Fun Fine Motor Activity

A friend gave me these sheets quite a while ago. I'm not familiar with the program these sheets are from but the writing on the bottom right says Do A Dot Art. We've been photocopying them so we've gotten a lot of use out of these sheets.  Initially, when K was younger we used bingo dobbers to do them. K is working on printing now though so they are a little too easy so we decided to use them for fine motor skills instead.

K placed some glue on a spot on the paper then used the tweezers to pick up a pompom & put it in place.  We are always looking for new & fun activities to do with K so it was nice that this activity was a hit.

Fun Activities - OT is Kind of Cheesy:)!

 

K was pestering to help grate cheese for supper the other night. I was grating it by hand, which isn't the safest for little fingers, of course, so I let her try it with this cheese grater.  I think she ate every little scrap of cheese that she managed to get out of it - so much for the help making supper!

Fun Activities - 5 Little Penguins

We've been having fun using these little penguins to learn about math lately.  It is a simple song about 5 little skating penguins. We have been using the story for reading practice and speech.  Most of the activities we have been doing are math related.  We have been counting the penguins on our fingers and using the equations to help work on subtracting the penguins. 

 

For kids who don't know colours yet, these little penguins could be used to match alike colours or to match the colour to the matching word.  Likewise, the penguins could be numbered to work on numbers & number words.

Here is the website that I got the penguins & story from.  They have tons of free printables in a large range of themes & include a daily free printable.  Here is a link to their site:

Child Care Land Free Printables

Handwriting Without Tears

Just because I don't already have enough to do...........  LOL ! Actually, we are planning to scale back K's neurodevelopmental program a little for the summer.  If nothing else, I've at least decided not to feel guilty if we don't get it done some days & to take some extra days off to do a number of day trips with the kids to the science center, the zoo, an amusement park, & other local attractions.

I am also hoping to add in some things that K really enjoys.  We are borrowing the Handwriting Without Tears program from the school for the summer. It was recommended by both the school & K's OT. So far K just loves it & comes running when I put in the CD.  The CD contains lots of fun songs & K really enjoys doing the actions & trying to sing along.  There are chalk boards, a workbook,  play dough & all kinds of fun stuff. 

The handwriting Without Tears Program has a lot of research behind it & offers  training courses, a newsletter, & all kinds of extra help to get you started on their program.  Here is a link to their website if you would like more information:

http://www.hwtears.com/hwt

The new OT

Last week, was my daughter's first visit with her new OT.  K gets PT & OT at the same time, so the PT that she has seen since she was 3 weeks old was there also.  The OT was trying to get an idea on where K was with her fine motor skills, and the PT explained that K is doing very well - actually she had always been at age level or even a little ahead in fine motor skills.  The OT produced this puzzle as her first activity: 

K not only is very adept at this type of puzzle, but she kows all of these shapes & more.  She took the first puzzle piece & clumsily tried to stuff the star in to the square shape.  Slowly with a lot of help from the PT, she managed to finish the puzzle. The PT & I watched in amazement!

Next they stacked blocks. K placed the first block, then set the 2nd block precariously to one side of the first.  She continued this for several attempts, never managing to stack more than 3 blocks at a time.  Her delight in playing with the OT became more evident to the PT & myself as time went on! I think the OT was really beginning to doubt the PT and I when suddenly K decided to do a complete 180 and show off - what a little stinker!  She then stacked all of the blocks  perfectly before crashing them down - there were more than a dozen of them!

Next it was time to cut a piece of paper.  K's ND is not recommending any cutting activities for her at this time, so we have not been practising at all.  K picked up the scissors and was easily able to cut the paper in half. The OT then got out a piece of paper with a line on it and K cut straight down the line. Even I was suprised that she could cut like that with no practice!

There's never a dull moment!

Beading and Lacing - Finally We Hit the Jackpot!``

K's occupational therapist  has been suggesting that K try beading for a long time.  We try to follow her interests as much as possible and choose activities that she enjoys.  I believe kids learn better when they enjoy the activity.

This is the first set we bought.  We
thought the large beads would be easy for her to thread.  K hated them!

Next we tried these beads. She refused to use these ones for the purpose of beading too.

P

We even tried using pipe cleaners because the OT said it would be easier for her.  She hated that.

Next we tried sparkly pipe cleaners, and guess what?  She hated that too.

It wasn't a complete waste though.  She loves pouring beads from one cup to another, counting, sorting by color & many other games - just not beading!

We found these neat little containers at the local dollar store. 

  K would spend 1/2 hour at a time pushing beads through & sorting them - they are great for strengthening little hands!...............just not for beading!

Lacing cards were recommended too, but of course - she hated them!

Then, the other day, I found this set at a local rummage sale!  It was a 50 cent purchase!

She loves the sea animal pics!

She did the octopus with minimal help, & finished off the dolphin her sister started! It just goes to show what can happen when you follow your child's interests - and have a little luck on your side!

As a side note:  many of the early learning toys (everything on this page except the dollar store containers) we purchase come from 2nd hand stores or rummage sales.  I am very choosy about what I buy, but have gotten some great deals!  I couldn't afford 1/2 of this stuff otherwise! I do clean everything with natural cleaners before using them and they are as good as new!