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Are you ready to make the 100th day of school a memorable and skill-focused celebration in your occupational therapy sessions? As occupational therapists, we have a unique opportunity to blend festivities with skill-building activities that cater to the foundational needs of our students. Check out these engaging activities designed to enhance fine motor, visual perceptual, and other key skills.
1. 100th Day Crown:
- Occupational Therapy (OT) Foundation Skills: Fine motor skills are engaged as students use markers and stickers, enhancing hand-eye coordination and precision.
- Materials: Construction paper, markers, stickers, glue, and number stickers.
- Instructions: Have students create crowns with the number 100 prominently displayed. They can use stickers or markers to decorate and personalize their crowns.
2. 100th Day Glasses:
- OT Foundation Skills: Cutting shapes for the lenses improves fine motor skills and hand strength. Decorating the glasses encourages creativity and fine motor precision.
- Materials: Cardstock or craft foam, scissors, markers, and glue.
- Instructions: Help students create glasses with lenses shaped like the number 100. They can wear these special glasses to celebrate the day.
3. 100th Day Trail Mix:
- OT Foundation Skills: Scooping and pouring snacks into cups enhance fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, and bilateral coordination.
- Materials: A variety of snacks (raisins, pretzels, cereal, etc.), small cups, and number stickers.
- Instructions: Provide students with a mix of 10 different snacks, and have them create a trail mix with 10 pieces of each snack to make a total of 100 pieces.
4. Thumbprint Art:
- OT Foundation Skills: Creating thumbprint art supports fine motor control and strengthens the muscles in the fingers. Adding details with markers further develops fine motor precision.
- Materials: Ink pads, paper, markers, and wipes for cleaning fingers.
- Instructions: Students can create thumbprint art by making 10 rows of 10 thumbprints, totaling 100 prints. After the ink dries, they can add details with markers.
5. 100th Day Necklace:
- OT Foundation Skills: Threading beads onto a string promotes fine motor coordination, visual-motor integration, and bilateral coordination.
- Materials: String, beads, and number beads.
- Instructions: Students can string beads to create a necklace with 100 beads. For added fun, incorporate number beads to represent the 100th day.
6. Cereal Necklace:
- OT Foundation Skills: Stringing cereal onto a string engages fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, and bilateral coordination.
- Materials: Fruit loops or Cheerios cereal, yarn or string, and small cups.
- Instructions: Similar to the necklace idea, students can create a necklace using cereal, with each peice representing one day of school.
7. 100th Day Collage:
- OT Foundation Skills: Cutting and pasting pictures from magazines develops fine motor control and scissor skills. Organizing and arranging items on the collage enhance visual perception and planning.
- Materials: Magazines, scissors, glue, and construction paper.
- Instructions: Students can cut out pictures from magazines and create a collage with 100 items. This can be a mix of numbers, shapes, or objects.
8. 100th Day Hat:
- OT Foundation Skills: Decorating the hat involves fine motor skills, creativity, and visual-motor integration. Attaching strings promotes bilateral coordination.
- Materials: Paper plates, markers, glue, and various craft supplies.
- Instructions: Students can decorate paper plates with 100 items, such as stickers, pom-poms, or drawings, and then attach strings to create festive hats.
9. 100th Day Exercise Challenge:
- OT Foundation Skills: This gross motor activity enhances coordination, balance, and spatial awareness. It also promotes motor planning and sequencing skills.
- Materials Needed: Open space, music
- Instructions: Challenge students to create and perform 100 exercises, such as jumping jacks, hops, or arm circles. Encourage creativity and emphasize proper form.
10. 100-Item Collection Collage:
- OT Foundation Skills: Sorting and gluing small items refine fine motor control, visual-motor skills, and attention to detail.
- Materials Needed: Magazines, scissors, glue, construction paper
- Instructions: Have students cut out 100 pictures from magazines, categorize them, and create a collage on construction paper. This activity fosters fine motor precision.
11. 100-Second Freeze Dance:
- OT Foundation Skills: Listening to music, moving rhythmically, and freezing on cue improve auditory processing, motor coordination, and self-regulation.
- Materials Needed: Music player
- Instructions: Play music and instruct students to dance freely. Pause the music every 10 seconds, and students freeze for 10 seconds. Repeat until 100 seconds have passed.
12. 100th Day Puzzle Challenge:
- OT Foundation Skills: Manipulating puzzle pieces refines fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, and visual-motor integration.
- Materials Needed: Blank puzzles or puzzle pieces, markers
- Instructions: Distribute puzzle pieces to students and have them create drawings or write numbers on each piece. Once done, challenge them to assemble their puzzle within 100 seconds.
- Even easier, have them complete a 100-piece puzzle.
13. 100-Step Scavenger Hunt:
- OT Foundation Skills: Walking, navigating space, and searching enhance gross motor skills, spatial awareness, and attention to surroundings.
- Materials Needed: None
- Instructions: Instruct students to take 100 steps in a specific direction, then have them look around for interesting items. This promotes movement and spatial exploration.
Celebrate the 100th day of school in style with these 100th Day Writing and Math Center Activities PDF resource, made for educators, including occupational therapists. This resource provides a range of engaging activities that integrate math, literacy, writing, handwriting, fine motor, gross motor, and visual perceptual skills. Read on to discover how this resource can enhance your classroom or therapy sessions.
When is a good time to use these resources?
- 100th Day Celebration: Perfect for marking the milestone of the 100th day of school.
- Writing Centers: Ideal for enhancing writing skills through creative prompts and activities.
- Math Stations: Engage students with counting worksheets, number puzzles, and more.
- Occupational Therapy Sessions: Tailored to address fine motor skills through various activities.
What is included in these PDFs? This comprehensive resource includes a variety of activities such as:
- Tracing prewriting sheets
- 100th-day scavenger hunt
- Scrambled sentences
- Letterbox handwriting
- Sequencing writing activities
- Gross motor brain break activities
- Word searches and writing prompts
- 100 exercises for 100th day
Incorporating these worksheets and activities to work on occupational therapy foundation skills into 100th-day activities not only adds a therapeutic element but also ensures that students are actively engaging and developing crucial motor skills during the celebration. Inject energy into the 100th day celebration with engaging activities, offering a dynamic and skill-focused learning experience.
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.
