OT at Home: Building Skills with Household Items
Liana Bucciarelli, MS, ORT/L, CPRCS
School breaks don’t have to mean taking a break from therapy too! By using some household items and some creativity, you and your child can practice occupational therapy skills from the comfort of your own home. You can put the supplies together for your child and pretend it is their “therapy toolbox” or another fun name, or you can use this supply list as a scavenger hunt for your child to find around the house. Below you will see simple activities listed, the supplies needed, and an explanation of the therapy skills it is working on. Encourage your child to try their best with each activity—some are more challenging than others! You can even challenge siblings or friends to these activities and make them a game.
Activity #1
Supplies
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Straws
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Scissors
Activity
Cut up the straws into small pieces. When you’re done, count how many pieces you cut the straw into. You can even practice picking them up one at a time to fill Dixie cups. How many pieces of straw does it take to fill up the cup?
Skills
Developing scissor skills, hand eye coordination, establishing a dominant hand, coordination of both sides of the body together, increasing hand strength, counting
Activity #2
Supplies
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String
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Beads
Activity
Put the beads on the string one at a time to create a bracelet! Tie the ends so the beads don’t fall off.
Skills
Hand eye coordination, visual scanning, developing in hand manipulation skills and movements
Activity #3
Supplies
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Popsicle sticks
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Rubber bands
Activity
Write a number on each popsicle stick and put that number of rubber bands on each stick. Practice taking off the rubber bands from the sticks. Then, look at the number on the bottom of each popsicle stick and place the same number of rubber bands back on the popsicle sticks. If you have colored sticks and colored rubber bands, you could practice matching the rubber bands to the popsicle sticks. For example, if you have a green popsicle stick, put green rubber bands on it.
Skills
Counting, visual memory, number recognition, increasing hand strength, coordination of hands to work together, multi step direction following, planning, sequencing, precision and developing in hand manipulation skills and movements
Activity #4
Supplies
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Dixie cups
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Pom poms
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Clothespins (mini and regular)
Activity
Pick up one pom pom at a time using the clothespin. Then, drop the pom pom in a cup. You can also work on counting the pom poms or separating by color.
Skills
Color identification, counting, matching, visual skills, finger and hand strengthening and endurance. planning, pacing
Daily Activities
These simple and easy activities can be done daily to build OT skills.
Indoors
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Coloring
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Writing
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Putting on clothes independently (or with some help)
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Practice brushing teeth and hair
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Doing chores
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Opening containers/packages
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Play board games or cards
Outdoors
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Go for a walk
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Run
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Ride a bike (with a helmet)
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Play on playgrounds
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Use chalk
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Jump rope
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Play ball (throw/catch, kick, shoot hoops, aim for goal/target)
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Scavenger hunt
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Swim
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Blow bubbles
And of course, going to your appointments with your OT at Hogg Therapy is a great way to build occupational therapy skills! :)
If you have any questions or concerns about your child’s development, our therapists would love to help! Give us a call at 859-353-3666 or visit our website.
