Eye Dropper Tie Dye!

OT Activity of the Day:

Eye Dropper Tie Dye!

Target Age Range: 3 and up

Today we're bringing back the coffee filters!  Only instead of using markers and water, we're using food coloring.  This is a great activity for outside or in the kitchen to keep the potential mess to a minimum.  If you're outside, you can always use binder clips and clip the coffee filters to a piece of cardboard to help combat the wind.

This activity can be two fold.  You and your child can first use the eye droppers and water to create all the colors you would like to use.  I've only used yellow, red and blue, however you can mix it up!  Once you have all your colors, you can start dropping!

Again, eye droppers is a great way to promote fine motor control and early developmental grasp patterns.  This activity is perfect for your Preschoolers and Kindergarteners. Enjoy!

Rain Cloud

OT Activity of the Day:

Rain Cloud 

Target Age Range: 3 and up

Here's a fun way to add eye droppers into play!  Grab a glass cup or jar (I used a vase) and fill it with water.  Next take some shaving cream (I buy the cheapest stuff at Target) and squirt the shaving cream on top of the water.  And there you have yourself a rain cloud!  Now comes the fun part.  Take some food coloring, you can use any color, and mix it in with water.  For the final step, grab an eye dropper, fill it with the food coloring and drop the food coloring on top of the rain cloud.  After a few drops and some wait time (1-2 minutes) you'll start to see the food coloring below the cloud and in the water!

Eye droppers are great to help facilitate fine motor manipulation and control.  This activity is perfect for your Preschoolers and Kindergartners.  Enjoy! 

Letters and Eye Droppers

OT Activity of the Day:

Letters and Eye Droppers!

Target Age Range: 3 and up

Eye droppers are great ways to promote early developmental grasp patterns and fine motor manipulation.  In older kids it can be used to promote fine motor control.  All in all, eye droppers are a great fine motor tool to have in the house.

In today's activity we are using those eye droppers on coffee filters.  (It is recommended to use markers versus crayons so that the colors bleed and blend.)  On all three of these coffee filters there are different drawings.  On one I simply made a picture/pattern, an activity that is perfect for those 3-4 year olds.  On another, I wrote a letter, "M", which is a task that is perfect for those late 3 year olds and 4 year olds.  On the last one I wrote a phrase (and then proceeded to use too much water so it's hard to see), "Happy Monday", a task that is perfect for those 5 and 6 year olds.

Happy Monday and enjoy!

Finger Golf Driving Range!

OT Activity of the Day:

Finger Golf Driving Range

Target Age Range: 4 and up

We've definitely done finger golf before here at FUNdamentals, but today, we've made a driving range!  All you need is a cardboard box, some golf tees, and cotton balls or poms.  I've made a "green", however if you don't want to do that you don't have to.

To play, first you need to do is hammer, or push, the golf tees into the box.  Next grab the cotton balls or poms and place them on top of the tees.  Last, have your child use their fine motor manipulation and finger isolation to flick the "golf balls" as far as they can!

If you would like to make this more challenging you can always make several "greens" and assign a point value to each.  Have your child practice writing numbers as they keep their score!

Enjoy!

The Lorax Finger Puppet

OT Activity of the Day:

The Lorax finger puppet

Target Age Range: 4 and up

Tomorrow, March 2nd, is Dr. Seuss' birthday.  And what better to celebrate than by making a Lorax finger puppet.  (You can apply this same idea to just about any Dr. Seuss character)  During this activity your child will be focusing on scissor skills, hand strength through gluing and finger isolation to make the Lorax walk!

A few tips: 1) to help your child cut out the desired shape make sure to provide them a guideline! 2) if your child is too young to cut out a circle you can always have the character pre cut! 3) and lastly, feel free to decorate the Lorax however you and your child see fit.

Enjoy!

Thumbs Up!

OT Activity of the Day:

Thumbs up!

Target Age Range: 6 and up

This is my new favorite game!  This game is a great way to work on finger isolation, an important skill for foundational handwriting abilities.  Not only does this game focus on thumb isolation, but it provides several variations for using all fingers.  It's also a great game to focus on visual scanning and visual discrimination.

Enjoy!

Roll A Dough Letters with a Twist!

OT Activity of the Day:

Roll a Dough Letters with a Twist

Target Age Range: 3 and up

If you're familiar with the Handwriting Without Tears method, then you know all about Roll A Dough letters!  Here's a fun twist on the activity that promotes finger isolation, hand strength, bilateral coordination and fine motor manipulation:).

Instead of rolling out "lines" to make the letters, try building the letters with small play doh balls.  Once the letter card is filled with the play doh balls you and your child can then work on finger isolation to push the play doh down to fill in the letter.

Happy letter building and enjoy!

Geoboards and Binder clips!

OT Activity of the Day:

Geoboards and binder clips

Target Age Range: 3 and up

Here are two great ways to improve your child's hand strength.  The best part is that most of these can be found around the house!

Geoboard- all you need is a muffin tin and rubber bands.  Your child can then spend time stretching out the rubber bands to create a design over and over again:).

Binder clips- use construction paper to create animals (a great way to practice scissor skills) and use the binder clips as the legs or arms.

Both ways will improve your child's hand strength, a foundational skill for so much in life.  Enjoy!

A new way to hole punch!

OT Activity of the Day:

Hole Punch Play Doh

Target Age Range: 4 and up

This is a wonderful hand strengthening activity for kiddos of all ages.  Hand strength is so important.  Not only is it a foundational requirement for sustained writing, but hand strength makes every day activities (like buttoning, shoe tying, utensil use, etc...) easier.

To hole punch play doh, all you need is play doh and a hole puncher.  The trick is to roll out the play doh so it is super thin (a great way to practice bilateral coordination!).  Once the play doh is thin, start punching!

Feel free to use as many colors as your child wants!  Enjoy!

Presidential Writing

OT Activity of the Day:

Feather Writing

Target Age Range: 3 and up

If you're looking for a versatile President's Day activity, then you have come to the right place!  Today we're writing with "quills":).

All you need to do is grab a feather, some paint, paper and you're set!  This is a fun way to practice letter formation for your young child or to write sentences with your older child.  Either way, we've put the FUN in writing today!

Enjoy!

Spelling Game

OT Activity of the Day:

Spelling Game

Target Age Range: 5 and up

This activity is perfect for your Kindergartners, First Graders and beyond!  

For kiddos who struggle with sensory processing and maintaining regulation after a long day of school, this activity is the perfect addition to help with spelling homework.  Movement breaks are so beneficial as they're going to break up the sitting and provide movement that will help your child sustain attention.  So to build a movement break into spelling homework, I've written letters on all these pieces of paper and I've spread them around the room.  I then had binder clips and went around clipping the letters that spell the word "cat".  Fine motor work and movement all while spelling!

For variation, you could use painters tape to tape these letters high on the wall so your child has to jump and tap the letters that spell the word they've been given.

Happy spelling and enjoy! 

Valentine's Day Hearts

OT Activity of the Day:

Valentine's Day Hearts

Target Age Range: 3 and up 

Today we're going old school with our activity.  This activity only requires you to have some paper and markers/crayons.  What's great about this activity is that it targets your child's visual motor skills, scissor skills, fine motor manipulation and handwriting.

For those who are less familiar with this craft, we've got you covered!  First, fold the paper in half making sure the ends match up.  Next take a marker or crayon and draw half a heart on the fold side.  For the last step, simply cut on the line and unfold your heart!  Your child can decorate the heart with words, pictures, stickers, paint, etc...

A wonderful fine motor activity for just about any age. Enjoy!  

Musical Hearts

OT Activity of the Day:

Musical Hearts!

Target Age Range: 3 and up

Today's activity is the perfect gross motor movement activity for Valentine's Day.  You can play this game one of several ways:

1. Typical musical chairs.  Play music and have the kiddos stop when the music stops.

2. Roll some dice.  Have the children take turns rolling the dice to see how many hearts they have to travel.

3.  Spread the hearts out so they're not in a circle and challenge the kiddos to perform different gross motor movements as they move to a specified color.

All these options are great ways to provide movement to your sensory seeking child, improve your child's gross motor capabilities, and bilateral coordination. 

Happy almost Valentine's Day, enjoy!

Games that are perfect for your 8 year old and older!

OT Activity of the Day:

Game Week

Target Age Range: 8 and up

These games are the perfect way to engage your child in writing and more advanced fine motor and executive functioning work.  Wacky Words is the perfect way to challenge your child to practice writing and they won't even know it.  

The trick to OT, and working on skill sets that are difficult for kids, is to make it fun.  Creating a wacky story or drawing pictures is the perfect way to work on improving your child's pencil grip and handwriting skills on the sly. Hedbanz is a great way to work on problem solving and overall thought organization through laughter and enjoyment.

So grab a game and gather around the table! Enjoy!

Games for your 5-6 year old!

OT Activity of the Day:

Game Week

Target Age Range: 5-6 and up

These games are the perfect way to work on your child's sequencing, gross motor coordination, balance, visual scanning and fine motor manipulation.  All skills that your Kindergartener or First Grader need for success in the classroom.

As with the other age ranges, there are so many more games that are perfect for this age range, these are just a few that I frequently use.  And as with other games, they are easily adapted to add more movement, less movement, more fine motor work and less fine motor work, handwriting or no handwriting.  It's whatever you and your child feel like doing that day!

Enjoy!

Games for your 4-5 year old!

OT Activity of the Day:

Game Week

Target Age Range: 4 and up

Game week continues and today we're talking some of the best games for your 4-5 year old.  Pictured are some of my favorites!  We have Design and Drill, Angry Birds, and Pop the Pig:).  Of course there are other games that are great for this age range like Pizza Pile Up!

These games are great because they are targeting skills like visual motor skills, hand strength, upper limb stability, bilateral coordination and attention.  These are all skills that will help your child succeed in school!  My personal favorite is Angry Birds.  Not only are most kids motivated by this game but you can add movement/sensory input easily by placing the cards and blocks around the room and have your child gather the items before building the intended tower.

Enjoy!

Games that develop fine motor skills!

OT Activity of the Day:

Games that develop fine motor skills!

Target Age Range: 2 and up (this is even great for your 7-8 year olds!)

Play doh is so versatile and honestly great for any age range.  The best thing about play doh is that it really targets and develops your child's fine motor skills.  More specifically, your child's fine motor manipulation skills, hand strength and bilateral coordination.  All of these skill sets are necessary for success in the classroom, especially when it comes to writing.

In this picture, you'll see some of my play doh "go-tos".  For the older kids, we often talk about the steps to make things like a pizza or a pie and write them down first.  This focuses on sequencing and writing skills.  Or we might even "take an order" (again writing) before starting the pizza or the pie.  For the younger kids we see how many shapes we can make!

Enjoy!

Games for your 3 year old!

OT Activity of the Day:

Game Week!

Target Age Range: 3 and up

One of the biggest questions I'm often asked is: "What are some good game ideas for my child?"

Well, this week we are answering that question!

Pictured are some of my favorites for your 3 year old!  I should mention that "Sneaky, Snacky Squirrel" and play doh kits are also great for this age range.  For this age range we're looking to help develop your child's fine motor skills and sequencing abilities.  The fine motor skills targeted by these games include, but are not limited to: fine motor manipulation, upper limb stability, bilateral coordination, and hand strength.  All of these games also promote sequencing and turn taking.  Skills that are essential to your child's early development!

Enjoy!

Snowball Fight

OT Activity of the Day:

Snowball Fight

Target Age Range: 3 and up

This activity targets two separate skill sets: throwing (object manipulation) and fine motor manipulation.  And what better way to work on these skills than to have a "snowball" fight!

I understand not wanting to waste perfectly good paper, so please feel free to use magazines, old newspapers, and scrap paper!  The first step is making the "snowball".  Try having your child rip the piece of paper in half first, a great way to practice wrist/forearm rotation.  Next have you child ball up the paper.  For an added fine motor manipulation challenge, have them ball up the paper with just one hand!  Once you have all the "snowballs" you need, you're ready to go!

When your child is throwing, try having the focus be on overhand and underhand tossing.  With both tosses, demonstrate trunk rotation and using opposing leg and arm positions.  This is a fun way to work on your child's object manipulation skills while inside or outside!

Enjoy!

Cutting Challenge

OT Activity of the Day:

Cutting Challenge

Target Age Range: 4 and up

This activity is perfect practice for those kiddos between the ages of 4 and 5.  Between these ages your child's scissor skills should be becoming more refined and ready for a challenge!

I've drawn two lines, one thick and one thin.  If your child is more challenged in their scissor skills then a thick guideline is perfect, it allows for more error.  If your child is ready for a challenge then a thin guideline is just right for them.  In addition, for the younger kiddos, the challenge can be more simple with only 1-2 icicles.  For the older kiddos, challenge them with 4-5 icicles.

Enjoy!