Printable Archives - Therapy Fun Zone

Activities, activity printable, child, Craft, elementary school age, fine-motor, Free Printable, in-hand manipulation, Motor Planning, OT, Printable, tween - middle school

Perler Beads

Perler beads are tiny plastic beads that you place on little spikes on a board in order to make a design. They are quite small, so they require precision and care to get them placed on the design board. Once the design is finished, you then…

Activities, child, elementary school age, Free Printable, Handwriting, OT, pencil template, Printable, teenage, tween - middle school

Handwriting Self Check

Kids make a lot of changes with their handwriting legibility when they are aware of the expectation and know that they will need to fix what the teacher can't read or that doesn't meet the teacher's expectation. For those kids, it makes sense…

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

Using push pins to develop fine motor skills

Holding small objects is a benefit of good fine motor skills, and to work on developing and perfecting those fine motor skills, you can use small objects as a tool. Push pins or thumb tacks that you would use in a cork board are usually a perfect…

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, 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, 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, Craft, Craft, Crossing Midline, elementary school age, fall, fine-motor, Free Printable, Handwriting, holiday, in-hand manipulation, Motor Planning, OT, Paper, pencil template, Printable, scissor cutting, Scissor Cutting, season, Shapes, Thanksgiving, visual perceptual

Scissor Cutting Turkey Template

Making Turkeys for Thanksgiving is a great time to incorporate a lot of skills into your therapy session. I love that the feathers are perfect for writing on and being able to create a thankful craft. Cutting with scissors is a skill that works…

Activities, activity printable, child, Crossing Midline, elementary school age, fine-motor, Handwriting, OT, Paper, Printable, teenage, tween - middle school, visual perceptual

Crack the Code Visual and Writing

When you have kids that need a higher level of challenge for visual scanning, visual perception, and writing, it can be hard to find activities that are difficult enough for them to do and that give enough of a challenge. I want to work on visual…

Activities, activity printable, child, Clothespin Activities, elementary school age, fine-motor, Free Printable, games, hand strengthening, Motor Planning, OT, Printable, Reach and grasp, visual perceptual

Flower Garden Fine Motor and Visual Motor Challenge

I was looking for an activity that would give a good challenge to the visual motor system as well as challenge fine motor control. I wanted quite a bit of visual motor reaching and grasping while in prone. In one school that I work in, I have…

Activities, Animals, bimanual, child, Craft, elementary school age, fine-motor, Free Printable, Motor Planning, OT, Paper, Printable, scissor cutting, Scissor Cutting, visual perceptual

Visual Motor Skills and Cutting With Scissors

Being able to cut with scissors requires many skills, starting with the physical motor ability to sit at a table, the fine motor ability to hold the scissors, and the strength to open and close the scissors. In order to follow lines and shapes…

Activities, activity printable, ADL, bimanual, buttoning, child, dressing, elementary school age, favorite toys, fine-motor, Free Printable, games, Motor Planning, OT, Printable

New Button Pizzas and Patterns to Make Your Own

The button pizza, sandwich and oreo are so great for working on fine motor and motor planning skills in a fun way. I ran out of the button food available in the shop quite a while ago, and have found it difficult to find a sewing manufacturer…

Activities, activity printable, adult, child, elementary school age, fine-motor, Free Printable, OT, pencil template, Printable, teenage, visual perceptual

Game to Practice Erasing and Writing

Hey, John, your letters look really good in that sentence, but I am having trouble seeing what you wrote because you didn't erase the first one you wrote well enough. Have you ever run into this problem? Is it a struggle to get your kids to…

Activities, activity printable, fine-motor, Handwriting, Motor Planning, OT, pencil template, Printable, spring, summer, visual perceptual

A Bunch of Bee Themed Activities

To work on pencil control, it really is great to do activities where you are having to control your pencil. For this I use pencil paths, pencil adventures, circles, and coloring. I really enjoyed using the flower honeycomb activity that I…

Activities, activity printable, child, elementary school age, fine-motor, Free Printable, Handwriting, OT, Paper, Printable, spring

Flower Pollen Honeycomb Fine Motor

I was working with some kids the other day, and we were coloring flowers, working on holding the pencil in a good grasp, and getting some good strokes of the colored pencils, and one little guy was not able to move his fingers independently…

q-tip painting templates for fine motor control

Activities, activity printable, child, Craft, Craft, elementary school age, fine-motor, Free Printable, Handwriting, OT, Paper, Printable, visual perceptual

More Q-Tip Painting Templates

When I first gave a student q-tips to paint with, she did a lot of smearing and squishing of the paint on the paper. She was working those fine muscles of the hand, but there was a little something missing from the picture. It was a very…

child, equipment, home program, OT, preschool, Printable, toddler, Toileting

Modifications for Potty Training

Your sweet toddler has shown all of the signs for being ready to potty train, and you are excited to get started when you realize they are going to fall right off (or in) the toilet. Toileting and potty training is often challenging with typical…

Activities, activity printable, child, Chopstick activities, elementary school age, fine-motor, Free Printable, Handwriting, OT, Pom Poms or cotton balls, Printable, visual perceptual

Color Pop Game For Fine Motor and Writing

The color pop game is a great game that incorporates quite a few skills within one game. Some of the skills used in the game are fine motor, visual scanning, writing, counting, and finding coordinates on a chart. I use either colored porcupine…

Activities, activity printable, bimanual, child, Clothespin Activities, Crossing Midline, elementary school age, fine-motor, games, hand strengthening, Handwriting, OT, Printable, visual perceptual

Wild Animal Clothespin Game

One of our favorite games is the Ocean Animal Clothespin game, so I made a variation of the game named the Wild Animal Clothespin Game, with some different animals so the kids can enjoy working on finger strengthening using clothespins while…

Activities, activity printable, child, Craft, elementary school age, fall, fine-motor, Free Printable, Halloween, hand strengthening, Handwriting, Materials, Motor Planning, OT, Paper, Printable, scissor cutting, Scissor Cutting

Fine Motor Skills With Torn Paper Pumpkins

Here is a great activity that is worth doing every year. I love having kids tear paper because it really makes them work hard with their fingers and work on those fine motor skills. I have had kids cut out pumpkins and create a jack-o-lantern…

Activities, elementary school age, Home Program, home program, OT, Printable, Trunk strengthening, upper extremity strengthening

Favorite Activities to Work on Shoulder Girdle Strengthening

The shoulder girdle is very important in the functioning of the arms and the hands. In order to use your hands efficiently, you need to have strong, stable shoulders for your arms to work off of. Kids need to be able to easily reach up against…