4th of July Craft

This is a cute 4th of July craft for kids that is easy to create and fun to play with. Making it is also a good way for a child to work on their fine motor skills. 

Materials Needed:

• Card stock paper in a variety of colors
• An empty clean ice cream "Push-up" 
• Red, white, and blue curling ribbon
• Scotch tape 

Directions:

Cut a piece of card stock paper to the size of the "Push-up" cylinder/container, cover it, and tape it in place. Decorate the card stock cylinder with stripes, dots, or decorations of your choosing. Cut a handful of ribbons to 5-inches in length and curl the ends. Tape the ribbon onto the "pusher" component of the "Push-up" container. Remove the original "Push-up" cylinder. Insert the "pusher" component into the card stock cylinder. Push-up to launch the firework!!! 

 

Fun Holiday Craft for Kids!

This is a fun holiday craft for kids that is totally cute!  When a child is making this spool holiday wreath, she is working on all kinds of skills, including fine motor skills, bilateral skills, cutting, gluing, and eye hand coordination. This wreath will make a nice gift for Grandma or any other special person!

Follow these simple instructions to make this holiday craft!

Supplies Needed:
Fabric scraps
Empty spools (thread)
Ribbon
Glue
Sturdy craft wire (you can also use pipe cleaners, but they will need to be doubled and twisted so that they'll hold the circular shape of the wreath)

1. Cut the strips of fabric to fit the inside of the spools.

2. Wrap the fabric strips around the spools and glue them in place.

3. Thread the wire through the center holes in the spools and form the wire into a circular shape, and twist the ends of the wire together and tuck them into a spool. 

4. Tie a bow around the bottom or top of the wreath and use a thin strip of ribbon as a "hanger." 
- Hang the wreath on your tree or anywhere in the house as a festive decoration!

Fall Crafts for Children: Thanksgiving Turkey Craft

Creative fall crafts for children can be hard to find.  My special friends at Schilling Farms Middle School shared this awesome Thanksgiving turkey craft with me, and I'm thrilled to pass it on to my readers! I especially like it because it includes tasks like painting and tearing paper, which are good for fine motor skills!

Supplies Needed:
 Small plastic milk bottle
 Coffee Filter
 Liquid Water Color Paint
 Paintbrush
 Brown Paper Bag
 Elmer's Glue
 Construction paper

Mix 4 parts glue to one part water in a small bowl to make paper mache. Tear the brown paper bag into small strips. Dip each strip covering it completely with glue mixture, then stick each strip to the milk container until it is completely covered.  Allow it to dry completely. Cut a vertical slit on one side.

Paint the coffee filter using various paint colors. Once the filter dries, fold it and insert one edge into the slit in the milk bottle. Cut out the face parts (see photo) and glue them in place. :)

Continue to browse my blog for more craft activities for kids!

Fall Crafts for Children: Holiday Turkey

Fall crafts for children are a great way to spend quality time with your kids.  This is a simple little Thanksgiving turkey craft that children enjoy making, and it's even good for their fine motor skills!  Here are the supplies you'll need:

1 small Styrofoam cup
1 wine cork
Brown paper bag
Scotch tape
Toothpicks
6 or 7 feathers of different colors

Have the child cut one strip of paper bag to wrap around the cup and one strip to wrap around the cork. An adult can draw lines on the paper so it's the correct size if the child needs to practice cutting on the lines. Once the strips are cut to the correct size, show the child how to wrap each strip around the cup and secure it in place with a piece of tape, and do the same with the cork.

Secure the tip of each feather to a toothpick using a short strip of clear tape. An adult may need to complete this part of the task, as it can be quite difficult.

Have the child draw eyes, beak, and turkey "beard" on the cork.  Use two toothpicks to secure the cork in place. Now have the child poke the feathered toothpicks in the top of the cup. To increase the motor skill challenge, use a
black Sharpie and make dots were you want the
feathers to go. This will really challenge those visual motor skills. What a cute Thanksgiving turkey!

Browse my blog for more craft activities for kids!

Handmade Holiday Ornaments

Are you ready to have some messy holiday fun? 

These handmade holiday ornaments are so cute and simple to make!

Thanks to my friends at Sew Memphis for sharing this awesome idea! All you need to get started are a couple of plastic Christmas ball ornaments, Mod Podge, scissors, and some colorful fabric scraps.

 

Cut the fabric scraps into small pieces. They should not be any larger than 1/2-inch by 1/2-inch. Pour the Mod Podge into a paper or plastic bowl. For a great sensory experience, dip a fabric scrap into the Mod Podge then smooth it onto the egg using your fingers. If you want your students to work on grasping, you can use a small sponge paint brush to "paint" the Mod Podge on to fabric scraps. Both sides of the fabric should be covered with the Mod Podge.

Keep adding fabric scraps until the ornament is completely covered. Tie on a colorful piece of yarn or ribbon in a loop and and hang it up to dry. Your handmade holiday ornament is ready for the tree!

 Aren't they awesome? 

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Fun Christmas Tree Craft!

It's holiday time and one of my favorite classes at Shilling Farms Middle School is working on a fun Christmas craft and I'm excited to share it with you. This is a great therapeutic activity because it involves folding paper!

Materials needed:
Old magazines
Silver and Green Spray Paint (for adult use only)
Elmer's Glue
Glitter
Painting sponge brush
Pom Pom

Begin by folding each page of the magazine as it's being done in the video. Be sure to bring the first fold as close to the spine of the magazine as possible.

The folding is very time consuming, so it's a good idea to have your students take turns folding. An adult can provide assistance as needed. Once the folding is complete, the tree will look like this:

At this point, an adult should take the "tree" to an outdoor (well-ventilated) area and spray paint the exterior. Once the paint dries, have the students "paint" the trees with a mix of 2 parts Elmer's glue to to 1 part water. See video:

Before the glue dries, the student should sprinkle the wet glue with glitter. Final step: Glue a pom-pom or some other decoration to the top of the tree and wait for the glue to dry. What a nice holiday decoration!

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Easter Craft for Kids

I'm a little late posting this, but I've been really busy and I'm just now getting a chance! This Easter egg craft was very messy but tons of fun. My students who have lots of difficulty with fine motor skills needed quite a bit of assistance with this task, but fortunately, we had peer tutors in the classroom that were eager to help. All you need to get started are a bag of plastic Easter eggs, Elmer's glue, scissors, and some colorful fabric scraps.

Cut the fabric scraps into tiny pieces. They should not be any larger than 1/4-inch by 1/4-inch...the smaller, the better.  Pour the glue into a paper or plastic bowl. Dip a fabric scrap into the glue then smooth it onto the egg.

Keep adding fabric scraps until the egg is completely covered. You may want to take a break half way through and let the egg dry. This will keep it from being so difficult to handle (the egg gets really sticky). The end result...LOVELY Easter Eggs!

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OT Fine Motor Valentine Game

One of the wonderful teachers that I work with had her students play this Valentine's game in class today. It was so awesome, I asked her if I could share it with you. Thank goodness, she said yes!
What you will need:
Dice
Pink or Red Construction Paper
Googly Eyes
Pipe Cleaners
Small Pom Poms
Stickers or something to use for a mouth

-Begin by writing the directions of the board. Every student gets a turn rolling the die, and as they roll a number they get the "body part" that corresponds with the number on the die. When someone rolled a 6, they got a candy "Peep". If you roll a number twice, you miss your turn. :(

The number one corresponds with the heart, which is the body of the Valentine bug that we were making. So each student had to wait to roll a one before they could start putting their bug together. Great for addressing patience! The student in the video below had just rolled a one, and she's using her adaptive scissors to cut out the heart (which is the body of the bug!)

After that, she added a body part each time that she rolled the die that corresponded with the body part that she needed. She peeled a sticker for the mouth, glued on the googly eyes, taped on the antennae, then glued on the pom pom for the nose. The first student to finish their Valentine bug wins the game. How fun!

As the teacher pointed out, this is a great teaching activity because when using the die, the kids are working on counting. They also work on cutting, gluing, and fine motor skills when cutting out the heart and adding the nose, antennae, and eyes. Finally, each student has to practice turn taking while waiting for classmates to have a turn. Happy Valentines Day!

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OT Fine Motor Valentine Activity

Here is a great little fine motor activity that my friend Lori showed me for Valentine's Day. All that you will need for this craft is red, pink, and white construction paper, scissors, Wikki Stix- or something else to use as eyes, and glue. Start out by cutting out a small heart and have the child trace around it. This is great for bilateral skills!

 Then have the child cut out the heart. Be sure that the student holds the scissors correctly and keeps both "thumbs up" while cutting. I often remind them to take "baby snips" (short snips) which gives them more control of curves and corners. You may need to demonstrate a "baby snip" so the student understands what you mean. You can even do this "hand-over-hand" so they can feel how small the snip is. You will need six small pink hearts and one red heart of the same size.

 Now it's time to have the student place glue dots on the tips of each heart, then glue the hearts together to make a body for their Valentine caterpillar! I often use a pencil and make a small circle where the glue dot should be. Tell the child to cover the circle using only a small squeeze. That way they will be able to see if they use too much glue. (Also, I like clear glue for this reason.)  Have the student glue the head on the caterpillar- this is the red heart turned in the opposite direction. See photo below.

Now it's time to make the eyes. I like to use small pieces of wikki stix and have the student roll them into small balls or spirals...a challenging fine motor skill! You could also use beads, googly eyes, or just a magic maker to make the eyes.

Once the eyes are ready, glue them in place. Then you can make
the tentacles using small strips of white paper. Have the child fold the paper "like a fan", then glue the tentacles in place. Now have the child use a marker or to draw a mouth.

What a cute Valentine Caterpillar!

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Valentines for Veterans

A special education education class at one of the schools where I work came up with a wonderful project idea that I'd like to share with you. It's called "Valentines for Veterans!" The students are making these very special Valentines card for local veterans. Aren't they awesome? Of course, the OT in me loves all of the skills that were addressed as the students were working on the project. First of all, they worked on bilateral skills and hand strengthening when punching the stars in the blue construction paper.

They practiced cutting skills when cutting out the hearts as well as the stripes, and they worked on gluing skills, as you can see in the photo below. We practiced making glue "stripes" and glue "dots", as well as lining up the construction paper stripes on the glue line. (Great for visual-motor and perceptual skills!)

Aligning the stripes and using both hands together was somewhat challenging for some of the students, but everyone did a great job! The teacher and paraprofessionals in this class are always coming up with great project ideas like this. I'm so happy to have the opportunity to work with them!

Don't you think this Valentine is going to make a veteran somewhere very happy? :)

                                                                     I do!


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