Material: Construction Paper

Newspaper Dance

Challenge your child’s core muscles by having them stand on a newspaper page (or paper bag, or another safe alternative you may have in your home).

This game works like Musical Chairs.

Play a song and have the child dance.

When the song stops, the child must stand on the newspaper page.

If the child does not step outside of the newspaper page boundary, fold the newspaper page in half.

Continue this until the child is unable to stand without stepping outside of the boundary.

Use painter’s tape to hold the newspaper page in place to prevent slips/falls.

You may see your child transitioning from standing with a typical stance, then standing with feet close together, then standing on one foot, then standing on tip-toes. This challenges their core!

Increase the challenge by:

  • Playing with an appropriate peer on the same newspaper page – be ready to catch anyone who loses balance!

Cutting Dr. Seuss’s Hat

DrSeuss hat and materials

Use the provided Dr. Seuss’s Hat shape template (download here) or draw your own on a construction paper with markers.

To work on snipping, cut long strips of red construction paper, and mark short lines for the child to snip (see image).

Provide the child with the hat template and the red paper stripes.

Instruct the child to snip on the lines.

Have the child glue the pieces that he cut into the hat template. If needed, provide the child with visual cues where to glue the pieces.

Grading Options

  • Work on hand strength by asking the child to tear the paper into small pieces, instead of cutting.
  • Use pieces of tissue paper and have the child crumble them, then glue them to the paper.
  • If the child is able to cut on a line, or to practice cutting on a line, draw long lines for the child to cut and match to the size of the stripes on the hat.

 

Tracing Stencils

Stencil Trace

For this activity, you can use many different types of stencils to trace.

Provide the child with different stencils and have him/her trace inside or outside the stencil.

The child can also finger-paint inside these stencils.

Helpful Tip:

If the child has difficulties with bilateral hand use, you may want to tape the stencil to the surface the child works on.

Crumples

Crumples glue

On a piece of construction paper, draw a simple shape or a simple picture.

Let the child tear out small pieces of tissue paper and ask him to crumple the pieces into a small ball, using his fingers. If the child is too young or if his hands are too weak, you should provide him with smaller pieces of tissue paper

Older children should be encouraged to use only their thumb, index finger, and middle finger.

Have the child glue the little balls he crumpled on the drawing.

In addition, this activity allows you to work on eye-hand coordination and visual integration as you may ask the child to glue the crumpled balls on a straight line, circle, or a simple picture.

Christmas Circles Tree

For this activity you will need green (tree), brown (tree trunk), red (ornaments), and yellow (ornaments) construction paper.

Draw different sized circles on the green construction paper. Make sure the circles do not overlap. These will be used to create the tree.

Cut the circles out by following the lines using scissors.

If you have a circle puncher, you can have the child punch circles from the construction paper. This will enhance hand strength.

Instruct the child to use a single hole puncher and punch holes in the yellow and red construction paper. These will be the ornaments on the tree.

Glue the green construction paper circles together in a triangular shape (to resemble a Christmas tree).

Using a pincer grasp, instruct the child to pick up the little yellow and red dots, one at a time, and glue them to the green circles.

Cut a rectangle shape from the brown construction paper. Attach it to the tree as a trunk.