Tactile Perception - Page 4 of 9

Fall Crunchy Art

Gather dry leaves.

Use both hands to crunch the dry leaves into smaller pieces. This helps promote bilateral hand use, tactile perception, and auditory input.

On a piece of construction paper, use glue to create a shape or drawing. We choose the heart shape but you can use a smiley face, a house shape, letters, numbers, etc. Working on grading the force on the glue bottle addresses the proprioceptive system.

Transfer the crunched dry leaves pieces onto the construction paper covering the wet glue shape.

Let dry for a few minutes and shake off the leaves that remained unglued.

Use markers to decorate.

Tactile Bowl

Blow up the balloon 1/4 way.

You may tie a knot or tape the tip of the balloon to hold the air in.

Have the child cut the yarn into long strips.

In a bowl, help the child mix the glue and water together until you get a viscid mixture.

Ask the child to dip the strips of yarn in the glue mixture and then use it to wrap around the balloon, starting from bottom to top (the child might need help with the bottom part where the yarn should be rolled tightly).

Encourage the child to use a pincer grasp (tip grasp) to take the yarn pieces out of the mixture.

Continue until the balloon is 3/4 covered in yarn. Allow to dry, then pop the balloon and take it out.

To make the bowl colorful, use different colors of yarn.

Pincer Penguin

You will need black, white, and orange-colored pom-poms to create the body, head, wings, beak, and feet of the penguin.

Instruct the child to glue 1 large black pom-pom and 1 large white pom-pom together. This will be the body of the penguin.

Glue 2 small sized black pom-poms to the body. These will be the wings.

Glue 2 small-sized orange pom-poms to the other side of the body. These will be the feet.

Instruct the child to take a medium-size black pom-pom and glue a small-sized orange pom-pom on it. This will the beak.

Glue 2 wiggle eyes above the beak. This will be the head of the penguin.

Glue the head of the penguin to the body.

Acorn Stamper

Draw an acorn on the construction paper (see images for example) or you can let the child trace an acorn stencil to promote fine motor control and visual-motor skills.

Let the child cut the acorn shape using scissors.

Using a piece of small sponge instruct the child to pinch it and dip it into the paint then stamp and paint the bottom part of the acorn cut out. You can also use q-tips or cotton balls to paint.

Encourage the child to fill in the entire bottom part of the acorn.

Have the child spread glue on the top part of the acorn.

Provide the child with a few dry leaves. Instruct the child to crumble the leaves inside the palm of his hand and then spread them on the glue. This will promote finger strength and finger translation.

You may also use beans to cover the top area of the acorn.

Pop the Wrap

Have the child throw the dice.

The child will then need to pop the corresponding number of bubbles that the dice are showing.

You can also use a timer to time how long it takes the child to pop a certain amount of bubbles.

If the sound of popping interferes with the child’s ability to complete the activity, you may want to try and do this activity outdoors.