Holiday Box Craft

This time of year we love incorporating holiday themed activities into fine motor work. See below for this fun popsicle stick box craft where you can choose to make either a Christmas tree or Hanukkah Menorah! Pushing the popsicle sticks into the corresponding slots is a great way for kids to work on fine motor strength and precision.

Materials Needed:

• Recycled Box (big enough for a sheet of computer paper)

• Knife

• FREE Holiday Box Craft Printable

• Clear Packing Tape

• Popsicle Sticks

• Hot Glue

• Pom-Poms

Step 1: Tape your box closed using clear packing tape. We added yellow painters tape around sides for extra color, but this step is optional.

Step 2: Tape FREE Holiday Box Printable sheet of choice to the top of the box covering with clear painters tape.

Step 3: Using hot glue, glue a pom-pom to the top of each popsicle stick. To help with this we used the knife to make a small cut in the bottom of the pom-pom (but be careful not to cut too deep or the pom-pom will unravel).

Step 4: Using knife cut small slit into picture and through the box in desired area (either on top of ornaments or where the candle flame will be).

Step 5: Have fun!! Work on putting popsicle sticks into slots to complete the picture. Such a fun way to challenge fine motor strength.

Tactile Pipe Cleaner ABC trace

We love practicing handwriting and letter recognition skills with our kiddos during therapy. We also love a hands-on and sensory approach when it comes to learning, so these tactile tracing letters are perfect! Kids can practice tracing along the letters while receiving sensory feedback from the pipe cleaners. This extra input can help with learning, and the tracing is a great prep for writing skills.

Supples needed:

• Cardboard

• Scissors

• Pipe Cleaners

• Hot Glue

• Marker

Step 1: Cut cardboard into rectangles (the number you cut depends on the number of letter cards you are going to make). We recommend starting with the letters in your child’s name and then building from there.

Step 2: Using your marker, draw an uppercase and lowercase letter onto cardboard

Step 3: Place pipe cleaners over drawn letters and cut down to the size needed.

Step 4: Cut pipe cleaners and glue down on top of your drawn letters.

Step 5: Using our ABC Tracing Packet as a guide, add numbers and arrows so your child can practice tracing using correct letter formation.

Step 6: Have Fun!! Let your child explore the letters and get sensory/tactile feedback to help with learning. Practice saying the sounds along with each letter, or coming up with words that start with that letter.

Sensory Bottle Craft

We love sensory bottles!! They are so much fun, and can be a great tool TO target a variety of developmental goals. Here are some play ideas to use with your homemade sensory bottle:

1. Practice Turn Taking: Sensory bottles are so fun to shake and look at up close. Use this as encouragement to help with turn taking between siblings, friends, or with parents/caregivers. We recommend using a timer at the beginning to make turn taking easier.

2. Language Skills: Try using the sensory bottle to encourage language development. For younger kids this can be as simple as signing or verbalizing “more.” For older children sensory bottles are great tools to talk about what they see (color words, fast/slow, pretty, shinny).

3. Science Skills: Making a sensory bottle can be a great early science experiment. When deciding what to put inside the bottle, have fun guessing which object will fall slowest and fastest. What a great opportunity to discuss weight and density! Get creative and put different items from around the house inside your bottle. You can also adjust the ratio of gel in the water to experiment with density, and how that effects the speed of the objects falling. Kids love learning through hands-on experiments!

4. Math Skills: Create a counting sensory bottle with a different number of colored objects. Then practice counting how many of each color they see, or practice adding the colors together.

5. Sensory/Motor Exploration: Practice shaking, rolling, and tipping the bottle in different directions to see the results. Kids can crawl after the bottle as is rolls across the floor, or try jumping while holding the bottle to see how that mixes the bottle up. What does it look like from upside down?! Get creative and add some movement to the fun

6. Self-Regulation Skills: Sensory bottles can be a great addition to a calm down corner or space. They give kids something to focus on while decompressing. We like to encourage taking deep breaths and focusing on the bottle until the glitter settles. They can flip it over again if they need extra time to calm.

7. Visual Scanning: Play a game of “I Spy” with your sensory bottle by adding a variety of small objects to the bottle. Then as they fall try to find the right object.

8. Sensory Exploration: Sensory bottles are such a fun no-mess way to stimulate the sensory system. To add an extra element of fun, try shining a flashlight up through the bottom of the bottle to create a disc-ball effect on the walls!

How to make your own sensory bottle at home:

Materials Needed: empty water bottle (we prefer VOSS brand), clear hair gel, glitter, object to let fall (small legos, plastic toy, beans, dry pasta), and super glue

Step 1: Fill empty bottle with glitter and falling objects. We filled the bottom of our bottle with 1 inch of glitter.

Step 2: Fill separate measuring cup with warm water, and add hair gel. We like to use 1 part hair gel to 8 parts water, but this ratio can change if you want objects to fall slower or faster. The more gel, the slower the objects will fall.

Step 3: Gently stir hair gel to mix with warm water until it dissolves. Then let the water cool to room temperature.

Step 4: Pour the water/gel mixture ALL THE WAY TO THE TOP of the bottle. You want as little air as possible in the bottle to keep glitter from getting stuck at the top.

Step 5: Test it out! If you are happy with the results superglue the lid on to prevent any spills.

Step 6: HAVE FUN!!

Binocular Craft

We love this fun binocular craft idea using recycled toilet paper rolls! Kids can work on their fine motor skills decorating and building the binoculars, and then can use them for visual scanning activities after they are done.

This craft is pretty simple, and has two different building/decorating options:

Option 1: Paint the rolls and glue them together (we suggest hot glue)

Option 2: Tape the rolls together using painters tape

Supplies needed for craft: 2 toilet paper rolls, bandana or string to use as neck strap, paint (if using option 1), glue (if using option 1), tape (if using option 2), and something to poke a hole in the side of the rolls (we used a hole punch, but a pen would work as well)

Start by choosing which option you have the materials for at home.

Option 1 Paint:

• Step 1: Paint the toilet paper rolls, and let dry. You can do basic colors like us, or add designs.

• Step 2: Glue rolls together and let dry

• Step 3: Punch holes in both sides.

• Step 4: Tie bandana or string through the holes to make neck strap.

• Step 5: Happy searching!!

Option 2 Tape:

• Step 1: Wrap tape around 2 rolls to hold them together. You can use colors to make stripes like we did, or do all one color. To add extra decor try using stickers.

• Step 2: Punch holes in both sides.

• Step 3: Tie bandana or string through the holes to make neck strap.

• Step 4: Happy searching!!

When attaching the neck strap make sure you thread it in first, and then tie the knot on the outside of the roll so that it does not obstruct the view through the binoculars.

Next, enjoy the final product! Check out our scavenger hunt post for a fun outdoor visual scanning activity to put these binoculars to work. You can also practice bird/people watching through the windows, or finding objects inside the house. Try finding different shapes and colors, or playing a game of “I spy with my little eye.”