As I have said in many of my previous occupational therapy blogs, you don’t need fancy equipment to target really great OT skills in your daily routines! This blog is to serve as a guide to “get those wheels turning” with regards to nearly free materials that can be used to target common skills addressed in occupational therapy. We have things for fine motor development, grasp, bilateral coordination, sensory processing, pre-vocational/life skills and so much more!
1) Masking Tape
This can work on:
- 2 handed use [bilateral coordination]
- Hand separation & strength [“pinchers”] to support pencil grasp
You could:
- Tape things to the wall or “wrap up” a toy and have a child “save” the items by peeling the tape
- Use masking tape as a road for toy cars, a line on which the student can write, a DIY maze, etc.!
2) Stickers
This can work on:
- Fine motor skills
- Pinch strength
You could:
- Use stickers as visual cues for starting points for letter formation
- Practice multi-sensory letter formation by tracing a letter in stickers
3) Clothes Pins
This can work on:
- Hand strength [see this blog for more ideas!]
- Pre-scissor skills
You could:
- Put clothes pins on different parts of a child’s clothing (ex: back of pants/shirt) to work on arm movements required for self-dressing skills
- Incorporate letter matching [like shown above] or other academic skills like in the Phonics Clip Cards Bundle!
4) Paper
This can work on:
- Handwriting/other writing tasks typically addressed in OT
- In-hand manipulation skills [see this pre-writing blog series to learn more about these skills!]
You could:
- Tear paper into small pieces to build (2 handed) bilateral coordination and hand strength
- Use one hand to crumple and unfold paper to build intrinsic hand muscles
5) Pencils
This can work on:
- Age appropriate grasp [see other ideas on this blog about Q-tip painting!]
- Pre-writing and handwriting skills
You could:
- Walk your fingers up and down the pencil, play finger tug-o-war, twirl the pencil, etc. as handwriting warm ups
- Sharpen pencils as a heavy work activity to increase regulation
6) Thumbtacks/Push Pins
This can work on:
- Pincer & opening the webbed space of the hand to support a tripod grasp for writing
- Graded pressure & hand eye coordination
You could:
- Put craft foam or cork and a piece of construction paper behind a picture and trace the picture by pushing the thumbtack around the entire board. Hold the construction paper up to the light to see your “constellation”
- Hangs things on a bulletin board with thumbtacks to target bilateral coordination
7) Coins
This can work on:
- In-hand manipulation skills
- Pre-vocational and life skills with sorting and counting money
You could:
- Pick up all the coins with one hand [“squirreling” them way in your palm] and then maneuvering one out at at time to put in a container [think vending machine-style] as pictured above
- Target visual perceptual skills like visual discrimination to sort the coins
8) Playing Cards
This can work on:
- Motor planning and problem solving
- Dexterity and more complex motor skills
You could:
- Play games that require students to hold their hand of cards [more challenging than it seems!] or learn to shuffle cards!
- Practice flipping cards over and sorting them; try to increase your speed!
9) Outdoor Play
This can work on:
- Sensory processing & regulation [play in the grass, the sand, on the playground equipment, etc.]
- Gross motor coordination
You could:
- Draw a hopscotch or make other games with chalk to work on fine and gross motor skills at once!
- Climb on playground equipment to build gross motor skills needed to support fine motor development.
10) Your Hands
This can work on:
- Motor planning and dexterity
- Finger isolation
You could:
- Do a fine motor challenge like the one above where the student follows the motor planning pattern to the beat of a song or you could do activities with American Sign Language (ASL)
- Play hand games (ex: Miss Mary Mack) to work on motor planning, bilateral coordination and crossing midline.
Share your ideas for free OT items!
There are so many creative teachers, parents, paraeducators, OTs, and other related service providers out there! I’d love to hear all about how you have used little to no cost materials to work on OT skills with your students! The possibilities are honestly endless! For more ideas check out our other “on a budget blogs“!
