Having enough power in the small hand muscles to do things like open a lunchbox, squeeze a glue bottle, or hold a pencil without getting tired.
Fill a container with water up to the midline and put inside small floating objects (i.e. ice molds, fish toys, etc.).
Have the child use the tongs to catch the objects in the water and take them out of the water.
You may want to have some paper towels ready for this activity as it might get a bit wet.
Draw (or depending on the child’s developmental skills, have the child trace or independently draw) a large rectangle on the paper bag (use the blank side if the paper bag has a design or picture on it) and ask the child to cut it out.
Fill the squirt bottle with water and have the child spray water all over the cut out rectangle. Encourage the child to utilize his thumb, index finger, and middle finger to press on the handle of the squirt bottle. Once the paper is moist, ask the child to use both hands and squeeze the paper into a little ball (have him squeeze as much as possible and drain out as much liquid as possible).
Then, ask the child to open up the paper and use both hands to flatten the paper back to a rectangle shape.
Allow the paper to dry up before you start drawing or painting on it. For a rough texture, let the paper dry on a flat surface in the sun. For a smoother texture, you can place the paper between to flat heavy objects.
Once the paper is dry, have the child use markers to draw the outline of the desired picture and use the paint to paint it. To work on pre-writing skills, you can outline lines and/or letters and have the child paint them.
To promote sensory processing and tactile perception, you can have the child use the paper with a rough texture and paint with finger paint.
You will need to use green construction paper (light and/or dark) and assorted small different textured objects (i.e. pom-poms, buttons, small blocks, etc.). You may also want to use different size and color straws.
First, explain to the child that you are going to make a salad. Let the child tear up the pieces of paper using both hands, to make lettuce leaves, and place the pieces in the bowl.
Then, have the child cut the straws into different size pieces and add them to the bowl. Ask the child to add the pom-poms, buttons, blocks, and think of creative things they can be (e.g. red pom-poms for cherry tomatoes, blocks as croutons). Have the child “toss” the salad by hand, allowing him to feel the different textures.
Use the tongs to “serve” the salad. To focus on social skills, ask the child to serve you/other peers/ themselves/co-treating therapists and say things like “more please!”, “no more, thank you”, etc.
Start by making the shoe box and the cardboard discs. Cut a narrow slit on one side of the shoe box top and a small circle on the other side. The narrow slit will be used to insert the discs and the small circle will be used to insert the clothespins.
On the cardboard, draw 10 or more circles, about 3 inches in size. Cut out the circles and attach a clothespin to each circle.
Have the child separate the clothespins from the discs and insert the items through the right opening on the shoe box.
You can also place stickers on the circles and matching ones on the clothespins. After the child inserted the items, ask him to take them out of the shoe box and match each circle with the corresponding clothespin. You can also color the circles and the clothespins in different colors, and ask the child to match the items by color.
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.
