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!!! 

 

Visual Perceptual Popsicle Stick Activity

Visual perceptual skills involve the brain organizing and making sense of visual information. Design copy activities like the one described below are a good way for a child to improve visual perceptual skills.

This DIY visual perceptual popsicle activity is easy to put together and carry out. All you need are several different colors of large popsicle sticks, Velcro dots, paper, and a copy machine. Place three of the Velcro hook dots each popsicle stick at each end as well as on the middle of the stick (as seen in the photo above) and three of the velcro loop dots on the other side of each stick. Arrange the popsicle sticks into different shapes or designs and make a photo copy of the designs. Now your child can have fun copying each design! 

 

Popsicle Stick Color Matching Activity

This popsicle stick color matching activity is an easy DIY activity! Here are the instructions.

Supplies Needed:
Popsicle sticks in a variety of colors
A small box
Construction paper that corresponds in color to each popsicle stick color
Scotch tape
Scissors
Craft knife

Cut the different colors construction paper into strips that will fit on the top of the box. Secure the construction paper strips in place using tape or glue. (See the photo above.) Using the craft knife, cut a slit that a popsicle stick with fit through through each different color of construction paper as well as the top of the box. 

Have fun matching!

 

Toddler Counting Activity

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This simple and fun toddler counting activity is a great way for your child to work on number recognition and practice counting. 

Supplies Needed:

• Scotch tape
• Double sided Scotch tape
• Construction paper of various colors
• Ribbons in various colors
• Magic marker
• Scissors

Simply cut out 5 diamond shapes to serve as the kites and cut enough ribbons for the tail pieces. Tape one long tail onto each kite. Use the marker to write the numbers 1 to 5 on each kite. Secure a piece of double-sided Scotch tape to each tail. Each piece should be long enough to hold the "cross-tail" pieces for each number. If your child needs prompts for counting, use the marker to place the correct number of dots on each tail. (See the photo below.) Have fun counting!!!

 

Simple Color Sorting and Matching Activity

 

Supplies Needed:

 

Small plastic cups or bowls in different colors

A spoon

Pom-poms in a variety of colors

This fun sorting activity is a great way for your child to work on color recognition, color matching, and naming colors. It’s also good for fine motor skills, such as grasp and release, crossing midline, and scooping with a spoon. Simply put the pom poms in a container and place the smaller cups next to the container. Your child can begin by transferring the pom-poms from the container to the small cups while naming each color and matching the pom-poms to the corresponding-colored cup. Once your child has mastered this, introduce the spoon and demonstrate how to scoop a pom-pom and place it into the matching-colored cup.

 

Under the Sea Fine Motor Activity!

This is an awesome activity because it’s simple, inexpensive and fun for any toddler or young child. It is a great way for a child to work on the following skills: fine motor, finger isolation, pincer grasp, and visual-motor skills. It is also a good way to address following directions, paying attention, and naming colors. 

Materials Needed:

• colorful construction or card stock paper
• a marker or pen
• scissors
• colored dot stickers

Simply draw and cut out your child’s favorite sea creature, draw dots that are the same size at the stickers, and it’s time to peel and place the dots! Tip: You can challenge your child and work on color identification by instructing them to find and place a certain color dot!

 

 

DIY Binoculars for “I Spy” Game

   

I Spy is a fun game that kids love, and it’s great for a variety of skills, such as scanning, figure ground discrimination, visual attention, visual memory, and more. These binoculars are easy to make!

All you need are two toilet paper rolls, some construction paper, string or ribbon, and glue or tape. 

Have the child decorate the toilet paper rolls with construction paper. They can secure the paper to the rolls using a glue stick or tape. Use some tape to connect the toilet paper rolls and tape each end of the string onto the outside of each roll (as seen in the photo) and that’s it! Your child can then use the binoculars to look for different items. Mix it up by telling them to look for items of different color or different shapes. Or you can have them look for a specific item that you name. Just be sure to make it fun and engaging, and your child will have a blast!