Tag Archives: fine motor

child playing with blue sticky object

Keeping Skills Sharp All Summer Long: Summer 2022 Edition!

Allyson Locke M.S., OTR/L & Sarah Glovasky M.S., OTR/L

Summer is fast approaching but that doesn’t mean kids need to lose the skills they developed over the last academic year! Last year, we posted a blog filled with summer activity ideas geared toward preventing the “summer slide”.  As therapists, we know summer activities provide numerous opportunities to develop and build skills that will be needed for the upcoming school year in fun and non threatening ways.  So we are bringing back the topic with this new post.  New this year are more activity ideas and contributions from Sarah Glovasky M.S., OTR/L! As always appropriate supervision is recommended!

Get Messy!

Messy play is a great way to develop the sensory skills needed for important school tasks like handwriting and social interactions.  Summer is the best time for these messy activities because they can be done outside leaving the mess outdoors. An added bonus is that it is usually warm enough for a quick wash with the hose before going back inside.  A few ideas to try:

  • Hide objects (like rocks, sticks, or mini animals)  in a pile of mud, shaving cream, or leaves. How fast can you find them? How many can you find in 10 seconds? Not only is this a great sensory activity it helps strengthen the visual perceptual skills needed for academic tasks like reading! 
  • Stomp in rain puddles, roll down a grassy hill, or skip through a soft patch of dirt. These big body movements help develop the vestibular and proprioceptive systems which are so important for self regulation! 

When it is too hot or too rainy to go outside there are still plenty of opportunities for sensory exploration that are a bit less messy! 

  • Make a sensory collage with items found in the recycling bin or use the Sensory Collage Kit! How many different textures can you incorporate? What textures do you like to feel? As a bonus, ripping, crumpling and rolling paper, tissue, and cardboard are all great ways to strengthen the muscle of the hand.  For more ways to use recycled materials check out Second Hand Therapies
plastic container scooping water and dumping it into a yellow bin filled with water
Jug Scoop
From: Second Hand Therapies: Recyclable Strategies & Useful Tools

Make Art!

Art projects afford great opportunities to develop the small muscles in the hand.  This muscle development is critical for academic tasks like writing with a pencil and cutting with scissors. Get creative with your art projects, try:

blue turtle made of playdough with a green shell and colorful dots
  • 3D Art.  Three dimensional art helps kids build form and space concepts.  Building a fairy castle outside is a great way to learn about size concepts.  Inside, building with blocks, clay or even pillow cushions is a great way to explore how these concepts work.  To add a sensory component try using scented dough
  • Tie-Dye Prints: This is a great outdoor activity! First color an old bed sheet or large piece of paper with washable markers. Next use a spray bottle, filled with water, to squirt the drawing. Watch the colors mix and swirl together! Using a spray bottle not only helps build the muscles in the hands it is also great for bilateral coordination! For a smaller scale version, use an eyedropper to wet the paper! 
  • Draw pictures in the dirt or other mediums like pudding (great for kids who like to explore with their mouth!) Use a stick, rocks, or fingers to draw with! We still love the Ed Emberly drawing books when you need drawing inspiration, stencils are another helpful tool! Drawing is so important for early writers and is great for visual perceptual development!

Play With Bubbles!

Many skills can be targeted with simple bubble activities. Eye hand coordination and oral motor development are just a few!  Blowing bubbles is also great for attention and regulation; to learn more about this check out the book M.O.R.E.: Integrating The Mouth With Sensory And Postural Functions. For fun with bubbles, try:

  • Making Bubble Art!  Make bubble paint by putting a small amount of bubbles and a dab or two of food coloring in a bowl (use different bowls for different colors). Use a bubble wand and dip it into your favorite color. Blow the colored bubbles right at plain paper and watch the designs come alive! 
  • Play Catch! Chasing after, stomping on, and catching bubbles are great ways to get some extra energy out. It is also a great way to develop eye-hand coordination and the visual skills needed to complete academic tasks like copying from the board.  To make bubbles easier to catch try using Touchbubbles
  • Make A Mountain of Bubbles! For a fun indoor activity, fill a small dish bin or other similar size, shallow bucket with lots of dish soap and a few inches of water.  Use a straw to slowly blow into the water to make a mountain of bubbles.  To really work the muscles in the mouth try a long straw or one with lots of twists like the Krazy Drinking Straws or Connector Straws

With these fun activity ideas the learning doesn’t have to stop when school is out. Keep skills sharp and be ready for the upcoming school year! 

Raised Line Paper… What Is It?

Sarah Glovasky M.S. OTR/L

Sometimes called tactile paper, Raised Line Paper is used to help individuals stay between the lines when writing. The raised line paper has raised top and bottom lines to provide tactile, proprioceptive and visual feedback to the writer. There are a variety of types of paper to choose from!

Raised Line Learning Sheets

Do you have a beginner writer? The raised line learning sheets are a good place to start from! There are letters, numbers, alphabet coloring sheets and mazes! The tactile input helps the new learners understand where to keep their pencil and crayon marks! 

Raised Line Writing Paper

There are so many options to help more advanced writers be as successful as they can. There are different sized lines (narrow and wide) depending on the level of the writer. If you need more of a visual cue there is the option to have red and blue lines on your paper. Double the input for a higher accuracy when writing. If spacing or sizing is a problem there is boxed raised line paper to provide a space for every letter to fit in. Pro tip: If all this sounds great but you are not sure what will work best the assortment pack is very helpful!

Staged Raised Line Paper

There is a product line that is able to take a writer from beginning stages right through advanced writing. This is a six stage series of handwriting papers that begins with clearly defined writing spaces and perceptual cues that fade in successive stages as the student gains mastery. The thick, colorful dark blue baselines are raised, providing not only visual cues, but also tactile cues.  Pro Tip: Students advance at their own pace so having all the stages on hand is very helpful!

Stage One: For beginning writers. Clearly defined writing spaces.

Stage Two: Writing spaces are less defined as shading is partially removed.

Stage Three: Shading has been completely removed and replaced with a borderline.

Stage Four: Writing spaces are less structured; fewer distractions than typical notebook paper.

Stage Five: The most popular Stage Write paper! Spacing between blue baseline and gray guideline reduced to 1/4″.

Stage Six: Comparable to standard notebook paper. Still incorporates raised dark blue baseline and clearly defined margins.

Another great aspect of all this paper is it can be used with a variety of reading/writing/handwriting programs! Give your writers the tools they need to be successful independent writers.

Dyspraxia: Tips for Treating and Teaching Children with Coordination Challenges

Guest post by Barbara A. Smith.

Dyspraxia is one type of sensory processing disorder (SPD) that makes it difficult for children to plan and perform motor tasks such as stringing beads or riding a bicycle. Children with dyspraxia may

  • Appear clumsy
  • easily break things because they use too much force or
  • struggle to fit their arms into sleeves or sequence steps to shoe tying

Children with SPD often have more than one of the 6 subtypes that impact how their brains interpret and respond to what they see, hear, feel, smell, taste and how they move. They may seem extra active or lethargic, super sensitive or oblivious, have difficulty controlling their body while using their hands or can’t discriminate what part of their body was touched or is in pain.  Let’s take a look at a few strategies that may help children with dyspraxia and other types of SPD as well as children who are typically developing.

Simplify for Success

Nobody likes failure; especially young children who have poor coordination to stack rings, string beads or lace boards.  Consider purchasing, making or adapting these types of activities to make success easy and frequent. Try using

  • an extra large tube as a ring stack and rings to stack. The one shown in the photo is made by wedging a swimming noodle into a juice container and has a motorized pen inserted on top to make it vibrate.  Vibration helps children to focus on what their hands are doing.
  • thick cord and shower curtain rings for stringing instead of offering string and beads. Many toddlers will find this an easier introduction to stringing.
  • lacing boards with a few extra big  holes and thick cord. I attached the photo of a horse to this lacing board that I used with clients during Hippotherapy (therapy using a horse as a therapeutic tool).

Practice Makes Perfect

Design activities to require repetition. When a child closes a jacket there is usually only one zipper to connect or a few buttons. Many children benefit from the repetition of closing several button squares. As I describe in my book From Rattles to Writing: A Parent’s Guide to Hand Skills, these are made by sewing a large button or round plastic piece (see photo) to fabric. Then cut a slit into another piece.  As your child develops skill, offer button squares with smaller buttons.

Button Squares

ZippersMany children are able to close a zipper once the slider is connected.  But connecting the slider onto the zipper is very tricky. In the photograph you see me wearing an old jacket and attaching several zipper sliders.  The sliders are sold in zipper repair kits or you can remove nice big ones from broken backpacks and suitcases. I have taught adults with developmental disabilities to zip their own jackets after practicing connecting and pulling up several slider every day.

Let’s Take Apart

Button BoardOpening buttons, screw caps, zippers and knots seems to be a lot easier than closing them.  One of the strategies I describe in my book From Flapping to Function: A Parent’s Guide to Autism and Hand Skills is to teach children to “ take- apart” before teaching them to “put-together”. In this way they will become familiar and successful with the materials before learning the more challenging motor skills of tying, buttoning, snapping, screwing lids etc. It is much easier to remove the fabric pieces from the “buttoning board” shown below and children will have many opportunities to practice. This board was made by drilling holes into a book stand and tying the “buttons” onto cord that is knotted through the holes.

Manipulation BoxIn my book The Recycling Occupational Therapist I describe how to make activities that are perfect for opening and taking apart. The Manipulation Box shown in the photograph has screw covers, Velcro strips, pull lids, and magnets attached to a cookie sheet so that children can remove a variety of objects to drop inside.

Keeping It Fun

Yes, practice is important but we need variation and to add sensory stimulation to keep it fun. That’s why I love

  • form boards and ring stacks that make music
  • adding a motorized pen inside containers to make insertion tasks vibrate
  • using materials such as Velcro and elastic cord that feel good to pull
  • toy animals with clothing fasteners to manipulate
  • using pretend play toys such as “Feed the Bunny”

Bunny Insertion TaskI covered an oatmeal container with fur, attached a face to the lid and photocopied some food items. Now “Feed the Bunny” is more than a plain old shape sorter. This great for working on choice making (i.e. shall we feed bunny a carrot or tomato?), identifying pictures, counting and of course promoting a healthy diet.  I hope that you have fun implementing some of these strategies!

Here are some great Therapro products I recommend that you might use in addition to the activities I’ve discussed:

Squiggle Wiggle Writer Pen
Squiggle Wiggle Writer Pen

Sound Puzzles
Sound Puzzles

Giant Plastic Nuts and Bolts
Giant Plastic Nuts and Bolts

Learn to Dress Monkey
Learn to Dress Monkey

Barbara A. Smith has worked with children and adults with developmental disabilities for over 40 years! She is the author of the Recycling Occupational Therapist, From Rattles to Writing: A Parent’s Guide to Hand Skills and From Flapping to Function: A Parent’s Guide to Autism and Hand Skills. Learn more about her work at RecyclingOT.com.