May Occupational Therapy Activity Calendar

 

How is it May already? In these difficult times, some structured activities might come in handy to stimulate your child, get them moving and challenge them in new refreshing ways so they keep making those steps towards their therapy goals. These activities are also simple ways to enrich your child's environments and daily routine. 

My calendar includes a variety of different OT activities. For each day of the week I have chosen a specific area OT area to target. They are suitable for most children and all activities have options to grade for more difficulty or make it easier to meet your child’s needs.

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Think of this page as an instruction manual - I will describe how to do each activity on the calendar and list "why" they are helpful for your child. So try to bookmark this page to make it easier! I will also upload videos on my Instagram account if you would like to do it along with me follow @OTwithEmily. Make sure to hashtag #OTwithEmily so we can all see and follow along to support each other and have fun!

Day 1 - Flashlight Tag

You can move the flashlight on the floor or on the wall in a dark room and your child tries to catch the spotlight. A good trick is to flash it on their feet or on your body part to catch their attention! You and your child can both have a flashlight. Both lying on your back looking at the ceiling you move your light around the ceiling or walls and your child's flashlight tries to catch you. You can make it more challenging if the child has to hold it with both hands, right hand or left hand only. Try grading how fast or slow the flashlight moves. 

Therapeutic Benefits: 

• Visual processing 
• Visual tracking 
• Crossing the midline 
• Fine motor
• Attention 

Day 2 - Ball games

Sit down with legs apart pass the ball to each other count how many times. Standing up throw and catch. Kick the ball to each other. Try to play bowling stack up some paper cups and throw to knock them over. 

Therapeutic Benefits: 

• Hand eye coordination 
• Gross Motor skills
• Turn taking 
• Joint attention 

Day 3 - Animal Walks

Pretend to be an animal you can use it part of your transition to another room or a new activity, for obstacle courses and a warm up activity before task that requires your child to sit down and concentrate. My favourite walks are bear walk, crab walk and froggy jumps!

Therapeutic Benefits: 

• Regulation 
• Body Strength
• Motor Planning 
• Heavy Work, Proprioception 
• Bilateral Coordination 
• Spatial Awareness 

Day 4 - Sensory Bin

Have your child find objects that have been buried in a large container of dry rice, beans, lentils or small pieces of pasta. 

• Have your child match objects from the container to sample objects postioned nearby 
• Once he retrieve match to a picture of that object
• Have him describe objects how they feel before they bright them out and look at it

Therapeutic Benefits: 

• Sensory Processing 
• Play skills
• Fine motor
• Cognitive 

Day 5 - Q-Tip Painting

Use Q-Tip or cotton buds to do dot paintings stamping. Have fun mixing colours. Write letters or draw shapes and paint dot-to-dot following the lines. If you would like to download my free Mother's Day Q-Tip painting printable click here. 

Therapeutic Benefits: 

• Pencil grasp 
• Fine motor skills
• Visual motor 

Day 6 - Jumping Letters

Draw letters on post it notes or pieces of paper - your child can help you with this. Tap it to the floor different positions. Your child can jump from one letter or shape/ number to another. There are many variations you can create with this game: 

• Jump form on letter to another in a preplanned order or as you or the child shouts i out
• Jumpr from letter to letter to spell words, try to use the fewest jumps possible, this might take bigger jumps!
• Then to make the spelling more automatic, try to jump more quickly to spell the words requiring faster movement . You can even time his with a stop watch if your child thinks it would be fun to beat his own score
• If your child can read, try writing words and they can jump from one word to another to create a sentence 
  

Therapeutic Benefits: 

• Vestibular processing 
• Coordination
• Motor planning 
• Core strength 
• Lower limb strength

Day 7 - Dress Up

Make a dress up box or suitcase together filled with old clothes e.g. one of your old dresses, dad's old big T-shirt, hats, headbands, googles, beanie, scarf, apron, boots, sandals, chunky jewellery. Have fun dressing up and looking in the mirror. Change into different outfits and play pretend. 

Therapeutic Benefits: 

• Touch processing - your child will touch and wear different textures which promotes a better understanding of tactile perception 
• Fine motor skills - when they are zipping, buttoning, tying laces
• Imaginative play skills
• Creative thinking
• Problem solving
• Social emotional development when acting out using language and gestures 

Day 8 - Shopping Visual Memory

Tell your child to go you went shopping, place 4-5 objects you bought on a tray (pen, block, watch, sunglasses). Ask your child to look at the objects for 30 seconds and cover the tray. See if your child remembers. Take turns choosing the small objects to put on the tray. You can be silly and say something that isn't possible like 'watermelon'. Try having less objects or choose objects that your child is familiar with to make it easier. 

Therapeutic Benefits: 

• Visual perceptual 
• Visual memory 
• Language
• Attention 

Day 9 - Water Play

Try making a water sensory bin or simply play in the bath tub! Scoop toys, pour, splash, put scents in the water using essential oils. 

Therapeutic Benefits: 

• Multi sensory processing 
• Fine Motor
• Bilateral coordination
• Creative problem solving 

Day 10 - Wheelbarrow 

Ask your child to kneel down and place hands in front of their body. Grasp their legs and lift while your child presses their hand on the floor to walk to support their weight.  It is easier for your child if you hold under the thighs near the hips (age 3 or 4). To make it harder hold their legs above the knees and even harder at their ankle. Try putting a target where they have to walk to or collecting puzzle pieces. 

Therapeutic Benefits: 

• Proprioception input 
• Heavy work 
• Organising sensory input - "just right" calming and alerting 
• Body awareness
• Upper Limb Strength & Stability 
• Core strength
• Endurance

Day 11 - Freely Game

Have a bag that you can use that is not see through and big enough for your child to put both hands in. Place objects in the bag and ask your child to feel on and guess what it is without looking. Then your child can pull it out to see if they were right! Helpful to make sure your child knows how to name each objects. Put less objects in to warm up. To make it harder ask him to find a specific object. 

Therapeutic Benefits: 

• Tactile Perception 
• Tactile Discrimination 

Day 12 - Straw Jewellery

If you have some spare straws try making straw jewellery. Cut the straws into pieces and lace them. Alternative use pasta or cheeros as the beads. 

Therapeutic Benefits: 

• Fine motor 
• Scissor skills
• Bilateral integration 
• Pincer grasp and control 

Day 13 - Blanket Swing

Activity requires 2 adults. Use a blanket or large beach towel to swing your child like they are inside a hammock. Try slow linear linear swing and sing a song interact with your child to promote connection and shared attention. Stop the swinging after counting to 10 or the song finishes. See if your child wants to go again, if yes with high affect wait for the "more" or "go" to start again. 

Therapeutic Benefits: 

• Sensory Motor 
• Regulation
• Alertness, Attention 
• Vestibular Processing 
• Proprioceptive, deep pressure - can be calming 

Day 14 - Lacing Board

Play with lacing cards if you have them or make one out of cardboard or paper plates. Poke holes along the edges and use shoelaces to lace. I have made a printable lace shape card as a printable you can download here. 

Therapeutic Benefits: 

• Hand eye coordination
• Fine motor skills 
• Bilateral skills
• Motor planning 
• Sequencing 

Day 15 - Colour by Number

I have made a downloadable colour by number that you can download and print to use. You can also easily make one yourself by drawing a simple shape and putting numbers for each or your child can make one. 

Therapeutic Benefits: 

• Visual Motor Scanning 
• Cognitive matching and recognition 
• Fine motor skills 
• Visual motor skills
• Colouring 

Day 16 - Paper Play

Simple and easy game! have some scrap paper, butchers paper, or old magazine. Have fun tearing the paper, scrunching them together,  having a paper snow ball fight, kicking the paper. Try "ready set go" then tear the paper with anticipation high affect on your face to draw connection. 

Therapeutic Benefits: 

• Fine motor 
• Play skills
• Connection & relatedness 
• Praxis - motor planning 
• Ideation 

Day 17 - Play Wrestling

Stand opposite each other, plant your feet on the floor one foot in front of the other.  Have both hands out and push each other's hands with resistance. First person to give up or lose their place 'fall down' loses. Try lying on the floor and pushing each others feet - this one is more tricky

Therapeutic Benefits: 

• Heavy Work 
• Proprioceptive input

Day 18 - Blow Cotton Balls

Use a straw and blow cotton balls or pom poms to the finish line. Blow them off the table. Be silly and make a funny noise when they fall off the edge. 

Therapeutic Benefits: 

• Oral Motor
• Heavy Work 
• Proprioceptive input

Day 19 - Playdough & Putty

Playdough or putty are classics and have irreplaceable benefits ! Have fun rolling, mould, squeeze, pinch, use cookie cutters, cut with scissors, make letters or a play dough person with all the body parts. Hide small toys inside and dig them out with your fingers. 

Therapeutic Benefits: 

• Sensory Processing 
• Hand strength
• Finger isolation and dexterity
• Imaginative play
• Bilateral coordination

Day 20 - Office Chair/ Laundry Basket Spin

Have your child sit on an office chair or inside a laundry basket push and spin them around. Maybe try singing the Wheels on the Bus and on round your spin them. 

Therapeutic Benefits: 

• Vestibular processing 
• Core strength & balance
• Postural control 
• Muscle strength and endurance 

Day 21 - Matching Sock Game

Have a pile of socks in the middle when you say "go!" your child race you to find matching pairs of socks and be the first to put them on. Then try to be the first to take them off.

Therapeutic Benefits: 

• Self-care independence 
• Dressing skills 
• Fine motor
• Visual discrimination 

Day 22 - Balloon Bean Bag Toss

Fill balloons with rice using a funnel. Your child can help scoop the rice inside. Then standing on a pillow throw the bean bags into a target or container. 

Therapeutic Benefits: 

• Visual processing 
• Motor planning
• Proprioception 
• Force modulation
• Fine motor 

Day 23 - Blow Bubbles

Blow bubbles with different wands, toys or straws. Have your child stand on a cushion and try to pop them without leaving the island. Pop bubbles in the bath tub!

Therapeutic Benefits: 

• Visual tracking skills
• Hand eye coordination 
• Sensory Processing 
• Oral motor 
• Fine motor - bringing the wand to their mouth

Day 24 - Cross Crawl

• Stand next to your child make a star - arms and legs apart. Ask your child to wave their right hand. Then touch right hand to left knee, lifting his/her left knee. Step back to make a star. Repeat on opposite side and complete several times. Try with doing it to a metronome sound. 

Therapeutic Benefits: 

• Core strength
• Midline crossing
• Proprioception - spatial and body awareness
• Movement break
• Crossing brain hemisphere  

Day 25 - Shaving Cream

• Messy play with shaving cream. Have your child help press the button on the can. Spray cream on mirror, windows or on the wall when having a bath. 
• Hide small toys inside the shaving cream, pretend to make a cake by putting it into a small cup/ bowl. Take out the animals and use spray bottle filled with water to wash the cream away.

Therapeutic Benefits: 

• Multi-sensory processing 
• Tactile processing 
• Fine motor skills

Day 26 - Red & Green Dot Letters

Use coloured dots to help your child know where to start and finish each letter, such as a green dot at the start, and red dot at the finishing point. This concept can also be used when learning numbers. For my free printable of alphabet green & red dots click here

Therapeutic Benefits: 

• Consistency with letter formation
• Handwriting
• Fine motor skills
• Visual cue 

Day 27 - Balloon Volleyball

Try keep the balloon in the air as long as you can. Don't let it touch the floor!  You have to keep hitting ballon and work as a team. Try counting how long you can keep it going for. 

Therapeutic Benefits: 

• Upper limb strength
• Range of Motion
• Shoulder stability 
• Postural control 
• Visual tracking
• Visual motor 

Day 28 - Musical Dressing

Have pile of clothes in the middle turn on the music - this is when your child can put on articles of clothing as fast as they can before the music stops! The winner is the child with the most clothing on when the music stops 

Therapeutic Benefits: 

• Attention 
• Impulse control
• Motor planning
• Dressing 
• Tactile processing 
• Sensory Modulation 

Day 29 - I Spy

Try playing this game using the colour of objects as a clue rather than the first letter. Look out the window and play I Spy

Therapeutic Benefits: 

• Visual Attention
• Visual Memory 

Day 30 - Parachute Sheets

Take a bed sheet or blanket and lay it on the floor. You hold one side and your child hold the other side. You can bounce small object on top, lift it up and run underneath, play peekaboo. Sing a song as you bounce the sheets up and down making waves. 

Therapeutic Benefits: 

• Joint attention
• Play skills
• Social skills
• Hand strength

Day 31 - Guess Drawings

• Have your child to close their eyes or look away. Draw shapes and letters on your child's hand for them to guess. To make it harder try drawing on their back. Let them have a turn and draw on your hands and you guess.

Therapeutic Benefits: 

• Body awareness
• Touch processing
• Touch discrimination