Tag Archives: hand skills

Hoot Fine Motor Skills Activity

Have a Hoot with Fine Motor Skills: Therapro’s Activity of the Month

Activities, Fine Motor, ,

Looking for a fun and purposeful activity? This simple owl-themed craft is a great way to enhance fine motor skills while sparking creativity. Children will enjoy cutting, tracing, and gluing as they bring their owl to life—building important coordination skills along the way. It’s an ideal hands-on activity for therapists, educators, or parents supporting motor development at home or in the classroom.

With this easy craft, your child will:

  • Practice scissor skills
  • Trace different shapes
  • Use both hands (bilateral coordination)
  • Cross the midline

Materials

  • 2 Sticky Back Foam Sheets or Felt
  • 2 Buttons
  • Glue
  • Scissors
  • White Paper for the pattern
  • Markers

Step 1

Draw the pattern on white paper.

Cut the pattern shapes.

Place the shapes on the sticky-back foam sheets. Use at least 2 different colors.
Hoot Fine Motor Activity pattern example    Hoot Fine Motor Activity additional pattern examples

Step 2

Cut the foam shapes
Hoot Fine Motor Activity- cut out examples

Step 3

Peel the back of the wings and place wings on the belly.
Hoot Fine Motor Activity body example

Step 4

Peel the back of the behind the eyes area and place on the top part of the belly.
Hoot Fine Motor Activity- body with head example

Step 5

Peel the back of the large eyes and center on the top.
haveahoot06

Step 6

Peel the back of the small eyes and center on the top.
haveahoot07

Step 7

Peel the back of the nose and place it under the eyes.
haveahoot08

Step 8

Glue the buttons to the center of the eyes.
Owl- Blue and green

Step 9

Decorate using the markers.
Finished Owl craft example

Don’t forget to make it a multi-sensory experience.

  • What sound does the owl make?
  • Sing songs about owls or birds.
  • Have your child feel a feather.
  • Use different textures; combine foam and felt, or decorate with glitter.

Here is a felt owl we made using a heart for a nose. Send us a picture of your owl, or post it on Facebook or Twitter with the hashtag #Therapro
Have a Hoot Finished Product

Looking for more ways to build hand skills through creativity? Explore Therapro’s Art & Creative Activities for a wide range of engaging tools and ideas designed to support fine motor development in fun and meaningful ways.

Guest Blogger: Diana V. Mendez-Hohmann

Therapro’s Free Activity of the Month: Sock Snowman

Activities, Sensory, , ,

Looking for a cozy, winter-themed craft that doubles as fine motor practice? Therapro’s Sock Snowman Activity Idea guides you step-by-step through creating adorable snowmen from recycled socks.

The Snock Snowman Activity is from the Pre-Writing Curriculum Enrichment Series, written and illustrated by Peggy Hundley Spitz, OTR. The books are split into 5 sections, and each section is packed with seasonal activities to enhance your classroom or therapy session. The sections are as follows: Trace & Draw, Crafts and Costumes, Cooking, Stories to Color and Read, and Games.

This month’s activity comes from the Crafts and Costumes section of Winter Activities: Snowflakes Snowflakes Everywhere.

Materials:

  • 1 White tube sock
  • Rubber band
  • Polyester stuffing
  • Fabric paints
  • Felt Strips, 1” x 12” or Ribbon
  • Colorful yarn scraps
  • Scissors

Directions:

  1. Fill sock with polyester stuffing. Leave 2” at the top unstuffed.
  2. Wrap rubber band around the top of the sock to close the end.
  3. Tie a felt strip or ribbon firmly around the sock where the neck and the scarf of the snowman should be. This will divide the sock into “head” and “body”.
  4. Tie some colorful scraps of yarn around the rubber band,
  5. Use fabric paints to add features and buttons to your snowman.
  6. Allow paint to dry completely.
  7. Enjoy!

Activities:

  1. Explore and encourage tactile awareness by discussing the variety of textures- stuffing, sock, felt, paint, yarn and rubber band.
  2. Add uncooked beans or uncooked rice instead of polyester stuffing to make a weighted snowman.
  3. Add lavender scented sachet to the inside of the snowman for a relaxing friend.
  4. Encourage each child to make their snowman unique and name them.
  5. Use light colored socks such as light blue or pink and shorter socks, see how different they look.

Make it a sensory activity:

After you complete your snowmen enjoy our recipe for Winter Fruit Salad. The recipe is in the cooking section of Winter Activities: Snowflakes Snowflakes Everywhere.

Winter Fruit Salad

Food Needed:

  • 1 red delicious apple, cored and sliced
  • 1 granny smith apple, cored and sliced
  • 1 winter pear, cored and sliced
  • 1 8oz can mandarin orange slices
  • ½ cup seedless grapes
  • 1 cup shredded coconut
  • Miniature marshmallows
  • 8-10 maraschino cherries

Equipment Needed:

  • Large Bowl
  • Plastic knives
  • Mixing spoon
  • Can opener
  • Serving bowls

Directions:

  1. Wash & dry hands.
  2. Cut apple and pear slices into cubes. Place in a large bowl.
  3. Wash grapes. Add to bowl.
  4. Open can of orange slices and drain. Add to bowl.
  5. Add some marshmallows and ½ cup of shredded coconut. Stir in until all the fruit is covered with coconut.
  6. Spoon into serving bowls. Sprinkle with more coconut and top with a cherry.

Three examples of the Sock Snowman from the Snowman Activity Idea

Straws Galore Fine Motor Activity: Free Activity of the Month

Activities, Fine Motor, , ,

If you’re searching for cost-effective, hands-on ways to build hand skills, look no further than Therapro’s Second Hand Therapies cards. This versatile set of 40 activity cards features creative tasks using recycled materials, including the engaging straws fine motor activity, Straws Galore. With each card highlighting hand functions, difficulty levels, and needed materials, they’re perfect for therapy sessions, classrooms, or home use. Straws Galore encourages scissor use, bilateral coordination, patterning, and more—all through the fun of making colorful straw jewelry.

Below is a sample of Straws Galore, one of the activities in Second Hand Therapies.

When using straws to make jewelry, not only are the kids using fine motor skills, they are practicing their scissor skills, eye hand coordination, color recognition, size differentiation, counting, learning patterns, and so many more skills.

Materials:

  • Straws of varying sizes and colors
  • Yarn, pipe cleaners, or embroidery thread
  • Tweezers
  • Medium-Sized Bowls

Directions:

  1. Hold the straw with your non-dominant hand. Use your dominant hand to cut the straws into small to medium-sized pieces. Collect the pieces in a bowl.
  2. String the straw pieces onto yarn or pipe cleaner as though they were beads.
  3. Practice removing the straw pieces using tweezers for pinch strength development.

Variations:

  1. Instead of jewelry, make letters with the straws. Have the child spell his name.
  2. Get creative and make animal silhouettes.
  3. Give the child a challenge. What can you make with 3 pieces of straw?
  4. Sprinkle glitter on the bowl containing the straw pieces for an added color fest!
  5. Use different scissors, such as scrapbooking scissors, for different edging on your straw pieces.

What did you make with your straws?
A Spider made from straws, and example of a Straws Fine Motor Activity
Name spelled with straws, and example of a fine motor activity that can be done with straws
A animal shape made with straws

👉 Explore Therapro’s Second Hand Therapies and bring purposeful play to your practice.

Whether you’re a therapist, educator, or caregiver, this resource empowers you to creatively support fine motor development using low-cost, easily sourced materials. The Straws Galore activity is just one example of how these cards combine fun and function. Start building engagement, independence, and essential skills today—one recycled material at a time.