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FINE MOTOR SKILLS, OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY ACTIVITIES, VISUAL MOTOR SKILLS
Spatial Awareness Toys
by Colleen Beck
November 30, 2021
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For kids that struggle with body awareness, position-in-space, and
overall spatial understanding, spatial awareness toys are fun ways to
develop a specific set of skills that impact function of every day tasks.
Want to help kids become more aware of their body position, the
space that they need to function, write, and perform tasks through
play? Here we are talking spatial awareness toys!
This post is part of our 2021 Therapy Toys and Tools
Giveaway, and starting today, includes a spatial awareness
toy prize! Enter for a chance to win a top-rated OT fine motor toy
by entering your email address into the form at the bottom of this
post. Giveaway ends on December 8th and you have the chance to
enter to win 12 different therapy toys!
First, let’s talk toys to support spatial awareness skills.
SPATIAL AWARENESS TOYS
In this post, we’ll cover a few different things:
visual tracking tool
Use this visual tracking tool to work on visual tracking skills needed for re…
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Spatial Awareness Definition
Spatial awareness activities
An easy spatial awareness tool for handwriting
Spatial awareness toys
Kids are often motivated by play as a means to support development
of skills. When games and toys develop skills in which they struggle,
it can be meaningful and engaging for the child. They may not even
realize they are developing those skill areas through play. Before we
get to the toy ideas, let’s go over spatial awareness in more detail.
SPATIAL AWARENESS DEFINITION
First, let’s cover the definition of spatial awareness. You might be
thinking…ok, I know a child who might be having issues with
awareness of space during functional tasks… But exactly what is
spatial awareness?
The definition of Spatial Awareness is being aware of oneself
in space. Incorporating body awareness, visual spatial skills, and
orientation, spatial awareness involves positioning oneself and/or
functional items (pencil, a ball, a bag of groceries, etc.) in relation to
oneself and the world around.
Spatial awareness can look like reaching for items without
overshooting or missing the object. It can mean use of a map to
navigate streets or a new middle school. It can incorporate spacing
between letters and words in handwriting. It can mean navigating a
crowded hallway while carrying a backpack and a stack of papers.
Being able to reason about the space around us, and how to
manipulate objects in space, is a critical part of everyday life and
everyday functional tasks. This specific skill allows us to safely cross
a street, fold clothing, load the dishwasher, place objects in a locker,
put together a piece of “some assembly required” furniture, and
other functional cognitive tasks. And these skills are especially
important for educational success in particular handwriting tasks,
math, STEM, and science.
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Most of us realize as we walk through a doorway that we need to
space ourselves through the middle of the door. Those with poor
visual spatial skills may walk to closely to the sides and bump the
wall.
Visual-spatial skills are used when a middle school or high school
student uses a map to navigate a new school. Orienting yourself on
the map and then relating that to the real world to make turns,
movements in a large space takes a complex set of skills guided by
visual spatial relations.
Spatial awareness skills also involve the fine motor tasks of
coordinating handwriting with writing in spaces allowed on paper,
placing letters within an area (lines), and forming letters in the
correct direction.
SPATIAL AWARENESS AND SPATIAL PERCEPTION
Spatial Awareness can be broken into three areas, specifically related
to spatial perception: position in space, depth perception, and
topographical orientation.
Position in Space– where an object is in space in relation to
yourself and others. This skill includes awareness of the way
an object is oriented or turned. It is an important concept in
directional language such as in, out, up, down, in front of,
behind, between, left, and right. Children with problems with
this skill area will demonstrate difficulty planning actions in
relation to objects around them. They may write letter
reversals after second grade. They typically show problems
with spacing letters and words on a paper.
Depth Perception– Distances between a person and objects.
This ability helps us move in space. Grasping for a ball
requires realizing where the ball is in relation to ourselves.
Kids with deficits in this area may have trouble catching a ball
or walking/running/jumping over an obstacle. Copying words
from a vertical plane onto a horizontal plane may be difficult
and they will have trouble copying from a blackboard.
Topographical Orientation– Location of objects in an
environment, including obstacles and execution of travel in an
area. Kids with difficulties in this area may become lost easily
or have difficulties finding their classroom after a bathroom
break.
Visual Spatial Skills develop from an awareness of movements of
the body. If a child has true visual spatial skills, they will likely
demonstrate difficulties with athletic performance, coordination, and
balance. They may appear clumsy, reverse letters and numbers in
handwriting, and may tend to write from right to left across a page.
They will have difficulty placing letters on lines, forming letters
correctly, and forming letters with appropriate size.
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When kids struggle with the ability to perceive where they are in
space…when children are challenged to identify how much room they
need to navigate the world around them…These are all examples of
spatial awareness skills.
Letter size
and use of
margins
also fall
under the
term
“spatial
awareness”.
Use these
spacing
tool ideas
to support
spatial
awareness
in
handwriting.
You can
use a
spacing
tool to
support
spatial
awareness
skills in
kids.
VISUAL SPATIAL RELATIONS ACTIVITIES
Addressing spatial awareness can occur with a handwriting spacing
tool like the one we made, but other spacing activities can help with
visual spatial relations, too. Try some of these activities:
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Create an obstacle course using couch cushions, chairs,
blankets, pillows, and other items in the house.
Try this activity for teaching over, under, around, and through
with pretend play.
Create a paper obstacle course. Draw obstacles on paper and
have your child make his /her pencil go through the obstacles.
Draw circles, holes, mud pits, and mountains for them to
draw lines as their pencil “climbs”, “jumps”, “rolls”, and even
erases!
Write words and letters on graph paper. The lines will work as
a guide and also a good spacing activity.
Use stickers placed along the right margin of to cue the
student that they are nearing the edge of paper when writing.
Highlight writing lines on worksheets.
Draw boxes for words on worksheets for them to write within.
Play Simon Says
Practice directions. Draw arrows on a paper pointing up,
down, left, and right. Ask your child to point to the direction
the arrow is pointing. Then have them say the direction the
arrows are pointing. Then create actions for each arrow. Up
may be jumping. Down may be squatting. The Left arrow
might be side sliding to the left, and the Right arrow might be
a right high kick. Next, draw more rows of arrows in random
order. Ask your child to go through the motions and try to go
faster and faster.
SPATIAL AWARENESS ACTIVITIES
For more multisensory learning and hands-on play incorporating the
development of spatial awareness skills, visit these blog posts:
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Visit our Visual Motor Skills page for more activity ideas in
all thing visual perception and kids!
Visual Motor Skills for Kids
Visual Figure Ground Activities
Spatial Relations
SPATIAL AWARENESS TOYS
This post contains affiliate links.
Looking for more tools to improve visual spatial awareness? The toy
ideas below are great for improving visual tracking and visual
scanning in fun ways. These toys, games, and ideas may be a great
gift idea for little ones who have visual perceptual difficulties or
problems with spacing and handwriting, body awareness in space,
letter reversals, detail awareness, or maintaining place while
reading.
SO, save these ideas for grandparents and friends who might ask for
gift ideas for birthdays and holidays. These are some powerhouse
spatial awareness ideas!
Practice spatial awareness with this Pull The String Board Game
threading toy. Kids can use a unique pen to create lined designs and
come away with a project they made on their own…while working on
spacing.
When working on spatial awareness in handwriting, kids can count
the number of holes in the pegboard in this Quercetti Tecno
Building Toy. Copy instructions to build 3D structures while working
on spacing of pieces and awareness of details in this fun engineering
toy.
Mini erasers as a spacing tool. Kids can write while keeping the
small eraser on their desk. When they space out words, use the
eraser as a measuring tool, just like our button buddy. You can also
encourage them to finish their writing task and then go back and
check over their work for spatial concepts with the eraser.
Practice spatial awareness of the edges of the page by using a Clear
Rulers. Kids can place the ruler along the edge of the paper to know
when to stop writing and to use as a visual cue. Sometimes kids try
to squish a word in at the end of a line when there is not enough
room. Line the ruler up along the edge and as they write, they can
see that they are nearing the edge of the paper.
Use a highlighter to draw dots between each word, to provide a
visual cue for spacing between words. You can also draw a line along
the edge of the paper for a visual cue that the child is nearing the
edge of the paper.
Wooden Building Blocks Sets are powerful ways to support
spatial awareness development.
SPATIAL AWARENESS GAMES
One study found that children who play frequently with puzzles,
construction, and board games tend to have better spatial reasoning
ability.
To get the whole family in on a spatial reasoning game while working
on placement of pieces, try IQ Twist for a game of logic as you
place pieces in this puzzle.
This related IQ Arrows game develops spatial relations but is great
for adding to an occupational therapy bag. Use the arrows in play
dough to work on directionality with heavy work through the hands.
Make mini fine motor obstacle courses and other spatial relations
activities on a smaller scale.
Kanoodle works on pattern recognition, spatial reasoning, and is a
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great way to practice spacing needed in handwriting.
A toy like a geoboard allows a child to copy forms while counting out
spaces of pegs. Try these Geoboards.
Here are more spatial awareness games and specifically spatial
reasoning games:
Mindware Q-bitz Jr.
Qwirkle Board Game
Labyrinth Family Board Game
FoxMind Tangramino Spatial Logic and Visualization
Game
Connectors Mission Space
ThinkFun Shape by Shape Creative Pattern Logic Game
Learning Resources Mental Blox Critical Thinking Game
TOYS FOR BODY IN SPACE AWARENESS
These toys specifically address body awareness and directional
awareness to help with overall spatial awareness development.
Position in space impacts functioning in daily tasks at home and in
the community. This plays a part in social emotional development and
overall confidence as well. When a child feels confident in their body
in space awareness, they can navigate the world around them with
ease.
And, in regards to handwriting, sometimes, spacing problems on
paper have to do with difficulties with directional awareness.
Use Arrows to start at the basics and practice naming
left/write/top/bottom. Use them in whole-body movement activities
where the child copies motions based on the arrow placement. Watch
to make sure kids are not over stepping their allotted space.
Use Wikki Stix for spacing on paper with physical cues for margins
and spacing. Use the wikki sticks to space between words and a
“ball” of the wikki stick to space between words.
POSITION IN SPACE TOYS
Learning Resources Fox In The Box Position Word
Activity Set
Yoga Body Awareness and Exercise Fun Deck
SPATIAL AWARENESS TOY GIVEAWAY
Want to win a top-rated occupational therapy fine motor toy? One
winner will receive an IQ Arrows Game! And, 5 winners will win a
resource pack from The OT Toolbox Shop!
HOW TO ENTER
Type your email address into the form below and hit the button. You
will be entered to win! Want additional entries? Share our post on
Instagram and tag a friend!
SPATIAL
AWARENESS TOY
GIVEAWAY
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**Entry begins on the date listed. Giveaway ends 12-8-21.
Winners will be notified via email.
1. Fine Motor Toys begins 11-26
2. Gross Motor Toys begins 11-27
3. Pencil Grasp Toys begins 11-28
4. Toys for Reluctant Writers begins 11-29
5. Toys for Spatial Awareness begins 11-30
6. Toys for Visual Tracking begins 12-1
7. Toys for Sensory Play begins 12-2
8. Bilateral Coordination Toys begins 12-3
9. Games for Executive Functioning Skills begins 12-4
10. Toys and Tools to Improve Visual Perception begins 125
11. Toys to Help with Scissors Skills begins 12-6
12. Toys for Attention and Focus begins 12-7
Colleen Beck, OTR/L is an occupational
therapist with 20 years experience,
graduating from the University of
Pittsburgh in 2000. Colleen created
The OT Toolbox to inspire therapists,
teachers, and parents with easy and
fun tools to help children thrive. As the
creator, author, and owner of the
website and its social media channels,
Colleen strives to empower those
serving kids of all levels and needs.
Want to collaborate? Send an email to
contact@theottoolbox.com.
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