How To Expand On “Put-In” Tasks
Working in an early childhood classroom, I have seen a lot of "put-in" and even "take out" tasks. These tasks are wonderful and work on many skills including hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills, problem solving, and much more! I have seen everything from putting...
OT Tips for Choosing School Supplies
I know it is July, but before we know it the new school year will be upon us. With a new school year comes school supply shopping! Some of you may be preparing now to return in August or may be looking to get your shopping done early. If you don’t go back to school...
All About Puzzles
Puzzles are a great way to work on fine and visual motor skills, visual perceptual skills and problem solving skills. Additionally, they can also be a calming self regulation tool or rec/leisure option. There are so many different kinds of puzzles out there and it can...
Summer Learning Bags For All
Purchasing Materials Our school district administration was able to purchase materials for each student in our entire school! We used these materials to create and send home Summer Learning Bags. These materials differ from what was sent home throughout the...
5 OT Tips for Teaching Coloring Skills
Coloring is another important school related fine motor skill for children to learn. While some students may be very motivated to color independently, other students may need more support to engage successfully. There are some simple ways you can support your...
How To Implement Hands On and Movement Activities
One of the biggest challenges I have found during remote learning is maintaining the ability to sit. When we are in the classroom, our bodies are always moving! We interact and play with each other, transition, practice functional routines, work on projects,...
5 OT Tips for Teaching Name Writing
One of the most common motor skills students practice in school is learning to write their name. Kids are asked to identify and write their name all the time in the classroom, on class work, tests, and other required activities. Even as my students enter high school...
All About Hand Strength
One of the main reasons students may get referred to OT relates to difficulty with fine motor skills and handwriting. Kids are not necessarily playing the same way they used to, which can really impact development of important motor skills, especially hand strength. ...
Three Easy to Implement Virtual Ideas
I love finding easy to implement ideas for my families at home. Whether you’re teaching completely virtual, a hybrid, or coaching families, utilizing activities that most households have materials for is so important! I never want families to feel like they need to...
Holiday Fine Motor and Sensory Activities
The holidays are upon us! Today, I wanted to share five fun and easy holiday themed fine motor and sensory activities that you may want to try with your students or even your own kids at home. Most of the activities use materials you likely already have at home, or...
Proactive Strategies for Behavior Part 2
Recap of Part 1 In part 1 of my list of proactive strategies (check it out here), I reviewed the beginning steps of being proactive. Whether in a full remote, hybrid, or in person model right now and in the future, these steps will help. Being proactive when teaching...
5 OT Tips for Teaching Cutting Skills
Learning how to use scissors is another important school related skill that OTs can help support. Today, let’s talk about the underlying components that impact development of cutting skills and my top five tips for teaching kids how to do it.Cutting requires a lot of...
5 OT Tips for Teaching Prewriting Skills
As an OT working in early childhood, one of the most common areas I support is the development of prewriting skills. Today, let's explore what prewriting skills are, why they are important and my top five favorite tips for teaching them! What are prewriting skills?...
Easy Prep Fine Motor Tasks
We are living that home school life and the struggle is real. We have our good days and our not so good days. And that's okay. My goal is for one short session with my girls each day. I keep it simple. I have a bin for each child, fill it with work, after they...
10 Fine Motor Activity Ideas Using Common Household Items
Sometimes, the best activities are the simplest! Given that many of us are spending a lot more time at home, I wanted to highlight some of my favorite easy fine motor activities you can do using materials you probably have in your home. 1. Color under the table...
Focus on Five: Teaching Art to Students with Visual Impairments
When we teach art to students in a low-incidence population, we are used to using visuals, modeling and gestures in order to help students understand directions and concepts. I currently have students who are blind in my classroom and I learned very quickly that...
Adapting Art: OT Tips and Tools
Art can address so many important skills, from initiating and persisting at tasks to all the fine motor skills. There’s a reason why it is one of my favorite centers to work in especially within the early childhood classroom. While art can address many...
Must-Have Visuals for Art Projects
Visuals are the key to successful art instruction and to making your instruction meaningful, functional, and relevant to your IEP goals. But where do you start? What visuals do you need? Reduce the Prompting I am being sneaky here. This visual is not for your...
Using Art to Target IEP Goals
Continuing the theme of generalization and really applying all of those skills that your students have worked so hard on learning all year - let's talk about art. Unfortunately, art class is sometimes cut for our general education buildings. Or if it's not cut it's...
End of the Year Activity: Scrapbooks!
This is one of my FAVORITE classroom activities. And I don't mean that like when I say fluency or adapted books are my favorite (although they are my favorite too...) but this is really my favorite because of how much the kids just love the finished products. I...