Can you believe it’s almost that time again? Whether you’re prepping your classroom, therapy space, or home activities—starting the school year with a fun, fresh back to school theme can set the tone for a fantastic year of learning, growth, and motor skill development! Here are a bunch of back to school themes with physical and occupational therapists in mind!
Creative Back To School Therapy Theme Ideas to Start the Year Off Right
As physical and occupational therapists, themes aren’t just cute decor—they’re a powerful way to boost engagement, add structure, and make therapy exciting and memorable. The best part? You don’t have to plan it all from scratch. At Pink Oatmeal, we have resources ready to go for some of the most popular and effective back-to-school themes for therapy!
🌱 Let’s Grow Together – A Garden-Themed Back-to-School Idea
Think flowers, plants, and all things growing! This is a fantastic theme for early learners that reinforces the idea of progress and development—perfect for goal setting and visual motor activities.
💡 Therapy Tip: Use garden-themed gross motor stations or fine motor task cards to tie in movement and growth.
➡️ SEE ALL THE GARDEN-THEMED RESOURCES
🌍 Adventure Awaits – Travel or Camping Theme for Therapy
Explore the world right from your therapy room! This theme encourages curiosity and movement, and it works great with both large and small group sessions.
💡 Therapy Tip: Set up a pretend camping obstacle course by adding in printables from our collection or try travel-themed yoga and brain breaks.
➡️ SEE ALL THE CAMPING RESOURCES
➡️ SEE ALL THE TRAVEL/AROUND THE WORLD RESOURCES
🏀 Teamwork Makes the Dream Work – Sports Theme
Get ready to score big! A sports-themed back-to-school setup encourages team-building and collaboration, which is great for group therapy sessions.
💡 Therapy Tip: Create sports-themed stations to work on balance, strength, and coordination.
➡️ SEE ALL THE SPORTS-THEMED RESOURCES
🦁 Wild About Learning – Jungle & Safari Theme
Take your kids on a wild motor adventure! Jungle and safari themes are always a hit with kids and offer endless opportunities for movement and creativity.
💡 Therapy Tip: Incorporate animal walks, jungle path obstacle courses using jungle footprints and sensory stops, or use safari-themed fine motor mats.
➡️ SEE THE JUNGLE AND SAFARI RESOURCES
🦸 Be a Learning Superhero – Superhero Theme
Capitalize on your students’ love for superheroes! This theme builds confidence, encourages effort, and allows kids to take on “missions” that double as therapeutic tasks.
💡 Therapy Tip: Set up superhero training challenges that target core strength, coordination, or fine motor precision using printables from Pink Oatmeal.
➡️ SEE ALL THE SUPERHERO RESOURCES
✨ Start the School Year Strong with Pink Oatmeal
These are just a few of the engaging, therapist-approved themes you can use to kick off the new school year. Want all the resources at your fingertips?
🎟️ All-Access Pass – Get Everything in One Spot!
With the Pink Oatmeal All-Access Pass, you get immediate access to every single therapy resource, printable, and motor skill video we’ve created—plus themed lesson plans and ideas for the entire year.
✅ Gross motor
✅ Fine motor
✅ Digital games
✅ Videos
✅ Themed packs
✅ And so much more!
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Monthly and annual options make it easy and low-risk to try!
