Foam Fortress Pull-Apart
Purpose
This activity is fantastic for developing strong hand and arm muscles. Pushing the craft sticks through the foam and later pulling the pieces apart provides great proprioceptive input, also known as 'heavy work.' Heavy work is calming and helps your child regulate their body and focus. Since they must use both hands working together, it improves bilateral coordination. It also requires motor planning to figure out how to best pull the pieces apart without them tearing.
Activity Steps
Steps:
- Use markers to draw simple shapes onto the foam sheets. Shapes like squares and rectangles work best for building.
- Ask an adult to use scissors to cut the foam shapes out. Cut the craft sticks in half if needed.
- Hold two foam pieces together so the edges align. Use a marker to dot the spot where you want to connect them.
- Take one craft stick. Use strong finger force to push the stick straight through the marked spot, connecting the two foam pieces tightly.
- Continue connecting pieces until you build a large structure, like a wall or a tower.
- Now for the heavy work! Challenge your child to grab the structure with both hands. Use a strong, steady pull to separate the connected foam pieces, one stick at a time.
- Collect all the sticks and foam pieces to build an even bigger structure next time.
Safety Tip:
Constant and direct adult supervision is required. Craft sticks are small objects and pose a potential choking hazard for young children. Adults must handle the scissors during preparation.
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