Here’s a list of FUN Christmas fine motor activities for occupational therapy! These activities include visual motor activities, fine motor activities, movement breaks and writing!
Button a tree
Use felt and buttons to create a Christmas tree that your children and students can button! I used my Criuct machine to cut out the tree and ornaments, but you can cut the felt by hand. Use different size buttons to make some ornaments easier and some harder.
Button a reindeer
Use felt and buttons to create a Reindeer that your children and students can button! I bought the Reindeer buttons from Michael’s Craft stores but you can use any buttons to make the Rudolph. You really just need to make sure the felt is in the shape of a reindeer.
Stuff a snowman
Use a leftover gift card snowman gift holder to stuff a snowman. You can use cotton balls or crumpled up pieces of paper to stuff the snowman. To work on hand strength, have students pull apart the pieces of cotton balls to stuff the snowman.
String the plastic ornaments in order
One of my favorite fine motor Christmas activities is stringing the plastic ornaments in order from a visual! This activity works on bilateral hand use, in hand manipulation skills, sequencing, and many more skills!
Want to make this harder? Have the student look at the card for 20-30 seconds and then turn the card over. Have the student see if they sequence the ornaments from memory. Another idea is just to state the order and color of the ornaments (instead of using a visual).
Want to make this easier? Use a pipe cleaner and 1-3 ornaments.
Make sure you use SHATTERPROOF plastic ornaments! 🎄
Christmas tree ornament tweezer decoration
Have your child draw a Christmas tree. (Or print one out). Have your child place ornaments on the tree by using pom poms and tweezers.
Christmas Movement Breaks: Elf, Santa, Reindeer and Snowman
Are you looking for fun brain breaks or movement cards for WINTER that CAN BE PRINTED OR SCREEN SHARED DIGITALLY FOR TELETHERAPY? Look no further than this BUNDLE of REINDEER, SNOWMAN, SANTA, AND ELF MOVEMENT CARDS! One is SANTA, one is a ELF one is a REINDEER and one is a SNOWMAN. All you need to do is print, laminate and cut. This includes TWO PDFS per character (Elf, Reindeer, Snowman and Santa) – one has 3.5 by 3.5 inch cards and the other is a FULL page version to share digitally!
Ideas to play:
- Shuffle cards and pick one card for students to do for 20 seconds.
- Play winter music and have students perform a card until you freeze the music.
- Shuffle cards, have students pick three cards to do for 20 seconds each. Turn the cards over and see if students can remember the cards in order.
Elf Application – “Apply” to be Santa’s Elf
This is the FUN resource you need for a DIFFERENTIATED ELF APPLICATION for a job for Santa. Students will fill out a cover page of the job they are applying for at the North Pole such as sleigh mechanic, reindeer helper, tree designer, cookie, decorater, gingerbread architect or sleigh mechanic. Students will then fill out 2 questions (circling) or 4 questions (Write in 1 sentence on 3 lined paper) about the job (depending on level). Students will then draw a picture of the job. At the end, you can give students a certificate with the job that they picked out! (Ie: -Name- is perfect for the job of Sleigh Mechanic for Santa!)
Click here for a printable version.
Click here for a Boom Card version (this one is a little bit different).
Jingle Bell Bags or Containers
If you are looking for a fun way to incorporate sensory, movement and music, use jingle bells! Depending on your child’s age and ability, you can put the jingle bells in containers or in bags. You can imitate shaking the jingle bells in different way: up high, down low, side to side, shake it fast or slow.Always make sure to secure the bags or containers and supervise children as this could be a choking hazard.
Sensory bag
Sensory bags are a great activity for a variety of ages. One fun one is putting different colored pom poms into a ziplock bag with water. Kids can explore by using their fingers to push the pom poms. You could use hair gel, glitter, or other small items. Always make sure to secure the bags or containers and supervise children as this could be a choking hazard.
