Bean Mosaic
Purpose:
Use small pellets such as beans or small buttons to strengthen finger muscles and promote pincer grasp pattern.
On a sheet of construction paper, sketch a simple picture, or allow the child to draw a picture/shape.
Using the glue, instruct the child to trace the outline of the picture.
Once the picture is outlined with glue, ask the child to pick up one bean or button at a time, and glue it along the outline of the picture.
If you wish to promote translation skills (finger to palm and palm to finger), ask the child to pick up 2 or more beans, transferring them one at a time into the palm of their hand, then transfer them out, one at a time, to be glued on the outline.
Let the child continue pasting the reminder of the beans on the picture, putting the beans close to each other.
To grade the activity up, provide the child with tweezers to pick up the beans.
Use larger buttons or pom-poms to grade the activity down.