Arts and crafts reinvented

Occupational therapy practitioners (OTPs) at a private special education school in New York City for students with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities (IDD) ages 5 to 21, have been targeting students' leisure and vocational skills, using a novel approach to typical arts and crafts. Arts and crafts have been a part of the occupational therapy profession since it began. As we look back, the arts and crafts movement meant quality of design as much as it meant quality of life (Levine, 1987). Occupational therapy can incorporate arts and crafts into intervention to provide individuals with a chance for self-expression, coping strategies, access to social groups, and improved physical functioning (Winther-Hansen et al., 2020). Arts and crafts are often associated with younger students learning basic school-based skills. However, arts and crafts have begun to evolve into a hobby that more adults have taken to. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many people turned to arts and crafts to occupy their time at home and found comfort through the occupation of making products like quilts, ceramics, and embroidered pieces (Kurutz, 2021). Some of these makers began to sell their crafts on websites like Etsy^® (n.d.), turning a hobby into a job (Razaq et al., 2022). OTPs see this as an expansion of leisure skills across the lifespan.