- Dry Erase Pocket Sleeves – Yes Please!
Instead of printing off a million papers, print one and reuse them using these awesome pocket sleeves. It will save you tons of paper and prep!
2. Tweezers
These tweezers are surprisingly pretty durable for only being $1! I wish I would have grabbed more when I had the chance, these are becoming more and more popular to buy and I have a had time finding them recently. This is a great item to fill your bag with on a budget if you’re just starting out and don’t want to spend money on the more expensive ones just yet.
3. Pom Poms!
Easily, a staple in every OT’s therapy bag. The possibilities with these are endless.
4. Clothespins
Will these ever go out of style? The answer is no. As long as OT’s are around. š Your imagination can run crazy with clothespins to work on hand strength, visual motor skills, etc. Paint them different colors, add letters/numbers to them, etc.
5. Huge bottles of paint for only $1? Say no more.
6. Stickers
Dollar Tree always comes in clutch with the most bang for your buck for various stickers. It is the perfect, cheap reward/reinforcement for students motivated by stickers
7. Storage Containers
These particular containers are HIGHLY underrated. They are very durable and come in packs of 10. They are perfect for storing various objects in (beads, Pom Poms, individualized putty kits, mini clothespins, paperclips, etc. Grab one of these, toss it in your bag, and go!
8. Activity Trays
Perfect for when you want to paint, use shaving cream, kinetic sand, play doh, or just need a tray for any craft in general! Don’t be like me and spend $6 for one at Michaels (not hating – theirs are very durable, but, I rather have spent $1 instead).
9. Pop-its
Everyone has joined this craze, even Dollar Tree! I love that these are mini versions. Perfect for incorporating so many different fine motor skills, bilateral coordination, color recognition, etc!
10. Spray Bottles
Another underrated item! They have so many different ones, small ones for finger strength, full sized ones for hand strength, etc. Great item to incorporate into sessions. (Treatment ideas: spraying letters (matching uppercase to lowercase), melting ice cubes with objects trapped in them then writing down the object for a handwriting portion, “washing” paper hair, then cutting it with scissors, etc)!
11. Alphabet Beads
So perfect for many different activities! Treatment ideas: hiding in putty and then writing down the letter, stringing them on twine (these are very tiny so can be challenging for smaller kiddos), forming words with the letters you found, photocopying them on paper for an iSpy worksheet, etc)!
12. Pipe Cleaners
Another no-brainer. Treatment ideas: string beads on pipe cleaners, use pipe cleaners as hair for a craft then have student make silly shapes for the hair (works on bilateral coordination, finger dexterity, etc), use when practicing shoe tying, practice making letters and shapes, glue them down to form a maze where a marble is used to get through the maze, etc!
13. Timers
I absolutely love these timers! I use it all of the time for transitions, to signal when we will be moving on to the next activity, etc.
14. Puzzles
They have so many varieties of puzzles! Puzzles for this quality for only $1 are hard to beat.
15. Mini Etch a Sketch
These are a fun way to incorporate handwriting, especially when learning the correct letter formation sequence!
There we have it! In all honestly, I could have totally just listed every item from the craft section #iykyk. Other items worth mentioning – popsicle sticks, google eyes, glitter, paint brushes, crayons, highlighters, and sooo much more!
If you are a new grad, or just a therapist on a budget, Dollar Tree never disappoints. So many other items can be incorporated during their seasonal sections as they often have some fun sensory bin fillers and other small manipulatives. You can easily fill your therapy bag with all items from dollar tree!
Some other fun Dollar Tree Inspo:
Instead of pulling beads out of putty, make it more client-centered. Instead…
- Pull clear gems out of putty and then use tweezers to place them into a treasure chest! Make it a treasure hunt!
- Pull plastic red hearts (usually found during valentines day or in craft section) out of putty then make a cut-out of cupid using tweezers to place it in his chest!
- Pull plastic pearls out of putty and then place them in pearls! You can make paper cut out oysters and label them with numbers so they have to put a certain amount in each oyster (or- if you have old beach sheets laying around the house, use those!)
- Pull flower beads out of putty and place them on a paper where you have drawn stems for them to be placed!
- Treatment ideas are endless! Hope this gave you some fun ideas!
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