Occupational Therapy Activities for Visual Perceptual Skills and Following Directions

Occupational therapy activities are fun activities that help children with visual perceptual skills, motor skills, sensory processing, and many more areas of need!   Here is a simple and wonderful activity for working on a variety of skills, including visual perception, motor planning skills, and following directions.

Materials needed:

1 foam board or thin piece of plywood
Chalk Paint
Colored Chalk
Scrap pieces of felt
Popsicle sticks
Matchbox car

Paint the board and let it dry for 3 days. Use the colored chalk to draw any arrangements of roads. Decorate the board with signs and other fun ideas using felt pieces and Popsicle sticks.

This activity addresses multiple skills. Have the student maneuver the car to a destination that you give either verbally or written. You can also give specific directions (verbally or written), For example, "take the first left, then the second right, go straight at the stop sign and park beside the tree." The board can be made more elaborate to include tunnels (made from 1/2 of of a toilet paper roll), houses, and bridges. As you see, the activity can be graded up or down, based on the child's abilities!

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The project above was completed by one of our Master's of Occupational Therapy students at The University of Tennessee Health Science Center and posted with permission.