Here are samples of simple everyday tactile items children can explore and that can be used in activities you can devise. Thank you for looking at these ideas which may inspire you . These projects can be made by anyone with

simple tools. I encourage you to develop your own ideas and have fun.

Copyright 2008, Ellen Buck, OTR/L ”plant a tree”

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SHOEBOX ACTIVITIES

FOR KIDS

A collection of inexpensive, easy-to-build activities to improve attention, task completion,

the ability to follow directions, and eye-hand coordination in children with disabilities

ELLEN BUCK, OTR/L

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This booklet is dedicated to my husband Lee with love and appreciation

© 2008 Ellen Buck

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Pluck flowers from the box and place them into a vase. Put a brick in the box to weight it down if this is a one handed job. Fasten the vase to a piece of maso-

nite to keep it upright.

Build up the sides of a clipboard to make a slant board. Velcro shapes of bean bags to pull off.

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Put yarn on the back end of large paper clips to make tails for pretend baby al-ligators who like to eat bugs. Press the clips on the bug stickers on foam glued to cardboard. The tails help to distinguish the front from the back of the clip.

Look for seasonal items such as these trees at a thrift shop and place them into holes drilled in a board. “Plant trees”.

Welcome,

I want to share some ideas for easy to make activities for students with special needs. In my 22 years of experience as an Occupational Therapist I have seen a need for non-commercial foundational activities which will lead to functional life skills.

I have divided these activities into three sections. The first section, Putting In, requires the student to place an object into a target. For example putting coins into slots on a board may use the same skills as inserting money into a vending machine or inserting a button into a hole.

Putting On activities require a student to place an object on a target such as a dowel. Placing rings on a dowel may prepare students to assemble parts of a vocational task.

The third section contains miscellaneous tasks that lead to learning life skills. For example unscrewing caps from 8 juice cartons fastened to a shoe box might help a student be independent in getting a drink at home. Lacing prac-tice may lead to the ability to lace a shoe or to untie or tie a bow.

These shoebox ideas may also lay a foundation for academic learning in math (counting), sequential planning, and reading with the addition of numbers or letters or sight words to the tasks. The levels of skills needed can be adapted by introducing tools to do the tasks such as using tongs or tweezers to pick up erasers for sorting. Many are built out of shoe boxes for easy storage and transport from one area of the classroom to another. You must be cautious with students who mouth objects as small items are inappropriate for them.

These ideas are collected from many sources and the components are inex-pensive. The purposes are to have “jobs” to encourage attention, to follow di-rections, to use two hands together, to develop hands skills and to gain a sense of satisfaction from completion of a task. You will get a kick out of seeing stu-dents succeed in their work.

Ellen Buck, OTR/L

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“PUTTING IN”

These activities involve “putting in”, so here are a variety of containers. Cut holes with a drill into the screw off lids of drinking cups with han-dles. The student holds the handle while putting in pompoms, little spiky balls, paper clips, etc. Parmesan cheese containers have little or large holes. Bobbie pins pulled off cardboard fit nicely into the small holes. Decorate the can with bug stickers and put some shredded paper on the bot-tom then feed the bugs “bobby pin sticks”.

Put dowels, pencils, balls, plastic acorns, bells, golf balls, cards set on end in slots, or corks into the containers.

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Take an oatmeal can and cut a slit in the lid. Take a piece of fabric about an inch thick and 15 feet long and make a knot at each foot apart. The student pulls the fabric from the can using a hand over hand motion until the end of the fabric. Da Da! Another student holds the can with finger tips securing the edge of the lid. They take turns.

Build an upright slotted frame to hold boards with different size holes for students to lace with one hand.

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Match pairs of socks by color and roll them up and place them into a container.

Fold face cloths and hand towels and place them into a basket.

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Parmesan cheese containers have little or large holes. Bobbie pins pulled off cardboard fit nicely into the small holes. Decorate the can with bug stickers and put some shredded paper on the bottom then feed the bugs “bobby pin

sticks”.

Make holes for corks so the fit is tight. This requires the student to hold the box as she unscrews the cap and pulls the corks out and places them into the hole.

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Have students use a lateral pinch to grasp and pull cards with pictures, letters, words or colors out of the box. You might have them match pairs of pictures or

upper case letters to lower case letters.

Hot glue large caps from juice boxes to the box to stabilize the used golf balls which students put in the Kleenex box sunk into the shoe box.

Place crayons into slotted ice cube trays from the dollar store. Color the trays-lots if you like for sorting.

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Place lace tip into sequential holes of cardboard sticking out of the shoe box top.

Use a three point grasp to pick up large jacks and place them into a box. Poke the jacks into small holes in the shoebox.

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Button front and back pieces of a play shirt made of fleece for buttoning prac-tice and then clip them to a line little clothes line made with dowels sunk into a

board. Match colors of shirt pieces.

Pick up bells either by the string or the whole bell, ring it and place into a hole.

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Using a three point grasp or a lateral pinch students pull pencils with seasonal designs from the box and place it into a small hole in a mailing tube inserted

into the shoe box.

Picking up the tops requires a three point grasp.

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Staple tops of juice cartons to the shoebox. Sink a plastic container in the mid-dle to for a target in which to place the caps after they are screwed off.

Replace them.

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Make a grid out of plastic straws or something. Collect seasonal manipulatives such as apples, acorns or spiders. See how long it takes to place one item into

each square. Have more than one student do this. Ready, set, go.

Play concentration with milk carton caps and stickers that are glued in pairs. Use a foam mat for the grid. It would be good to reinforce the mat with card-board. Also put Modge Podge over the stickers to keep them fastened. If you want to make the caps a little heavier for easier handling hot glue pennies in-

side them.

Use smaller coins to increase the fine motor skills needed to put them in the slots.

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Use a lateral pinch to grasp poker chips into slots in a board. Place wire end caps on metal posts set in a board then twist them.

Place coins or paper money into wallets or purses or film canisters with a slit in the top.

Reach into a mayonnaise can to pull out balls and then match them by color to the corresponding cups.

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Make a box with a cow picture and have students “feed” the cows with corn cobs they have to press into slightly tight holes. This job has lots of tactile and

olfactory input.

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Squeeze clothes pins pulled from tightly fitted holes and clip them around a tube.

Screw lids to plastic baby juice jars and place the assembled jars in a milk carton set in the shoebox.

15 Sort colored pencil erasers by color to match cups with lids set into

the shoebox.

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Lace large beads with a wooden-tipped lace connected to the shoe box. Drill a hole in the end of a slender dowel and glue the lace tip inside to make a bigger tip. The ends of the lace are connected to the box. Two students can work on

this at the same time.

A student can coordinate holding a dowel secured to a handle as he places rings on it and keeps it upright

so the rings stay on.

Fasten an upright board with dowels extending sideways to require movement of the forearm such as one might need to place a ring of keys on a hook.

“PUTTING ON” The following activities involve “putting on”. One example of these exercises is shown below. A vari-ety of rings ranging from shower curtain or curtain rings to spools. Supination of the hand is required if the wooded dowels are horizontal and pronation is needed if the target is upright. If the rings are stuck in the cardboard box it will take a hand to hold the box as the other hand pulls the ring. Examples of life skills that require putting on are placing a tooth paste cap on a tube or hanging laundry.

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Stack blocks or cones on a board glued to the shoe box. This provides a stable, flat foundation.

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Stack blocks or cones on a board, as above, for a stable foundation.

Students like the feel of these spools wrapped with yarn. Put two dowel poles in the shoebox so spools can be matched by color.

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These café curtain rings are imbedded in slits in the box which afford a tight fit so the student needs to hold the box while pulling out the ring. This box is

covered with crinkly paper from a candy box to add some sound to the task.