Using the small muscles in the hands and wrists to make precise movements. This is the foundation for almost all school tasks, like drawing, writing, and using tools.
Draw a picture on the construction paper. The picture could be anything that the child likes.
Provide the child with different colors of Tempera Paint.
Use the q-tips to paint your picture by dipping the tips into the paint and making little dots on your picture.
Have the child fold the paper in half vertically (independently or with assistance). Ask the child to draw any half-shape to be the base of the snowflake(i.e. half circle, half diamond, etc.). Instruct the child to draw more geometrical shapes along the edges of the paper, which can be cut out. Once the child is done drawing, let the child cut out all the shapes.
Let the child unfold the snowflake and decorate using crayons, markers, glitter, dot paint, stickers, etc.
To grade this activity you can:
1. Have lower/younger kids just cut out the big shape and then color in shapes that you draw for them (or you can draw and they can trace) if cutting the small shapes is too difficult
2. To make this activity easier you can also do half sheets of paper to make smaller snowflakes, less to color/cut/fold.
3. Have older/higher kids try to cut out shapes without drawing them first if they can. They can also fold the snowflake in half a second time (so it is in quarters) and do more cutouts on the snowflake.
On the construction paper, have the child draw, copy, or trace, 2 hearts and an oval (depends on child developmental abilities).
Using child scissors, ask the child to cut out the shapes, and glue them so the oval is in the middle, between the two hearts (see image).
Allow the child to color and decorate the butterfly using crayons, markers, stickers, glitter, etc.
To make the antennas, let the child pick a pipe cleaner and help him to cut it into three pieces. Demonstrate twisting the pipe cleaners around your pencil or finger. Ask the child to do it independently, or offer assistance. Tape the antennas on the back side.
When the butterfly is done it can be glued to a craft stick and the child can “fly” their butterfly around.
If you wish, a writing component can be added and attached to the butterfly instead of gluing it to a craft stick.
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.
Have the child trace their foot on brown construction paper to make the trunk of the tree. Then have the child trace their hand in different fall leaf colors. Have them glue on the pieces they cut onto a larger piece of construction paper. Provide assistance as needed. For older children, working on handwriting, place lined paper on the bottom of the tree, and have them write a story about the tree or about fall. Both older and younger children enjoy decorating the tree and its surroundings with tissue paper (crumbled), sequins, pom-poms, etc.
You can relate this activity to a specific holiday or the different seasons.
