Material: Construction Paper

Marble Painting The American Flag

End Result - marble painting of the American flag

We made this version of an American flag, using red and blue paint, marbles, and aluminum foil pan.

Step 1:

Tape a piece of construction paper to the bottom of the aluminum foil pan.

We will use another piece of construction paper to create a template that will help separate the red paint and the blue paint on the flag.

Step 2:

Ask the child to cut a rectangle shape from the construction paper. Keep both pieces of the construction paper.

Step 3:

Tape the small rectangle template on the top right corner.

Step 4 – Starting to work on blue lines:

Dip the marbles in blue color or squeeze blue color on the construction paper in a few spots.

Step 5:

Place the marbles in the aluminum foil pan and ask the child to move the foil pan from side to side to create long blue lines.

Step 6:

Remove the small rectangle template and place the rest of the construction paper on top of the blue colored lines.

Step 7 – Starting to work on red lines:

Dip marbles in red color or squeeze red color on the construction paper in a few spots.

Step 8:

Place the marbles in the aluminum foil pan and ask the child to move the foil pan from side to side.

Step 9 – Uncover the flag:

Remove the construction paper to uncover the American flag.

Caterpillar Clips

Place the pompoms on a plate or in a container.

For each clothespin, have the child reach out and pick 5-6 small pompoms, using pincer grasp to pick them up, and place in front of him.

Ask the child to apply glue on the wide part of the clothespin, and use the tweezers to place one pompom at a time on the glue.

While the glue is drying, either draw 2-3 leaves on green construction paper or let the child draw them. Have the child cut out the leaves. If the child has difficulty cutting, we recommend providing thicker lines.

Once the glue is all dry, instruct the child to glue the googly eyes on the first pompom. Make sure to glue on the clothespin side that opens up.

Ask the child to put one caterpillar on each leaf by opening the clothespin with one hand, and holding the leaf with the other hand.

Cut the Line

Cut The Line activity

Use the ruler to draw 4 inch thick lines across an index card.

At the edge of each line put a sticker and ask the child to cut along the line you drew all the way up to the sticker.

When the child is able to cut along an index card easily, repeat the activity using a paper.

Bean Mosaic

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.

Paper Plate Web

A 5-year-old child practices fine motor skills by threading yarn through a paper plate ring to create a spider web craft at a kitchen table.

In this activity, pipe cleaners are optional.

Help the child to cut out a large circle from the center of the paper plate, leaving about 1-inch from the edge, and creating an outer ring.
Ask the child to punch holes all around the outer ring.

Give the child a long piece of yarn and instruct him to string the yarn through the holes he punched. Have the child string the yarn from one hole to the next going back and forth to form a web.

On the construction paper (preferably black or gray), draw a medium size oval for the spider’s body and a smaller size circle for the spider’s head. Let the child cut out the shapes you drew to make a spider. You can also ask the child to draw a spider and cut it out.

If you are using pipe cleaners, have the child punch 3 holes on each side of the oval (the spider’s body) and place a small piece of pipe cleaner in each hole (to form the spider’s legs).

Have the child glue the spider on the web or attach the spider to the web by banding the pipe cleaners onto the yarn.