fine-motor Archives - Therapy Fun Zone

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, bimanual, child, christmas, Craft, elementary school age, felt, fine-motor, holiday, in-hand manipulation, Materials, Motor Planning, OT, season, visual perceptual, winter

Felt Christmas Tree

Here is a fun little Christmas activity of decorating a Christmas tree with felt ornaments. I got a styrofoam cone from the craft store and wrapped green felt around it. I then cut out some ornament shapes from different colored felt. You could…

Activities, ADL, adult, bimanual, child, christmas, Craft, Craft, Crossing Midline, elementary school age, fine-motor, holiday, in-hand manipulation, Materials, Motor Planning, OT, ribbon, scissor cutting, season, teenage, tween - middle school, tying, visual perceptual, winter

Ribbon Christmas Tree

This ribbon Christmas tree activity is the most awesome therapy activity ever. It incorporates practicing tying into a nice craft that looks beautiful when it is done. The kids all loved it, and they were all very proud of what they had accomplished.…

Activities, child, elementary school age, fine-motor, Free Printable, Handwriting, OT, pencil template, Printable, visual perceptual

Stuck in The Mud Letter Sizes

School is just starting in my neck of the woods, so with the beginning of the school year, it's time to start my therapy kids off by making sure that they are on target with their letter sizes. I love using mud paper, and have several different…

Activities, activity printable, child, elementary school age, fine-motor, Free Printable, Handwriting, Home Program, in-hand manipulation, OT, Paper, pencil template, Printable

In hand manipulation skills using broken crayons

In order to work on in-hand manipulation skills with some kids, I decided to use little pieces of broken off crayon. I had them hold two crayons at the same time, one in their palm, and one in their fingers. Then I had them draw a shape…

Activities, child, Chopstick activities, Clothespin Activities, elementary school age, favorite toys, fine-motor, in-hand manipulation, OT

20 + Small Manipulatives for Fine Motor

When looking in my therapy bag, there are a few things that I always have with me. For higher level fine motor work, I always like to have small little manipulatives and some Training Chopsticks. I have posted about these items before, but they…

Activities, ADL, child, cooking, Craft, Edible play dough, elementary school age, feeding, fine-motor, Food, hand strengthening, OT, play dough, preschool, Sensory, sensory dough, toddler

Delicious Sensory Peanut Butter Play Dough

When working with kids who have food aversions, I work on having fun with food items. To make this delicious peanut butter play dough, I put the ingredients in a bowl and let the kids mix it all together. If you have a concern about peanut allergies,…

Activities, bimanual, child, fine-motor, games, hand strengthening, Motor Planning, Munchy Ball, OT, preschool, Sensory, tween - middle school

More Kinetic Sand Fun

I posted about Kinetic Sand last year after I saw it at the AOTA conference and fell in love with how fun it was (you can read that post here). I did not have any of my own at that time, and it was not available in many stores yet. Since…

Activities, bimanual, child, elementary school age, fine-motor, games, hand strengthening, in-hand manipulation, Munchy Ball, OT, preschool, Sensory, sensory motor, tween - middle school

Messy Play and Fine Motor with Munchy Ball

Now that I have the new vinyl Munchy Balls, I was eager to use them in messy play. I started simple with water beads, which are the perfect size to feed to the Munchy Ball. It was fun to fill the ball up all the way and then have the ball…

Activities, adult, bimanual, child, elementary school age, fine-motor, games, hand strengthening, Munchy Ball, OT, preschool, Product Review, teenage, toddler, tween - middle school

New Vinyl Munchy Ball for Fine Motor

I am excited that the vinyl Munchy Balls are in the shop and they have great resistance to work on fine motor skills and hand strengthening. The great thing about them being vinyl balls is that they are washable, which is important when working…

Activities, adult, child, Clothespin Activities, elementary school age, featured guest, fine-motor, games, hand strengthening, Handwriting, OT, preschool, teenage, tween - middle school

Guess Who Clothespin Game

This is a guest post by Donna Abramson, OTR Opening and closing clothespins is a wonderful way for children to develop strength in the muscles of their hand, particularly the webspace - which helps them to hold the pencil with a correct tripod…

Activities, adult, child, elementary school age, favorite toys, fine-motor, hand strengthening, OT, preschool, season, Sponges, summer, teenage, toddler, tween - middle school, visual perceptual

Favorite Summer Toy: Six Water Play Tools for Fine Motor Skills

A group of therapist bloggers have gotten together to share what our favorite summer toys or activities are. This post is about my favorite summer toy, which is playing with water via squirt guns and other water tools. In order to see all…

Activities, adult, App Review, child, elementary school age, fine-motor, OT, teenage, tween - middle school, visual perceptual

Osmo Is an Amazing New iPad Tool For Real Life Object Manipulation

I just heard about this new iPad tool that looks like it will be amazing for therapy. It is not yet available, but you can pre-order it for 50% off, and I heard that the pre-order price is available until June 22. It is called Osmo (referral…

Activities, bimanual, child, elementary school age, fine-motor, Fun Foam, games, hand strengthening, Handwriting, Materials, Munchy Ball, OT, preschool

Fine Motor and Letters With Munchy Ball

I wanted to use the Munchy Ball in a new game with letters so that we could practice writing and build fine motor skills and hand strength at the same time. I started with just cutting foam squares from different colors and writing letters…

Activities, bimanual, child, Clothespin Activities, elementary school age, fine-motor, games, hand strengthening, OT, Printable, spring, tween - middle school, visual perceptual

Raindrops Clothespin Fine Motor Game

The raindrop clothespin game has a full game with game board, and it also has some simple clothespin matching activities. In both parts, you use clothespins to clip raindrops onto an umbrella. Here is the reversals umbrella free. For…

Activities, bimanual, child, Craft, Crossing Midline, Duck Tape, fine-motor, hand strengthening, Motor Planning, OT, preschool, Reach and grasp, Recycled, Shapes, toddler, visual perceptual

Color matching velcro block fine motor toy

I love all of the recycling activities that the Recycling OT does, but I am not as good at saving items to recycle. I used an empty tennis ball can, and put colored duct tape stripes on it in the colors of the items that I wanted to attach…

Activities, bimanual, fine-motor, games, hand strengthening, Motor Planning, Munchy Ball, OT

Different sets of Munchy Balls

I posted a few weeks ago about the games that I have made to play with Munchy Balls (tennis ball heads). Most people make their own balls, but many people would rather have them ready to go, so I have included some different packs of Munchy…

Activities, child, Clothespin Activities, elementary school age, fine-motor, games, hand strengthening, Handwriting, Munchy Ball, OT, Printable, Product Review, tween - middle school

Pond Jump Fine Motor Game With Munchy Ball

I have been doing a lot with Munchy Ball and realized that he could easily be incorporated into games the same way that I use clothespins in games. Munchy Ball is a ball with eyes, and a mouth cut into it that opens his mouth when you squeeze…

Activities, adult, bimanual, bouncy balls, child, Crossing Midline, elementary school age, fine-motor, games, in-hand manipulation, OT, Product Review, sensory motor, teenage, tween - middle school, visual perceptual

Bouncy Balls are Great for Therapy

I love using bouncy balls in therapy, and use the small balls for in-hand manipulation as well as catching them in cups when they roll off of the table. I use the balls in cups when I evaluate a child as it gives me a good idea of the student's…

Activities, featured guest, fine-motor, OT

Activities to Encourage Fine Motor Skills

This is a guest post by Erica L. Fener from Progressus Therapy. Running out of ideas for fun ways to practice fine motor control? This kind of exercise doesn’t have to be a chore for kids. Fine motor skills are used to make precise movements,…

Activities, child, Chopstick activities, elementary school age, fine-motor, hand strengthening, Motor Planning, OT

Fun this week with tennis ball mouths

Just a glimpse of the fun had this week with tennis ball heads. I have another post about the tennis ball heads that turn into vampires.

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