Material: Buttons

Paper Star Fish

Download and print the Star Fish template.

Ask the child to cut out the star fish image. For children that have difficulties with cutting skills, it is recommended to cut on heavier paper (i.e card-stock or construction paper), and provide with thicker lines/boundaries.

Using the tissue paper, instruct the child to tear pieces of the paper and crumble them into small balls. Encourage the child to move his thumb, pointer, and middle fingers in a circular motion.

Have the child glue the tissue paper balls on the star fish.

If you are using construction paper only, you can cut strips of paper, and let the child tear small pieces to glue on the star fish. If using beans, buttons, or sequins, you can promote pincer grasp by using tongs/tweezers to pick up the items to glue. Stickers can also be used.

Feel the Turkey

On brown contraction paper, draw the turkey’s body.

On different colors construction paper draw 6-7 turkey feathers.

Place a variety of materials with different textures on the table. I used cotton balls, Velcro, buttons, felt, dry beans, googly eyes, and feathers.

Ask the child to cut the turkey’s body and feathers. Then, have him glue the feathers to the back of the body. You can also let the child draw the turkey’s face on.

Present the child with different materials. Talk about the different textures (soft, smooth, rough, ticklish, etc.). Ask the child to glue a few pieces from each material on each of the turkey’s feathers.

You can use this turkey as a seasonal tactile board. Gobble, Gobble!

Touch and Match

A young child searches through a bowl of dried beans to find foam shapes that match the ones placed on the table.

For the purpose of describing the activity, we chose beans and foam sheets. You can use any media you would like to fill up your container (i.e. corn kernels, cotton balls, macaroni, bird’s seeds, send, etc.)and any objects to hide (i.e.buttons, pom-poms, pegs, coins, etc.).

Use the foam sheets and cut pairs of different shapes (you can also use different color sheets and cut a pair of the same shape in each color). Fill up the container with the beans. Hide one shape from each pair inside the container and place the other shape in front of the child.

Have the child dig his hands through the beans and find the matching shapes, taking them out one shape at a time.

Therapy Snowman

A 6-year-old child glues colorful pom-poms onto a construction paper snowman during a home occupational therapy activity.

Make two circles (one big and one small) from construction paper, to be used as stencils for the snowman’s body and face. You may also make a stencil for a hat.

Let the child trace the circles on a white construction paper and trace the hat on a piece of fabric.

If needed, trace the child’s circle to make a wider line to assist with cutting accuracy.

Ask the child to cut the traced shapes.

On a separate piece of construction paper, have the child glue the circles and the hat: the big circle on the bottom for the body and the small circle on the top for the snowman’s face.

Ask the child to draw the snowman’s face using markers or crayons.

Cut out a stripe from the tissue paper for the scarf and let the child glue it on the snowman.

For buttons, let the child glue pom-poms, buttons, or stickers on the big circle.

Use the wooden sticks or branches for hands.

If you wish to work on handwriting skills, let the child write a story about the snowman.

Multi Step Shamrock

Print and cut the provided picture below of a shamrock (about 7 inch in size). You will use this as your stencil.

Provide the child with a green or white page of construction paper.

Ask the child to trace the shamrock on his paper using the stencil you made.

Instruct the child to cut out the shamrock.

Allow the child to spread some glue over the shamrock he cut. You may use a paint brush or a craft stick if the child avoids sticky materials.

Place the different manipulatives in front of the child inside a shallow container or a paper plate.

Instruct the child to glue the different objects on the shamrock transferring the objects from the container to his paper using the tweezers or the tongs.

The child may also use his fingers to reinforce pincer grasp and in-hand manipulation skills.

You may also have the child crumble pieces of tissue paper into small ball to work on dexterity and strengthening of the small muscles in your child’s hands.