Marching into Learning: Occupational Therapy Activities for Academic Enrichment

March brings a burst of seasonal energy, and what better way to harness that excitement than with purposeful and engaging activities for both typical and special education elementary students? These March worksheets and activities, designed with occupational therapy principles in mind, promise an engaging approach to learning. Check out the activities for fine motor, gross motor, sensory, and social-emotional learning.

Gross Motor: Incorporating gross motor activities into the classroom, students can have physical adventures that complement fine motor exercises. Whether it’s a lively Easter egg hunt or a St. Patrick’s Day movement challenge, these activities promote coordination, balance, and spatial awareness, ensuring a well-rounded physical development approach

Fine Motor: From tracing prewriting sheets to letter box handwriting, the March activities offer a fine motor feast. Each stroke and curve enhances hand strength and precision, laying a foundation for improved handwriting. Utilizing a multi-sensory approach, students can engage with letters and numbers in various ways to allow for a better understanding of their formation.

Sensory and Social-Emotional Activities: Utilize the variety pack’s Find the Same visual perception tasks and I-spy math worksheets to encourage sensory exploration and attention to detail. Meanwhile, prompts and activities designed for sequencing, scrambled sentences, and writing stimulate social-emotional learning. Students express themselves creatively, fostering communication and emotional intelligence.

Academic Skills: The pack incorporates academic skills into the March-themed activities. Counting worksheets, roll and cover number exercises, and word searches infuse mathematics and language arts with a touch of seasonal fun. Each activity doubles as a purposeful tool for occupational therapy, ensuring that learning meets the needs of diverse students.

March into a world where learning is an adventure, using the principles of occupational therapy. From fine motor precision to gross motor excitement, sensory exploration to social-emotional growth, this March variety pack ensures that academic enrichment becomes a dynamic and joyful journey for every student.

10 occupational therapy activities for March

1. Rainbow Writing Practice: Incorporate rainbow-themed handwriting practice. Using different colors, students can trace over letters or words, promoting fine motor control and letter formation skills.
2. St. Patrick’s Day Scavenger Hunt: Organize a St. Patrick’s Day-themed scavenger hunt. Students follow clues and search for hidden treasures, encouraging gross motor movement, teamwork, and problem-solving.
3. Eggcellent Easter Sensory Bin: Create a sensory bin filled with Easter eggs and various textures like rice or shredded paper. Encourage students to explore the textures, promoting sensory integration and tactile awareness. Add a gross motor or fine motor task card to the eggs to incorporate more skills.
4. Spring-Themed Gross Motor Obstacle Course: Design an obstacle course with a spring theme. Incorporate activities like hopping like a bunny, balancing on a pretend log, or crawling under a “rainbow,” enhancing gross motor skills and coordination.
5. Nature Walk and Journaling: Take students on a nature walk to observe signs of spring. Have them journal their observations, combining sensory experiences with fine motor writing skills.
6. Easter Egg Color Sorting: Use colored Easter eggs for a color sorting activity. Students sort eggs into matching-colored containers, refining fine motor skills and color recognition.
7. Seed Planting and Gardening: Engage in a gardening activity by planting seeds or small plants. This hands-on experience promotes fine motor skills through activities like digging, planting, and watering.
8. Spring-Themed Yoga: Introduce spring-themed yoga poses. Incorporate movements that mimic flowers blooming, birds flying, or butterflies fluttering. This activity combines gross motor exercise with mindfulness.
9. Shamrock Tracing and Cutting: Develop fine motor control with shamrock tracing and cutting activities. Provide shamrock shapes on paper for students to trace, and then progress to cutting along the traced lines. This activity refines hand-eye coordination and scissor skills.
10. Do an outdoor Spring scavenger hunt: Organize a nature scavenger hunt. Students search for specific items like flowers, leaves, or rocks, combining sensory experiences with gross motor movement. Getting outside opens a world of possibilities for elementary students. Outdoor scavenger hunts include exploration and observation skills and get students curious about the environment.

These March-themed occupational therapy activities offer a blend of sensory, fine motor, and gross motor experiences, catering to the diverse needs of students while embracing the spirit of the season. Check out the Free Resource Library for March Themed Activities.

About the Author

I am a Certified Occupational Therapy Assistant (COTA) and have been working in a public school system for more than 25 years. My resources can be found on TPT, BOOM Learning, Made by Teachers, Classful, and Your Therapy Source. I appreciate your interest wherever you wish to shop.

My mission is to help you find creative ideas to incorporate fine motor, visual perception, gross motor, and social-emotional learning into your lessons.

I hope you consider signing up for my Free Resource Library with your Email. I send out emails about once a week and share resources, tips, and planning ideas for your classroom or occupational therapy needs. Hopefully, these help your students work on building their skills in a fun and engaging way.