Summer FUN: Outdoor Occupational Therapy Ideas for Preschoolers

Jul 5

Children’s snack plates with finger foods used for messy food play during summer OT activities.

By Jessica Jordan, MS. OTR/L

Why Summer Is Perfect for OT

As a preschool occupational therapist, I am so excited for summer! I feel like Olaf when I say it! Yes, it’s a time away from the school setting, but so much sensory exploration, movement, and fine motor development can happen in your naturalistic outdoor environments over the summer. For this blog post, I’d love to share a few of my favorite summer OT activities that I encourage my students and their families to try. I will also be trying these out alongside you with my own children.

Outdoor OT Activities to Try This Summer

Some of my favorite activities that you can do during the summer include:

Making pre-writing strokes and shapes at the beach in the sand
Take meals outside and encourage messy food play to practice pre-writing motor patterns (i.e., pudding, yogurt, whipped cream, etc.)
Outdoor chalk play
Water gun games, which involve motoric separation of the sides of the hands (important for tool use)
Park time—especially any climbing or hanging—which helps develop hand strength, grip, and upper body coordination
Water tables that involve pouring water and practicing graded control and force modulation
Scooping and digging at the beach for fine motor strength, tool manipulation, proprioceptive input, and more
Using bubbles to encourage finger isolation, bilateral coordination, and hand-eye coordination
Swimming, which encourages bilateral motor coordination, upper extremity strength, motor planning, and provides deep sensory input

Why These Activities Work

These are just a few summer activities that work on more than one skill through naturalistic and child-directed play. Many of them support multiple areas of sensory and motor development without feeling like “work” for the child—and they can be enjoyed by the whole family. Whether you're at the beach, in the backyard, or at the park, summer offers a perfect opportunity to connect, move, and grow together.

Have a favorite summer activity of your own? Drop it in the comments—and share what skills you think your child might be building while they play. We love seeing how families bring OT into everyday life.

Happy summer break! ☀️

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