Visual spatial relations

Occupational therapy

﻿Hi, I'm really looking forward to our lesson today, I hope you are too. Before we get started, this is just a little reminder, we're here to support any approaches you might already be using, and any work you might have already been set. We know that this lesson is going to be going out to so many different children and families, so if you're not sure about anything or have any questions, then please do contact your usual therapy team. Have you ever wondered how you know that something is pointing up or pointing down, that an object is to the left or to the right of another object or up to yourself? Let's find out more about this in today's lesson. So here's another big word, visual spatial relations, what are they? Well, it's that skill which lets us see objects and help us to be able to figure out where they are or which direction they're going compared to each other and compared to us, okay? It helps us to judge how far away something is or how close it is, and whether something is in front of us, or behind us or in front of something else or behind something else, okay? It helps us to follow directions and instructions. So when the teacher says stand at the back of the line, you know where to go. Or if someone says, look under the bed, you know where to look, okay? This will really help us to plan our movements and our activities, so we can tell our bodies where to go and how to move. So pause the video now to get the following items. You'll need the worksheets printed, some paper, pencil or pens, scissors and glue, restart once you're ready. Okay, so for this first activity, I'm going to ask you where something is, I want you to look at the grid and see if you can answer my questions, okay? Ask an adult to check your answers, so we'll do the first few together. So if I said to you, what is under the green heart, okay? So you'd first find the green heart, then you'd go under, oh, it's the funny bee playing an electric guitar. If I said to you, what is above the orange smiley face? So you're going to find the orange smiley face, and you're going to go above aah, the red diamond, okay? If I said to you if I made it more tricky and said, two spaces to the right of the yellow smiley face. So you'd find the yellow smiley face, then you'd go two spaces to the right. So you'd go one two, oh it's the cool dog with sunglasses, okay? So have a go with this activity, and see what you can find. What is to the left of the chicken eating popcorn? That's a trick question. Pause the video to have a go. Right, for the next picture, we're going to name the arrows, we're going to work from left to right, so that's how we read. And we're going to call out the direction that each arrow is pointing in. Once you've done one line, move down to the next one. When you can do this really well, see how fast you could do them, or how far you can go before you make a mistake. Also try and use your arms to point in the directions or to copy the directions, which you could even jump up, you could jump forwards or backwards or left or right. Let's have a look. Okay, so if we did the first one together, I would say left. No I wouldn't, cause that was wrong, silly me. So it's pointing to the right I'll go right, left, up, down, up, left, left, up, okay? Then I'm going to go to the next row, and I'm going to look left, up, right, left, left, down, right, left, okay? And you going to continue doing this activity. Now pause the video and try. For our last activity we're going to play noughts and crosses with a twist. So on a piece of paper, draw the grid for noughts and crosses. With an activity partner or an adult, you're going to take turns playing the game. But instead of using crosses and noughts, one of you are going to be putting a B and the other a D. Or you could say, I'm going to be putting a triangle and you put a square, okay? Be careful not mix them up and put the wrong letter. You can do this with other letters such as P and Q. Or you could say, I'm going to put apples and bananas. So you can see over there, oooh, this was a tricky one. I'm not sure who's going to win this game. But look at the P's and Q's, oooh I think the P's are going to win very easily cause they can go both ways. Okay, pause the video now to try noughts and crosses with the twist. The next activity, I want you to copy the picture, okay? So you can see that the picture on the right has quite a few blank spots. So I want you to get scissors and you can either cut them out yourselves or ask an adult or carer to do the cutting for you. And what I want you to do then, is to complete the picture on the right by filling in the pictures you've cut out from the left, okay? So for example, you'll know that in this spot here is where you're going to put the blue smiley face. What are you going to put next to the purple cloud? Yeah, that's right. You're going to put the orange smiley face next to the purple cloud. So now you pause the video and have a go with that. Okay, if you don't have Lego or anything similar like that for some construction activities then you can just try any arts and crafts projects which have instructions. So I didn't have Lego and so I use the arrows or I use the pictures that I made up, okay? Because it's still following instructions, something has to go above or underneath. If you're losing your place, try and use your finger to keep track of where you should be. You could also try so look, if I was using my laser pointer, you could be doing that, you could also try covering up the lines underneath and then uncovering them as you go along, okay? And you could always start with easier letter such as O and A. Most of all, you need to have fun. Do the best that you can, don't worry about what others are doing. Practise, practise, practise, have lots of fun, and I can't wait to see your lovely work. If you'd like to, please ask your parent or carer, to share your wonderful work on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter, tagging @OakNational and hashtag LearnwithOak.

Visual spatial relations

Visual spatial relations

These resources will be removed by the end of the Spring Term 2026.

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