Skill: Visual Perception

How the brain makes sense of what the eyes see. This skill helps children solve puzzles, recognize shapes, and tell the difference between similar letters like ‘b’ and ‘d’ or ‘p’ and ‘q’.

Clothespin Feather Match

Steps:

  • Prepare the ‘Clipping Creature’ by decorating the plastic container with markers.
  • Use index cards to draw and cut several long strips. These are your colorful ‘feathers.’
  • Draw small, matching colored dots on the rim of the container and on the ends of the clothespins (e.g., red dot on rim, red dot on pin).
  • Encourage your child to pinch open a clothespin. Clip a colorful index card feather onto it first.
  • Challenge them to clip the clothespin onto the container’s rim. The color on the pin must match the color dot on the container.

Safety Tip:
If the child is using scissors during step two, ensure constant adult supervision. Only use child-safe scissors.

Slot & Stitch Sculpture

Slot & Stitch Sculpture

Steps:

  • Prepare the structure ‘parts’ by cutting several index cards into different shapes (squares, rectangles, triangles). Then, cut small, narrow slots (about 1/4 inch deep) into the edges of each card. (Adult help required for cutting slots.)
  • Challenge your child to connect the slotted cards by sliding them into each other to create a 3D structure, like a tall building, a bridge, or a fun abstract sculpture.
  • Using the hole puncher, encourage your child to punch several holes around the edges of the assembled structure. Remind them to hold the structure steady with one hand while squeezing the puncher with the other to strengthen their grasp.
  • Give your child long pieces of yarn. Demonstrate how to weave the yarn through the punched holes to ‘stitch’ the structure together, reinforcing the corners and decorating their sculpture with color.

Safety Tip:
Always supervise the use of child-safe scissors. Yarn and small pieces of index card can pose a choking hazard for children who still mouth objects; ensure all pieces are kept away from the mouth.

Twisty Cap Match

Twisty Cap Match

Steps:

  • Use markers to draw matching colors or simple patterns (like stripes or dots) onto the plastic bottle caps and the tops of the bottles.
  • Place one small button inside each empty plastic bottle. This gives auditory feedback when the cap is removed.
  • Challenge your child to hold the bottle firmly with their helper hand to keep it stable on the table.
  • Use the dominant hand to pick up the cap and twist it tightly onto the matching bottle. Focus on smooth, repetitive wrist twisting.
  • Once all caps are on, practice twisting them off quickly to ‘rescue’ the buttons inside. Put the buttons back in the container to start a new round.

Safety Tip:
Buttons are small items. Always supervise children closely during this activity to prevent a choking hazard.

Button The Shapes

For this activity, you will first need to create the button container using plastic containers with lids. Use the scissors to pierce a hole in the lid.

Take one button and insert a 3-inch pipe cleaner through 2 of the button holes.

Insert each edge of the pipe cleaner through the lid hole that you pierced and twist the 2 edges together on the bottom of the lid. This will hold the button in place on the lid.

Close the container with the lid so the button is at the top of the container.

Using a marker, mark a shape on the container.

Cut out pieces of felt in the same shapes that you marked the containers with. You can also use fabric for this.

Using the scissors, cut holes in the middle of each shape.

Provide the child with the button containers and the felt shapes. Ask the child to sort the felt pieces and button them on the right container marked with the matching shape.

For grading, you can use different sized buttons or you can also use one container with no marked shape and have the child follow a pattern from a visual model (i.e. button a circle, a triangle, and a rectangle in a repeated order).

Guess the Toy

Guess The Toys

Step 1: Take an empty cardboard box & glue construction paper around it. This simplifies the exterior to eliminate distractions.

Step 2: Use any toy or item in the house, so long as it is safe, to put in the box. Make sure the toy or item has an identical partner (i.e. use 2 identical markers, 2 identical stuffed animals, etc.).

Step 3: Place each toy or item inside the box (3-6 toys/items at a time), and keep the toy’s/item’s identical partners right next to you, so the child does not see them.

Step 4: Lay the box on a horizontal surface.

Step 5: Take any of the toys/items right next to you, and place 1 of them on top of the box.

Step 6: Ask, “Which one of these (the toys/items inside the box) feels like what this (the toy/item on top of the box) looks like?”

Step 7: Have the child reach into the box to feel all items, making sure they do not see.

Step 8: Have them place their answer on top of the box in order to see if they got it right.

Step 9: Repeat until they have correctly identified all items.