Rainbow of Skills

For this activity, you will need to use a red, yellow, orange, green, blue, and purple construction paper.

Draw a line in the middle of the paper plate and have the child cut along the line you drew. Using the pen, draw 5 curves, spaced 1-inch from each other.

Draw a vertical line on each of the construction papers, making a 1-inch strip. Ask the child to cut along the lines you drew. Before the child tears the strips, ask him to arrange the strips in the correct order of the colors of the rainbow.

Have the child tear each strip into pieces. Encourage him to use both hands and tear the pieces from top to bottom. If you want to work more on scissors skills or visual-motor skills, you can draw lines on the strips (straight, crocked or curved) and have the child cut along the lines you drew.

Finally, have the child glue the small pieces onto the paper plate, using the curved lines you drew to place the colors in the correct order.

Fine Motor Marble Maze

Marble Maze playing

In this activity, we create a marble maze to promote fine motor skills.

Start by gluing the straws on the cardboard. You will need to glue each straw on the opposite side as follows:

  • Glue the 1st straw aligned to the left edge of the cardboard
  • Glue next straw aligned to the right side of the cardboard
  • Keep gluing straws all the way to the bottom of the cardboard
  • Make sure to create a space for the marble to go through between the straws
  • The end result should look like this:
    Marble Maze straws

Let the glue dry.

We used a gallon size zip lock bag but you can use a smaller zip lock bag to create a smaller maze.

At the bottom edge of the zip lock bag, cut a small slit. Make sure you cut it on the side the marble will come out from.

Once the glue is dry and the straws are secured, insert the cardboard into the ziplock bag.

Close the ziplock bag almost all the way, leaving a small opening for the marble to fit in.

Put the marble through the opening and start moving it with your finger through the maze until it comes out at the bottom.

You can alternate the fingers you use to move the marble or you can use both hands to hold the cardboard and move it from side to side, letting the marble slide out.

Paper Roll Caterpillar

Caterpillar shape glued

Using the pencil and the ruler, mark the toilet roll every 2 inches and draw around the tube. These will be cutting lines we will use to create the paper roll caterpillar body.

Take the scissors and cut around the marks you have made so that you are left with several short tubes.

Paint the tubes both on the inside and outside, it is more effective if you paint the outside a different color to the inside.

Glue the tubes to each other, end to end, putting one tube aside to use for the head later.

Glue the head tube on the top of the last tube in the chain.

Using the glue, stick the two wiggle eyes on the head.

Draw a mouth just below the wiggle eyes.

Using the felt or the pipe cleaners, cut two short pieces and stick onto the top of the head to make antenna.

Cut two more pieces for each body section the caterpillar has and stick these onto the bottom to create legs.

Forky from Toy Story

Forky - Toy Story 4

Building your own Forky character can help promote bilateral coordination and grasp skills.

Forky’s Face

To create Forky, we will need a plastic spork or a spoon.

Glue 2 different size wiggle eyes to the backside of the spork.

Use a red or pink marker to color the cheeks.

Roll blue playdough between your hands to create a thin line. Attach the 2 ends of the line to form a mouth for Forky and glue it on the spork.

Roll a piece of red playdough between your hands to create a thin line for the eyebrow.

Feet

Cut or break the craft stick to 2 equal size sticks.

Roll a piece of playdough between your hands to create a ball.

Stick the cut edge of the craft sticks into the playdough.

Flatten the bottom and use your finger to pinch the top-up.

Use markers to write your name on the bottom of the feet.

Body

Stick the spork into the top part of the playdough ball.

Arms

Find the middle of the red pipe cleaner.

Wrap the pipe cleaner around the spork just below the face.

Create palms at both ends of the pipe cleaners by folding the edges into a wiggly line.

Colorful flower art

Colorful flower art

Use the scissors to cut 1/2 inch wide lines along the toilet paper roll. Do not cut all the way to the other side. These will become the flower petals.

Paint the cut toilet paper roll.

Put a few glue dots on the tissue paper.

Crumple the tissue paper to a ball. This will be the flower pistil in the center.

Glue the crumpled tissue paper to the painted toilet paper roll.