Sensory Archives - Therapy Fun Zone

Activities, child, elementary school age, hand strengthening, OT, play dough, preschool, Reach and grasp, Sensory, sensory dough, toddler

Clean Mud

Playing in mud is a great sensory and tactile activity, but it can be very messy. This “clean mud” activity gives a similar sensation to regular mud, but you come away from the activity cleaner than when you started. You need a plastic…

Activities, child, elementary school age, OT, preschool, Sensory, toddler, visual perceptual

Sensory Search in Rice and Beans

An activity that uses the tactile and visual motor sensory systems is to search for items in a box of rice and beans. You get a small box (shoe box size or larger) and put in some dry rice and beans so that it is about half way full. Then…

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, oral motor, OT, Sensory

Attaching a Chewy

Many kids benefit from using a chewy as a calming activity, and to use as a replacement for chewing on things that are not good to chew on. So if a child needs a chewy, they need to have it available to them. For kids who are lower functioning,…

Activities, child, elementary school age, fine-motor, hand strengthening, Handwriting, OT, Sensory, Therapy techniques

Making a Comfortable Weighted Pencil

Let's talk about weighted pencils. Abby has a nice post about making weighted pencils. I have used weighted pencil kits to add weight onto a regular pencil, and I have seen the do it yourself pencil weights using hex nuts, but there are…

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

Covered Cup for Stereognosis and Sensory Play

Stereognosis is the ability to use your fingers to feel and know what you are holding, without seeing what you are holding. It is always hard to get kids to feel and find objects without looking. You can put up a barrier, but they always try…

Activities, child, elementary school age, fine-motor, OT, play dough, preschool, Reach and grasp, Sensory, toddler

Cloud Dough

I have seen cloud dough posted about on the internet, so I decided to give it a try and see what it was like. It is a mix of flour and oil. The amount of oil is small enough that the dough does not feel wet, but it is enough that the dough can…

Activities, child, elementary school age, equipment, Motor Planning, OT, preschool, Range Of Motion, Reach and grasp, Sensory, sensory motor, toddler, tween - middle school, upper extremity strengthening

Hammock swing for strengthening

A hammock swing is wonderful for strengthening in many different ways. My favorite position in a hammock swing is prone with just the head and arms sticking out. This position forces weight bearing on the arms, and works on full upper body…

Activities, ADL, bimanual, child, cooking, Craft, elementary school age, fall, feeding, fine-motor, Food, Materials, Motor Planning, Nature, OT, season, Sensory, sensory motor, summer, visual perceptual, winter

Pine Cone Bird Feeder and Spreading with a Knife

Spreading can be a challenge for many kids, so here is a fun activity that helps practice. You use a pine cone and attach a wire or string to the top of it so that you can hang it once it is finished. You then spread peanut butter all over the…

equipment, oral motor, OT, Sensory

Oral Sensory Seeking and Vibration

Most of the kids that I work with that have oral sensory problems avoid oral stimulation, and avoid food. I just started seeing a young fellow that is the opposite of what I am used to. This little guy is a sensory seeker, and he seeks oral…

Activities, child, Craft, elementary school age, fine-motor, Food, OT, Paint, preschool, Reach and grasp, Sensory, sensory motor, toddler

Spaghetti Painting for Sensory Problems

I have a few kids that I see who do not like food. I like to use food as a play tool in order to help make food their friend because they need to accept being around food, so using spaghetti noodles as a painting tool is a fun activity. Some…

Activities, child, Craft, elementary school age, fine-motor, Handwriting, OT, Paint, preschool, Sensory, toddler, Toothpicks

Ice Painting

Summer painting wouldn’t be complete without a little ice painting. I started with a little ice cube tray that I put water in and a drop of food coloring in each space. I also put a toothpick in each spot so that when it hardened in the freezer,…

Activities, child, Craft, elementary school age, fine-motor, Food, hand strengthening, Motor Planning, OT, Paint, preschool, Sensory, visual perceptual

Salt Painting

Salt painting gives an interesting twist to regular painting, and it makes good use of a glue bottle for hand strengthening. Before you get to the painting part, you squeeze glue onto the paper in the pattern that you want the paint to be in.…

OT, Sensory, sensory motor

Meltdowns when going to the store

A lot of kids with sensory problems or with autistic behaviors seem to melt down when their parents take the them shopping. The reason for a meltdown in these types of situations is often because of sensory overload. A child may be able to deal…

child, elementary school age, OT, preschool, Sensory

Messy Play

I found an awesome blog post about how important it is to get messy when playing. A child's body learns from the whole experience of being tactile and feeling their environment and the experience that what they are working with gets all over…

Activities, child, Craft, Craft, elementary school age, feeding, fine-motor, Food, Handwriting, OT, Paint, preschool, Sensory

Marshmallow Painting for Fine Motor Skills

Painting is often good therapy, but you can kick it up a notch by using marshmallows as the painting tool. You can grade the type of grip used by using the large marshmallows or the mini marshmallows. You can use regular paint on paper and…

Activities, ADL, bimanual, child, Craft, elementary school age, feeding, fine-motor, Food, hand strengthening, OT, play dough, preschool, Reach and grasp, Sensory, toddler

Peanut Butter Playdough Recipe:

Playing with playdoh is fun, and if you can eat the playdoh when you are done, it can be even more fun. It is also a good way to play with food for kids that have problems with eating. Ingredients: 1 cup of smooth/creamy peanut butter 2…

OT, Sensory

A sensory pressure vest for dogs

I was reading a magazine the other night, and saw an advertisement for a garment for dogs to help with their anxiety. It is a pressure vest that gives gentle pressure to their torso in order to help calm them. I was laughing out…

Activities, ADL, child, elementary school age, fine-motor, Motor Planning, OT, Sensory, teenage, tween - middle school

Cake Pops, a cooking activity with sensory and fine motor

I have seen these cake pops around the internet, and they look so cute. I thought that it would be fun to have a holiday party and decorate cake pops. Instead of a cookie party, we would do cake pops. As I was making them,…

Activities, bimanual, child, christmas, Craft, Craft, elementary school age, fine-motor, Food, holiday, in-hand manipulation, Motor Planning, OT, Sensory, teenage, tween - middle school, visual perceptual

Graham Cracker Gingerbread Houses

When I used to work in an outpatient clinic environment, I used to have the kids make these gingerbread type of houses out of graham crackers. It was a fun, christmasy activity that was good therapy at the same time. It was also…

child, elementary school age, OT, Sensory, teenage, tween - middle school

Letting Feet Stay Busy

There is a simple trick that school therapists and teachers use a lot for kids who have trouble sitting still. It is to put some Thera-Band stretched around a chair’s legs so that the student can push on it while sitting in their chair.…

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