Material: Foam Sheets

Sequin Push Maze

Sequin Push Maze

Steps:

  • Use a marker to draw a winding path or simple maze onto the foam sheet.
  • Place the foam sheet flat on the table. Ask your child to hold the sheet steady with their helper hand.
  • Put a small pile of colorful sequins at the starting point of the maze.
  • Challenge your child to pick up one sequin using a strong pincer grasp.
  • Switch grip: Use only the tip of their pointer finger to gently push the sequin along the drawn line to the finish.
  • The child must use steady pressure and friction to keep the sequin moving without flying off the foam.

Safety Tip:
Sequins are very small objects. Close adult supervision is required throughout the activity as they pose a significant choking hazard for children under five.

Sticky Shape Rescue

Preschooler crossing midline to peel an orange foam shape from a wall, an occupational therapy activity for bilateral hand use and motor planning.

Steps:

  • Use Masking Tape to create a large rectangle outline (the “Rescue Zone”) on a sturdy wall or door at eye level for your child.
  • Cut various simple shapes (squares, triangles, circles) from Foam Sheets or Construction Paper. Using small rolled pieces of tape, stick these shapes randomly onto the wall *outside* the Rescue Zone.
  • Challenge your child to “rescue” the shapes by carefully peeling them off the wall. Encourage them to use one hand to stabilize the wall (the helper hand) while the other hand peels the shape.
  • Once rescued, the child must carry the shape and place it *inside* the taped Rescue Zone. They can match colors or simply stack them inside the boundary.

Safety Tip:
Ensure the working surface is clean and safe, and always supervise when the child is reaching high or standing near a door frame.

Cut Me a Tree

For this activity, you will need to use brown and green construction paper. 

Have the child trace your hand on the green paper, then trace one or two of their own. On the brown paper, ask the child to draw a large rectangle (depending on the child’s developmental skills, you might have him trace or copy the rectangle). Let the child cut the traced hands and rectangle he drew. 

On a large piece of construction paper, have the child glue the large hand on the rectangle, fingers pointing down, then the other hands, fingers pointing down as well (for a blooming tree, have the child glue the traced hands with the fingers pointing up). Using colored foam sheets, let the child draw and cut other shapes, then glue them on the tree as ornaments or flowers. To promote pincer grasp, have the child use the stickers for additional decorations.

Marshmallow Stamper

Place paint in a shallow bowl or a paper plate. Have the child dip a piece of marshmallow or foam in the paint and stamp it onto the construction paper.

You can let the child create his own picture or if you would like to work on visual-motor skills, you can have the child trace lines, shapes, and letters.

You can use small or big marshmallow for this activity.

For children that tend to place objects in their mouths, you might want to try using Jell-O mixed with a small amount of water and use it as your paint.

Touch and Match

For the purpose of describing the activity, we chose beans and foam sheets. You can use any media you would like to fill up your container (i.e. corn kernels, cotton balls, macaroni, bird’s seeds, send, etc.)and any objects to hide (i.e.buttons, pom-poms, pegs, coins, etc.).

Use the foam sheets and cut pairs of different shapes (you can also use different color sheets and cut a pair of the same shape in each color). Fill up the container with the beans. Hide one shape from each pair inside the container and place the other shape in front of the child.

Have the child dig his hands through the beans and find the matching shapes, taking them out one shape at a time.