I found an amazing resource for Writing Wednesday that I wanted to share with you! Printing Like a Pro! has complete packets of lower and uppercase letters for your children to practice. It has a great parent handout on how to support your child with handwriting practice and it has a home practice chart as well. I was really excited to find all the worksheet options for your children. Please check it out and if you need assistance with printed copies, please let me know. There are also several more packets to print out that are not listed below. This is a great resource by Sunny Hill Health Centre for Children Therapy Department. This link will take you directly to the Home Resources page: http://www.childdevelopment.ca/SchoolAgeTherapy/SchoolAgeTherapyHomeResources.aspx This link will take you directly to the Worksheets page: http://www.childdevelopment.ca/SchoolAgeTherapy/SchoolAgeTherapyPLaPWorksheets.aspx
This week I want to introduce you to Q-tips as a tool I frequently use in OT. Using a Q-tip to paint provides a different sensory approach to promote fine motor skills, grasp development, etc. I use a multi-sensory approach when teaching pre-writing and writing foundations, so it is important to use different mediums to teach those skills. Using a Q-tip as the “paintbrush” or the “writing tool” is another way to bring in another sensory option. It’s different for the students compared to using a marker, crayon, etc. and most kids love to paint! In addition to painting a picture, your child can write letters, numbers, words, etc. There are several websites that I found with Q-tip painting templates and here is one for your convenience. https://www.clipart.email/clipart/q-tip-coloring-pages-354540.html However, you don’t need a template if you don’t have a printer. Draw shapes or write letters, numbers, words on paper, cardboard, etc., and have your child trace them using the Q-tip. Your child can make their own pictures, etc. Get creative and have fun! There is no right or wrong way to get creative with your children!
I found this calendar and I wanted to share it with you for Movement Monday. I know it’s a calendar for May and we are already 11 days in, but it’s not date specific. It has one movement activity per day that you can start today and it will take you well into June! The most important thing is that the calendar gives you a lot of ideas to get your child moving!
Here is the 4th edition of OT Friday Fun Fine Motor Newsletter. This newsletter has some great activities to help increase finger strength, object manipulation, pinch skills, etc. It includes the use of some of the tools we have used for more fun activities. It gives suggestions for alternative activities if you don’t have printer as listed here:
• Have the student move items into a cup by pinching them with tweezers or clothespins. • On the apple and pencil worksheets, have the student point to the correct answer. (I displayed those pages below for easier access.) • Have the student open and close a clothespin by pinching it 10 times using their index finger, middle finger, and thumb. This promotes their fine motor skills, too!
The newsletter also has ways to incorporate handwriting in the activity:
• Have the student write their name on the back of each card. • Write about what the student would do if they found the end of a rainbow. • Copy sentences or words about the different colors of apples or pencils shown on the cards. • Write about what the student would do if they blew a giant bubble with bubble gum.
I want to continue celebrating moms with Thinking Thursday! I found a crossword puzzle and a word search with a Mother’s Day theme. The worksheets and the answer keys are on the download files. If you don’t have a printer, your child can still solve the crossword puzzle with paper and pencil. Your child can also look for words in the word search by pointing them out on the computer screen.
With Mother’s Day coming up on Sunday, May 10th, I thought it would be nice to have Writing Wednesday highlight all the moms out there. I found a few writing activities that I wanted to share. There is an interview component with one of the activities. The child interviews their mom, writes down the answers, and then completes the page, “I Love My Mom Because”.
For this week’s Tools Tuesday I want to talk about chalk. As an occupational therapist, I love chalk! I know it can be messy, but there are huge benefits to using a chalkboard and chalk vs. using a whiteboard and dry-erase markers. Using chalk provides a different proprioceptive (body awareness) input because of the pressure required. The greater the input is, the easier it is for the student to learn how to grade the pressure. A chalkboard is better than a whiteboard because it takes more effort to write, thus increasing the child’s muscle tone and strength. When using a smooth, slippery marker and whiteboard, the student does not get the feedback needed. Using a chalkboard, have your child write letters, numbers and/or words or draw pictures with chalk. Have him/her erase them with small pieces of paper towel or a damp sponge.
Aside from using chalk with a chalkboard, I love to get creative with sidewalk chalk. You can use regular size chalk, jumbo size, or small pieces. It’s a very fun way to build fine motor skills. Not only does it help to increase strength in the hands, but getting into different positions help engage the core (trunk) muscles. By drawing really big, your student has to reach out and support their body with their non-dominant hand, providing more proprioceptive input to their upper extremity. Using smaller pieces of chalk helps to promote the grasp needed for using a pencil. Below are just a few ideas to explore with using sidewalk chalk.
Draw shapes and color them in
Play games: Tick-Tack-Toe, hangman, hopscotch, etc.
Write numbers/letters/words
Upper & Lowercase Letter Match-up
Draw pictures and color them in
Shadow Art: trace the shadow of a person or a favorite toy (i.e., dinosaurs, cars, etc.)
Movement pathways/obstacle course
Math problems
Below are some pictures of my 7 year-old nephew, Ethan, and the awesome sidewalk art he created during our stay-at-home order. Ethan, great job! I am so proud of you! I can’t wait to see more of your artwork!
I hope you had a great weekend and enjoyed the beautiful weather! It was so nice to get outside and spend time on my deck. I love to read a good book, listen to nature and enjoy the sunshine all at the same time!
We are back to Movement Monday! A fellow OT, Tricia McClain, shared this motor path in a national OT/PT Facebook group I belong to. I love motor pathways as they are a great way to increase motor planning, coordination, balance, body awareness, strength, and sensory regulation. This path has a lot of stations but it doesn’t have to be this long. These are just ideas! You can make as many stations as you and your child would like. Get creative and have fun!
Here is the 3rd edition of OT Friday Fun Fine Motor Newsletter. This week we have recipes to make homemade putty and play-dough. My own kids and my students always loved to make homemade dough. Give it a try! It’s a great way to bond with your child in the kitchen and have some fun. The newsletter also has some great activity sheets you can print off for play-dough activities and exercises for finger/hand strengthening.
