Occupational Therapy for Children
Our expert occupational therapists evaluate and treat children with conditions related to general development, sensorimotor skills, play, feeding and daily living skills to enhance each child's capabilities. The American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) provides a helpful document that explains the role of occupational therapy with children and youth.
Play is a Child's Work!
Play is the work of childhood, and toys are the tools of the occupation of play! Click here for a wealth of great tips on choosing toys for the children in your life!
- Tips for Choosing Toys
- Pathways is a great resource with videos, games and milestones, to assist families through a child's development.
- The Baby Center shares the developments of an infant and can help you choose toys that are appropriate for a newborn!
- Play By Age is a great link to showcase activities for a child. The website gives you activities from ages 1 through over 5 years of age.
- The Imagination Tree provides you with 20 fun ways to play with your 6-18 month old!
- If you're looking for more fun appropriate play for your infant, this link will give you plenty of fun activities to do at different stages.
- Zero to Three shares a lovely video on what is happening when your child is playing. Take a look!
- Parents Magazine has an amazing link that gives you a weekly and monthly guide to your baby's physical and intellectual development!
- Sensory TheraPlay Box is a monthly subscription that delivers sensory fun toys to your door!
Adapted Play
Toys are not only to have fun, but also to help sustain curiosity for learning! However, many children with limited motor skills do not get the chance to interact with most of the cool toys that are readily usable by everyone else. There are ways of making these toys accessible to all children! University of Washington’s HuskyADAPT Collaboration Program is a great resource for learning and participating in toy adaptation! Below are some great links to help you transform toys to make it accessible to all!
- Toys that can easily be made into switch toys
- Tools/equipment needed and step by step picture instructions
- Video of step by step instruction of how to make a switch toy!
- Toy Adaptation event/classes and outreach projects nearby.
- Adapted toys and switches for purchase.
- Thanks to HuskyADAPT you can request your own adapted toy!
- The PNW Adapted Toy Library!
Recreation, Play, and Camps resources click here.
The Play Lounge is a wonderful place for families to play. For more information, check out their Facebook page!
Learning how to take care of yourself is part of growing up! Occupational therapists can help kids learn how to dress, bathe, use the bathroom, brush teeth, and all other daily living tasks! Click here for additional resources!
Heavy Work Ideas for Toddlers to Promote Body Awareness and Self-Regulation
Our brains receive information about body and spatial awareness by lifting, pushing, and pulling heavy objects (also known as “heavy work”). A child can also activate this sensory feedback by compressing the joints with activities such as jumping on a trampoline or crashing into a cushion, and stretching the joints by hanging from monkey bars or climbing a rock wall.
Emotional Regulation
Here is an article about emotional regulation written by Loren Burnett OTR/L, about how we can support children and their ability to regulate and cope with emotion. For more information click here.
Developing the muscles in the hand and the ability to use your hands is critical for children in all activities they engage in! Occupational therapists can help kids learn how to use their hands and to develop skills such as writing, typing, using scissors, and buttoning a shirt! Click on these links for additional resources to use at home!
- Resources for development of fine motor skills and general development
- Activities to work on fine motor skills.
- And for more activities click here.
Handwriting and keyboarding are both skills students need to master to produce effective written work. These two skills work together in the classroom to create an engaged, balanced, and successful learning environment. View the document, Handwriting and Keyboarding Skills: Standards for the Production & Presentation of Writing to help guide instruction to make sure that children are learning to write and type in a developmental order that promotes success.
Cooking Skills
"Accessible Chef" is a collection of resources to help teach cooking skills to individuals with a variety of special needs. The website has simple to complex breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack, and drink recipes with visual picture instructions to help plan and sequence steps of cooking tasks as well as safety warnings to help practice kitchen safety.
Sensory
- Sensory Processing Disorder can be experienced by 1 in every 6 children. This disorder, depending on severity, can have an effect on a child's everyday life functions. For more information about SPD, please visit this website by STAR Institute for a more comprehensive overview.
Sensory Tools and Strategies
- This website can help you locate different type of products, at different price points to help with your child's sensory needs in different environments. For more information click here.
- Here is another website to help you find the perfect sensory object for your child's need. For more information click here.
Summer Pool Activities: Check out this PDF which contains fun pool activity ideas that would be great for sensory regulations, strengthening and fine motor skills. For more information, click here.
Fine Motor Milestones: Check out this PDF detailing your child's expected motor and social developmental milestone. For more information click here.
OT Plan: The OT Plan is a website full of developmental activities, parent resources, and therapy related products available to support your child at home! It provides a simple search engine feature that helps parents find OT activity ideas organized by specific developmental skills and/or by the materials available in your home!
The Best Ideas For Kids: An online community resource for sharing fun developmental activities while at home. Plenty of ideas for craft projects to work on fine motor skills, kid-friendly cooking recipes self-care independence, and information for parents about favorite tools like apps and educational resources. Visit and explore here.
The OT Toolbox: Find resources, tools, ideas, and activities geared toward the healthy development of kids; from functioning self-care skills like dressing or potty-training, fine motor skills and handwriting, sensory processing, and executive processing skills like attention and self-regulation. Based on function and occupation-centered activities, the ideas shared on this site promote the underlying skills needed for action and performance in kids. Visit and explore here.
Busy Toddler: This website has many ideas on different play activities for all ages. If you want to play inside or outside there are lists of activities you can do! Click here for more information!
Core Workout for Kids: Performing these exercises will help your child build core muscles, which will support their overall core strength and stability. Having a strong core is important for nearly all of our daily activities, from sitting up at a table to eat a meal, to fine motor skills such as cutting and handwriting, to gross motor skills such as running, jumping, and sports. Signs your child may have a weak core include having poor posture, poor balance, using "W" sitting, tiring easily in sports, and preferring to lay down instead of sitting upright. When performing the exercises, your child should not feel pain, and should remember to breathe when holding positions. Let have some exercise fun! For more information click here.
Cotton Ball Soccer: Pediatric occupational therapist Alexa Anderson and her boys demonstrate an indoor cotton ball soccer game that builds skills and is a calming activity.
Practice social skills using family playtime or digital communication. Games like tag, chase, tickles, peek-boo, and “flying through the air” are all social games that can be used to promote your young child’s social communication skills. Consider using the R.O.C.K. strategy included in this handout.
For older children, have your child stay in contact with family members or friends from school to share their personal experiences at home. Have your child generate a list of questions to ask their friend or family member to learn about what they are doing to stay busy at home. Additionally, have scheduled mealtimes together and practice sharing the highs or lows of your day.
Create your own sensory bin. Sensory bins are a great activity for the development of various senses, as well as imaginative play skills! If your child likes to touch everything or shows some avoidance to different textures, sensory bins can be a great way to support tactile exploration and fulfill your child’s sensory needs. For more information and tips on how to build your own sensory bin(s), check out this site for details.
The Pacific Science Center: They have launched "Curiosity at Home", to engage kids who are home. Curiosity doesn't stop and now you can participate in live science experiments and create your own experiments by following their videos. For more science at home activities check out their website by clicking here.
Corona Superhero Kids: This book is a great way to discuss the coronavirus pandemic with your child. It uses child friendly language to bring awareness and solutions. If interested please check out this link.
Ms. Tiffany's Room: Visit Miss Tiffany’s OT room to learn more about OT! Click on all the fun things in the OT room to learn more and find fun resources and activities!
Virtual Art Therapy: Occupational Therapist Loren, shares how you can have fun and build skills with this art activity.
