concentration through games and puzzles.
Apps for Emotional regulation
There are apps that can be used as self-regulation tools. There are apps to practice social interactions. There are even apps to check-in on emotional regulation and self-regulation needs. These apps for emotional regulation are a great way to support kids and teens emotional regulation and overall wellbeing needs through the use of a hand-held self-regulation tool.
Breathe, Think, Do with Sesame- This self-regulation app uses a fun Sesame Street monster to help little ones calm down and solve everyday challenges. Available in English and Spanish, the coping tools app helps your child learn Sesame’s “Breathe, Think, Do” strategy for problem-solving.
Trigger Stop: Sensory and Emotional Check-In- This free self-regulation app is available on Google Play so they can identify and communicate sensations and emotions or feelings in the body so they can express them in a healthy way.
Social Navigator –This emotional regulation app is a great social skills app designed to assist children with social and behavioral challenges. Kids can develop essential social interaction skills by taking a look at their behavior in social situations, and this app is a nice way to build confidence in that area.
EmoPaint – Paint your emotions! is a free self-regulation app available for IOS in the Apple Store or Google Play. The paint app allows users to represent emotions or bodily sensations through art, by painting them interactively on the screen.
Moodflow: Self-care made easy!- keeps track of your emotions, moods, thoughts and general well-being with a self-rating system, emotional language, and a system that allows for identification of how coping strategies help with emotional regulation.
Deep Breathing apps- there are many mindfulness and deep breathing apps out there. I even have one right on my watch. With calming visuals, mindfulness apps allow the user to calm down and regulate their emotions so they can function in any situation. Bubble: Breathing Companion is one self-regulation app that encourages emotion regulation through breathing exercises.
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.
In this blog post, you’ll find a Christmas word scramble. It’s a bit different than our recent Hanukkah word scramble printable worksheet…This one has a list where kids can unscramble Christmas words! Use this worksheet to work on visual processing skills and handwriting at a time of year when you may want to come up with fresh tools to building skills to keep kids motivated and learning…OR, use this as a desk activity for early work finishers in the classroom or as a holiday activity for the home. Let’s get this printable Christmas word scramble into your hands!
Christmas Word Scramble
Time to shuffle on to the Christmas season! I call it a season because it takes over December. Sometimes in November and October too. It seems people are anxious for Christmas to be here, or to extend the joy just a few more days. People were asking in our neighborhood if November one was too early to decorate for Christmas. Um, yes!
Don’t get me wrong, I love the holidays. What I don’t love is the change in expectations. Dr Phil once said, “what makes us upset is a change in our expectations.” A change in what we expect of ourselves and those around us. Do we live up to the expectations of others, or do they live up to ours? Children have expectations too. Is this Christmas going to be just like last year? Are they going to get everything they asked for?
My advice? Don’t set the bar too high. I did that. Last year I created stocking challenges, Minute to Win It games, unwrap the gifts with gloves on challenges, and pass the ball of cling plastic filled with holiday goodies and treats game. I set the bar very high. So high, everyone is expecting that level of awesomeness and more.
Because we create unrealistic expectations at home, don’t make yourself crazy at work. Use streamlined activities that can be modified for all of your learners. Create packets to use all week. I walk around with a booklet of worksheets and a bucket of crayons/markers/colored pencils to last me through the week. I can modify these to fit all the goals I need to accomplish.
This Christmas word scramble would fit in perfectly as a done-for-you worksheet that builds functional tasks!
The OT Toolbox has tons of cool activities to help you streamline your sessions. One of the latest is the Christmas Word Scramble. This is a great tool to work on unscrambling Christmas words, but it is so much more than just that.
Unscramble Christmas Words and Build Skills
Let’s break it down and see all the skills this works on:
The easy answer is that this is a handwriting task. But can you name seven other categories and fifty different skills it works on?
Handwriting – letter formation, sizing, spacing, line placement, directionality, spelling
Fine motor – grasping pattern, wrist stability, intrinsic hand muscle development
Bilateral coordination – hand dominance, using “helper hand”, crossing midline
Proprioception – pressure on paper, grip on pencil
Strength – shoulder, elbow, wrist, hand, core, head control
Visual perception – scanning, figure ground, line placement, crossing midline, visual closure, seeing parts to whole
Executive function – following directions, attention, focus, sequencing, planning, task completion
Social function – working together in a group, problem solving, sharing materials and space, turn taking, talking about the activity,
There are several more goals that can be addressed while unscrambling Christmas words, but this is a great jumping off point.
How to Grade an Unscramble Worksheet
Therapy professionals are familiar with the term “grade” and the phrase “grading and activity”. But what does grade mean in the therapy world? When therapists say grade an activity, they are referring to adjusting the task slightly. Grade refers to modifying an activity to make it easier or more challenging. This is essential in goal development or progression.
How to grade this activity:
Cut the word bank letters and glue in the correct spaces to eliminate handwriting.
Use the word bank as for clues to the correct words.
Try the page without a word bank, to encourage working memory and spelling.
How to modify this activity:
Laminate the Christmas Unscramble page to make it reusable. This is efficient, plus learners** love markers! (Not all learners love reusable pages. Some feel it is important to be able to save their work and take it home).
Project it onto a smart board to make it a group task or working on large letters and shoulder stability.
Enlarge the task for beginning writers who need more writing space.
Shrink the task for older learners who need to learn to write smaller.
Try different writing utensils. This is not only motivating, but some learners work better with markers as they glide easier on paper. Did you know that golf sized pencils promote more of a tripod grasp than traditional long pencils?
Use different colored paper for more or less visual contrast.
Have learners write a sentence using each unscrambled word.
Draw pictures of each of the words or create a picture containing all of the words.
More Christmas Worksheets
Did you love this Christmas unscramble activity? Wait! There is more…
The OT Toolbox has scores of PDF pages and kits for the holidays to make your lesson planning easier. Check this out:
While the holidays can be full of stressors and expectations, they can also be fun and magical. Follow the OT Toolbox for other Christmas printables and blog posts.
If you just can’t get enough of the OT Toolbox and all it has to offer, consider becoming a member.
The OT Toolbox Members’ Club is an online platform for occupational therapists, parents, teachers, caregivers, and anyone seeking tools to help learners thrive.
Inside you will find therapy resources, handouts, themed activities, and tools to support your journey helping learners.
Try and enjoy the holiday season for what it is. Set realistic expectations for yourself and others. Say no to that extra holiday party or outing if it stresses you or your family out.
Free Christmas Word Scramble Worksheet
Want a copy of this Christmas word scramble activity? Enter your email address into the form below. The printable sheet will be delivered to your inbox. This printable is available inside the Member’s Club. Join today for easy access to this plus tons of other done-for-you activities and our Therapy Kits!
Victoria Wood, OTR/L
Victoria Wood, OTR/L is a contributor to The OT Toolbox and has been providing Occupational Therapy treatment in pediatrics for more than 25 years. She has practiced in hospital settings (inpatient, outpatient, NICU, PICU), school systems, and outpatient clinics in several states. She has treated hundreds of children with various sensory processing dysfunction in the areas of behavior, gross/fine motor skills, social skills and self-care. Ms. Wood has also been a featured speaker at seminars, webinars, and school staff development training. She is the author of Seeing your Home and Community with Sensory Eyes.
**The term, “learner” is used throughout this post for readability, however this information is relevant for students, patients, clients, children of all ages, etc. The term “they” is used instead of he/she to be inclusive.
Today, we have a fun Christmas lights worksheet for you. But, this printable handout doubles as a number tracing worksheet. The PDF can be printed off, laminated, and used in so many ways to work on number formation or as a Christmas math worksheet during the holiday season. Grab this printable number tracing PDF below, but be sure to check out the various ways to use this resource in therapy sessions, the classroom, or home. We’re covering them all!
You’ll also want to check out our resource on tracing sheets and when and where to use them to meet handwriting goals.
Christmas Lights Worksheet
The holidays are upon us! Like it or not, they are COMING! What better way to embrace the upcoming season, than incorporating it into lesson plans and therapy sessions?
Check out this informative article from Continental Press on the Benefits of Incorporating Holidays into a classroom or therapy session. It includes the benefits, how to’s, and some great teaching points.
Some of the key things to remember when planning your holiday themed lesson/therapy plan:
Not all learners celebrate the same holidays. Some do not celebrate at all. Find out the preference of each learner before presenting holiday specific activities. If you are unsure, go for a “winter theme” instead of holidays, or be well rounded and work on ALL of the holidays if your learner celebrates something.
Some schools have strict policies about incorporating holidays such as Christmas into the lesson plan.
Adding exciting activities can motivate learners to complete tasks, but it can also raise their arousal level. Regulate how much excitement you add into the lesson plan each day and watch for signs of sensory dysregulation.
If in a public school or secular private school keeping religion out of these lesson plans is not only wise, it is the law. While many families believe and celebrate Christmas with the story of Christ, school based activities need to be centered around reindeer, holiday lights, snowmen, trees, gifts, and Santa if this is acceptable.
How to use this Christmas Lights Worksheet
This Christmas Lights Number Trace Worksheet can work on multiple skills at once. This is the key to any activity. Most students (or the ones we work with) do not like writing activities, therefore making it time efficient, fun, and incorporating multiple goals at once is the key to success.
Other than number tracing, which is obvious, what other skills are built using this Christmas lights worksheet?
Kinesthetic awareness – this is essentially learning by doing. While tracing, the hope is that learners are feeling the movement of the numbers as they are being formed, thus making it easier for them to independently form them.
Fine motor skills – tracing on a line and staying in a designated space helps build the intrinsic hand muscles necessary for good handwriting. The smaller the picture, the more muscle control is required.
Coloring – add coloring to this activity to further aid in fine motor development. This also works on recognizing the borders of the lines, using different colors, making patterns, fine motor control, attention to detail, neatness, prioprioception and countless other skills.
Proprioception – since I mentioned it, let’s talk about it. Proprioception in this case is going to involve the pressure of holding the writing tool, pressure on the paper, arm and wrist support on the table. Did you know, increased pressure on paper can cause hand fatigue?
Bilateral coordination – one hand needs to hold the paper while the other traces and colors. Be sure to remind your learner to use their “helper hand.”
Visual Perception – being able to scan the paper to trace the numbers in order (or any order you provide), perceiving the line to trace and following which direction it is going, and noticing lines and borders for writing/coloring.
Social skills – talking about the holiday, talking about the picture, sharing crayons to build social interaction, turn taking, following directions, and staying seated with peers all build social skills.
Christmas Math Worksheet
Whew! That is a lot of skills for one worksheet! Using this Christmas Math Worksheet you have built on at least seven different skills.
Just a few more pointers while working on these types of number tracing worksheets:
Tracing will build kinesthetic and fine motor skills even if your learner does not know numbers. This becomes just a tracing task rather than number recognition.
To many learners, tracing does not always build their ability to write after tracing letters or numbers. Some learners see these items as merely symbols, not actual letters or numbers. No amount of tracing is going to magically make them be able to make these figures if they do not have any meaning.
Use multiple methods if working on number recognition or formation such as writing in the air, using different mediums to write, copying from a model, matching numbers, doing number puzzles to name a few examples.
Visual perception – always rule out VISION problems before assessing if your learner has difficulty with visual perception. There are times the learner can not see the work in front of them, or can only see part of it.
Using a Number Tracing Worksheet in Therapy Sessions
When you use this Christmas lights worksheet to address number formation goals in therapy sessions, you can consider these points on documentation.
How to document about your session:
“Student participated and was cooperative during 75% of activity. Learner was able to trace 7/12 numbers within 1/4” of line with R hand using a tripod grasp on large half inch diameter crayon. Learner demonstrated fair bilateral coordination, needing two reminders to use their helper hand to stabilize paper. Learner was able to color 12/12 shapes with 80% coverage and poor attention to borders, making 3-5 marks outside of each shape. Learner demonstrated average visual perceptual skills while correctly scanning page left to right and top to bottom 12/12 numbers. Learner demonstrated fair social skills needing two reminders not to touch peers, and one prompt to ask before taking objects from peers.”
While documenting, it is not necessary to state you are doing a Christmas Number Lights Worksheet. Documenting progress and skills is most important, or simply stating it is a 123 tracing worksheet will be sufficient.
As you can see, an activity like the christmas lights worksheet is not only fun but FUNctional, which is the OT motto.
For more great Christmas activities check out this blog from Colleen Beck creator of the OT Toolbox:
You can grab a copy of this printable number tracing worksheet and start using it right away in therapy sessions. Enter your email address into the form below and the printable will be delivered to your inbox. If you are a member of The OT Toolbox Member’s Club, this resources is available inside your member’s dashboard.
Have a great holiday season!
Victoria Wood, OTR/L
Victoria Wood, OTR/L is a contributor to The OT Toolbox and has been providing Occupational Therapy treatment in pediatrics for more than 25 years. She has practiced in hospital settings (inpatient, outpatient, NICU, PICU), school systems, and outpatient clinics in several states. She has treated hundreds of children with various sensory processing dysfunction in the areas of behavior, gross/fine motor skills, social skills and self-care. Ms. Wood has also been a featured speaker at seminars, webinars, and school staff development training. She is the author of Seeing your Home and Community with Sensory Eyes.
*The term, “learner” is used throughout this post for readability, however this information is relevant for students, patients, clients, children of all ages, etc. The term “they” is used instead of he/she to be inclusive.
We’ve been sharing a lot of holiday printable activities lately, and this Hanukkah word scramble is one more! Winter holiday season is upon us! Whether you celebrate Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, Winter Solstice, or something else entirely, this is a joyous time for many. It should not matter what you celebrate, learning the history, traditions, and meaning of these events should be at the center of the lessons. Kids can unscramble the Haunukkah words and work on visual perceptual skills and handwriting.
Hanukkah Word Scramble
In order to be interesting and motivating to young learners, fun worksheets can be incorporated into lesson plans. These not only provide a relevant lesson plan during the holiday season, but can incorporate many important goals and objectives in one single task. This is most important, as therapy sessions are often limited or short, as well as the attention span of young learners. Therapy sessions in school can be as short as 15 minutes, just enough time for a warm up activity and a fun worksheet such as the Hanukkah activity sheet with scrambled words.
This Hanukkah activity sheet which involves matching Hanukkah words, is an excellent idea!
Let’s explore the many different goals and skills that can be addressed using the Hanukkah word match:
Letter formation – the worksheet has lines for correct letter formation
Sizing and spacing of letters to fit in the provided boxes
Copying from a model
Decoding to use strategies to determine how many letters in each word and the size of the corresponding boxes
Bilateral coordination using one hand to write and the other to hold the paper
Visual perception – being able to visualize the words once they are scrambled
Social skills – working on frustration tolerance, attention to details, and following directions
Fine motor skills – building hand muscles through writing
Ways to adapt and change this activity:
Laminate this page to use wipe off markers as a different medium as well as reusability. Note: some children love wipe off sheets, while others become upset that they can not take their work with them.
Put this activity on the smart board to make it a group task or invite students to come to the board and write.
Make space to draw the items on the page to work on visual motor skills.
Work in pairs or in a small group to address problem solving, turn taking, and negotiation skills.
Many times, it seems Hanukkah takes a back seat to Christmas based on the number of participants or popularity. This special traditional celebration can be incorporated into an inclusive lesson plan that includes many holidays, or as a stand-alone unit for learners celebrating Hanukkah. This is a great opportunity for anyone to learn about different cultures and traditions no matter what is celebrated.
What is Hanukkah?
Check out this article about what Hanukkah is. This is a great tool to add to your lesson plan about holidays.
Holidays like Hanukkah can be exciting and fun to incorporate into treatment sessions. Be mindful that too much of a good thing is not so good after all. Scatter fun holiday activities into regular tasks to help students modulate their arousal level and stay on task during these busy times. Holidays can be a lot of fun but can also cause stress for many. There are added responsibilities, money woes, social stressors, increased expectations, and changes in schedules that can set adults and children off of their routine.
Turn your holiday stress into a teachable moment
One article outlines how to turn your holiday stress into a teachable moment. Don’t let stress get the best of you and turn a great time into a mess.
More Holiday Activity Sheets
The time leading up to the holidays between Thanksgiving and these winter celebrations can last two to three weeks. In order to feel well prepared for this season, having several activities planned ahead of time will ease stressful planning or running out of meaningful activities. The OT Toolbox offers the Winter Fine Motor Kit full of handouts and PDF files providing several visual motor tasks to be used throughout the winter season.
For me, the most difficult part of therapy sessions is trying to plan them and come up with novel ideas that are going to be appealing to all my different levels of learners. Once I have several sessions planned for the week, the time flies by and sessions go much smoother. I am able to adapt each task to meet the needs of most of my different learners. Take this opportunity to streamline your sessions by downloading activities and ideas from the OT Toolbox today.
Free Hanukkah Word Scramble Activity Sheet
Happy Holidays!
Victoria Wood, OTR/L
Victoria Wood, OTR/L is a contributor to The OT Toolbox and has been providing Occupational Therapy treatment in pediatrics for more than 25 years. She has practiced in hospital settings (inpatient, outpatient, NICU, PICU), school systems, and outpatient clinics in several states. She has treated hundreds of children with various sensory processing dysfunction in the areas of behavior, gross/fine motor skills, social skills and self-care. Ms. Wood has also been a featured speaker at seminars, webinars, and school staff development training. She is the author of Seeing your Home and Community with Sensory Eyes.
*The term, “learner” is used throughout this post for readability, however this information is relevant for students, patients, clients, children of all ages, etc. The term “they” is used instead of he/she to be inclusive.
Are you looking for a quick and easy activity to address the components of visual perception that you can also use to address numeral formation this holiday season? This Christmas I Spy is a fun activity that can be used in a variety of ways to target the skills your students need including visual perception and numeral formation. Add this I Spy printable to your occupational therapy Christmas ideas!
Christmas I Spy
It’s the busiest time of the year and this Christmas I Spy is a no prep printable you can take from the printer right to your therapy sessions with your students. The best part of this worksheet is that it can target so many skills at once!
Some of the skills addressed with Christmas I Spy will target the components of visual perceptual skills. Visual perceptual skills are foundational to reading and writing. There are many components of visual perception that play a role in our student’s performance at school, but this activity primarily addresses visual discrimination and visual memory.
You can begin using this worksheet with your students by asking them to name some of the pictures they see on the page. Then, focus their attention to the bottom of the page to the pictures they will look for during the activity.
Support Visual Skills with a Christmas I Spy
Using their visual discrimination skills, ask your students to identify each of the pictures at the bottom. Encourage your students to use a different color for each picture they find. This is a strategy you can teach them to support their visual discrimination skills. The students can circle each picture working on their fine motor dexterity skills or they could color each small picture.
This activity is also great for addressing visual memory. Visual memory is the ability to retain and recall visual information. Visual memory is essential in reading and writing, but it is also important for completing tasks like Christmas I Spy in an efficient way.
As the students begin to work, they will be using their visual memory and scanning skills together to recall where they have seen each picture.
Visual scanning is also an important skill that will be addressed with Christmas I Spy. Visual scanning is a function of the oculomotor system that involves using the eyes in a coordinated way to scan the environment for information.
For students who may have difficulty with visual scanning, try teaching strategies such as moving a ruler down the page as they track across, encourage them to scan in an organized manner from left to right, or you can reduce the demand by asking “can you find 3 candy canes”, for example.
Another way to support students who may have difficulty with visual perceptual tasks such as I Spy, would be to take turns finding the different pictures. Not only would this take away some of the demand for struggling students, but it would also allow you to model visual scanning skills at the same time.
Work on Number formation with a Christmas I Spy Activity
Finally, Christmas I Spy provides your students with an opportunity to address number formation. After they find and color each picture, they will need to write the number in the box.
Here is a place where you can take this pencil/paper task and make it a kinesthetic learning experience for your students! Many students need kinesthetic learning experiences or the opportunity to touch, move, and feel in order to learn.
Occupational therapists are uniquely trained to provide these types of kinesthetic learning experiences to students. You will find that when you design an intervention to include a sensory, tactile, or movement experience, your students will be instantly engaged. Engagement and participation are the keys to learning!
More ways to use this Christmas I Spy Printable
You could extend this activity to include a kinesthetic component by:
Pair the printable with this Hot Chocolate Craft for a winter themed activity.
Bend red and white “candy cane” pipe cleaners into the numbers your students need to practice
Use sand trays to practice numeral formation. Use red and green sand to stick with the holiday theme or get inspired to use other materials/textures from ideas here: Writing Trays for Handwriting
Practice writing numbers in shaving cream. Add a little silver glitter to mimic snow.
So, grab your hot cocoa and hit print on Christmas I Spy! You will have so much fun with your students this holiday season while working on important visual perceptual and numeral formation skills!
Katherine Cook is an occupational therapist with 20 years experience primarily working in schools with students from preschool through Grade 12. Katherine graduated from Boston University in 2001 and completed her Master’s degree and Certificate of Advanced Graduate Study at Tufts University in 2010. Katherine’s school based experience includes working in integrated preschool programs, supporting students in the inclusion setting, as well as program development and providing consultation to students in substantially separate programs. Katherine has a passion for fostering the play skills of children and supporting their occupations in school.
In this article, we’re discussing p and q reversals. Writing letters backwards can mean a letter p is mistaken for letter q, and in functional reading and writing, letter reversals can mean errors and lower confidence in kids. Let’s take a look at some strategies occupational therapy professionals use to work on letter p and q confusion.
Letter P and Q Reversals
I’m going to start by saying there really is no magical cure for children who reverse or invert their letters. I wish there were as that would ease a lot of the frustration a child must endure and alleviate the extra effort a child must exert to get to the end game of reading and writing letters and numbers accurately.
However, there are a few tips and tricks that might help a child as they go through the learning process whether you are addressing this issue in the classroom, in therapy sessions, or during at-home learning.
We’ve talked about Results with Multi-Sensory Strategies for B and D Reversals, let’s now talk about other frequent letter reversals that are common for children – letters ‘p’ and ‘q’. These letters look just as similar to one another like ‘b’ and ‘d’, which really makes it confusing for kids.
Mind your P’s and Q’s
Take a look at this image that gives a nice visual perspective of what b, d, p, and q might look like to a kiddo as a chair is still a chair. Working through this confusion can be tricky, but there are a few good tips and strategies that might help lessen the frustration and thus build a simple learning avenue as children work through and master the formation of these two letters.
Understanding Left and Right Directionality
First of all, we must begin by ensuring the child understands left and right directionality on their own bodies and has progressed to analyzing objects, symbols, letters and numbers. You should also check to see if they can identify the left and right sides of the paper as a precursor to emphasizing letter directionality.
Teach Letters in groups
Next, teach letters in identified groups so as to make the teaching of the letter forms easier and more simplistic thus making it less difficult for a child to reverse or invert letters. Letter order and multi-sensory teaching of letter formations is focused on in the Learning without Tears™ curriculum and First Strokes™ curriculum, both of which were developed by an occupational therapist.
In the Learning without Tears curriculum, the letter ‘p’ is a diver letter and the letter ‘q’ is a “magic c” letter therefore they are taught at different times.
hand dominance and letter reversal
Next, look at the child’s hand dominance patterning. Hand dominance can play a part in letter reversals in written expression.
Do they have a solid left- or right-hand dominance? If not, here are a few hand dominance activities that might help.
Do they demonstrate a cross or mixed dominance? If so, this could serve as an issue when learning letter formation strokes. Check to see if this is the case with the children you see.
Cues for P & Q reversal
Lastly, look at how you are verbally and physically guiding that child to form letters based on their hand dominance. If you are right-handed and they are left-handed, you need to be keen to knowing how to describe the letter formation patterns that are relevant to their hand dominance.
Why? If a child is left-handed and forming the letter ‘p’, they will stroke downward from top to bottom (if they were taught correctly), frog jump to the top, and then push their pencil outward to the right followed by curving around and pulling back inward to the downward stroke.
If a child is right-handed and forming the same letter, they will stroke downward from top to bottom, frog jump to the top, and then push their pencil outward to the right and then curve around pushing their pencil inward to the downward stroke.
How to Fix P and Q Reversals
Now three quick reminders for teaching remediation:
Address only one letter at a time and ensure the child has a full understanding of that letter before moving to the next letter.
When using visual aids, consider the hand dominance of a child whether it be in actual hands-on learning or how you are verbally describing the formation. Also, consider this when you explain how to identify and recognize the letters.
Be understanding to the way a child might need to form a letter to recall the correct formation patterning as some left-handed children must form the letters more segmentally to keep on track, but they can still keep the same pace as their right-handed peers.
Multisensory Activities for P and Q reversals
Here is a list of fun tips for teaching the difference between targeted letters of ‘p’ and ‘q’ that might help some of the kiddos you know. If one tip or strategy doesn’t work, that’s o.k., try another. Multi-sensory strategies can always aid a child in learning letter and number formations and will further encourage the use of visual memory and kinesthetic or muscle memory.
Create glitter glue or pipe cleaner stick ‘p’ and ‘q’ letters on index cards to finger trace with eyes open and then upgrade to doing so with eyes closed.
Create ‘p’ and ‘q’ rubbing plates with the use of dried bottle glue letters on index cards.
Create large ‘p’ and ‘q’ letters on the floor using painter’s or masking tape and have the child walk or pull themselves on a scooter board to go over the lines. Bump up this skill to include walking or driving on the lines with their eyes closed thus working on kinesthetic memory.
Create sandpaper ‘p’ and ‘q’ letters on index cards to finger trace.
Have child draw the letters in the air with whole arm movements and a pointer finger while verbalizing the stroke patterning otherwise known as air writing. Do this with eyes open and closed. Shift to doing so with elbow resting on table-top and using their wrist and pointer finger to form the letters in the air.
Have child form letters on foam sheets in a repetitive fashion to further build motor memory.
Have child form the letter ‘p’ with pipe cleaner pieces and the letter ‘q’ with q-tips as the name of these materials begin with ‘p’ and ‘q’.
Place letter models underneath screen or plastic canvas material for the child to trace over with their finger. Upgrade to have the child form letters on these materials with their eyes closed.
Use letter play dough mats to form the letters and then use a golf tee or small pieces of straw to make dots (holes) on the letter lines to correctly form the letters.
With the lights dimmed or turned off, have the child either trace over a large ‘p’ or ‘q’ wall letter using a flashlight or a laser light. An alternative would be to have the child roll a ball on the tape letter using correct formation. Try the use of a weighted ball to provide more muscle input while forming the letters.
Write the letters ‘p’ and ‘q’ on 8 ½” x 11” paper, then have the child use ink stamps to stamp trace over the lines.
Make the letters using craft sticks and play dough curved lines to create the letters using different colors to represent to the different letter lines.
Form letters in a sand tray, shaving cream tray, sprinkles tray, finger paint tray, or rice tray.
Draw letters on the back of the child’s hand while their eyes are closed or on their backs and have the child guess the letter that was formed.
With straight lines drawn on paper, have the child place a circular dot sticker on the side of the line that represents the letter you call out such as b, d, p, or q. An alternative would be to have the child draw the curve on the side of the line for the letter being called out.
Play tic-tac-toe with the ‘p’ or ‘q’ letter that they are working on learning.
Create small straight lines on paper using pretzel sticks and have the child place a circular food item such as M & M’s, Skittles, Froot Loops, or Cheerios to create the letter they are working on or that you call out. To check their own work, they compare a correctly formed letter model and compare to the ones that they created. If they are right, they get to eat the food items they placed to form the letter accurately.
Visual Cues for Fixing P and Q Reversals
Visual strategies can assist a child with the learning process if using visual means is an avenue that provides a good outcome for the child. Some children learn best with this system, while others use it more as a supplement to support their learning.
In this list you will find a variety of ideas using the visual system and have access to a few free visuals that might trigger the ‘just right’ clue a child needs to identify and form the letter they need. They are created with the adult and the child in mind as they include wall posters and quick reference cards that are small enough to post on a desk-top or in a notebook.
These activities could be separated into letter p activities and Letter q activities as well. Use them in isolation when working on individual letter formation.
Thumbs-down images to self as a ‘p’ and ‘q’ visual depiction.
Palms to self with fingers pointing down and thumbs pointing outward with the space between the thumb and the fingers serving as ‘p’ and ‘q’ representation.
Form circles with the fingers (such as looking through binoculars) with forearms pointing down and inward toward torso providing a visual representation of ‘p’ and ‘q’.
Create a mask that looks like eyeglasses which is made using paper letters of ‘p’ and ‘q’.
A bed image with the letters ‘p’ and ‘q’ being the bed frame in two ways: 1) being legs of the bed and 2) use of the words ‘peace’ and ‘quiet’ because the story goes, “With sleep comes peace and quiet”.
Picture of a prince and queen facing each other with emphasis placed on the heads being the curved lines and the bodies serving as the straight lines and then the train of the queen’s dress could further represent a tail on the letter ‘q’, if desired.
Simple visual and verbalization that ‘p’ sees or looks at ‘q’.
Use different colors to form the letters such as a green straight line and a red curved line for ‘p’ and then different colors for ‘q’ such as a blue straight line and a yellow curved line. The different colors can be more easily recalled by some child rather than using the same colors for each letter. On the other hand, some children can do well with the same colors being used. It may take some exploration on your behalf as the instructor.
As you review and explore all of the multi-sensory strategies and visual supports in this post to give a child what they may need to master ‘p’ and ‘q’ letter formation, take the time to also consider the basic elements that might be impacting letter reversals as these are important foundational factors to fully understand and consider.
Regina Parsons-Allen is a school-based certified occupational therapy assistant. She has a pediatrics practice area of emphasis from the NBCOT. She graduated from the OTA program at Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute in Hudson, North Carolina with an A.A.S degree in occupational therapy assistant. She has been practicing occupational therapy in the same school district for 20 years. She loves her children, husband, OT, working with children and teaching Sunday school. She is passionate about engaging, empowering, and enabling children to reach their maximum potential in ALL of their occupations as well assuring them that God loves them!
