5 Indoor Snowday OT Activities
by Anna DeHondt, OTR/L
Certified Trauma Professional
These snow-themed occupational therapy activities can be played indoors. They will keep you and your child active during cold days while also working on a variety of developmental skills!
Activity #1: Snow Ball Races
Skills Addressed: Oral motor and associative play
Materials: cotton balls, straws, a flat surface
How to play: Have your child race snowballs (cotton balls) across the table by blowing through the straw to make the snowballs roll. The process of blowing through the straw works on their oral motor skills and offers beneficial input for oral sensory seekers. Add in some friendly competition to work on associative play skills and emotional regulation skills.
Activity #2: Ice Skating with Shaving Cream
Skills Addressed: Tactile sensory processing, visual motor/ perceptual skills, fine motor skills
Materials: Shaving cream, tray/table
How to play: Have your child spray shaving cream onto a tray or table. Spread the shaving cream out to create an ice rink for their fingers to “skate” across. They can practice making letters, shapes, or pictures with their ice skating fingers. They can also build snowmen with shaving cream and practice skating around different obstacles.
Activity #3: Snow-Themed Sensory Bin
Skills addressed: Tactile sensory processing, visual motor/ perceptual skills, fine motor skills
Materials: pom-poms, white sand, dry white rice, white dry beans, cotton balls, cotton rounds
Hot to play: The possibilities are endless! Allow your child’s creativity to grow as they think of white items with a variety of textures to add to their sensory bin. You can put the bin in the fridge for a bit to make it feel cold before playing. Include a pair of tongs or small shovels to pick out pom-poms or shovel paths in the “snow.” Use cotton rounds and a marker to make snowmen and match the tops, middles, and bottoms of the snowmen.
Activity #4: DIY Snow Globes
Skills addressed: Executive functioning, emotional regulation, fine motor skills
Materials: Mason jar, water, glitter, sparkles, sequins, white beads, clear glue, blue food coloring
How to play: Create a winter-themed calming jar to work on sequencing and fine motor skills. Your child can use the jar in a calming corner to support emotional regulation as they watch the snow swirl and fall to the bottom slowly. Check out this link for more details on how to create a calming sensory jar.
Activity #5: Snow Fort Craft
Skills addressed: Bilateral coordination, fine motor skills, executive functioning skills
Materials: Marshmallows (mini and regular), toothpicks
How to Play: Build snowy structures using toothpicks and marshmallows to hold the toothpicks together. Have your child practice imitating the designs you create to work on their visual processing skills.
Our dedicated occupational therapists are here to work with you and your child!