Home Activities for Occupational Therapy

Home Program for Occupational Therapy

Robin Fuchs, OTR

OVERVIEW & PURPOSE

While school is closed as a precautionary measure against the spread of the Coronavirus, and while schoolwork may be provided online for students to complete at home you might be wondering about therapies your child receives during school. For students who receive occupational therapy as part of their IEP this serves to provide caregivers activities to address IEP goals. Activities will be grouped by grade level and will include ways to make the activity easier or harder depending on how much of a challenge the activity is for your child. Start with the movement activity to help your child get their wiggles out and be better focused for the fine motor activities.

PPCD & Pre-K

1. Movement Activity: Bear Crawl - crawl with your hands and feet on the floor, bottom up in the air. Make it a game by collecting blocks/puzzle/game pieces on one side of the room and carrying them to another to play

   1. Make it Harder: increase distance traveled or repetitions, place obstacles in the way for kids to crawl around

   2. Make it Easier: shorten the distance, help your child keep their bottom up by holding their hips, take breaks

   3. Works on: core & upper body strengthening, body awareness & coordination

2. Fine Motor Activity: use kitchen tongs to pick up small items and place into a container. Anything you have on hand will work - toys, socks, crumpled junk mail, etc, try it yourself to make sure the tongs & items work together

   1. Make it Harder: sort items by color/type/size, place items and containers far away so that your child has to hold it in the tongs for a longer time.

   2. Make it Easier: keep your hand on the tongs to help guide your child to the container before releasing, change the size of the items for easier grasp.

   3. Works on: grip strength, eye-hand coordination.

Kindergarten & 1st Grade

1. Movement Activity: Bear Crawl - crawl with your hands and feet on the floor, bottom up in the air. Make it a game by collecting blocks/puzzle/game pieces on one side of the room and carrying them to another to play

   1. Make it Harder: increase distance traveled or repetitions, place obstacles in the way for kids to crawl around

   2. Make it Easier: shorten the distance, help your child keep their bottom up by holding their hips, take breaks

   3. Works on: core & upper body strengthening, body awareness & coordination

2. Fine Motor Activity: Cutting - draw straight, curved and zig zag lines on paper - it can be scraps, junk mail, old magazines, etc. Make it an art project by gluing the pieces together to make abstract art, or a design if you’re really creative

   1. Make it Harder: tighter curves/corners of zig zags or cut out basic shapes

   2. Make it Easier: Help your child hold and turn the paper

   3. Works on: grip strength, eye-hand coordination.

2nd & 3rd Grade

1. Movement Activity: Jumping Jacks

   1. Make it Harder: challenge for highest number of jumping jacks in a row before messing up coordination

   2. Make it Easier: use a mirror so that the child can see themself, slow down their pace, practice movements of arms only, and then legs only, then try again together

   3. Works on: core strength, coordination

2. Fine Motor Activity: Handwriting practice, GC ISD uses the Handwriting without Tears curriculum, review individual letter formations with focus on HOW letters are formed; starting letters at the top, making sure letters rest on the bottom line and fit into the space properly. Focus on Stick capital letters this week. A/E/F/H/I/K/L/M/N/T/V/W/X/Y/Z

   1. Make it Harder: use vocabulary word lists to copy letters within context

   2. Make it Easier: trace letters first, then copy

   3. Works on: letter formations, fine motor coordination

4th & 5th Grade

1. Movement Activity: Jumping Jacks

   1. Make it Harder: challenge for highest number of jumping jacks in a row before messing up coordination

   2. Make it Easier: use a mirror so that the child can see themself, slow down their pace, practice movements of arms only, and then legs only, then try again together

   3. Works on: core strength, coordination

2. Fine Motor Activity: Handwriting - copy a short paragraph from a book or class notes (please incorporate other classwork so that the writing has meaning to your child) Focus on spacing between words, sizing of letters and that the letters rest on the line and tails of g/y/p/q drop down appropriately.

   1. Make it Harder: increase length of paragraph or have your child write their own story, help with spelling as needed.

   2. Make it Easier: Copy one sentence at a time, blocking out other text so that it’s easier for your child to find their place while copying

   3. Works on: handwriting & visual-motor integration

Functional Living Classroom

1. Bear Crawl - crawl with your hands and feet on the floor, bottom up in the air. Make it a game by collecting blocks/puzzle/game pieces on one side of the room and carrying them to another to play

   1. Make it Harder: increase distance traveled or repetitions, place obstacles in the way for kids to crawl around

   2. Make it Easier: shorten the distance, help your child keep their bottom up by holding their hips, take breaks

   3. Works on: core & upper body strengthening, body awareness & coordination

2. Fine Motor Activity: Handwriting: copy or trace first and/or last name

   1. Make it Harder: copy or write on their name on their own, if this is mastered, try the fine motor activity for their grade level listed above.

   2. Make it Easier: Use a highlighter or marker to write their name largely, and help them trace the letters, focusing on letter formations: starting letters at the top, staying within boundaries of lined paper

   3. Works on: letter & name recognition, fine motor coordination

Other Resources

1. Pinterest/Google

   1. Search keywords: fine motor activities, cutting activities, rainy day activities for (age level), coloring pages, handwriting templates, free printables

2. https://www.handwritingworksheets.com/

   1. You can print handwriting worksheets with lots of options to tailor to what you need

   2.