Occupational Therapy

“Art Therapy for Kids” From The Perspective of an OT

By Nicole Connolly Leave a Comment Filed Under: Activities Tagged With: Occupational Therapy This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Please read my disclosure for more info.

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To be clear: an occupational therapist (which I am) is not an art therapist. With that said, OTs use various methods to achieve functional outcomes and art is certainly one of those approaches. This post gives you an introduction to art therapy, including what an art therapy degree means, how art therapy helps kids and examples of art therapy ideas & activities for kids.

What is an Art Therapist?

There are three levels of credentials for art therapist: Register Art Therapist (e.g. has a masters degree and has undergone rigorous training including hours), Board Certified (e.g. same as above plus you take & pass board exams), and Certified Advisor (e.g. same as above plus boards plus an additional credential to supervise). I know that is a lot of information but good information to know as you seek out an art therapist.

Related Read: Occupational Therapy 101 for Parents

What is Art Therapy?

Are you looking for a definition of art therapy? Well, according to Psychology Today, “Art therapy involves the use of creative techniques such as drawing, painting, collage, coloring, or sculpting to help people express themselves artistically and examine the psychological and emotional undertones in their art.”

Furthermore, “With the guidance of a credentialed art therapist, clients can “decode” the nonverbal messages, symbols, and metaphors often found in these art forms, which should lead to a better understanding of their feelings and behavior so they can move on to resolve deeper issues.”

Art therapist function much like traditional therapists. In other words, you can find an art therapist working in private practice, a hospital, senior centers, jails, and holistic wellness centers.

Who Benefits from Art Therapy?

Art therapy can help people of all ages, including couples and other relationships. In other words, any person with a desire and/or a need to explore emotions, mitigate stress, help with anxiety & depression, or even assist in dealing with illness or disability.

The goal of art therapy is not to produce a glorious painting, sculpture, or other pieces of artwork. For that reason, I have been drawn to art therapy. You see, it is not about the end goal. Instead, art therapy is about the process. So, you don't have to be a rock star artist in order for this form of therapy to work for you.

Psychology Today writes that art therapy is “about finding associations between the creative choices made and a client's inner life. The artwork can be used as a springboard for reawakening memories and telling stories that may reveal messages and beliefs from the unconscious mind.”

In conclusion, art therapy promotes emotional awareness, personal expression, visual-perceptual skills, fine motor skills, and spirituality. I, personally, love art in all forms. I wish I could say that I do art projects with my kids or the kids with whom I work all the time, but that’s not my reality. I do, however, embrace the opportunities when I can either squeeze it in, promote it, or create open mental and time-space for true art!

Check out the 101 on Art Therapy for Kid! Including Art Therapy ideas and activities to explore at home & in the classroom!

Art Therapy Activities & Ideas

Here are SIX PICKS of relatively simple art activities that your kids will undoubtedly enjoy:

#1 – Construction Paper Collage

I did this one with my kid when he was three years old, so it’s easy and versatile. You can either do the prep work or have kids do it themselves. The older ones may like the prep. All you need are various colors of construction paper, scissors, and glue. I recommend cutting the paper (or even ripping it!) into small pieces.

Related Read: Torn Paper Collage

The pieces can be regular, like little 1/2 inch squares, or irregular. Put all the pieces onto a paper plate and have either a bottle of glue or another small plate/bowl with glue in it.

Put the glue on the opposite side of the paper pieces to encourage bilateral hand integration or crossing midline!

Give some ideas or model creating a picture with these little pieces of paper… think sunset over the ocean or little girl with a dog or birthday balloons. Frame the masterpiece or just hang on the fridge for some big kid-pride.

#2 – Design a T-Shirt

Again, this can be enjoyed by people of all ages!! All you need is a white undershirt and fabric markers. Use puff paint if you want to go totally 80’s! The trickiest part of this project is getting the shirt to stay flat and still while drawing on it. I recommend cardboard.

You can use an Amazon box—lay the shirt over the top and tape the sides over the edges of the box with masking or Scotch tape. You could also flatten the box or cut out a square and fold the shirt around that. Scribble, write, draw, or design your heart out.

#3 – Fashion Model

My 10-year-old daughter is getting into this one, but she has somehow convinced her 8-year-old and 5-year-old brothers to join it, so don’t rule anyone out. Fashion Model can be done with clothes and accessories that are already in your collective family closets and drawers.

My kids sometimes use inspiration from pop culture (have you seen Descendants??) or just play-themes that they’re into (i.e. spy). Scarves, belts, and someone else’s clothes make this super fun.

#4 – Plating Pretty

My husband is passionate about cooking and plating his food to look professional and pretty. All three of our kids are learning to love and appreciate food for nourishment, social power, and aesthetics.

Plating Pretty could be as simple as laying out tomatoes and cucumber slices on a bed of lettuce or as complex as frosting and decorating a cake. Picasso on a plate? Sure thing. Don’t forget to take a picture of your kid’s artwork to share with a friend or relative.

#5 – Clay Play

Playdough is a staple in most homes with young kids. If you’re like me, you have to grit your teeth when your kid opens a fresh container, removes the squishy cylinder of vibrant dough, and squishes it into a pile that ends up looking like a poop emoji.

BUT, this is art, folks.

Kids can make a beautiful rainbow with colored coils of separate colors or a glob of a color that you can’t even name. It’s equally gratifying to them, so hold off on making the “no mixing” rule. For a step up, try air hardening clay or try going into a real art studio to work some magic.

#6 – Dance Routine

I grew up dancing, and I remember making routines with a couple of my BFF’s or my sisters when I was younger. I keep encouraging my kids to do this, and they haven’t YET, but I’m convinced that they will fall in love when they do.

My kids love music, and the radio is almost always blaring in the background. (My kids have all left the room, but I sit here typing while “What’s My Name?” is blasting in the background).

A dance routine is not just freestyling. It applies certain moves to certain parts of the song, and it’s most impressive when more than one dancer can do the same move at the same time.

Try doing this WITH your kids. You will laugh hard… and probably get your heart rate up.

Win-win!

Art, to me, is about expressing thoughts an emotions in an abstract way. It’s safe, it’s fun, and it’s meaningful. There are so many mediums to choose from.

Try them all!

Occupational Therapy – Fine Motor Activities for Kids

By Nicole Connolly Leave a Comment Filed Under: Activities Tagged With: Fine Motor Skills, Occupational Therapy This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Please read my disclosure for more info.

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This post includes occupational therapy fine motor activities for kids.

Describing occupational therapy for children (or adults for that matter) in a succinct and meaningful way is not an easy task (See Occupational Therapy 101 For Parents), so people have come up with various comparative definitions with our sister profession–physical therapy.

Ever hear this one? “Occupational therapy is for the uppers and physical therapy is for the lowers.” Uppers and lowers, of course, refer to upper extremities (arms and hands) and lower extremities (legs and feet).

I’m going to be a little nit-picky. It’s not that the above statement is entirely untrue, but I want to make sure that people who use it understand the meaning behind it. See, physical therapy works on physical skills (duh), like walking, standing, sitting, reaching, and so on. Occupational therapy works on “occupations”, or things that occupy a person’s time. There is a ton of overlap but forget about that, for now.

So how do you occupy your time? How do your kids occupy their time? Some of my favorite pastimes are putting on chapstick (yup, totally addicted), opening a can of seltzer water, and weeding my garden. Okay, you got me… those are NOT some of my favorite pastimes, but they are things that I do. And how do I do them, you ask? I use my hands. My husband is a math teacher, so he’d like this format better:

Hands : Occupations = Legs : Movement

(“Hands are to occupations as legs are to movement”)

See where I’m going with this?

What are Fine Motor Skills?

Gross is both an adjective that means disgusting, a concept that my two sons are obsessed with, or large, like income that hasn’t been messed with or big body movements. Please don’t judge me as a Webster. Physical therapy tends to focus on gross motor skills. Fine, on the other hand, is an adjective that means narrowed or precise.

Fine motor, therefore, means small movements or precise movements. They usually refer to the movements of the fingers, such as pulling apart string cheese, tying shoes, filling in a crossword puzzle, or dialing a phone number.

Occupational therapy marries gross motor and fine motor tasks in an attempt to facilitate meaningful engagement with the environment. That said, what separates us most visibly from PT is the fine motor, so, it’s become our claim to fame. “OT is for the uppers.”

My Kid Has Horrible Fine Motor!

You are not alone! Many kids have horrible fine motor abilities. Not sure if life has made you aware of this yet, but many older adults do, too. And, certainly, folks outside of those two age groups are not immune. So, to help your kid (or your grandmother), we need to back up and think a little bit about physical development.

Physical development progresses from the core (the center of the body) to distal areas (the hands and feet). It also occurs from large to small movements. If fine motor skills are weak, there is a very good chance that either core stability is weak or gross motor skills are a deficit. To address the fine motor gap, it’s best to first address those two things.

I’m not insinuating that you need to get your kid (or grandmother) to the gym to bulk up or upset them off so much that they transform into angry green men. However, I am telling you that a little bodywork can go a long way.

Power to Proprioception introduced a bunch of ideas that provide deep pressure input to the muscles and joints (i.e. household chores, outside play, and exercise). These can all support gross motor development, too, so they literally kill two birds with one stone!

Other Ways to Strengthen the Core

Practice perfect posture (shoulders back and down, chin tucked, face forward)
Belly time (this is not just for babies!) Prop up on elbows to watch t.v., read a book, or
play a video game (sensitive subject alert)
Paddling (we just went out SUP’ing this week, and it was quite a workout for my 8-year
old!)
Walking an energetic dog on a leash… or a goat (seriously, have you ever done that?)

What Next with Helping Fine Motor Skill Development?

Let’s just assume that the core and gross motor skills are good enough to move on. What’s next?

#1: Keep it fun.

#2: Keep it under wraps (don’t even consider telling them that the Legos will help them to get better handwriting).

#3: Integrate naturally.

Here are a few additional occupational therapy fine motor activities for you to consider:

Legos (my sons’ favorite!)
Sticker charts or sticker pictures
Peeling crayons/coloring with little crayon pieces
Drawing pictures of characters that they love
Playdough
Rubix cube
Secret lockbox with key for personal treasures
Dress up clothes with fasteners, like buttons and zippers
Buy lace-up shoes!
Use various containers for toys (zip-lock baggies, Tupperware, etc)
Magnet poems/letters

I’m going to summarize, here. Big to little, gross to fine, core to distal. Fun, secret, natural.

Got it?

Want more? Check out this post for all sorts of additional ideas!

Occupational Therapy 101 For Parents

By Nicole Connolly Leave a Comment Filed Under: Activities Tagged With: Occupational Therapy, Types of Therapy This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Please read my disclosure for more info.

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I started working in occupational therapy early in 2002. The funny thing is that I change the way that I describe my profession almost every time someone asks what it is. I usually start the same way: “It’s a person who teaches skills for the job of living” or “a person who makes others’ lives easier and more enjoyable”. You know, something broad and gray and without boundaries, which are all entirely unhelpful but all the while true.

I then dig myself into a deeper hole by adding more fluffy details, like, “Occupational therapy is a practice in breaking down challenging life experiences for individuals, determining deficit and strength areas, and then helping to change contexts or build skills so that a person has fewer challenges and greater life satisfaction.”

I can barely re-read that sentence in one breath, by the way–it’s a mouthful. So, when I see the slight eyebrow lift or perplexed expression on my listener’s face, I know I have only one minute before I lose them entirely.

Abort mission, Nikki. Try a new approach.

What is Occupational Therapy?

Have you ever watched a crime drama court scene and observed a witness answer a question with an answer to an entirely different question? Well, OTs kind of have to do that. To give a true understanding of what occupational therapy is, we need to narrow the topic and focus on a specific practice area. So, if you ever meet an OT in real life, instead of asking “What is occupational therapy?”, ask her or him, “What is pediatric occupational therapy?” or “What does an occupational therapist do in a school?” These questions will be well worth your time because OT is so cool!

I’ve known OT’s who work in traditional roles, such as hospitals, schools, clinics, home health, and nursing homes. I’ve also known OT’s who work in more creative roles, such as at golf clinics, outdoor discovery companies, driver rehabilitation, and ergonomics consulting for the workplace. Love animals? Use them. Love art? Do it. The sky is the limit. Occupational therapy is the epitome of “out of the box” thinking. Maybe that should have been my first answer.

What is a Pediatric Occupational Therapist?

Okay, I told you to ask this question, so I may as well give a proper answer. Pediatric occupational therapy is a service that is provided to kids between infancy and college to help them thrive, engage in meaningful activities, and build independence. It encompasses physical development, like sitting up and reaching for a toy, emotional development, like learning to cope with disappointment, and sensory processing, like using a weighted blanket to help induce sleep.

It includes cognitive development, like using lists to recall information, and visual-motor development, like using a pencil to write neatly on a page. Occupational therapy, at any age, is sensitive to culture, personal interests, and individual goals of clients and caregivers. I had one of my internships (called fieldwork, in OT world) at a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, where I held tiny babies, helped them to “regulate” their nervous systems, and even crafted itty-bitty splints to support congenital deformities or perinatal injuries. I also worked in a high school, where I taught a struggling learner how to maintain his planner so that assignments could be passed in on time. Both of these examples fall under the category of pediatric occupational therapy.

Why would a child need occupational therapy?

There is a lot of variability in development, temperament, and natural skill. However, a child might need occupational therapy if he or she is not hitting developmental milestones within the expected age range. Maybe he’s not eating well, potty training, or talking in full sentences. A child might need OT if he consistently has “big reactions” to things that adults perceive as “small problems”. Maybe he blurts out a lot in school, frequently tips in his chair, or avoids playgrounds and organized sports. If you have concerns, talk to your child’s care providers and follow up with your pediatrician.

How do I know if my child needs occupational therapy?

First, it’s important to state that although most children could benefit from occupational therapy, not all children need it. If a child already has a medical diagnosis, like autism, ADHD, or a mental health disorder, it is almost always worthwhile to get an OT evaluation. Anyone with a disability has challenges, by the very definition of the word. OT can offer hope, motivation, and success to children in their daily occupations. The earlier you seek help and support for your child, the greater their potential for improvement. If your child doesn’t carry a diagnosis and you have concerns, again, share them with your pediatrician.

I think my child needs OT, but there’s a waitlist. What can I do in the meantime?

Stay tuned… :)