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Christmas Cutouts **25 Days of Christmas Play**

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Day 16 of 25 Days of Christmas Play

These Christmas Cardboard Cut-outs were perfect for Gross Motor skill play.

 I put these together for a playgroup Christmas party/Little Guy’s preschool Christmas party and my kids had to make sure they worked and were fun, of course!

I am always making cardboard stuff for parties, games, play…it has gotten to the point where people just drop off cardboard at my house, knowing it will be used…so funny! 🙂

The bean bag toss is an awesome Gross Motor activity…tossing the bean bags into the targets, crossing midline, eye-hand coordination, visual-perceptual-motor skills, developing body awareness,  language development, proprioceptive skills…  Bean bag toss games are used in rehab settings for people of all ages, and for good reason!  You could also use a variety of heavy or light balls/bean bags/anything to “wake up” the muscles.

This was just for fun at the parties.  Who doesn’t love to see themselves as a snowman???
We are loving all the new followers and visitors we’ve had recently.  This blog thing has been so much fun so far and we love knowing that our fun play days are inspiring you.  Thank you for your comments and continued visits.  Enjoy this holiday season and Every Day.  Today is a Gift! 
Colleen

Doll House Christmas

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Day 12 of 25 Days of Christmas Play
We are busy preparing our house for Christmas and getting ready to Celebrate Baby Jesus’ birthday.  The littlest girls in our  house need to prepare their house too…their Doll House!
I pulled out this glitter foam tree cut-out and a bunch of stick on decorations for Big Sister to decorate for her doll’s house.  She LOVED the idea and was sooooo excited! 

Save the Angel for last!

Now, we are ready for Christmas!

One last picture…I found Big Sister and Baby Girl’s shoes together and lined up on the steps.  Baby Girl loves being like her Big Sister and this was just so sweet to see. 
Love Sisters!

We are getting ready for another week of fun Christmas Play! 
Colleen

Christmas Tree Sensory play

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Day 8 of 25 Days of Christmas Play
 


Christmas Tree Sensory Play for learning colors, shapes. This is great for Toddlers and Preschoolers!
 

 

 


This Christmas Tree Sensory Play activity was fun for the senses, cutting, patterning, sorting, and even pre-handwriting!

 
Big Sister showed Little Guy how to cut shapes from foam sheets.  We had these in our crafting bin just waiting for some fun Christmas play…
 

Each color was a different shape so they could be sorted and used in patterns on the tree.
 
 
While the Big Kids worked on the cutting and sorting, the Babies had a fun time fighting playing with some coasters 😉

 

 

 
I stuck the tree shape in the water and when the foam sheets are wet, they stick really well to a white board. 
 

 
Everyone was so excited when they realized the shapes would stick and had a blast decorating our little tree.  
 
We started out with the tray of water on the table and did some patterns on the tree, putting the colors or shapes one at a time on the Christmas Tree.  
 

 

I wanted them to use the easel white board to promote wrist extension (bending the wrist back). This is so important in controlled use of those little fingers when they write, cut, tie their shoes…any fine motor dexterity task.  
 
If a child has a flexed wrist (bent forward), they don’t have the control to manage skills using the small muscles of the hand.  Think about holding a pencil.  If the wrist is bent forward, it is so much harder to write with smooth and controlled pencil strokes.  A slightly extended wrist is much more efficient in any fine motor task.  
 
Working on a vertical plane (like the easel) is perfect for promoting an extended wrist!
 

 

 The Babies just had sooooo much fun with this! 
 

 

After a bit, we decided to put the whole water tray on the floor…
 
Oh yeah, that was fun! 
 
 
 They had so much fun with this!  The mess really was not bad, with the small amount of water that was in the pan.  Even still, the point of our Christmas Play Series is to have fun with your little ones, enjoy a moment of play, and slow down during this hectic, crazy month.  If you’re too busy worrying about the potential mess in any play activity, it’s not worth it…put it away and try something else.  The kids will sense your stress level and that affects them!  
 
One important thing to keep in mind when doing a (fun) messy play activity… is the sensory inputs, educational aspects, and unique experiences you’re exposing your kiddos to.  Not to mention the bonding experience and LAUGHS that will without a doubt result!


Don’t Stress the Mess!

 
And, at least with this play activity, you can mop up the floor a bit afterwords and combine some cleaning into it 🙂
 
 
Look at all those happy little piggy toes!!
 
I think we are missing the swimming pool days of summer 😉
 

 

 
Have a Fun Day!
 

More Christmas Play activities you may be interested in: 

 

Cardboard Gingerbread House

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cardboard gingerbread activity for kids

This cardboard gingerbread house is a process art activity that helps kids create and build fine motor skills with a gingerbread house theme! Pair this with our decorate a gingerbread house Google slide deck for hands-on fun that the kids will love this holiday season.

cardboard gingerbread activity for kids

It was really easy and Big Sister and Little Guy played with it for a long time.  The creating part lasted a while when the babies were sleeping.   Sleeping Beauty looooves her new house 😉  

To make it, I cut up a box into enough pieces, just eye-balling the size.  No need for measuring.  The kids don’t notice and you never know when a superhero might accidentally destroy the house 😉

Make a cardboard gingerbread house with kids using cardboard boxes.

How to make a cardboard gingerbread house 

Little Guy wanted me to use his special red duct tape.    

To easily get the house shape, lay the tape on one piece then stick the corner piece onto the strip of tape.)  

You can make a row of four squares then close up the last shape by putting the tape on from the inside.   

Steps to make a cardboard gingerbread house.

  After all the seams are taped up, turn the whole thing upside down.  You don’t need a floor…so princesses and superheros can get in a little easier…

Tape the triangle roof pieces on.

Tape triangle pieces to the cardboard house.
Peel cardboard to make a roof for the cardboard gingerbread house.

 Make the cardboard gingerbread house roof

Then, cover with two more squares for a roof.  I pulled one side of the cardboard off for a shingled look.    

To tape the roof on, work from the inside and tape one roof side on first by taping the inside edges.

Then, stick tape to the edge of the other side of the triangle. Slightly bend the long piece of tape and place the other cardboard roof piece ontop so it sticks to the bent tape.

It looks cute, I think 🙂   Spiderman really liked his new home.

Cardboard gingerbread house for pretend play
Cardboard gingerbread house activity

Decorate the cardboard gingerbread house

After it was built, I pulled out a bag of mixed crafting materials and a ton of glue.    

Decorate a cardboard gingerbread house with craft materials.

  Big Sister had so much fun.  She went crazy gluing stuff on.  

It was a lot like our process vs. product play activity. 

Cardboard gingerbread house craft for kids

Use colored tape, beads, craft pom poms, pipe cleaners, tissue paper, crepe paper, and other craft materials to decorate the cardboard gingerbread house.

Kids can make a gingerbread house with craft materials.

  We had a fun day with our Candy-less Gingerbread House…but Little Guy said needed a little bit of candy  to east while he was helping to build it.  “You have to eat a Gingerbread house, Mom!”  

We are having so much fun with our Christmas Play activities…Check out the new tab at the top for all of the  25 Days of Christmas Play that we’ve done so far.

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 Sensory Bin **25 Days of Christmas Play**

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Day 4 of 25 Days of Christmas Play

This sensory bin was super easy and quick to throw together.  Dried split peas and Christmas potpourri!  

I put the whole mix into a deep basket so the kiddos could stir the mix around.   





Little Guy loves cinnamon and knew immediately what the sticks were!

 Baby Girl loved playing in this! She picked up the split peas and scattered them around between her fingers.  She loved the feeling of the peas! 
I love her cute little squat when she plays!

Having Fun with our Christmas Play ideas? Check out our Giveaway! for some more Christmas activities and printables!

~Colleen

Nativity Play **25 Days of Christmas Play**

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Day 3 of 25 Days of Christmas Play
 
Act out The Story of Jesus’s birth with dolls…stuffed animals…Barbies 🙂
 
Big Sister was playing with her bin of dolls, Little Petshop animals, and Little People yesterday.  She had them all set up in front of the Little People barn.  They were all arranged in a line, just so…
 

 
 
I asked her what was going on in this story, and she told me:
 
“Baby Jesus is being born in his barn, and His Mommy Mary is there with his Daddy Joseph”.
 
She had all of the animals in the back with the Farmer (Shepard) and three boys together (Wise men).  I asked what the Little Mermaid was doing there, and she said,
 
“That’s Baby Jesus’ Godmother”. 
(my husband and I were just given the honor of being a Godmother/Godfather to our newest niece).
 
Big Sister also had a cup of water next to her to put a cross on the baby’s head.
 
 
She started reading, to everyone (the ducks, princesses, monkeys…) in attendance, the story of Snow White, and said that Snow White had to clean the Seven Dwarfs’ house so “she could get ready for Baby Jesus to be born”.
 
I loved that!

 

 
I know there is a Little People nativity set out there, which is super cute…and lots of child-friendly Nativity sets are available on the market for kids to play with.
 
But the Story can also be told (and played again and again through a child’s voice)
with any dolls, babies, stuffed animals that you have in your house…
 
 
Even with Dora the Explorer playing the role of the Angel!
 
Have a fun and playful weekend 🙂
 
 
Colleen

Looking for more Christmas Play ideas: Try No-Sew Felt Christmas Cookies and Scented Snowman Playdoh

Magnet Play: Apple theme

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This was a play invitation I set up one day for Big Sister and Little Guy.

Paper clips, magnets, tissue paper, and the corn bin.
((The Babies were sleeping…tooooo many hazards with this one!))

The Big Kids had fun exploring with the magnets.

We tore the tissue paper into small squares (Tearing paper into little bits works on those small muscles in the hands).  Put a couple of paper clips into the tissue paper.
And crumble it up into a ball 
We were calling them “apples”. 
Only requiring a small stretch of the imagination 🙂

Big Sister and Little Guy went on an Apple Hunt, raking the magnets through the corn to grab up the apples.

It felt pretty neat on the hands to rake through the corn…a great sensory play activity!
We had a hunt for paper clips too…

Enjoy Today!
~Colleen

Indoor play: baby edition…spoons and cups

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Indoor Play Ideas

This was a simple invitation to play that I set up for the babies one day after breakfast was finished. 

They loved the idea!  Putting spoons in the cup, taking them out of the cups…
Banging the cups off of the table…

Hearing the loud sound when they rattled the spoons around in the cups.

They turned the cups over and started playing drums with the spoons.
Little Guy loves any thing drums, so this was too good to pass up!


This easy play activity entertained for a long time!
Looking for other indoor play ideas??? Try these:
Indoor Play Series
Rainy Day Play
Learning Apples/Red
~Colleen

Sensory Room DIY Ball Pit

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Baby sitting in a baby pool in the living room, without water and the pool is full of ball pit balls. Text reads DIY sensory ball pit

Using an inflatable pool as a sensory room DIY ball pit for sensory play is one of our favorite ball pit activities for toddlers and babies. In this blog post, we’ll cover why and how a baby pool sensory space is so much fun.

If you have little ones in the home, you know that baby toys can quickly take over the home. That’s where this baby play area in the living room comes in. We used a baby pool right in the living room for a kiddie pool ball pit. It was a fun way to create a baby play area without taking over the whole house. We could keep our ball pit balls contained (slightly).

Baby sitting in a baby pool in the living room, without water and the pool is full of ball pit balls. Text reads DIY sensory ball pit

Check out more baby play ideas here.

DIY Ball Pit

If you’ve ever wanted to set up a calm down corner or even a sensory room, then having an inexpensive way to create a calming ball pit is ideal. That’s where this Sensory room DIY ball pit comes in!

You could use this baby pool ball pit idea in the home, in a mobile therapy practice, in an occupational therapy clinic, or other space. For young children, a great calming tool that supports learning, social participation, and school tasks is a space to chill like a ball pit. 

A DIY ball pit using an inexpensive material like a baby pool can be a great sensory strategy to support emotional regulation needs in children. It’s a place to calm or re-organize.

 
Sometimes the easiest way to bring some fun into the day is to just switch things up! 
 
Bring something unexpected into play.
 
You should have heard the cheers and excitement when I pulled the baby pool up from the garage and into the living room! 
 
All you need is two items:
  • An inflatable baby pool 
  • Plastic ball pit balls

You could use a hard shell baby pool as well, but it’s nice to deflate the baby pool and put away the DIY ball pit occasionally!

 
Children playing in an inflatable baby pool filled with ball pit balls.
 
Everyone immediately climbed in.
 
Baby sitting on the floor in a DIY sensory ball pit and playing with a variety of balls
 
And out. 
 
Baby sitting in a blow up baby pool with plastic ball pit balls
 
And in…
 
Baby playing with plastic ball pit balls in a baby pool without water
 
It’s that easy to provide an instant boredom buster!
 
Toy balls in a DIY ball pit made from a blow up baby pool without water
 
Looking for more INDOOR play ideas? We love simple yet effective baby play activities designed to promote development, cognitive skills, learning, and baby brain building. 
 
We had fun with forts
 
And playing beach
 
Or check out any of the ideas under the Kid Play tab above!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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

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