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Practice writing words in standard cursive

This page allows you to create a worksheet of text for cursive writing practice. Enter the text you want to be on the page in the large box below, and it will be rendered using traditional cursive lettering.

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Create a worksheet: Practice writing words in standard cursive

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Exercise for kids is so important on many levels. Use these alphabet exercises to help build skills, and get the kids moving with an alphabet theme. In therapy, we look to help children build their gross motor skills, core strength and endurance, body awareness, motor planning, and self-regulation skills. It is recognized that regular exercise can help defend against childhood mental health and behavioral disorders, such as anxiety and depression. The consistent engagement in physical activity promotes overall health and wellness and provides a more grounded mindset for daily living and participation in life activities.

Exercise can build confidence and self-esteem, helping a child to feel better about themselves and increasing their overall happiness. One way to engage children in activity is with a structured therapy band exercise program, however, occupational therapy home programs can be creative and use out-of-the-box ideas like this ABC theme exercise activity.

ABC's OF EXERCISE

With all of the time that children must sit completing school work as part of teletherapy activities, or even their increased time engaging with electronics at home, they need encouragement to exercise or simply participate in physical activity during the day. Research tells us that outdoor play is essential. However, even going outside to play or engage in motor skills is a challenge for some children! Making exercise a fun playtime activity is the best way to help a child build skills while benefiting their health and wellness and keeping weight in check.

Alphabet Gross Motor ACTIVITIES

Would you like a playful way to engage a child or children in therapy exercises or in a home exercise program? How about trying this fun ABC's of Exercise activity page? There are many ways to use these alphabet exercise letters in learning and occupational therapy activities guided by individual goals.

Children can either spell words or even their names to engage in the physical activity which accompanies each letter.

Use some homework spelling words and perform the exercises related to them! Wow...homework AND exercise!

Another easier way to play is by placing either A through Z foam letters, Bananagrams, or Scrabble tiles into a bag or basket and then have the child pull one letter out at a time and match it to the corresponding letter on the ABC's of Exercise chart to perform the exercise listed.

Work through the child's name for an individualized exercise program.

Add the letter gross motor activities to a letter of the week learning program.

Don't have foam letters or board game letter tiles? No worries, just grab some puzzle pieces, folded pieces of paper, beans or craft sticks and write the letters on them! Toss any of these into a bag or basket and pick one...easy and cheap! You can also incorporate some handwriting with this activity too by having them write each exercise letter or a word beginning with that letter after they complete the exercise.

The best part about this activity page is that it is open-ended so you (or they) get to determine how many to perform of each exercise and how many exercise letters to perform. In addition to being open-ended, this activity page provides a wonderful opportunity for teaching students exercises which can later be used when the child is feeling heightened and needing some self-regulation intervention tools. Use the activity sheet as an inclusion tool for a whole class activity, small group or individual therapy session, or even as a supplement to a motor pathway in the school building! Have the child do the activity that spells their name when using it as part of a motor pathway in school!

The following list are the exercises and their descriptions which are utilized in the ABC's of Exercise resource:

ABC Exercises:

Arm rolls - Have child lift arms out from their sides and rotate arms in small circular patterns, first forward and then backward.

Butterfly legs- Have child sit on the floor with legs flexed and bottom of feet touching. Then have them flap their legs up and down to resemble the wings of a butterfly.

Crab walk - Have child sit on the floor, lean back on their arms and lift their body up with their legs and arms to walk along the floor resembling the walk of a crab.

Duck walk - Have child squat down and walk on the floor while squatted resembling the walk of a duck. Add having them bend their arms up to make them look like duck wings.

Elephant trunk swing - Have child stand up and lean forward with arms extended and fingers linked together. Once this position is achieved, have child sway their arms left and right resembling an elephant's trunk.

Frog hops - Have child squat down on the floor with their arms in front of them and have them leap forward as far as possible resembling a jumping frog. Do this repeatedly.

Giant tape lines - Place tape lines on the floor to work on jumping from line to line or complete giant jumps by attempting to jump as far as possible from a standing position.

High knees - Have child lift alternating knees up to hands for tapping and while marching around the room. Have them lift knees as high as possible.

Incline climb - Have child climb up a slide, long wedge or hillside or toss the couch cushion or even the bed mattress in the floor and make a ramp. If all else fails, just use the stairs!

Jumping jacks - Have child start by standing with arms out to their sides and legs together then have them jump while spreading their legs and feet apart and arms up and over their head. Follow with bringing arms back to sides and legs and feet back together.

Knee squats - Have child start with standing up and then squatting to floor and back up again, repeatedly.

Lunges - Have child step forward with one leg and lower their hips until both knees are bent, then push back up to starting position. Alternate legs.

Mega jumps - Have child jump from a higher level to the floor, either from a chair, sofa, steps, etc. or they could also simply try to jump as far as possible forward and then try to jump farther each time to beat their last distance.

Neck rolls - Have child stand or sit to roll their neck and head in a circular pattern from left to right and from right to left.

Overhead stretches - Have child reach up overhead, link fingers together and stretch arms up as high as possible. Add standing on tiptoes to make it really high.

Push-ups - Have child lie on the floor and push their body up with their hands and arms. If a regular push-up is too difficult, complete knee push-ups by simply weight bearing on flexed knees while completing push-ups rather than trying to weight bear on toes.

Quad stretches - Have child perform, sit to stands and stand to sits, while sitting in a chair. Do this repeatedly.

Run in place - Have child run in place for a specific amount of time such as while counting to 20.

Snake slither - Have child lie on their stomach and move their body forward trying to keep as much of their body in contact with the floor as possible, similar to an army crawl.

Toe touches - Have child stand and bend over to touch their toes with their fingers and back up to standing. Do this repeatedly.

Under/over laser maze - Create a laser maze with use of tape, string, or streamers in the hallway and have child go under and over to move through it. Or have them crawl under tables and over furniture to achieve under/over.

Vertical wall taps - Have child stand beside a wall and jump to tap the wall attempting to beat their last height touched with each jump.

Windmills - Have child stand with arms and legs out to the sides. Have them bend over to touch right fingertips to left toes and back up to standing and then bend to touch left fingertips to right toes and back up to standing.

X-marks the spot exercise - Have child cross over legs and feet and cross over arms and hands while jumping to create X patterns with extremities. Or complete 'X' cross crawls to work on cross-lateral activity of extremities.

Yoga poses - Have child pick a yoga pose to complete, such as cat pose, cobra pose, or shark pose.

Zig-zag run - Use small obstacles to create a zig zag course or simply attempt to run a zig zag pattern.

With home learning, indoor activities, and social distancing upon us, this exercise activity page will help meet the needs of your child so they can get in their daily exercise while also releasing some extra "cooped up" energy!

Resources:

Educating the Student Body: Taking Physical Activity and Physical Education to School. Editors: Harold W. Kohl, III and Heather D. Cook. Authors: Committee on Physical Activity and Physical Education in the School Environment; Food and Nutrition Board; Institute of Medicine. Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US); 2013 Oct 30.

This post was written by contributor author, Regina Parsons-Allen.

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Alphabet Exercises for Kids - The OT Toolbox

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Exercise for kids is so important on many levels. Use these alphabet exercises to help build skills, and get the kids moving with an alphabet theme. In therapy, we look to help children build their gross motor skills, core strength and endurance, body awareness, motor planning, and self-regulation skills.

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Craft: Create chains of paper hearts by cutting accordion-folded paper strips. It’s just like folding and cutting paper doll chains! Join two or more heart chains together to make longer chains.

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Stretches for the Inflexible! Beginner Flexibility Routine

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PE AT HOME ACTIVITIES - SCAVENGER HUNT FITNESS QUEST - PROF RAMON LIMA

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New Horizon - Meditation & Sleep Stories

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Meditation for Teenagers Stress & Anxiety - Guided Meditation for Teens

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Skillshare is a learning community for creators. Anyone can take an online class, watch video lessons, create projects, and even teach a class themselves.

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Educational games and puzzles | Digipuzzle.net

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Digipuzzle.net has 750+ free games and puzzles that can be used for education. Kids can practice many K-12 subjects like math, english, science, geography and history. Furthermore there are many thematic games and puzzles to celebrate the holidays

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Bilateral Coordination Activity for Kids

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This gingerbread man virtual activity is perfect for occupational therapy teletherapy activities, and just one more teletherapy activity that we've got lined up for you here on The OT Toolbox. Add this Christmas activity to your therapy plans, along with some gingerbread man activities and maybe making a little gingerbread salt dough for holiday fun with gingerbread themed development and learning!

This is a fun addition to our weekly therapy themes for themed occupational therapy sessions.

Gingerbread Man Virtual Activity

This slide deck covers various areas with a gingerbread theme:

Mindfulness

Fine Motor Skills

Handwriting

Gross Motor

Self-Regulation Check In

Use this list and the gingerbread man activities on this slide deck to help kids develop certain skills in virtual therapy sessions.

CGingerbread man Therapy SLIDE DECK

If you've been following The OT Toolbox, then you may have seen a few of our other interactive slide decks. Therapists are LOVING these therapy slide decks for their themed activities that help kids build skills, while in virtual or hybrid environments.

This gingerbread man therapy activity can be adjusted to meet the needs of your clients or students. Use it as an outline and add prompts, or adjust the activities as you need.

Gingerbread Themed Mindfulness Activity

Students can use the gingerbread man image with deep breathing activity to work on deep breaths in and deep breaths out as a mindfulness activity with a gingerbread man theme.

Gingerbread Man Writing Prompts

Included in this therapy slide deck are gingerbread words writing prompts. These are set up as a copying activity for students. Work on letter formation, legibility, and copying skills. Kids can use this to work on printed or cursive writing, based on their specific needs.

Gingerbread man Visual Perception Activity

Children will love the gingerbread man visual perception activity as they visually scan to count the number of each cookie. Kids can type right into the Google slide deck when they find the correct number of each gingerbread man.

Gingerbread Man Fine Motor Activity

The no-prep gingerbread man fine motor activity asks children to work on fine motor skills such as finger isolation, dexterity, motor planning, and eye-hand coordination as they spell the word "gingerbread man" in sign language.

Gingerbread man Gross Motor Activity

Next, kids can work on core strength, gross motor skills, balance, and motor planning with a gingerbread man gross motor activity. This activity asks children to move the movable slide pieces into the correct order. They can then act out the images and work on gross motor skills as well as sequencing.

Gingerbread Man Self-Regulation Activity

The final activity in this interactive slide deck is the self-regulation activity where children can move the gingerbread man to identify and match their body's feelings. Work on self-regulation strategies and coping tools as needed.

Does this looks like a fun way to spend a therapy session while working on skills?

You can grab a copy of this Google slide deck and use it to work on specific skills.

Enter your email address below and you will receive a PDF containing a link to copy the slide deck onto your Google drive. Save that PDF file, because you can come back to it again and again and send it to the kids on your caseload (or classroom) so they can make their own copy on their Google drive.

Please use the copy of the slide deck and do not change the link.

MORE VIRTUAL LEARNING SLIDE DECKS?

Would you like more therapy slide decks? Grab the others to add to your therapy toolbox!

Here is a Community Helpers Theme Slide Deck.

Here is a Football Theme Slide Deck.

Here is a slide deck for a Social Story for Wearing a Mask.

Here is a Space Theme Therapy Slide Deck.

Here is a Therapy Planning Interactive Slide Deck.

Here is a Back to School Writing Activity Slide Deck.

Here is an Alphabet Exercises Slide Deck.

Here is a Self-Awareness Activities Slide Deck.

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Gingerbread Man Virtual Activity - The OT Toolbox

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This gingerbread man virtual activity is perfect for occupational therapy teletherapy activities, and just one more teletherapy activity that we've got lined up for you here on The OT Toolbox. Add this Christmas activity to your therapy plans, along with some gingerbread man activities and maybe making a little gingerbread salt dough for holiday fun with gingerbread themed development and learning!

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Our best remedy for long winter break days? A healthy supply of activity sheets for kids-because when it's too chilly to go outside, exercising their brains is the next best thing. We've rounded up the coolest printables with a timely winter theme, from mad libs to paper snowflakes, free coloring pages, color by number printables and more. Read on to see them all, and get ready to fire up your printer!

-Susie Foresman
Feature photo: Samantha Hurley via Burst RELATED STORIES: 40 Things Every Family Should Do Together This Winter 10 Genius Ways to Keep the Kids Busy (Batteries Not Required!) 15 Easy Ways to Keep the Kids Busy After School

Want More Adventures?

Let us help you be the rock star mom (or dad) we know you are! Sign up for our picks for the best things to see, do, eat and explore with your kids.

THANKS FOR SUBSCRIBING TO RED TRICYCLE

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38 Totally Free Activity Sheets for Kids

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Our best remedy for long winter break days? A healthy supply of activity sheets for kids-because when it's too chilly to go outside, exercising their brains is the next best thing. We've rounded up the coolest printables with a timely winter theme, from mad libs to paper snowflakes, free coloring pages, color by number printables and more.

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The 'ELF' Christmas Workout #GETKIDSMOVING (10Mins)

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Beginner Cardio & Core Workout with Medium Pace - No Equipment - 25s/15s 40s/20s

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HAND STRENGTHENING  Exercises with Playdough l OT Teletherapy l Step by Step Routine

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300+ Cooking for One Recipes | One Dish Kitchen

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A collection of flavorful and easy Recipes for One that are perfect for those Cooking For One. These single serving recipes are easy to prepare, will save you time and money, and will provide peace of mind by using wholesome ingredients.

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Bilateral Coordination Task Cards in 2020 | Pediatric physical therapy activities, Coordination activities, Pediatric physical therapy

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Nov 11, 2020 - Work on bilateral coordination with 20 different activities. These can be printed or even come with a digital file making them ideal for both in person and distance learning or teletherapy. Use these all year long. Great for a classroom, physical therapy, occupational therapy, physical education, adapted PE and beyond!

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teaching materials worksheets printables math fractions handwriting geometry homeschooling classroom teachers parents geography spelling language puzzles

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The premier web service for creating professional educational resources. Used by teachers and parents around the world.

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Here is one food in a mug that might actually be yummier than the real thing. French Toast in a cup is fast, simple, and satisfies that craving for sweet, starchy deliciousness. And you can make it in two minutes!

Who's got the munchies? Ha! Seeing as our Cup of Coffee Cake (in Under 5 Minutes) is one of our most popular post of all time, I thought y'all might enjoy my other favorite last minute snack, which is even quicker and easier and more fattening (and therefore more delicious/more embarrassing to admit I eat on a regular basis): French Toast in a Cup. We highly recommend that you try our 2-Minute French Toast in a Cup microwave dessert, or breakfast, or midnight snack, then head down our rabbit hole of single-serving dessert in a cup.

It's french toast in a cup, made in your microwave and topped off with a generous ssquirt of ssyrup (which is making my ssssss key kind of sssticky right now).

So please, grab a slice of bread and allow me to blow your mind...
Don't forget to check out Jaime's Lazy Late Night Cooking Corner on our YouTube channel for more microwaveable treats like, Single Serve Cinnamon Roll, Rice Krispy Treat, Blueberry Cobbler, and Strawberry Shortcake for Two.
2-Minute French Toast in a Cup Recipe
To make French Toast in a Cup, obviously first you need bread. This is pan de mie, which is basically just french for sandwich bread. Your weber white will work fine, or whatever you have on hand. I prefer my french toast soft-ish but if you like a little crunch go for a baguette. It truly does not matter. An old croissant. A nutty multigrain. A pile of tortillas might even work, i'm not kidding. Anyway, you'll need one or two pieces of bread per cup. I like to make 2 cups at once so I can split an egg, but you can totally make one big cup with more bread and a whole egg. Work with what you've got.

Cube your bread.

Get your cup or cups ready. Butter the inside, either rub a pat of butter around, or you can melt the butter in a mircowave and slosh it around. Up to you.

Place the bread in the cup of your choosing. I used two small cups this time because my pesky husband wanted in on the action, but one big cup totally works. About a slice or a slice and a half will do it. Smoosh it down a bit but don't compact it so much cause you need the liquid to be able to work it's way in.

Now in a separate cup or ramekin do the following:
-crack and egg into it
-add 3 tablespoons of milk
-sprinkle cinnamon
-if you like your french toast really sweet or vanilla-y, add a single drop of vanilla extract (I don't do this, but it might make you love it even more)

Mix it all together with a fork.

Pour the mixture into your cup/cups. Smoosh it a little, and give it a minute to soak down into the bread.

Now stick your cup in the microwave. Start with one minute, then add ten seconds at a time until it's cooked to your liking (no runny eggs). In my microwave that's 1 minute, 20 seconds.

Mmm, eggy cinammon-y bread. Yes!

Add syrup. You have to have syrup. Or whip cream. But really, syrup.

Eat. Repeat nightly, or morning-ly.

Print

2-Minute French Toast in A Cup

Scale 1x 2x 3x

Did you make this recipe?

Share a photo and tag us - we can't wait to see what you've made!

by Jaime

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2 Minute French Toast in a Cup Made in the Microwave

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Here is one food in a mug that might actually be yummier than the real thing. French Toast in a cup is fast, simple, and satisfies that craving for sweet, starchy deliciousness. And you can make it in two minutes! Who's got the munchies? Ha!

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I don't love chocolate. BLASPHEMY I KNOW! It just doesn't do it for me, what can I say? I do, however, love me some cinammon. And some crumbles. And somecrumb-topping, if you will. Can I get a what what? Is anyone with me? Who is ready for a microwave coffee cake? A coffee cake mug cake is where it's at.

So, I don't always feel like making a giant coffee cake and eating it for three days straight until it's gone. No, wait, that's a lie. I do want to do that, but it's really for the best if I can just make a single-serve microwave coffee cake. Reduces temptation, right? It's just one of oursingle-serving dessert in a cup microwave dessert recipes.

So I messed around with ingredients, a measuring spoon, and a microwave, to see if I could create a crumbly, cinnamony mug coffee cake that could be made in a microwave in about five minutes at 11 p.m. while i watched The Notebook for the 5,000th time (hey girl, don't even try to pretend you don't love Ryan Gosling, I won't hear it). I think I've come up with a decent substitute for coffee cake, considering the small amount of time and effort that goes into it. Give it a try and tell me if you disagree.

But again, don't try to disagree with me about Ryan Gosling.

Get my five minute microwave coffee cake recipe below...
And while you're at it, check out Jaime's Lazy Late Night Cooking Corner for more microwaveable treats like, 2-Minute French Toast in a Cup, Single Serve Cinnamon Roll, Rice Krispy Treat, Blueberry Cobbler, and Strawberry Shortcake for Two.

How to Make Five Minute Microwave Coffee Cake

Well, first you'll need a cup. If you want it to puff up over the top of the cup, use a small one. Or if you want to dig into the cup, use a big one. It matters not.

Add a tablespoon of butter.

Soften it in the microwave for 10-15 seconds. Don't melt, just soften.

Stir in 2 tablespoons of sugar until it's fluffy and creamy, maybe 30 seconds.

Now you can add some egg. you don't have to, but without egg it's more crumbly and less cake-y. You can do a whole egg, but I like to break the egg into a ramekin and stir it up, then split it between two cups of coffee cake, or just use half for one coffee cake. But really, play it by ear. Try it out and see what tastes best to you.

Then stir in 2 tablespoons of sour cream and a few drops of vanilla. We're talking droplets here, don't add too much.

Stir in 1/4 cup of flour and 1/8 teaspoon baking powder.

If you want some crumb topping (you know you do), in a separate ramekin or bowl add 1 tablespoon butter, 2 tablespoons flour, 1 tablespoon of brown sugar, and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon.

Smoosh it together with your fingers for a few.

Now back to your cup. Your ingredients are all mixed up, so...

Add the crumb topping mixture to the cup...

Then microwave it. Start with 1 minute, then do 10 seconds more until it's done to your liking. For my microwave, a minute 20 seconds does it perfectly.

It will be REALLY HOT when you take it out of the microwave.

Let it cool down for a few seconds, then dig in to your mug coffee cake.

This is basically a start for a quick microwave coffee cake in a mug recipe, you can adjust to your own tastes and liking, since this is a serving for one after all. I like it just like this, but my husband doesn't mind it without the egg. You may want more of this or less of that to suit your tastes. I look forward to hearing any adjustments you make and finding out if cake in a cup seems worth it to you. Ok, now i'm hungry, off to find my measuring spoon and a clean cup.
Print

A Cup of Coffee Cake (in Under Five Minutes)

A tasty cinnamon-y single-serve mug coffee cake made in the microwave.

Author: Jaime

Prep Time: 5

Cook Time: 1

Total Time: 6 minutes

Scale 1x 2x 3x

Ingredients

Cake
1 tbls butter

2 tbls sugar

1 egg (or 1/2 egg)

Few drops of vanilla

1/4 cup flour

1/8 tsp baking powder
Topping
1 tbls butter

2 tbls flour

1 tbls brown sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

Let cool slightly, then devour.

Did you make this recipe?

Share a photo and tag us - we can't wait to see what you've made!

Now, if you don't have the ingredients for mug coffee cake or want to try something even faster, check out our 2-Minute French Toast in a Cup or our Single Microwave Chocolate Chip Cookie and get your munchie on.
by Jaime

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A Cup of Coffee Cake (In Under 5 Minutes) Microwave Coffee Cake Recipe

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I don't love chocolate. BLASPHEMY I KNOW! It just doesn't do it for me, what can I say? I do, however, love me some cinammon. And some crumbles. And somecrumb-topping, if you will. Can I get a what what? Is anyone with me? Who is ready for a microwave coffee cake?

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Our free cutting skills worksheets are a wonderful way for preschoolers to develop their fine motor skills using scissors. With the supervision of teachers, children will learn to cut along the dotted lines of various shapes.

Please help us spread the word:

Our Free Scissors Practice Worksheets - Learn Cutting Skills

What Free Scissors Practice Worksheets Would You Like to See?

Please let us know using our contact webpage, via email, or through our social media channels.

It's Easy to Use Our Preschool Scissors Practice Printables

We want daycare providers, parents, teachers, and everyone else involved with early childhood education to have an easy time printing our scissors practice worksheets. This is why we created two different printing options. The first way is to download the PDF of the scissors practice worksheet and then print it using free software like Acrobat Reader. The Chrome and Safari web browsers have a PDF viewer plugin already installed so you can actually print the PDF version directly in those browsers. We recommend using the PDFs. The second and easiest way to get our preschool scissors practice worksheets into the hands of your students is by selecting the "Print" icon. This will take you to a page on our daycare website where you can printout the image version of the free worksheet.

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Our free cutting skills worksheets are a wonderful way for preschoolers to develop their fine motor skills using scissors. With the supervision of teachers, children will learn to cut along the dotted lines of various shapes. Please help us spread the word: Please let us know using our contact webpage, via email, or through our social media channels.

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The Ultimate Guide to Bilateral Coordination Skills

Bilateral coordination is the ability to use the right and left sides of the body together at the same time or with alternating movements. For example, when you push a stroller or pick up a large object you are using your right and left sides of the body together with the same movements. Another example of bilateral coordination is tying your shoes - you are using your right and left sides of the body together but they are not both doing the same movements.

The ability to coordinate both sides of the body together is an important skill for many motor skills. Gross motor skills such as walking, climbing stairs, running, skipping, hopscotch and jump rope all require bilateral coordination skills. Fine motor skills such as holding paper while cutting with scissors or lacing beads require the right and left sides of the body to work together. Many functional skills require both hands or both legs to work together such as buttoning, zipping, using a fork and knife, using a rolling pin and more. In addition, bilateral coordination helps to develop hand dominance (whether you are right or left-handed).

Here are the many different bilateral coordination activities, exercises, research, and resources that Your Therapy Source has provided over the years all compiled in one location. Think of it as the ultimate guide to bilateral coordination in children. Click on each title to view the complete information on that topic.

Why Bilateral Coordination Skills Are Important

Bilateral Coordination and Academic Importance in Children: Research results indicated a significant association between academic performance and body coordination.

Motor Coordination and Academic Achievement: The researchers concluded that visual-motor coordination and visual selective attention, but not agility, may influence academic achievement and cognitive function.

Effects of Coordination Exercises on Attention Span: Delayed attention span benefits from acute physical activity are important for the overall learning process because increased attention is a necessary component to achieve academic success.

Balance and Coordination of Boys with Intellectual Disabilities: The researchers concluded that overall motor skills of males with ID are below the competence expected of children and adolescents without disabilities.

Bilateral Coordination Activities for Children

Here are 10 simple ideas to practice bilateral coordination skills in older children:

1. Marching to music and clapping hands at the same time.

2. Cross crawls - touch your right hand to your left knee and then the left hand to your right knee. Repeat touching the opposite feet.

3. Traditional jumping jacks

4. Cross Country Jumping Jacks - place right arm and right leg forward jump and switch left arm and left leg forward. Try opposite sides - place right arm and left leg forward jump and switch left arm and right leg forward.

5. March in place sitting down while drawing circles in the air with both hands

6. Try a task using both hands or both hands and feet at the same time - ie: dribbling a ball with both hands, kicking a ball and dribbling a ball.

7. Play hopscotch - the skill of jumping feet apart and together requires coordination of both sides of the body

8. Perform motor activities to the beat of a metronome

9. Jumping activities - jumping rope, jump up and clap hands, jump up and touch your heels behind your bottom, jumping activities through a floor ladder, etc.

10. Animal walks that use both sides of the body - ie: crab walk, bear walk and crawling

Need more bilateral coordination activity ideas? Read these previous posts:

Visual Tracking and Bilateral Coordination Activity - all you need is a pool noodle and a marble.

5 Gross Motor and Coordination Activities Using Plastic Tablecloths - watch the video using plastic tablecloths from the dollar store.

Kid Balloon Boxing - video demo to encourage coordination and timing.

Fall Activities to Encourage Bilateral Coordination and Motor Planning: Perfect for Halloween time or change the creatures for other times of the year.

Bilateral Math Facts - coordination plus math skills at the same time!

Lacing Activities - of course, lacing requires using both sides of the body.

10 Games to Practice Crossing Midline - Theses skills require that the right and left sides of the brain work together to create a motor action.

Right or Left Games - This digital packet helps children to practice right and left discrimination, bilateral coordination, fine motor skills, balance skills, body awareness, motor planning and visual-spatial skills.

10 Ways to Play Catch with a Friend - Add in eye-hand coordination with bilateral coordination skills!

Simon Says Exercise Ball Style - Add in bilateral coordination when you include a huge ball for a game of Simon Says.

5 Bilateral Activities for the Kitchen - Some easy chores for children to help with to encourage bilateral skills.

Cross Crawl Exercise Sheet - video demo and step by step directions for the Cross Crawl Exercise.

Simon Says Picture Cards - can you make your body look exactly like the children pictured?

Pool Noodle Stick - make this pool noodle stick and start practicing your bilateral coordination skills.

Rhythmic Motion - this combines rhythmic timing with bilateral coordination skills.

Steamrolling Sight Words - Bilateral coordination, strengthening and academic material in one activity (you will need a rolling pin).

Clap, Snap or Tap - Another great activity combining motor planning, timing, and coordination.

Move Like Me - This download includes action poses for children to practice motor planning, crossing midline, body awareness, timing, rhythm, coordination and physical activity.

"Foot" Ball - Watch the video for this challenging activity!

10 Everyday Activities to Practice Bilateral Integration - easy activities that can be carried out throughout the normal routine of the day.

25+ Bilateral Coordination Exercises is a collection of bilateral coordination exercise sheets including QR codes with links to the video demonstration of exercises. A QR code is a black and white image with squares, that stores website links for reading by the camera on a smartphone.Each exercise page includes picture images and step by step directions of a whole body bilateral coordination exercise. Also included, is a link to a You Tube video with a demonstration of the exercise along with a slow motion video of the exercise. Parents, students or teachers can simply use a QR code reader app on their smart phone or tablet to go directly to the video demonstration.

These activities encourage bilateral coordination, motor timing, motor planning, muscle strengthening and balance skills.
FIND OUT MORE.

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The Ultimate Guide to Bilateral Coordination Skills - Your Therapy Source

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Bilateral coordination is the ability to use the right and left sides of the body together at the same time or with alternating movements. For example, when you push a stroller or pick up a large object you are using your right and left sides of the body together with the same movements.

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Level Up 2! (Video Game Workout For Kids)

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I use small photos to illustrate the information and activities that I share, and you will have a much better experience on this website if you can view the images.

Tactile perception, also called touch perception, is the brain's ability to understand (perceive) information coming from the skin, particularly the skin on the hands.

The hands are being used to register sensory information and then the brain uses this information to guide the hands during an activity.

Tactile Perception in Real Life

When you shove your hand into your bulging handbag and fish around to retrieve your keys, it is your touch perception that will help you to find your keys by feel.

When you are not getting good feedback from your fingers, it is hard to be accurate with them. You are more likely to be clumsy, and end up crushing the delicate plant roots or breaking the fragile crystal glass.

This is what poor touch perception feels like!

There is usually not anything wrong with the nerves in the hands, but the brain is not processing the information from the hands properly, and thus does not respond appropriately to the task at hand.

Tactile, Touch, Haptic Perception -
what do the terms mean?

The terms are often used interchangeably by teachers and therapists.

Technically, touch perception consists of tactile perception which is passive, where the skin simply makes contact with an object, and haptic perception, where the child actively and intentionally explores and manipulates objects with the hands.

The type of exploration depends on the object itself, as well as the child's age and abilities.

Having good tactile and haptic perception can help a child use the hands skillfully.

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How Poor Touch Perception Can Affect Kids

Children with poor touch perception may be clumsy while holding small or fragile items. They may also hold a pencil really tightly to help them "feel" the pencil better.

For this reason, having accurate tactile/touch perception is an Essential Foundation for the development of good fine motor skills.

How You Can Help Your Child

Here are a few ideas to encourage development of touch perception using fun activities:

Encourage babies and toddlers to play with a variety of different sensory mediums to encourage the hands to explore the different tactile sensations.

Hide a few of your child's toys in a container filled with sand, and encourage your child to find the toys by feeling for them. Other ideas for "sensory bins" include using beans or rice to hide the toys, but please watch out for choking with smaller kids.

Limit screen time and encourage hands-on play. Whether indoors or outdoors, your child's touch perception will benefit from grasping, moving and playing with real life objects instead of playing on a flat, smooth screen.

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All Of OT Mom's Fine Motor Activities In One Place!

Related Pages

References

Ballesteros S., Heller M.A. (2008) Haptic object identification. In: Grunwald M. (eds) Human Haptic Perception: Basics and Applications. Birkhäuser Basel. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-7643-7612-3_16

Cermak, S. ; Stilwell, J. (2006) 'Perceptual Functions of the Hand', in Henderson, A. & Pehoski, C. Hand Function in the Child: Foundations for Remediation. pp. 63-88. Boston: Mosby https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-323-03186-8.X5001-1

Lepora, N. Active Tactile Perception. Scholarpedia, 10(3):32364, 2015 https://doi.org/10.4249/scholarpedia.32364

Yu, T-Y, Hinojosa, J., Howe, T-H., Voelbel, G. Contribution of Tactile and Kinesthetic Perceptions to Handwriting in Taiwanese Children in First and Second Grade. OTJR Occupation Participation Health 32(3):87-94, July 2012 https://doi.org/10.3928/15394492-20111209-02

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Tactile Perception and Fine Motor Skills

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Viewing this page on your device? Please adjust your settings to enable images! I use small photos to illustrate the information and activities that I share, and you will have a much better experience on this website if you can view the images.

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ExpressExpense Receipt Maker is a robust receipt generator that makes receipt in a variety of high quality, professional receipt templates. Customize receipts to match nearly any receipt type. Free receipt templates available.

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So often, we see kids with weakness. They struggle with climbing monkey bars, maintaining grasp on a pencil, coloring with endurance, maintaining posture with a strong core, manipulating snaps and buttons, and so much more. A consistent home strengthening program can help with these skills.

A therapy band is such a power tool in providing needed and calming proprioceptive sensory input, too. Many times, therapists will add therapy band exercises to a sensory diet. There's a reason why! Slowly pulling and maintaining a position on an expanded therapy band creates resistance, providing proprioceptive input that kids need.

Use as a movement break for alerting input or calming input

Exercise for increased attention

A tool for coordination and strength

On-the-go therapy tool that can go anywhere a school-based OT or home therapist goes

Easily incorporated into home programs

Can be easily modified for use by a large caseload

Can be used with individuals or in a group setting

Therapy Band Exercise Program for Kids

There are a few things that a great therapy band exercise program has when it comes to strengthening programs or exercises for kids.

Here are a few MUST-Haves when it comes to a motivating therapy band exercise program for kids:

FUN- A therapy exercise program for kids must be more than a simple handout copy of exercises. That exercise sheet is sure to land on the top of your therapy clients refrigerator. A therapy program that has bright colors, fun characters, games, and interactive components is a win!

Creative- A therapy exercise program that uses animals, monsters, creatures, and fun characters is one way to get kids moving and coming back to try out those exercises again and again.

Easy- A home program that kids can (and want) to do themselves is one way to ensure carryover.

Engaging- A bright and colorful exercise program with fun fonts, hands-on flip cards, and creative characters who get in on the exercise action are all part of a exercise plan geared to create healthy habits.

Motivating- Checklists that kids can mark, erase, and rewrite, fun stickers, and a game make therapy band exercise programs fun and not boring...a plan that kids want to do!

Handee Band Therapy Band Exercise Program

Affiliate links are included below.

When Francesca Avelli, MS, OTR/L approached me about a therapy exercise program that she created, I was excited learn more. Handee Band is a therapist-created collection of fitness exercises for boosting core strength and upper body strength...and it meets all of the requirements listed above!

We tried out the Handee Band Exercise Kit and the Handee Band Exercise Cards, and had an absolute BLAST. All while exercising!

This exercise kit is definitely a product created by an occupational therapist. As my daughter was trying out the spinner board game and looking through the flip book for matching characters, that thought was on my mind.

All of the underlying skill areas that go into using this kit and playing the game are such a boost for kids.

Wen playing the game, kids spin a spinner board and need to match up characters to the exercise kit or flip cards. The visual scanning, form constancy, visual tracking, visual discrimination, visual memory, and visual closure was really being used for this game.

Then, my four year old flipped through the cards, strengthening her finger isolation and other fine motor skills until she found the matching character. Once she did the exercise, she used more fine motor skills to peel off a sticker...but it had to be the matching sticker, resulting in more visual perceptual skills!

THEN, I asked my daughter to mark off the exercise on our checklist, using more fine motor work while boosting pencil control skills and pre-writing strokes as she formed a vertical line in the given box, but not over the lines!

But, all of this doesn't even tough on the real strengthening we did with the Handee Band.

There are so many exercises in the Handee Band kit and exercise cards. There are 15 to be exact, and they each have a corresponding character showing how to do the therapy band exercise. These handheld cards are perfect for the therapist that needs to tote supplies from building to building!

We left the Handee Band kit cards and band out on a table for a few days and there were countless times I saw my kids stopping over to do an exercise or two. The Handee Band program is just too irresistible!

If you are a therapist in a clinic looking for a therapy band exercise program that kids WANT to do, then the Handee Band is for you.

If you are a school-based therapist looking for strengthening exercises or proprioceptive input that calms, alerts, and adds to a sensory diet, then the Handee Band is for you.

If you are a home therapists, working with kids (or adults!) in the home and need exercises that can tuck into a tote bag, then the Handee Band is for you.

If you are a parent looking for creative and motivating ways to get the kids moving and focused on fitness, then the Handee Band is for you.

Disclosure: We received a Handee Band exercise kit and exercise cards, but all opinions are our own.

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Therapy Band Exercise Program for Kids - The OT Toolbox

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So often, we see kids with weakness. They struggle with climbing monkey bars, maintaining grasp on a pencil, coloring with endurance, maintaining posture with a strong core, manipulating snaps and buttons, and so much more. A consistent home strengthening program can help with these skills.

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We've been busy cooking our way through the alphabet with our Cooking With Kids A-Z series. All of the kid-friendly recipes here are great for occupational therapy cooking activities. While these recipes for kids are simple meal prep ideas for occupational therapy sessions or specific goals, they double as a way to help kids with areas like attention or direction following. We love the learning and therapeutic benefits to cooking with kids so this series is a winner for us. Try all of these recipes for tasty dishes that you can cook together as a family.

Meal Prep Ideas for Occupational Therapy

Healthy Recipes for Kids

Fun Recipes- Holiday Cooking With Kids

Fun Recipes -Book Related Recipes

More Cooking With Kids Ideas

Stop back for more Cooking With Kids Ideas. We're cooking up a storm all the time! Some of our favorite tools for

Cooking With Kids are ones we use every day. (Affiliate links are included.)
KitchenAid Mixer
Safety knives Sturdy Cutting Board Plastic Measuring Cups and Spoons

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We've been busy cooking our way through the alphabet with our Cooking With Kids A-Z series. All of the kid-friendly recipes here are great for occupational therapy cooking activities. While these recipes for kids are simple meal prep ideas for occupational therapy sessions or specific goals, they double as a way to help kids with areas like attention or direction following.

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How to write bubble letters

Use the input field above to type in your message. Font generator will convert your text letters using bubble font. Click a copy button. Paste it as plain text. It's going to work pretty much anywhere online - works almost everywhere - it's text. Just a smart kind of it.

Copy and paste bubble numbers

To copy a symbol click tap it

How copy and paste bubble letter generator works

Font changer can convert letters and numbers of your message into alternative text symbols. It can also add special characters like it this: u̲n̲d̲e̲r̲l̲i̲n̲e̲. No HTML involved. Big text fonts (ones that span multiple lines) aside, bubble writing font is likely to get accepted in many forums and text messaging apps like WhatsApp, Telegram, Snapchat, Skype, Instagram, Twitter and all the rest, games like PubG, Dota, Free Fire, Agario even as a nickname or a name. And it will definitely get accepted in posts, bio and messages anywhere online - from Facebook to almost all the online games. You can even get around a cuss word ban in online games using a this text font changer, as the message won't algorithmically match the banned words, because the letters are changed into symbols. Which scores a point for freedom of speech.

Another cool thing about using only symbols and special text letters is that when your post or message styled with this copy and paste bubble letter generator gets copied by someone else it retains the same original text font style that you've generated. So unlike with html styling, using copy and paste bubble letter generator guarantees you that the correct emphasis is going to be preserved.

Feedback about copy and paste bubble letter generator

Bubble Letters Font is being developed with lots of love and care for your time and experience. If something seems off and displeases you, if you have an 🤔💡 improvement idea, or if you actually like it a lot and would like to send your regards 😊, email me at tellwtfwtf@gmail.com, I'm eager to hear from you!

Alternative text font generator

You'll probably like an MS Word-like editor version of the online bubble letters font - tell.wtf font generator. On Android phones it can even be installed as a progressive web app. Tell.wtf symbol font changer is a bit more complicated than this generator, but it's got plenty of different fonts and cool additional features like finding symbols and emoji by drawing them, or typing their names. Personally, I use it most of the time. Actually, the copy and paste bubble letter generator on this page is a fork of tell.wtf generator's code.

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Bubble Letters generator (copy and paste) - 𝙁𝙎𝙮𝙢𝙗𝙤𝙡𝙨

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Change your text font, generate it into 10's of different text fonts 𝙛𝙤𝙣𝙩𝙨 ғᴏɴᴛs 𝖋𝖔𝖓𝖙𝖘 🅵🅾🅽🆃🆂 using symbol letters.

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Halloween word search puzzles are a great activity for children to celebrate Halloween and at the same time reinforce their spelling and vocabulary skills. These Halloween word search puzzles are so fun that they won't even know that they're learning something at the same time!

The Halloween word searches below are organized into three skill levels - easy puzzles which have 15 or fewer words that need to be found, medium puzzles that have 16-30 words you'll need to find, and challenging puzzles that have more than 31 Halloween words to find. These are printable Halloween word search puzzles that you can easily print from your home computer.

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36 Free Halloween Word Search Puzzles for Kids and Adults of All Ages

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A list free Halloween word searches organized by easy, medium, and challenging that range anywhere from 5 to 50 hidden words. Great for adults too!

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Thousands ready to play online
We have the best collection of word search puzzles online, with new ones being added regularly.
They are fun to play, but also educational, in fact, many teachers make use of them.

Puzzles are 100% free to play and work on desktop pc, mac, mobile and tablet. Or you can go old school and print them to enjoy offline later.

Plus, if you're feeling a little more adventurous, why not create your very own with our simple to use Word Search Maker, and then share them with your friends.

To get started playing, just select a game from below. Best of luck.

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Thousands of word search puzzles and games to play online or print out, covering a mix of both fun and educational topics. You can even create your very own game in just a few simple steps.

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Teaching Your Child About Tipping

Money ABCs

A tip is money given as an additional payment for services. It's also called a gratuity.

Piggybank on It

Tipping isn't mandatory-your child won't be arrested if he doesn't leave a tip in a restaurant. In fact, he should know that he shouldn't tip (or that he should leave only a minimum amount) if he has received especially bad service. Sometimes places don't treat kids right because they think they won't tip. If your child gets this treatment, he shouldn't reward the servers for bad behavior.

When you take early elementary kids to Denny's, they may be confused about why you've left some money on the table after you've eaten. They may even be tempted to pick it up, thinking you've merely forgotten it. After all, they don't have the vaguest idea that the money is a tip and that you've purposely left it on the table.

Tipping is a part of the way things work-it's also good manners. But it's up to you to explain what tipping is and to teach your child when and how to tip.

When Your Child Should Tip

Tipping started as a way of rewarding good service. Tips were viewed as gifts to servants. Today, tips are a part of the way we pay for things. Different countries have different customs on tipping (in China, for example, it's an insult to tip). Here, however, tips are expected in certain situations. It's helpful for your child to know when it's appropriate to tip so that as he gets older and goes out in the world without you, he'll know what to do.

Your child might run into some of these more common places that call for tipping:

Restaurants. Tip the waiter or waitress on the basis of the bill.

Taxis. Tip the driver on the basis of the fare.

Pizza or other food delivery. Tip the driver on the basis of the cost of the food.

Watch Your Step

It's not necessary to tip a waiter if a gratuity has already been added to the bill automatically (the menu should specify that there's a fixed gratuity). However, even if this is so, a tip is still good manners if the service was exceptional.

Coat check attendant. No tip is required if there's a charge for checking a coat. Otherwise, the tip is usually a fixed amount (see the following section).

Parking garage and valet parking. Tipping here works similar to tipping for the coat check attendant: If there's a charge for valet parking, no tipping is required. Otherwise, follow the instructions that follow.

How Much to Tip?

Knowing when to tip is only half the battle. Your child also needs to know how much to tip and how to figure that amount. Here's a little guide to what's usually expected in the way of tips. This serves as only a guideline, though: Great service can always be rewarded with a larger tip, while poor service may not be worth any tip at all.

Wait staff

15 percent of bill (before the addition of tax)

Taxi driver

15 percent of fare

Food delivery person

$2 for a bill of $10 or less
$2.50 for a bill of $10-$20
$3 for a bill of $20-$30
$3.50 for a bill of $30-$40
At least 10 percent for bills more than $40

Coat check attendant

$1 to $2 per coat

Parking attendant

$1 to $2 per car

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Money ABCs A tip is money given as an additional payment for services. It's also called a gratuity. Piggybank on It Tipping isn't mandatory-your child won't be arrested if he doesn't leave a tip in a restaurant. In fact, he should know that he shouldn't tip (or that he should leave only a minimum amount) if he has received especially bad service.

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Yoga PE - Mind  |  12-Minute Yoga For Kids

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Connect Four (Online game for 2 players)

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Connect Four - online game for 2 players. Play Connect Four with your friends or wait for a random opponent.

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From classic online games like chess and checkers to space and miniature golf games, kids will love these fun games. As they play kids will develop strategy, reasoning, and spatial reasoning skills.

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Games | Educational Games for Kids | Toy Theater

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Teachers & parents trust our games to be a safe place for kids to enjoy cool games like chess, checkers, reversi, Tic Tac Toe, Balloon Pop, Quest & more! Kids have so much fun, they don't even realize that they're building skills in numeracy, turn-taking, logic, & problem solving.

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TheLearningStation - Kids Songs and Nursery Rhymes

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Brain Breaks - Action Songs for Children - Move and Freeze - Kids Songs by The Learning Station

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Do the Bear Walk (gross motor/balance/coordination/self regulation/brain break)

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Do the Bear Walk (gross motor/balance/coordination/self regulation/brain break)

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Do the Bear Walk (Gross motor/Balance/Coordination/Self Regulation/ Brain Break)

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Teletherapy Gross Motor and Fine Motor Warm Up exercises 

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Teletherapy Gross Motor and Fine Motor Warm Up exercises 

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Teletherapy Gross Motor and Fine Motor Warm-up Exercises 💻🏃‍♂️💪🖐

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Superhero & Villain Teletherapy warm up exercises 

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Superhero & Villain Teletherapy warm up exercises 

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Superhero & Villain Teletherapy Warm-Up Exercises! 🦸‍♂️🦸‍♀️

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Interland is an adventure-packed online game that puts the key lessons of digital citizenship and safety into hands-on practice. Play your way to being Internet Awesome.

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Copy of Bulldog Virtual Assignment Tracker

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8 activities using a plastic shopping bag

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8 activities using a plastic shopping bag

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8 Activities using a Plastic Shopping Bag

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Discover which cute animal, Greek god, and explorer you are-and more! It's OK if your result doesn't fit your personality-it's just for fun.

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The Tools of Randomness

As humans, we naturally strive for some kind of order. The examples are many - schedules, tidy rooms, neatly folded clothes, and the like. Almost everything we do follows certain rules and regulations; there are laws in place and rules to adhere to.

Still, order comes with a flaw - it's predictable. Of course, it certainly helps us with our daily tasks, but the colors change when something surprising happens. In fact, we cannot deny that we like surprises and coincidences. Therefore, we can say that while we are faithful to order and structure, we also enjoy flirting with randomness.

Here's an example we can all relate to - the "shuffle" option on most music apps. Despite our tendency to create custom playlists, we still like when our app "surprises" us with a song. That is especially true if we haven't heard that song in a while, not to mention that so many board and card games also depend on randomness.

In this article, we are going to talk about different ways we use randomness, as well as the tools we that help us achieve it.

Random Number Generators

There's one random number generator we are all familiar with - the lottery drum. As we know, this device pulls out a number of lottery balls at random and creates the winning combination. It ensures equal odds of winning for everyone playing. That is one of many ways we let randomness control a game.

The roulette wheel is also a common random number generator. We can never say for certain which number the ball will land on. In fact, the unpredictable nature of roulette is what makes it so thrilling in the first place. Even online slot games are essentially random number generators. Even though we see symbols, there is always a number behind each one.

Surely, dice are the most common random number generator. They are essential to many games, from Ludo and Monopoly to craps and Yahtzee. In the former two examples, rolling a die determines the movement of the player. In the latter two, dice are more central to the game instead of just being a tool.

The die we all know and love is a cube that generates a random number between 1 and 6. Of course, there are also dice that are not cubes and have between four and eight faces. For instance, role-playing games like Dungeons and Dragons often make use of those.

Unfortunately, the history of the die is a bit of a blur. Some say that the oldest dice could have been made some 5000 years ago. What we do know is that backgammon was one of the first games to use dice.

It's a common belief that dice produce truly random numbers. However, scientists have discovered that it is not entirely true. For example, if we throw a die with the number one on top, there is more chance of it producing that same number. Still, we don't need to worry about that, since the outcome largely depends on the environment.

Dice have come a long way since their invention. Now, instead of using physical dice, we can simply roll a virtual die at freeonlinedice.com. By simply clicking on the die, we can roll it and produce a number between 1 and 6 completely at random. With the help of this simple but convenient website, we can roll a die virtually anywhere.

Christopher Nolan's movie The Dark Knight introduced the villain Two-Face, who lets a coin flip decide his actions. Indeed, tossing a coin has always been a simple way to make a quick decision, since the odds are 50:50.

Throughout history, flipping a coin has resolved disputes, declared winners and even played a role in politics. In ancient times, people understood the outcome of a coin flip as a sign of divine will.

Interestingly enough, a coin flip had also decided which of the two Wright brothers would be the first to fly a plane. Even though Wilbur had won the coin toss, his attempt at flying was a failure. Yet, his brother Orville was successful.

In football, a coin flip decides which team kicks off the ball. When a team wins the coin toss, they can decide if they want to kick the ball or receive it. Moreover, the winning team can also choose which side of the field they want to defend.

The coin flip transcends to esports, as well. For example, Hearthstone uses it to decide which player goes first. Whoever loses the toss, gets a "coin card", which also has its benefits.

Are the Odds Really Equal?

Earlier, we mentioned that the odds of a coin flip are 50:50. However, research shows that there is actually a bit of a bias that makes the toss less fair. More accurately, there is a 0.51 probability of catching the coin the same way we throw it.

Although both sides are made from raised metal, they show different images. Therefore, we can assume that one side is slightly heavier than the other.

Despite that, the coin flip is still a popular way to decide between two options. Nowadays, we don't even have to worry about the physics of it. Instead, we can go to freeonlinedice.com and do a virtual coin flip with a single click. It's a great way to quickly make up our mind anytime, anywhere. Honestly, flipping a real coin does leave some room for cheating. However, a virtual coin will always produce a random result.

It's interesting how often we let such small objects determine the course of our actions. Yet, it's fun, and sometimes necessary to give in to randomness. After all, not having the control of the outcome paves the way for interesting situations.

Rolling dice and tossing a coin have always been the simplest, yet most popular tools of randomness. Now that we can use them online, we are confident that they will stay relevant for years to come. The question remains - how lucky are we?

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Free Online Dice allows you to flip a coin or roll virtual dice. You can flip coin for decision making or roll virtual dice for true random numbers.

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​Create interactive classroom activities and assessments to share with your students and monitor their results

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Activity Brainstorm

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Parent handout

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Occupational Therapy activity search results.

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Teaching Tools to Support Social Emotional Learning by Developmental Age

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For over 25 years Social Thinking has been a guiding resource for schools, clinics, and families around the world, and we're here for you, too! Our Free Stuff Portal is filled to the brim with teaching ideas and resources to foster the development of students' social competencies.

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Socially Distanced Silly Sports and Goofy Games

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How to fit stability work into your routine—and why you should

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SPECIAL: Online ordering discount $1.00 off
To our UK customers, now you can order Callirobics ® from www.specialdirect.com

If you have any questions or comments,
please e-mail us at lioral@callirobics.com.

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Callirobics - Handwriting Therapy Set to Music for Children and Adults

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SPECIAL: Online ordering discount $1.00 off To our UK customers, now you can order Callirobics ® from www.specialdirect.com If you have any questions or comments, please e-mail us at lioral@callirobics.com.

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If you're looking for easy and low cost indoor activities for kids - we have a list of over 100 ideas for you! From simple activities to fun crafts that can keep kids busy during school breaks or on a rainy day. You can even cross off each one as you do them!

RELATED: Summer Bucket List for Kids

To make it easy, we have created a printable list of the 100+ Activities for Kids so you can easily print off the list.

We also have all of the ideas in this post if you need them. You can copy and paste to create your own printable, or use the one that we have already created for you! We only ask that if you are reprinting in a community newsletter or school newsletter that you credit our website as the source.

Indoor Activities for Kids - Over 100 Ideas!

We've organized the ideas by crafts, activities, games and educational. Hopefully this list will also provide inspiration for you to think of other ideas too!

And if you love making crafts with things you have around your home, check out our Recycled Crafts for Kids book. It has 60 crafts for kids with things you can use from around your home and a few other simple supplies.
SENSORY PLAY CRAFTS ACTIVITIES

Build a Fort

Have a Pillow Fight

Write a Story

Make Ice Cream in a Bag

Make Homemade Gummy Bears

Make Fruit Roll-Ups

Have a Movie Day

Put on a Fashion Show

Bake Cupcakes or Muffins

Do Yoga

Build an Obstacle Course

Make Dinner Together

Play with Magnetic Tiles

Build Something With Lego: You can even make your own travel lego case!

Build a Stack of Cards

Put on a Puppet Show

Make a Treasure Hunt

Make Your Own Indoor Bowling. Use paper towel rolls as your bowling pins and use a ball to bowl

Learn to Draw

Put on a Play

Make Indoor Hopscotch. Use masking tape to make your own hopscotch on tiles in your own

Do a Family Chore Together

Have a Dance Party

Have a Tea Party

Play with Water In a Bin With Toys

Set up a Play Store. Grab a shopping basket and set up the merchandise. We like this play cash register too!

Make a Sock Toss Game. Use mismatched socks and fill them with beans or rice. Then try to see how many you can 'score' in a laundry basket.

Make Perler Bead Art

Write in a Journal

GAMES

Play Would You Rather

Play I Spy

Play Simon Says

Play Board Games

Play Hide and Seek

Have an indoor scavenger hunt

Play Bingo

Play Card Games

Do a Puzzle

Play Charades

Build Your Own Game

Play Freeze Dance

Play Hot Potato

Play Marbles

Play Keep the Balloon Up

Play Dominoes

Play Hangman

Play Tic-Tac-Toe

EDUCATIONAL

Read Books

Do a Science Project

Learn Origami

Learn About a New Animal

Learn a New Card Game

Learn to Sew

Learn to Knit

Do Brain Teasers

Learn a New Language

Learn About a Country

Over 100 ideas are included in this indoor activities for kids free printable. Get the PDF printable delivered straight to your inbox as a gift for subscribing to our newsletter.

To get a PDF printable of the list above, subscribe to our email list and you'll receive it as a free gift. Make sure to check all folders for the confirmation email.

And for more ideas, see our book - Fun and Easy Crafting with Recycled Materials. This book is bursting with recycled crafts that use things you can find around your home. There are chapters with egg cartons, cardboard, newspaper, popsicle sticks, jars and more!

And if you want outdoor summer activity ideas, see our Summer Bucket List for Kids.

For more easy craft ideas - check out our NEW craft kits for kids! Now Available at Michael's.

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100+ Indoor Activities for Kids (with Free Printable)- The Best Ideas for Kids

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100+ Indoor Activities for Kids - everything from crafts, activities, sensory to educational ideas! Free printable PDF available.

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STUDENT interactive drawings for therapy sessions

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Can You Ace the Super Mario Workout Challenge?

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Sorry, Well Workouts requires iOS 7 or greater, the Android Chrome browser, or Internet Explorer 11. Try going to www.nytimes.com/7-minute-workout on your phone.

by Gretchen Reynolds

12 exercises deploying only body weight, a chair and a wall, it fulfills the latest mandates for high-intensity effort - all of it based on science.

9. High knees running in place

11. Push ups with rotation

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Sorry, Well Workouts requires iOS 7 or greater, the Android Chrome browser, or Internet Explorer 11. Try going to www.nytimes.com/7-minute-workout on your phone. by Gretchen Reynolds 12 exercises deploying only body weight, a chair and a wall, it fulfills the latest mandates for high-intensity effort - all of it based on science.

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How to Meditate Outdoors With Us Right Now (Published 2020)

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An exercise to help your body release the stress of constantly bracing for a disaster.

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3 Minutes Body Scan Meditation - Mindfulness For Kids And Adults

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How To Draw A Person Hugging The Earth - Earth Day

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Reading a paragraph without losing their place, copying a list of homework from the chalkboard, misalignment of vertical and horizontal numbers in math problems, confusion in interpreting written direction, mixing up left/right, persistent letter reversals...Does any of this sound familiar? It's all visual tracking!

Vision and visual tracking are tasks that happen without us even realizing. The brain and it's jobs is an amazing thing and our eyes are moving, tracking, scanning, focusing, pursuing, and accommodating without us even realizing.

Today's activity should cost you at most $2 unless you already have these items in your craft cupboard or office supplies. Add this activity to your treatment bag for multiple activities. Read on:

What is Visual Tracking?

Visual tracking is typically defined as the ability to efficiently move the eyes from left to right (or right to left, up and down, and circular motions) OR focusing on an object as it moves across a person's visual field. This skill is important for almost all daily activities, including reading, writing, cutting with scissors, drawing, and playing. According to typical development of visual processing, the ability to visually track objects emerges in children around the age of five.

Visual Tracking Exercises

Using visual tracking exercises like the one described below can be a powerful way to use eye exercises to improve vision in kids. THese are the visual skills needed not for visual acuity, but rather, those unseen visual problems that impact visual processing skills.

Visual tracking exercises can include vision therapy activities that improve areas such as visual saccades or smooth visual pursuit.

Difficulties in Visual Tracking

You might see problems with these tasks if a child has difficulty with visual tracking:

Losing place when reading. Re-reads or skips words or lines.

Omits, substitutes, repeats, or confuses similar words when reading.

Must use finger to keep place when reading.

Poor reading comprehension.

Difficulty comprehending or remembering what is read.

Confusion with interpreting or following written directions.

Writing on a slat, up or down hill, spacing letters and words irregularly.

Confusion with left/right directions.

Persistent reversals of letters (b, d, p, q) when naming letters.

Reverses letters when writing (persistent reversals after 2nd grade.)

Errors when copying from a chalkboard or book to paper.

Misalignment of horizontal and vertical series' of numbers in math problems.

Visual Tracking Activities

This Visual tracking activity is easy to set up. Gather recycled bottle caps. I used round dot labels from our office supplies to color the inside of each cap. You could also use a marker or paint to color the bottle caps. Use what you've got on hand to make this treatment activity free or almost free!

Next, gather matching crafting pom poms . These can be found at the dollar store for and inexpensive treatment item.

Visual Fixation Activity: (Maintaining vision on an item in the visual field) Work one eye at a time. Have your child close one eye and place a colored crafting pom pom onto a matching bottle cap. They need to use one hand to place the pom pom into the corresponding bottle cap and not move bottle caps around on the table. After the child has filled all of the bottle caps using one eye, repeat the task with the other eye. Then complete the activity using both eyes.

You can also do this activity by placing the label dots on a paper. Match the bottle caps onto the dots.

Hold up one bottle cap on your nose. Ask your child to sit about 18 inches from you and stare at the bottle cap. Note their eye movements as they stare. Keep track of time that the child can stare at the target without
Visual Stare Activity:
visual saccades (eye movements).

Peripheral Tracking Activity:
Arrange the bottle caps on the table. Place a pom pom in the center of the table, with the bottle caps all around it. Ask your child to stare at the pom pom. While keeping their head still and only moving their eyes, ask them to quickly find a bottle cap with the same color. Ask them to scan to another bottle cap of the same color until they've found all of the caps with that color. You can add a level to this task by writing letters or numbers in the bottle caps and asking the child to find letters in order or numbers in order.

Visual Tracking Pursuit Activity:
Set one bottle cap on the right side of the table. Place another at the left side. The adult should blow a crafting pom pom from the right to the left and ask the child to follow the pom with his eyes, without moving their head. Repeat by blowing the pom pom from the left to the right, front to back, and back to front in front of the child.

Visual Tracking Tracing Lines: Set one vertical row of bottle cap on the left side of the child. Place another vertical row on the right side. The adult should draw a line from one bottle cap on the left side to a matching bottle cap on the right side. Instruct the child to follow the pencil as you draw. Nest, trace the line with your finger. Ask the child to trace the line with their finger. They can then trace the lines with a pencil or marker.

More (Inexpensive) Activities to promote eye tracking:

Complete mazes

Use a newspaper or magazine article. Ask your child to highlight all of the letter "a's".

Draw or paint pictures.

Place a marble in a pie pan. Rotate the pan around and watch the ball as it rolls. Don't move your head, only your eyes!

Find as many things shaped like a a square in the room. Repeat the activity, finding all of the circular shaped items in the room.

Play "I Spy."

Dot-to-dot pictures.

Play balloon toss.

Use tracing paper to trace and color pictures.

Trace letters with chalk.

Play flashlight tag on walls and ceilings. The adult an child each holds a flashlight. As the adult shines the light on walls, the child keeps their light superimposed on top of yours. Start with simple strait lines. Then add curved lines, then a circle. Tell them what you are drawing next. Advance the activity by drawing shapes without telling them what you are doing next.

Play with wind-up cars.

Create a race track on the floor. Follow cars with your eyes.

Roll a ball between you and the child. Roll from left-right, right-left, front-back, back-front, and toss the ball.

Toys and Tools to Help with Visual Tracking Problems:

Looking for more tools to improve visual tracking? While the ideas below are most definitely NOT free or inexpensive, they are great for improving visual tracking and visual scanning in fun ways. These toys, games, and ideas may be a great gift idea for little ones who have visual perceptual difficulties or problems with visual tracking and handwriting, body awareness in space, letter reversals, detail awareness, or maintaining place while reading. SO, save these ideas for grandparents and friends who might ask for gift ideas for birthdays and holidays. These are some powerhouse visual tracking ideas!

Older kids can complete color/paint by number art like this

Color By Number Poster Set for scanning for colored pencils and numbers in a complex page.

Mazes are excellent for fostering and building on visual tracking skills. Particularly those that involve a moving ball such as a Marble Run
or a labrynth . This MindWare Q-Ba-Maze Big Box
requires engineering and maze building that older kids will love while working on skills needed in handwriting.

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Visual Tracking Tips and Tools for Treatment - The OT Toolbox

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Reading a paragraph without losing their place, copying a list of homework from the chalkboard, misalignment of vertical and horizontal numbers in math problems, confusion in interpreting written direction, mixing up left/right, persistent letter reversals...Does any of this sound familiar? It's all visual tracking! Vision and visual tracking are tasks that happen without us even realizing.

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EASIEST way how to teach a child to tie shoes!!

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