Tag Archives: movement breaks

Movement breaks are short physical activities incorporated throughout the day to help individuals improve focus, reduce restlessness, and support self-regulation in educational and therapeutic settings.

The OT’s Role in Promoting Healthy Lifestyles

April 16, 2025Daily Living, Sensory Regulation, Therapist Resourcesadaptive utensils, movement breaks, occupational therapy (OT) tools, product spotlight, self-care, self-regulation, sensory strategies, social participationAllyson Locke, M.S., OTR/L

Occupational therapy (OT) plays a vital role in promoting a healthy lifestyle by supporting physical, mental, and emotional well-being. From physical activity and sensory regulation to healthy eating habits and stress management, OTs empower individuals to build routines that enhance their overall health.

This Occupational Therapy Month, let’s explore key strategies OTs use to promote healthy lifestyles and share resources to support therapists in their work.

1. Promoting Healthy Lifestyles with Physical Activity & Movement 🚶‍♂️💪

Regular movement is essential for strength, coordination, balance, and overall well-being. Occupational therapists encourage fun, engaging activities that promote motor skills and physical fitness in both children and adults.

Therapro’s Top Picks for Movement & Mobility:

🔹 Wobble Chairs & Stability Discs – Great for improving core strength and active sitting in classrooms and therapy sessions.
🔹 Balance Boards & Stepping Stones – Help with coordination, balance, and motor planning while keeping movement engaging.
🔹 Therapy Balls – Ideal for vestibular input and postural control exercises.
🔹Resistance Bands – Fun ways to develop upper body strength, endurance, and proprioceptive input.

🔹 Browse more movement tools here: Therapro’s Move-To-Learn Collection

💡 Therapist Tip: Incorporate movement breaks throughout the day to help children and adults maintain focus, regulate energy levels, and reduce stress.

Two Yellow Balance Pods used by OT’s in Promoting Healthy Lifestyles — Balance Pods

Kore Kids Wobble Chair used by OT’s in Promoting Healthy Lifestyles — Balance Pods

2. Promoting Healthy Lifestyles with Sensory Regulation & Mindfulness 🧘‍♀️

Managing sensory input and practicing mindfulness are essential for reducing stress and supporting mental well-being. OTs use sensory-friendly activities to help individuals stay calm, focused, and self-regulated throughout the day.

Therapro’s Top Picks for Sensory Support:

🔹 Fidget Tools – Support focus and self-regulation with tools like Therapro’s Fidget Kit and Koosh Ball Fidgets.
🔹 Weighted Products – Deep pressure input from Weighted Blankets, Compression Vests, and Shoulder Wraps can provide a calming effect.
🔹 Chews & Oral Motor Tools – Items like Chewable Jewelry and Bite-N-Chew Tips help with oral sensory needs and self-soothing.
🔹 Sensory Seating – Products like the Disc ‘O’ Sit Cushion promote active sitting while offering subtle movement input.
🔹 Therapeutic Brushes & Tactile Sensory Items – The Wilbarger Therapressure Brush supports sensory defensiveness, while Cuddle Balls provide rich tactile input.

🔹 Explore more sensory tools here: Therapro’s Sensory Collection

💡 Therapist Tip: Create a sensory toolkit for home, school, or therapy sessions, including fidgets, weighted tools, and calming visuals to support self-regulation throughout the day.

Chewelry Necklace/Bracelet a tool OT's use in Promoting Healthy Lifestyles — Chewelry

3. Promoting Healthy Lifestyles with Healthy Eating Habits & Self-Care 🍎🥗

Nutrition and self-care routines are essential parts of a balanced lifestyle. OTs help individuals with feeding challenges, adaptive utensils, and personal care skills to promote independence in daily routines.

Therapro’s Top Picks for Mealtime & Self-Care:

🔹 Adaptive Utensils & Cups – Products like the TheraBear Drinking Cup and Maroon Spoons support individuals with oral motor and self-feeding challenges.
🔹 Plate Guards & Non-Slip Placemats – Tools such as the Inner Lip Plate and Dycem Mats help prevent spills and encourage independent eating.
🔹 Visual Schedules & Timers – Supports like the Time Timer can help establish structured mealtime and self-care routines.
🔹 Dressing & Grooming Aids – Items like Button Hooks, Shoehorns, and Zipper Pulls assist with developing dressing independence.
🔹 Oral Motor Tools – Whistles, straws, and chew tools aid in strengthening oral muscles for feeding and speech development.

🔹 Explore more daily living tools here: Therapro’s Daily Living Collection

💡 Therapist Tip: Encourage families to set up predictable daily routines using visual schedules, timers, and adaptive tools to promote independence and reduce stress.

4. Promoting Healthy Lifestyles with Social Participation & Mental Health 🤝💬

A healthy lifestyle includes building meaningful relationships, developing social-emotional skills, and managing emotions effectively. OTs support clients in fostering social communication, emotional regulation, and self-awareness to promote overall well-being.

Therapro’s Top Picks for Social-Emotional Learning (SEL):

🔹Social Awareness & Conversation Tools – Games like Let’s Talk Cubes and Webber® Photo Cards – What Are They Thinking? encourage turn-taking, perspective-taking, and conversation-building.
🔹 Coping & Self-Regulation Tools – The Big Feelings Pineapple and My Spark Cards Tool Box teach essential strategies for stress management and emotional resilience.

🔹 Explore more SEL resources here: Therapro’s Social-Emotional Learning Collection

💡 Therapist Tip: Use visual supports, role-playing, and structured social games to reinforce emotional regulation, problem-solving, and positive interactions in therapy sessions.

Join the Conversation! 🗣

💡 What are your favorite OT strategies for promoting healthy lifestyles? Tag @Therapro in your social media posts!

Let’s work together to empower individuals to move, learn, and live well every day!

Making Time for Movement Breaks

September 27, 2022Motor & Movementclassroom strategies, movement breaks, parent resourcesAllyson Locke, M.S., OTR/L

There is no doubt that movement is an essential part of the learning process but finding the time for movement breaks in an already packed school day can be hard. However, with the ever growing body of research linking movement to academic performance (Petrigna et al, 2022) finding the time for movement breaks becomes essential. So, how do you move? Here are some quick ways to add a little extra movement to the day:

Add Extra Movement Opportunities Into Transitions

Movement paths (sometimes called sensory paths or motor paths) offer great opportunities to build in movement breaks during naturally occurring transitions, like changing classes. The simple addition of movements like hopping, balancing on one foot, or turning in a circle offers an enriched movement opportunity that activates different sensory channels helping the brain get ready and be more receptive to upcoming learning activities.

My Motor Mats movement path, boy completing a crab walk on a black motor mat — My Motor Mats Movement Path

Rainbow River Stones set up in a line with three children walking over them — My Motor Mats Movement Path

Add Movement To Academic Lessons

Reach those kinesthetic learners by incorporating movement into academic lessons. Readily available activities, like the ABC’s of Movement cards or the Drive Thru-Menus makes this easy to do! Teaching literacy skills? Use visuals from the ABC’s of Movement to add an ‘Alligator March’ to letter A concepts or the ‘Penguin Waddle’ to letter P concepts. Practicing spelling words? Try spelling each word while performing Angels in the Snow from the Drive-Thru Menus Body Challenge Exercises.

The ABCs of Movement Card Deck — The ABC’s of Movement

Drive-Thru Menus Body Challenge Exercise Cards showing Angels in the snow, go jump in a lake, and money crunches — The ABC’s of Movement

Don’t Just Take A Break, Take A Movement Break

During the school day there are naturally occurring breaks, such as transitions or when students finish up at different times. Fill these moments with meaningful movement opportunities. Use cards from the Move Your Body Fun Deck to add motor movements to transitions. The fun deck offers easy to grab, quick visuals with a variety of different movement activities; pick three for the day, display them on the board, and do each one a few times between activities for a quick brain reset! Use the Minute Moves or Focus Moves Bundles to establish Movement Routines. The Bundles are designed to provide easy-to-do, evidence-based routines to enhance academic skills. Another option is the Year of Mini-Moves for the In-Sync Child, which offers a weekly schedule of different movements that can be easily incorporated into the day.

Move Your Body Fun Deck Yellow Tin Can — Move Your Body Fun Deck

Focus Moves Bundle: All-in-One Bundle from S'Cool Moves — Move Your Body Fun Deck

Create Accessible Movement Spaces

Getting outside often offers a plethora of opportunities for movement breaks but for the student who has gross motor challenges the opportunities can be limited. Having a variety of activities available will help ensure students of all abilities are able to access movement opportunities. For students who have difficulty with standard catch and throw ball games, offering alternatives like Magicatch, Beanbags, or Pezzi Activa Balls offers inclusive approaches. For students who have difficulty accessing standard playground equipment, the availability of parachutes, bubbles, or movement-based games like Trunks can provide alternative movement activities at recess.

Magicatch set; velcro covered circle and tennis ball — Magicatch Set

Pezzi Activa Ball. two blue and green balls with rounded knobs — Magicatch Set

Movement is a critical component of the learning process that can get overlooked during a busy, academic filled, school day. Building movement breaks into already existing routines and schedules can help students move and succeed!

Petrigna L, Thomas E, Brusa J, Rizzo F, Scardina A, Galassi C, Lo Verde D, Caramazza G and Bellafiore M (2022) Does Learning Through Movement Improve Academic Performance in Primary Schoolchildren? A Systematic Review. Front. Pediatr. 10:841582. doi: 10.3389/fped.2022.841582.

Flexible Seating Options for Home & School

July 28, 2022Alternative & Active Seating, Sensorymovement breaks, occupational therapy (OT) tools, parent resources, sensory strategiesAllyson Locke, M.S., OTR/L

Allyson Locke M.S., OTR/L

In this post we take a dive into flexible seating options that are available for classroom and home learning environments.

First, What Does Flexible Seating Mean?

Sometimes called alternative seating, flexible seating is simply a seating option that is different from ‘traditional’ seating arrangements and is often used to address a sensory need. Traditional seating arrangements may be things like the desk chair students use in a classroom, the dining room chair at the eating table or the office chair at a work desk. Flexible seating arrangements may be a therapy ball in place of an office chair or it may be a beanbag in place of the traditional student desk setup. Read on to learn more!

classtoom showing traditional desks attached to chairs — **Traditional Classroom Seating**

Flexible seating arrangement showing a boy sitting on a Kore Wobble Stool and working at a Kore Sit to Stand Mobile desk. — **Traditional Classroom Seating**

Next, Understand the Importance of Flexible Seating Options in Learning Environments.

Having a variety of seating options helps to ensure all learners have a setup that is most effective for their learning style. Some options may help to address underlying sensory needs while other options provide the movement that has been shown to be preferred by students when learning (Cole et al., 2021, 72). Having just the right seating arrangement can make the difference between a successful learning experience and one that is full of distractions, position changes, and learning sessions that don’t last as long as they should.

Finally, Pick the Right Seating Options.

Understanding the need (or needs) you are trying to address will help you determine the best seating option(s).

For the wigglers, movers, and bouncers who just need a little extra sensory input to focus and sustain attention, try a seating option that provides movement (vestibular) or light touch (tactile) input. A seating option that provides tactile or vestibular input will help the sensory system that is seeking movement, get it in a way that is more conducive to learning and working.

Wobble Feet: These are simply four, rubber domed shape ‘feet’ that slip onto a standard chair leg. The Wobble Feet provides a subtle rocking and a soft bounce feel. These are especially popular for users who are looking for a “low profile” option; they can be slipped onto a regular classroom chair and are small enough that they are not very noticeable in the sea of classroom chairs.

Sensory Spots: Spot Sensory Se ats and Senso Seat Pads are flat pads that have a textured side. This textured side provides subtle sensory input without much challenge to postural stability. They can be used in just about any seating situation and can easily roll up when moving seats.

red and blue senso spot seats, round disks to sit on with a textured side

wiggle seat sensory cushion, butterfly shape, basketball shape, flower shape, and monster shape

Cushions: Air filled or foam cushions can be added to just about any chair, bench or even used on the floor. They are usually round or wedge shaped but newer versions now offer fun shapes like monsters or flowers. The amount of air, that can be added, to the air filled cushions is typically adjustable allowing for users to increase or decrease the amount of movement offered. Cushions are generally portable making them a great option for those who change work areas throughout the day. For even more convenience options with handles are now available!

Wobble Stools: The Kore Wobble Chair offers a seating option much like sitting on a stool with the exception of the innovative rounded bottom that allows the user to rock in all directions. In addition to the rocking movement the stool shape allows more freedom to move the legs in different positions.

the alert seat a large round ball inside a metal base with wheels for sitting

Ball Chairs: Ball chairs come in all shapes and sizes. At the most basic level a large therapy ball is used in place of a chair. This is a great option for users who need a lot of input but therapy balls are unstable and can be difficult for users with poor postural control. A base can be added under the ball to help prevent the ball from moving out of position. Another option is to use a peanut or egg shaped ball; these balls have an elongated shape that increases stability for the user. The Alert Seat puts the traditional therapy ball on a wheeled base allowing for more mobility. The Ball Chair Deluxe takes the shape of a traditional office chair but replaces the seat with a large inflated ball.

For the fidgeters, hair twirlers and those with a little extra nervous energy try a seating option that provides deep pressure input or gives the big muscles a chance to work. This type of input can help calm an anxious or overstimulated sensory system. Try:

foot swing, a small plastic stand that goes on the floor under a work space. it has two pedals to place the feet. the peals move back and forth

Body fidgets. Unlike smaller, handheld fidgets, body fidgets allow other parts of the body to interact with the fidget leaving the hands free for work. Foot fidgets can be attached to chair or desk legs, allowing users to kick, push and pull the heavy elastic bands with their feet. For users who frequently change work spaces portable foot fidgets are available; these can be placed under the workspace and interacted with in the same manner. The footroller is a unique body fidget; fidgeters place their foot on the roller, spinning it forward, backward or both ways. Another unique option is the Foot Swing; the foot swing allows for a silent swinging motion of both feet, independent of each other.

Weight. Adding weight to the lap or shoulders is a great way to center, orient and calm an over responsive or anxious system. An added bonus, many offer textured covers for additional tactile input.

boy sitting at a desk with ta weighted neck wrap around his neck and resting on his shoulders

For those who just need a change of scenery, setting up an alternative work spot is a great way to refocus. Some options include:

Standing at a counter height work space or taping work to a wall are options to allow for standing positions while working. To add a little dynamic movement try standing on a foam wedge or air cushion.
Laying Down. Working while laying on the stomach is a great way to provide proprioceptive input through the shoulders joints (perfect for those needing calming and organizing input). This position also gives students who are struggling with postural instability to get more support so they can focus on their work and not on staying stable! Use yoga mats or cushions to provide comfort and a clipboard or slant board as a work surface.
Get Cozy. Another option for a position change is sitting in a bean bag, Howda Designz Chairs or the Comfy Cozy Peapod Chair. While not the best option for all types of tasks these options are great when the activity involves reading or listening. The deep pressure input provides calming and organizing input.

Having a variety of seating options available in any learning space is a sure way to increase focus and attention. Identifying options that are appropriate for the user and the environment are keys for successful implementation.

Reference:

Cole, K., Schroeder, K., Bataineh, M., & Bataineh, A. (2021, April). Flexible Seating Impact on Classroom Environment. The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology, 20(2), 62-74.