OT Archives - Therapy Fun Zone

Activities, child, elementary school age, Gait, games, gross motor, hand strengthening, lower extremity strengthening, Motor Planning, motor planning, OT, PT, Trunk strengthening, tween - middle school, upper extremity strengthening, visual perceptual

Using a Water Gun to Propel a Ball

Water guns are a great finger strengthening tool, and when it gets hot, water is a welcome part of therapy. I had used water guns to fill up a cup with water and make a ping pong ball rise. I was trying to think of other activities that use…

Activities, bimanual, child, elementary school age, felt, fine-motor, games, hand strengthening, Handwriting, OT

Fun Ice Cream Clothespin Game

I am always working on interesting and fun ways to work on fine motor skills, and love using clothespins to work on the skills. The kids enjoy pretend playing with ice cream, but for some kids, the ice cream buttons are too hard for them to…

Activities, child, elementary school age, fine-motor, OT

Fine Motor Skills - Why Ask Why?

Today we hear from a seasoned Occupational Therapist named Stacie Erfle, MS, OTR/L. She is the creator of the Fine Motor ABCs book. A quick Google search will lead to endless possible activities to build fine motor skills. Pinterest is full…

Activities, bimanual, child, Chopstick activities, Crossing Midline, elementary school age, fine-motor, hand strengthening, Handwriting, Munchy Ball, OT, sensory motor, tween - middle school

Search and Find Fine Motor

Everyone has those days where you just need to pull an activity out of your bag that is simple and requires no extra preparation. I have quite a few of those types of activities lurking at the bottom of my bag, and a favorite is the alphabet…

news, OT, Resources

Current Monthly Specials

Spring is here and bugs and spring go together so well. This month we have the munchy ball bug quest game on sale as well as some bug clothespin games. Go check out what is on sale now. The community is where I will share my digital downloads…

Activities, child, Craft, elementary school age, OT, Paper, scissor cutting

New Scissor Skills Book

Are you looking for some ideas and information to help children learn to cut? Do you struggle with helping your child use scissors? This is a wonderful new book written by a group of therapists that goes over all of the skills areas that are…

Activities, bimanual, Craft, Craft, fine-motor, Motor Planning, OT, scissor cutting, Shapes, visual perceptual

Scissor Cutting Shapes: Pizza

When working on cutting skills, it is fun to create something out of what you cut. This week I had some of my students make some pizza. I made a template for the shapes needed to make the pizza, and they traced the shapes, cut them out and glued…

Activities, activity printable, Animals, bimanual, child, Clothespin Activities, elementary school age, fine-motor, Handwriting, OT, Paper, Printable

Fine Motor Pet Feeding

Animals are great fun for kids and can make it motivating to work on skills. I don't have any real animals to work with, so I made some pet store animals for the kids to feed, use clothespins, and practice some writing. The activity is simple…

Activities, ADL, adult, buttoning, child, Craft, felt, fine-motor, hand strengthening, Motor Planning, OT, pipe cleaner, spring

Make Button Flowers

Flowers make a great spring time activity, and there are so many ways to incorporate flowers into therapy to work on fine motor, visual motor, and coordination. I have many flower activities, such as ones that use clothes pins, but today we…

accessibility, ADL, adult, OT, Product Review, Range Of Motion

UnBuckle Me

At Therapy Fun Zone, we focus a lot on activities for children that develop their skills. However, I was recently contacted by an Occupational Therapist, who has invented a new product to help adults who struggle to unbuckle their child’s…

Activities, bimanual, child, elementary school age, fine-motor, hand strengthening, Motor Planning, OT, preschool, scissor cutting, visual perceptual

Slowing Down With Scissor Cutting

I recently was doing an evaluation, and the student was just snipping at the paper as fast and furiously as she could. When I tried to help her position the paper or the scissors better, she just pushed me away and kept snipping. She gave…

Activities, adult, bimanual, child, Crossing Midline, elementary school age, games, gross motor, lower extremity strengthening, Motor Planning, motor planning, OT, preschool, PT, Range Of Motion, Sensory, teenage, toddler, Trunk strengthening, tween - middle school, upper extremity strengthening, visual perceptual

Balloon Volleyball

Balloon Volleyball is such a simple game to play that is fun for young and old. It can be played standing up or sitting down, although when sitting down, someone will need to retrieve the balloon when it is out reach. I don’t think I need…

Activities, activity printable, buttoning, child, Craft, elementary school age, felt, fine-motor, Free Printable, OT, Paint, Paper, Pom Poms or cotton balls, Printable, spring

Rainbow Fine Motor Activities with Q-tip Painting

It is fun to do rainbow activities as you can include color sorting and matching along with working on fine motor skills. I have done many different rainbow activities over the years, and have also incorporated a Q-tip painting template into…

Activities, activity printable, ADL, buttoning, child, elementary school age, felt, fine-motor, Handwriting, OT, Printable

Using the Button Sandwich for Sequencing and Writing

I love using the button food for practicing buttoning and working on fine motor and visual perceptual skills. I made some order forms so that the kids can practice writing and sequencing their sandwich toppings as well. The kids can take…

Activities, child, fine-motor, Handwriting, OT

10 Fun Ways to Incorporate Writing into Therapy

When I am working in a school, I have so many skills that I would like to work on, but I also need to make sure that practice of writing fits into our therapy session. I have heard many people talk about doing warm up activities before their…

Activities, Animals, bimanual, child, Craft, elementary school age, felt, fine-motor, Fun Foam, OT, Paper, preschool, Recycled, recycled, toddler, visual perceptual

Feed the Animal Fine Motor Activity

I always love the fine motor activity of putting objects into a hole or slot, and it makes the task more fun and engaging when you are pretending to feed an animal. Plastic deli containers or yogurt containers are perfect to cut a mouth…

Activities, ADL, buttoning, child, dressing, elementary school age, fall, felt, OT, preschool, season, spring, summer, winter

Seasons Button Tree

I have added another button activity to my arsenal of fun things to button. This one is a seasonal tree, so you can button on the different seasons. It includes white snow for winter, green for spring, orange and red for fall, and fruit of red…

Activities, activity printable, child, elementary school age, fine-motor, Handwriting, OT, Paper, pencil template, Printable

New Pencil Adventures to Work on Pencil Control

I love the pencil adventures and pencil obstacle courses, and love to use them as a warm up or as a pencil control activity for kids who are very reluctant to write. I will frequently just draw out a path for kids to follow spur of the moment,…

Activities, bimanual, child, Crossing Midline, fine-motor, Motor Planning, OT, Reach and grasp, Sensory, sensory motor, upper extremity strengthening, visual perceptual

Using Gel Clings in Therapy

We have a guest post written by Kristi Rapp, COTA. When it comes to finding items to work with that are therapeutic, budget friendly, and versatile it can sometimes be a challenge to find just the right item to use. I have found a hidden…

accessibility, Activities, OT, Technology, teenage, Therapy techniques, tween - middle school

Fine Motor Skills and Typing

When a child has difficulty with handwriting or can't keep up in class, many people jump to the statement that they can just type instead. But can they? There are a lot of fine motor skills that go into typing, and it takes years to master the…

Activities, ADL, buttoning, child, christmas, elementary school age, felt, holiday, OT, winter

Button Felt Christmas Tree

Felt button activities are fun to use when working on buttoning skills, and a Christmas tree lends itself really well to buttoning. I made a button Christmas tree, and you can button the circle ornaments onto the tree. To make your own, you…