Crossing Midline - Page 9 of 9

Chalkdraw

For this activity, you can have the child draw on a chalkboard or on the sidewalk.

While large chalks would work better on the sidewalk, try to use small (or even broken) chalk to promote a tripod grasp.

Melting Rainbow

Using the markers or chalk, have the child color a rainbow or any other drawing appropriate to the child on the dry erase board/easel.

Use the squirt bottle to squirt the board/rainbow with water, the water causes the marker/chalk to run a.k.a. melt the rainbow.

Note: this activity would work best outside as it can get quite messy.

Potato Counter

For this activity you could use different types of fruit and vegetables. If the child has difficulty completing the activity with potatoes, you can use a softer fruit like bananas.

Cover a strip of thick cardboard or card, and draw boxes like those shown in the picture.

Cut small potatoes into halves and quarters so that they can stand without rocking or tipping.

Place one potato wedge on every box and number each box.

Now your child can stick in the right number of toothpicks into each potato.

For grading: Use random numbers instead of numbers in a sequence.

Big Tac Toe

Help the child cut 4 equal pieces of masking tape. Each piece should be about 3 feet long.

Use the masking tape pieces to make a large tic tac toe board on the floor.

Use the construction paper to cut shapes (each player should have his own shape). You will need 5 pieces of each shape. Let the child help you with a cutting of the shapes.

If working on writing skills, each player can write his name on his shapes.

Instruct the child to lay prone next to the tic tac toe board.

Using the pieces you cut, play the tic tac toe game by placing the pieces while keeping your body prone and reaching with your arms out to place the pieces on the board (i.e. crossing midline).

For grading: instead of writing your name on each shape, you can write your initials or any other word as appropriate.

Ping Pong Plates

This activity is divided into 2 parts: creating the rackets and playing ping pong with the rackets and the balloon.

First, glue the wooden stick to the paper plate with the wooden stick sticking out of the plate. The wooden stick is going to be where you hold the racket so the length of the stick that comes out of the paper plate should be at least 4 inches.

Once the sticks are glued, use the crayons to color or write on the paper plates.

Inflate the balloon.

Hold the paper plate racket and bounce the ball around.

If done in a group setting, you can instruct the kids to use the paper plate to bounce the balloon from one to another while playing a ping-pong game.