Free Spring Worksheets!

Hi friends!  Here are some free spring-themed worksheets that are good for a child's visual motor and visual perceptual skills. Completing these worksheets is a fun and engaging way for a child to improve motor skills that are so important for everyday tasks. How?  Coloring promotes bilateral upper extremity skills, or the use of both hands together in a coordinated way.  For example, when the child stabilizes the paper with one hand while coloring, drawing, or writing with the other hand, she is utilizing bilateral skills, and bilateral coordination is necessary for tasks such as handwriting, cutting, buttoning, and zipping. 

I hope your child will enjoy these free spring-themed worksheets!

Color the Butterfly Worksheet

Spring Crossword Puzzle

 

Spring Tracing Worksheet

Free St. Patrick's Day Coloring Sheet

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I love shamrocks, so I wanted to share this free St. Patrick's Day coloring sheet with you. 

Any child can color the sheet using crayons or color pencils, and they can also work on their fine motor skills by decorating the shamrock using torn pieces of paper.  Tearing the paper into small bits is good for grasping and fine motors skills. Once the torn pieces are ready, instruct the child to use white school glue to squeeze a small glue dot on each piece of paper before pressing it onto the coloring sheet.  The glue can be messy which can be a great sensory experience!

What a beautiful shamrock!  Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!

Free Thanksgiving Coloring Pages!

Here are several free Thanksgiving coloring pages! Coloring is a wonderful way to improve a variety of different skills.  Fine motor skills and dexterity are required to hold and manipulate a crayon.  If the child doesn't use her thumb and fingers to hold the crayon, break the crayon into small pieces.  Coloring on a vertical surface using a small piece of crayon promotes a tripod grasp and finger flexion and extension, which are desirable!

Click on the following links for the free Thanksgiving coloring pages.

Turkey

Color the Turkey

Coloring Inside the Lines

Do you ever struggle with teaching a child how to stay within the lines when coloring? Coloring inside the lines can be a tough skill to teach, especially if the child has visual motor or perceptual challenges. One technique that I've found to be helpful is to provide a tactile "cue". Just take some clear Elmer's glue or a hot glue gun and outline the edges of the picture. This provides a nice tactile "ridge" that the crayon will "bump" against when the child is coloring.  I've found that it is also helpful to glue the coloring picture to a poster board to keep the child from ripping the paper while coloring.

 

I also like to teach the child how to color in small circular strokes rather than using large back and forth strokes, as this gives them more control. First I demonstrate how to do this, then I move them through the motions with "hand-over-hand" guidance, then I let them give it a try with verbal and gestural prompts. This takes a lot of practice, but they eventually get it!