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occupational therapy activities

Occupational Therapy Memes

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If there’s one thing that’s true, it’s that Occupational Therapists love to laugh. Maybe it’s the therapeutic use of self and the use of humor in therapy that allows us this ability. At any rate, we love occupational therapy memes! These OT memes are perfect to include with our occupational therapy month activities for occupational therapy month during April…or any time of year to celebrate the profession of occupational therapy!

Here, we’re sharing some new OT memes that we’ve been sharing over on our Facebook page. Use these to share your passion for the profession, spread knowledge about occupational therapy, and to have a quick laugh! Speaking of laughs, be sure to check out our occupational therapy jokes page!

Occupational Therapy Memes (That Therapists Love)

We’ve shared a few of these memes on Facebook and Twitter so far, and let’s just say, us OTs love to share our love for our profession! Some of our most popular occupational therapy memes include the ones below. Some are funny occupational therapy quotes and others are dedicated to the school-based therapist. Can you relate to any of these therapy memes?

Here are some sensory memes we’ve shared recently.

Pediatric therapists know the joy of having a clinic full of the fun stuff! Whether the gym-favorite is the ball pit or the game closet, there is a lot of fun happening in the occupational therapy gym! What is your favorite: the ball pit, shaving cream, or a specific toy?

OT meme

As an OT, there is just something about a clearance sign. If you are like me, you go on high-alert for potential therapy tools on the discount rack! During the end of summer, you might just find therapists scooping up all of the sidewalk chalk and bubbles…and those awesome Target dollar spot finds! There’s a reason why: OTs are skilled at using a toy or game in novel ways. A box of chalk can make it through an entire caseload…while working on everything from visual motor skills to gross motor strength and endurance…through the child’s primary occupation: play!

So, when you find a box of chalk on clearance, grab it up and watch the magic happen in the therapy room!

Occupational therapy meme

School-based OTs are some of the most efficient and busy therapists I know. From August through June, they are running from building to building (and district to district in some cases!), pulling luggage full of therapy supplies, and documenting well into the night sometimes. Don’t even mention IEP and Annual Review season! But one thing is for sure: when those summer months arrive, school-based OTs are free and loving life! Until summer school starts up!

This OT meme hit a funny bone for some therapists…Sunday nights for the school-based OTs on summer break mean just another summer day is coming, and not a case of the Mondays!

Self-care is essential for those in the healthcare field. Burnout is real! For some of us, coffee is just the right amount of self-care needed to jump into another day’s caseload! Therapist survival is a must…coffee helps!

School-based OTs and handwriting goals go hand-in-hand (pun intended!) So, after working in the field for a little while, therapists begin to notice a new superpower…the ability to read AND write upside down and backwards!

You know what I’m talking about…you’re sitting across from a student who is working on letter formation, letter spacing, line placement, and other aspects of functional handwriting. But, if you take the paper away from the student in order to correct or write words on the page, the student’s visual gaze is disrupted, attention falters, and you need to start over with orientation to the page, word, and letters. Not good.

So what happens? You develop the ability to write every upper case and lowercase letter from your position, sitting across from the child. You can write from the child’s left side to the child’s right side of the page, AND forming those letters from top to bottom, from the child’s perspective. Amazing!

You know you are an occupational therapist when analyzing pencil grasps in every coffee shop, bank, library, hotel desk, post office, DMV…everywhere! We have this additional sense called pencil grasp analysis! We just can’t help but notice bad pencil grasps everywhere.

Occupational therapy meme

You’ve seen it before. Probably earlier today if it was a work day for you…that supply closet in the occupational therapy room that is absoluselty overflowing with therapy putty, games, toys, ride on toys, therapy balls, hula hoops, puzzles, art supplies, therapy band. The list goes on and on. And onto the floor sometimes!

The occupational therapy supply closet can be a place to find some old school items from years past! But the thing is, the OT will find a novel use for any item in that closet, and knock out some goals!

OT month. You know you are an OT when

What are some funny occupational therapy memes that you’ve seen?

Spring Occupational Therapy Activities Packet

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Spring occupational therapy activities

Looking for activities to add into therapy sessions, recommend in home programs, or to use in the classroom or home? You probably want ideas that promote developmental skills that kids need for effective and functional skills. That’s why I’ve put together the Spring Occupational Therapy Activities Packet! 


This time of year, one of our more popular products here on The OT Toolbox is our Spring Occupational Therapy packet. The best news is that, this packet has had a major upgrade from it’s previous collection of spring sensory activities.

Spring Occupational Therapy Activities for kids.



In the Spring OT packet, you’ll now find:

  • Spring Proprioceptive Activities
  • Spring Vestibular Activities
  • Spring Visual Processing Activities
  • Spring Tactile Processing Activities
  • Spring Olfactory Activities
  • Spring Auditory Processing Activities
  • Spring Oral Motor Activities
  • Spring Fine Motor Activities
  • Spring Gross Motor Activities
  • Spring Handwriting Practice Prompts
  • Spring Themed Brain Breaks
  • Occupational Therapy Homework Page
  • Client-Centered Worksheet
  • 5 pages of Visual Perceptual Skill Activities

All of the Spring activities include ideas to promote the various areas of sensory processing with a Spring-theme. There are ways to upgrade and downgrade the activities and each activities includes strategies to incorporate eye-hand coordination, bilateral coordination, body scheme, oculomotor control, visual perception, fine and gross motor skills, and more.



It’s a really popular product on the site this time of year. I’ve doubled the size of this packet and added:

Spring Visual Perception Worksheets- Print these off and slide them into a page protector. Use them to work on visual perceptual skills like form discrimination, visual closure, figure ground, and visual processing skills like tracking, scanning, etc. Use manipulative items to work on fine motor skills with these worksheets such as play dough, slime, Wikki Stix, yarn, craft pom poms, or other items.

Spring Fine Motor and Gross Motor Activities- Add these ideas to therapy home programs to work on pencil grasp or core strength. Use these ideas in therapy warm-ups, or to add movement to a child’s day.

Spring Themed Brain Breaks- Cut up these cards and use them to add movement and motor skills into the classroom or home. It’s a great way to re-charge!

Spring Themed Handwriting Practice Prompts- There are two pages of writing prompts that are ONLY in list form. That means kids don’t need to write out sentences while working on letter formation, spacing and size. They can work on all of the handwriting skills they need in a short list that is interest-based, making it motivational for them. And, the list format is a quick way to sneak in handwriting practice!

OT Homework Sheet- Sometimes, it takes extra practice to make skills “stick”. When parents help in practicing therapy activities, it can make a difference in carryover. You’ll find a done-for-you OT homework sheet to use in weekly homework activities OR for use as a home exercise program!

Client-Centered Worksheet- When our kiddos have a voice in their therapy, carryover and goals can be more meaningful to them. Use this worksheet to come up with Spring activities that meet the needs of a child, while taking into considerations that child’s interests and strengths to make activities meaningful.

Sensory Activities and More- All of these extras were added to the already well-rounded Spring packet that includes activities designed around each of the sensory systems. You’ll find 13 pages of proprioception activities, vestibular activities, tactile activities, oral motor activities, etc. And, they include ideas to extend the activity to include eye-hand coordination, body scheme, oculomotor control, visual perception, coordination, and motor planning.

This Spring Packet has everything you need for the next three months!
You’ll also find several sheets listing tons of Spring activities designed to promote specific areas:

  • Spring Fine Motor Activities
  • Spring Gross Motor Activities
  • Spring Handwriting Practice Prompts
  • Spring Themed Brain Breaks
Use these activities as warm-ups to your therapy sessions, or add them to the homework page below to create a home program. 

Use this Spring Occupational Therapy Activities packet to come up with fresh activity ideas to promote fine motor skills, gross motor skills, balance, coordination, visual motor skills, sensory processing, and more.

The Best thing about the Spring Activity Packet:

One of my favorite parts of the Spring Occupational Therapy Packet is the therapist tool section:

  • Occupational Therapy Homework Page
  • Client-Centered Worksheet

These two sheets are perfect for the therapist looking to incorporate carryover of skills. Use the homework page to provide specific OT recommended activities to be completed at home. This is great for those sills that parents strive to see success in but need more practice time for achieving certain skill levels.

The Client-Centered Worksheet is a great way to incorporate the client’s specific interests and goals so that overarching goal areas and functional goals incorporate interests and personal strengths, achieving that “just right” level of skill.

CLICK HERE to grab the Spring Occupational Therapy Activity Packet for just $7.99.

Finally, included in the Packet are several sheets of visual perception activities. These are worksheets that can be used in so many ways! Laminate them or slide them into a page protector and use them over and over again with a variety of tools such as play dough balls (work those fine motor skills!), pain dabbers, craft pom poms, wikki stix, or dry erase markers. These sheets can be printed off once and used over and over again with the whole caseload, using them in different ways.

  • 5 pages of Visual Perceptual Skill Activities
I’m so excited to get this updated packet out to you. If you’re looking for ways to make therapy planning easy for the next few months, grab your copy here. 

This activity packet is 26 pages long and has everything you need to work on the skills kids are struggling with…with a Spring theme!

Here’s the link again to grab that packet.

Use this Spring Occupational Therapy Activities Packet to work on occupational therapy goals and functional skills with a spring theme.

Spring fine motor activities, spring gross motor skills, visual motor skills, handwriting, sensory processing, and strengthening are just some of the ways to use a spring theme in occupational therapy.
NOTE: This packet is not intended as treatment or intervention. It’s to be used as an educational resource and in conjunction with therapy plans as indicated by a child’s therapist following individualized evaluation. Activities should be completed under supervision by an adult. 

31 Days of Occupational Therapy with Free Materials

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Use these free and recycled items to work on occupational therapy goals

Coming up with fun ideas for occupational therapy activities for interventions can easily become nerve-wracking! It’s easy to fall into a routine and use the same old cookie cutter activities in OT treatment sessions. Here, you will find a challenge designed to change that recipe for burnout! Below is a strategy to use out-of-the-box occupational therapy activities using free materials, or items you probably already have! 

 

Occupational Therapy Activities

 

Below is a series I ran one October, in which I challenged myself to write 31 days of posts about my profession: Occupational Therapy!  You will find 31 days of Occupational Therapy with free materials provides treatment activities, tips, tools, and ideas for many developmental, sensory, fine motor, gross motor, and visual perceptual areas. 

I’ve bumped up the OT activities, though, to add more ideas to build fine motor skills or work on development, all with free items.

The best news is that these ideas are going to be creative fun that kids will love and (almost) all free.  The therapeutic modalities that I’ve outlined will provide you will a resource for frugal treatment of many Occupational Therapy goal areas.  

I strive to create crafts and activities that use mostly free items that are found around my home in the play and learning that we do here.  


Use these free and recycled items to work on occupational therapy goals

Occupational Therapy Activities with Free Materials

Scroll through the activities below for fun ways to work on development. But first, let’s discuss a few items you may want to have in your therapy toolbox. These are recycled items and household materials that can be used in various ways.

They are open-ended items to use in fine motor work, or in textured sensory play. Use the items to work on hand strength, scissor skills, motor planning, or other occupational therapy goal areas. 

Here are some free and recycled items to stock your therapy toolbox:

  • Cardboard
  • Cupcake liners
  • Sandpaper
  • Cardstock
  • Construction paper
  • Tissue paper
  • Index cards
  • Cookie cutters
  • Nuts and bolts
  • Plastic sandwich bags
  • Paper cups
  • Newspaper
  • Buttons
  • Tape
  • Craft sticks (popsicle sticks)
  • Craft pom poms or cotton balls
  • Recycled egg carton
  • Bread ties
  • String
  • Glue
  • Recycled bottle caps
  • Cardboard tubes
  • Rubber bands
  • Small containers
  • Crayons
  • Recycled bottles

occupational therapy items to add to your therapy bag

What would you add to this list?

Occupational Therapy treatment tips and tools for pediatrics and school-based therapy using mostly free or inexpensive materials and items you can find around the home. Great resource and many ideas here!
 
Affiliate links are included in this post.
 
You can see a previous activity challenge, based on learning in the 31 days of learning with mostly free items challenge. I’m hoping that this series is just as helpful!
 

If you’ve been to this blog before, you might know that I’m an Occupational Therapist by trade, and love sharing helpful tips, tools and strategies that meet a variety of needs. It’s my hope that this OT Challenge will be an idea-generator for you!

More Occupational Therapy Activities

A few more resources on the site may be helpful for you. Below are some of our free courses, printable packets, and email courses that can be used in your practice. Let me know if there is another topic you are looking for information on. I would love to help out!


This Visual Processing Lab is an email series that delivers tons of content and information right into your email inbox. Expect to learn tons on visual perception, visual motor integration, and what that looks like in our kiddos who struggle with handwriting and eye-hand coordination. This email series is totally free! Join the lab here.

This visual processing lab is a series for occupational therapists looking for occupational therapy activities based on visual processing needs.



This Executive Function Mini-Course is a free email course on everything executive functioning. You will learn about executive functioning skills, how they develop, and what executive functioning challenges look like in our kids at home and at school. You’ll gain helpful tips that can be implemented right away. It’s a goldmine for any parent, teacher, or occupational therapist!


Take the Executive Function Mini-Course here. 

This executive function course is a helpful tool for occupational therapists, parents, or teachers working with kids on executive functioning skills.

 

Occupational Therapy Activity Ideas



In this Occupational Therapy with free materials series, you will find many of my favorite occupational therapy treatment activities for many developmental difficulties in pediatrics, all using items that you probably already have at home.  

The nice thing about this series is that you don’t have to be receiving OT services or have a diagnosis of anything to benefit from these 31 days of tips and tools.  Many, MANY kids out there are working on shoe tying. Or writing on the lines.  Or many other developmental areas.  All of the activities will be low-cost and inexpensive.


Here is a little video that we created based on this series. It’s my hope that the activities below hit on the needs you have on your caseload!

It is my hope that you will find the ideas shared here in the next 31 days to be helpful and and a valuable resource.  AND, not only will the tricks and tips use mostly free or low-cost items, I will also have lists of my recommendations for toys and tools that can help with each area.  

This is going to be a great month …but fun! Use these activities to guide interventions, using out-of-the-box ideas, while working on goal areas your clients need.


And now, without further ado:

31 Days of Occupational Therapy with Free Materials

 
 
https://www.theottoolbox.com/2015/10/visual-tracking-tips-and-tools-for.html  
 
 
 
 
 
Day 9 Sensory Letter Formation
 
Motor Planning Fine Motor Maze hand strengthening activity
 
 
 
 
Scooping and pouring fine motor and hand dominance with beads
 

Day 22 The Benefits of Coloring

Day 23 Clothes Pin Exercises and Pinch Grasp Types

Day 24 Homemade Pegboard Activities

Day 25 Creative Scissor Skills Practice

 
Neat Pincer Grasp Fine Motor Activity Buttoning Tips and Tricks
 
 

Day 30 Gross Grasp with Recycled Containers

Day 31 Finger Isolation Fingerprint Activities

 
Did you LOVE this series as much as I did?  Here are MORE ways to work on Occupational Therapy using mostly free or inexpensive materials:  
 
Try a few inexpensive treatment tools like kid-friendly tongs and tweezers.  They can be used in so many different ways.  A set of simple supplies can be tools for many different OT treatment goals.
 
 
 
 

 Sensory Processing and handwritinghttps://www.theottoolbox.com/2015/11/benefits-of-playing-with-stickers-occupational-therapy.html What is motor planning activity for kids
 
Sensory Processing and Handwriting
 
Benefits of Stickers in Occupational Therapy
 
What is Motor Planning? Activity for kids
 
 
 

 

   
 
 
 

 

 

 

 
Free letter building printables Sight word crayon rubbing activity
 
 
 
 

Even MORE great pages you where you will find tons of Occupational Therapy treatment ideas and info that can be incorporated into simple play at home, using frugal (mostly free) items that you already have:   Sensory Play IdeasVisual Perceptual SkillsFine Motor Skills

Occupational Therapy treatment tips and tools for pediatrics and school-based therapy using mostly free or inexpensive materials and items you can find around the home. Great resource and many ideas here!
Occupational Therapy treatment ideas using free materials

Love these ideas shared in this series?  Try some of these: 

Occupational Therapy Activities for Scissor Skills

There are many scissor skills resources on the website. Some of our favorite ways to support use of scissors include:

Occupational Therapy Activities for Fine Motor Skills

Building fine motor skills in occupational therapy sessions occur typically in each therapy session. Here are more fun ways to build these essential skills:

 

Occupational Therapy Activities for Handwriting

We have many handwriting strategies here on the website. Some of our favorite ways to develop handwriting skills in OT include:

Working on fine motor skills, visual perception, visual motor skills, sensory tolerance, handwriting, or scissor skills? Our Fine Motor Kits cover all of these areas and more.

Check out the seasonal Fine Motor Kits that kids love:

Letters Fine Motor Kit
Kit de motricidad fina de verano
Summer Fine Motor Kit
Outer Space Fine Motor Kit
Space Fine Motor Kit
Spring fine motor kit
Valentines Day fine motor kit
winter fine motor kit
Winter Fine Motor Kit

Or, grab one of our themed Fine Motor Kits to target skills with fun themes:

Want access to all of these kits…and more being added each month? Join The OT Toolbox Member’s Club!

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.

KidKraft Train Table Review Trundle Drawers Gift for Kids

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We own a KidKraft Train Table with Trundle Drawers and wanted to review it’s versatility for creative play and learning.  A train table is a key tool in therapy and learning in the home and classroom, to boost many skills.  We love to come up with frugal ways to encourage development of the child.  Using a train table is just one way to do this by using what you’ve got in the home as a multi-purpose item for therapy, play, learning, and exploration!



We’ve joined 31 other bloggers in a gift review blog hop to discover and explore more about each blogger’s must-have items.  


Sensory strategies that are motivating can be a big help for some kids. Try these train themed sensory activity ideas 

Use a train table in therapy, sensory play, fine motor development, learning, crafts at home and at school.

This post contains affiliate links.  See our full disclosure here.

We LOVE our KidKraft Train Table.  With it’s trundle drawers, we have lots of storage for trains, pretend play animals, blocks, and even sensory play items.  We use our train table almost every day in some type of play and wanted to review the KidKraft train table and share our fun ideas that make this big ticket item a great deal for versatile play for kids.


The KidKraft train table is the perfect size for play from all sides.  Many train tables are on the smaller side, but this one is huge!  It’s perfect for lots of kids to get at the pretend play fun from all sides.  The table has a small lip to the edge to prevent trains from rolling over the sides of the table top.  We’ve used this edge to contain not only trains, but marbles, water beads, art supplies, and beads.  The train table is easy to assemble and move.  We’ve moved our KidKraft Train Table around so many times and it is still very sturdy and in great shape.


Besides the trundle drawers for amazing storage (these drawers are HUGE!), our favorite feature is the reversable table surface.  One side has a great landscaped scene with road, parking lot, water, and grassy area for pretend play with trains and cars.  The other side of our surface is all white.  This is perfect for creative play at it’s finest.  Our model is older and it seems like the newer models may have a different color on the reversed side.  It would be fun to paint one side of the surface with a solid color, or chalkboard paint, or attach a Lego surface for a DIY Lego table or glue a large sheet of felt to the surface for a DIY felt table.

The height of the table is perfect for children to kneel, sit, or stand around. Adults can get right up to the table and sit on the floor with their legs under the table and stretched out, comfortable and ready for playing!


How to use a train table in therapy and at home for development.






Using a KidKraft Train Table for Creative Play

We love using our train table in creative play.  

Using a Train Table for Sensory Play:

Use the train table for sensory play with water beads, magnetic letters, play dough activities, baby sensory play, or by creating a real-life “I Spy” game.  One thing to note about our train table–the surface wipes down really well.  I wouldn’t saturate it with gak or water in sensory play, but you could play with moon dough or other wipe-able sensory activities.  I use spay-able cleanser or magic erasers to clean the white surface of our train table all the time.

Using a Train Table for a Craft Center:

The size and surface of the train table is perfect for kids crafts.  The surface of this large table is perfect for spreading out supplies, craft activities, and even allowing friends to join in on crafty fun!  We’ve used our train table in so many art creation activities.

Using a Train Table for  Fine Motor Development:

We love to spread out a bunch of magazines and a few pairs of scissors to get busy on scissor skill activities.  This large area is a great way to create and play with fine motor activities while exploring many skill sets on the train table surface.  Kids can gather around the sides of the train table and play with all kinds of  fine motor activities, like in-hand manipulation play while being sure that the lip of the sides will not allow little pieces to flip over onto the floor.


Using a Train Table in Small World Imagination Play:

Oh, we definitely use our train table for trains, cars, and small world pretend play.  Free imagination play is often times the most fun!  Besides using just trains on the train table, pull in small worlds to encourage  and develop language and imagination with play dough, or with pieces like glass gems, small plastic animals, rocks, or more.  Your imagination is the limit!  We use those giant  trundle drawers for storing all of the pieces to imagination play.

The size and height of the KidKraft Train Table allows for a perfect surface for party activities like play crafts, and snacks.  


Do you have a train table? How do you use it in play? Let us know on our Facebook page or the comments below.



Stop by the other bloggers in this series to see their gift item reviews by visiting Lalymom’s Wishlist Reviewed!


                         Train Table review for gifts. Use a train table for so much ore than just train play: fine motor station, craft table, small world surface, art area. We use our train table every day!

More gift ideas you may be interested in: 



Baked Cotton Balls Ten Apples Up On Top

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Did you ever do an activity with the kids that was such a hit, that the kids ask to re-do the activity over and over and over again?  This one is it for us.  There is rarely a day that goes by that I don’t hear about our smashing apples activity. Especially if we happen to see a hammer.  Oh, this baked cotton ball activity was a fun one for us! 
 
We’ve never made baked cotton balls before, but have had the idea bubbling for a while.  When we heard that the Preschool Book Club‘s book for this week would be Ten Apples Up on Top, we knew it would have to be an apple themed baked cotton ball activity.  We even made these waaaay before all of the other book activities in the second series of books.  Like back in June.  If you’ve never made baked cotton balls before, this is a MUST-DO activity!
This post contains affiliate links.  


How to make Baked Cotton Balls:

First read Ten Apples Up On Top! by Dr. Seuss.  This is such a fun book for counting and playing along with the story.
Begin by mixing together one cup of flour and one cup of water.  This is a great activity for the kids.  Scooping, stirring, direction following, sneak tasting (my kids aren’t the only ones who go crazy for flour, right!??)
 
Pour in a bunch of red food coloring.  We typically go with Wilton gel colors for all of our dying activities, but I knew I wanted a really deep red color.  It seems like red coloring requires SO much dye to get a good shade of red.  I ended up using a bottle from the dollar store and used about half of the bottle of food dye.  This was maybe 20 drops?  Add enough to get a nice red color.
 
Mix in the food coloring.
Now is the cotton ball part.  Grab up your stash of cotton balls.
Mix them around to coat all of the cotton balls.  
Place a layer of aluminum foil on a baking tray and place the cotton balls on the tray for baking.  I used two forks to pick up the coated cotton balls and was able to let excess flour coating drip off before placing the cotton balls onto the foil. You’ll want to let as much excess drip off before putting them on the sheet to avoid the sharp edges and flat bottom once the cotton balls bake.
 
Pop the baking sheet into the oven for around 60 minutes at 300 degrees F.
 
While the cotton balls are baking, snip up the leaves and stems for the apples.  We used brown pipe cleaners and green crafting foam that we received from www.craftprojectideas.com.
When the apples are done, pull them out of the oven and let them cool for a bit. They will be nice and hard.  You’ll need to snip the bottom edges of the apples to remove any sharp edges that dripped to the base before baking.
 
To attach the leaves and stems, lay the leaves on the apple top and poke the pipe cleaner through the foam sheet and into the cotton ball.  The kids were able to help with this part, but assisting with stem attachment did not allow this mama to take any pictures 😉
 
Our crop of apples were ready for playing with!
 
We followed along with the book as we read to stack up apples one by one.  What a great way to learn and play with math facts, counting, number order, and simple adding.  Little Guy LOVED this activity.
We got to hammering the cotton balls and this was the really fun part!  The baked cotton balls have a hard outer edge that allow for a satisfying crunch when smashed, and a squishy, cottony center.  What a fun way to explore and play.
 
We used a plastic hammer, but any hammer would do.
In fact, fists work just as well for smashing.
We had a smashing afternoon.

 

The remains of our cotton ball smashing reminded us of this page in the book.  Be sure to let us know if you make baked cotton balls!  We would love to hear about your experience with this sensory and fine motor activity!
 
Stop by the other Preschool Book Club bloggers to see their takes on Ten Apples Up On Top!
 
Sensory Bag from Frogs and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails | Relay Race from Homegrown Friends | Play Dough Activity from Buggy and Buddy

N is for Napkin Newt Craft

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We love making cute crafts and our dining room wall can attest for that.  There’s a nice gallery of kid art going on on all four walls (and the ceiling, too!) and this cute newt craft is sure to make the wall!  


We’re joining bloggers from all over in the 31 days of ABCs series hosted by All Done Monkey.   Each day, a blogger has been publishing a blog post based on a letter.  We’re up next with N and our napkin newt.  
N is for Napkin and Newt! Make a napkin newt with the kids. So cute!

Newt Craft:

To make your newt, you’ll need a few supplies.  We used napkins, googly eyes, paint dab markers, glue, and red card stock.  We received the googly eyes and paint dab markers from www.craftprojectideas.com.  



Start by drawing a simple newt shape on the napkin.  I used a marker, but a pen would work, too.

If you have a bunch of newts to make for a preschool class or siblings, stack up a few sheets of napkins.  Grab your sharpest scissors and cut out the newts.  This is a job for a parent, but an older child could cut this complex shape.  Hold the napkins together tightly as you cut around the toes.
We liked how our napkin newt’s texture looked like scales.
Next, use your paint dab markers to dab on spots.  We went with different colors, and each child made their newt differently.

It was fun to see my daughter’s personalities coming out in their craftiness.  Big Sister was deliberate and colorful with her painting.  

Baby Girl painted in typical Baby Girl fashion…fast and furious and with STYLE!

Next, glue on googly eyes.
These newts are almost done.  We talked about the letter N and how Newt and Napkin both start with “N”.  We said a bunch of other words that start with “n” as we crafted.
Snip tongues from the red card stock and glue to the back of the newts.  Super cute newt!
Paint Dabber Newt Craft.



Let us know if you make this craft.  We would love to see your version!  Stop by our Facebook page and tell us all about it.

Apple Math Counting and Adding Activity

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We love using math concepts that are learned in school into playful activities at home.  Learning through play is a great way to strengthen concepts learned in the classroom.  We used apples to count, add, and learn one day, all in the great outdoors!
Be sure to use our free count and color worksheet for more fine motor math through play.

Kindergarten and Preschool students will enjoy this math activity using apples or other objects with chalk. One to one correspondence, dice math, counting


Apple math activity for Kindergartners and Preschoolers

 
This post contains affiliate links.  If a purchase is made through these links, we receive a small percentage in payment at no cost to you.

We used Sidewalk Chalk and a
dice for this activity.  I took the kids outside to the sidewalk one afternoon and drew a bunch of apple shapes.  We were ready to play.


Note–you could also draw any shape for this activity: pumpkins, smiley faces, geometric shapes, simple houses…any thing would work.

To play the game, I had the kids roll the dice.  They had to count the dots on the dice, or simply look at the dots to determine how many dots there were.  Big Sister did a lot of dice activities last year in Kindergarten so she was able to glance at the dice and know how many dots there were.  Little Guy counted the dots.  This is a great early math skill for preschool aged kids.

Once they counted the dots on the dice, I had them color in the same number of apples to correspond to the number of dots.  

We used the squares of our sidewalk to wok on Kindergarten math concepts that Big Sister learned towards the end of her school year.  Some of the squares had two apples drawn on them, and others had four or more.


This was a great opportunity to review addition. 



She added the apples to make the total match the number of dots on the dice. 


Little Guy counted along with Big Sister to count the total number of apples filled in.

Coloring in the apples with the chalk requires use of the small muscles of the hand.  The sidewalk surface is resistive and the area they colored in was small.  This required precision to stay in the lines.  Not to mention, coloring in all of those apples really strengthened the hands!


This was such a fun way to review old math areas for the new first grader and introduce new math concepts to the preschooler. Like this math activity?  Try a few of these ideas:

Apple Activities for Therapy

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apple activities

It’s that time of year again for all of the apple activities! The kids are headed back to school and crisp, fall days are ahead. The excitement that comes with summer has dwindled, but don’t you worry – we are here to help fill your days with fall-themed fun, starting with Apple Activities to use in occupational therapy sessions or at home to help kids develop skills! 

Apple activities including apple fine motor, apple gross motor, apple sensory activities, and more.

Just think of the hot apple cider, apple picking, and apple pie that lies ahead…along with the opportunities to learn, of course! 

We have broken down our activity list into therapy topics, so that you are able to pick and choose what you would like to address that day: sensory, motor, vision, cognition, or social skills! 

Apple Sensory Activities

Amazon affiliate links are included in this blog post.

For heavy work through the hands that offers proprioceptive input AND tactile sensory experiences, try making these baked cotton ball apples. We used them in apple sensory play and fine motor work.

Sensory bins can be a great way to learn by experience. An apple-themed one could look like this: Apple-Cinnamon Sensory Bin. You could hide magnet letters to find and spell out the word “apple”, which would be great practice for children who have difficulty with shape constancy and letter reversals – actually holding the letter in their hand can help wire their memory for future use!  

Applesauce oobleck is just like traditional oobleck, a type of slime, but with applesauce! The applesauce adds a new texture that is not often felt in traditional slime, as well as the smell of apples and cinnamon, as an added sensory experience. You can use these types of sensory experiences to address sensory concerns, like hyper or hyposensitivity, or you can use them as a means to address other unrelated concerns. For example, I love making slime as a way to address attention, sequencing and direction following. Additionally, when paired with education or discussion, it can be used as an adjunct to a socioemotional intervention. 

For more Fall sensory activities, grab our Fall Sensory Activities Guide for hands-on sensory play with apples and all things Fall.

Apple Fine Motor Activities

To work on fine motor skills, strength, dexterity needed for functional tasks like handwriting, clothing independence, pencil grasp, cutting with scissors, and more, an apple themed fine motor activity is the way to go. Check out our Apple-Themed Fine Motor Math activity for a multi-sensory learning activity with apples. 

Kids love these apple stamps using a toilet paper tube. It’s a fun OT craft to work on precision, eye-hand coordination, crossing midline, and much more.

Apple Poke with Toothpicks is a super easy but satisfying sensory and fine motor activity for children of all ages. Holding the thin toothpick requires a fine grasp like a pincer or tripod, which prepares hands for the work of a child (handwriting, buttoning, zipping, etc). 

Adjust as necessary to make this activity your own:

  • Follow a pattern with colored toothpicks
  • Encourage fine motor precision by poking on dots or in pre-made holes
  • Use golf tees or one-sided toothpicks for a safer option 

Apple Pointillism is a great way to use one of my favorite tools – the hole punch. Hole punching strengthens important hand muscles, in preparation for skills like handwriting, buttoning, and so much more. Even better, picking up those teeny-tiny circles will encourage a pincer grasp. 

Apple Gross Motor Activities

Apple gross motor activities can be used to develop core strength, endurance, balance, position changes, motor planning, and more. All of these skill areas are a must for occupations and functional tasks. Try these gross motor activities with an apple theme:

Make an indoor balance beam with an apple theme to address balance, core strength, proprioceptive input, coordination, vestibular input, and more.

Check out our Apple-Themed Brain Breaks for plenty of movement-based activities as well as self-regulation through whole body movement.

Ten Apples Up on Top by Dr. Seuss is a great book for sequencing and identifying numbers, but I think it could be great for gross motor development like coordination, balance and postural stability. Just have your child copy the movements of the animals! For even more challenging fun, cut out felt “apples” so they can balance them on their heads, too! 

Apple Visual Perception Activities

This apple visual perception activity uses shapes to work on visual discrimination, form constancy, visual closure and more.

Just like you would do with tangrams, you could create a pattern fitting for the theme with Lego Apples. Matching an image to another by building a structure is a great way to address visual perceptual skills, problem solving, and spatial awareness. 

Plus, here are some more on-theme resources for vision and fine motor skills: 

Apple Executive Function Activities

Cooking and executive function go hand-in-hand. To work on executive functioning skill development with an apple theme, try this apple salt dough recipe. It’s great fun and a wonderful sensory and fine motor experience, too.

The Apple Pie Tree by Zoe Hall shows the life cycle of a tree, and even shares a recipe for apple pie! I love using this story for sequencing and attention. 

You can address attention, memory, spelling, letter recognition or word recognition with these Red Apple Cups. You could use constructing the cups as an intervention, too – this activity can be used in so many different ways! 

Apple Activities for Social Emotional Skills

Social Communication Skills with Apples from the Social Butterflies Club offers great resources to use with kids that encourage social interaction in a structured activity.  

We hope that you have been inspired to create your own apple themed activity, or have chosen one that will work great for your kiddos! Check in for more fall-themed activities soon. While you are waiting, take a look at these awesome resources for a great fall: Fall Themed Water Table, Fall Gross Motor Activities, and Fall Fine Motor Crafts. 

 


Apple Theme Activities

Apple themed activities for learning and play: Math, spelling, fine and gross motor, art, sensory. This is perfect for school or home preschool apple themed week!
 

 

Sydney Thorson, OTR/L, is a new occupational therapist working in school-based therapy. Her
background is in Human Development and Family Studies, and she is passionate about
providing individualized and meaningful treatment for each child and their family. Sydney is also
a children’s author and illustrator and is always working on new and exciting projects.

Circus Sensory Bin

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A while back, we were on a bit of a Circus Theme in our pretend play.  We had a bunch of fun with our circus party ideas and read a bunch of circus books.  We did this sensory bin around that time, but are just now getting the chance to blog about it.  This was such an easy sensory activity to throw together that we will definitely be playing this again.

Creative and sensory play for kids with an easy circus theme.

This post contains affiliate links.  Read our full disclosure here.

Create a circus themed sensory bin using popcorn!

To create an easy Circus Sensory Bin, you will need:


circus train pieces

Mini Animals

popcorn


plastic tray

Use circus train and circus animals in an easy sensory bin

I started by popping some corn.  And only ate a few handfuls.  Pop extra.  Snacks are good.

I put some popped and un popped corn onto a plastic tray.  Then, simply added our train set and animals.  The scene was set for imagination and pretend fun!

Kids will love to pretend with mini animals.

The animals in the different textures was such a fun way to explore animal names, animal sounds, and all in an easy sensory bin.

Kids will love to pretend and play while learning animal names and noises.

Baby Girl (age 2) loved this pretend play so much!  Not only did we have a blast playing and learning, she got a snack too!  Bonus!

Of course, the animals needed feeding, too.

We loaded up the train with popcorn and made deliveries.  Such a fun way to play away an afternoon.

This might be the perfect accompaniment to our circus tent craft.  Sensory play, craft, and snack…sounds like the perfect afternoon with the kids to me!

Note:  Like all of our activities on sugaraunts.com, we encourage playing alongside your kids and in a supervised manner.  Some crafts and activities may present a dangerous situation for children who like to put things into their mouths.  Please monitor your child with this and any activity you see on our website.  Popcorn will present as a choking hazard for small children.  Please use your best judgment if you decide to do this activity with your kids.

You may be interested in our Circus Crafts and Activities Pinterest board for more circus ideas.

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