Playing With Words 365

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Fine Motor Monday

January 9, 2012 by Katie Filed Under: Fine Motor Activities, Juvenile Arthritis 4 Comments

Well, we had a BUSY week and weekend! Saturday was Ev’s first birthday party! It was a blast! Stop by tomorrow…I’m going to post all about it!

It’s Fine Motor Monday, and I have a few activities to share! In case you are a new reader, my daughter suffers from Juvenile Arthritis, which has caused her to have pain and swelling in her fingers which has resulted in some weakness in her right hand. We just finished up several weeks of occupational therapy and other than cutting and folding paper, she is at age level with her fine motor skills now…she just needs some daily activities to help build strength. Here is some of what we have been up to the last two weeks!

Beading with Small Beads

First we busted open E’s new beading set she got for Christmas from her Auntie and Uncle. E made herself a beautiful necklace while really having to use her fine motor strength to hold the beads and the string.

Beading with Large Beads

Next we opened up another Christmas Gift: Large beads. Esella really enjoyed lacing the string through the beads, and then using the beads like blocks to build towers! 🙂

Playing with Playdough

Playdough is popular around here lately and that is a good thing because it is GREAT for building strength in little hands.

Squeezing the dough through this one really helps build strength in her hands…

Cutting the dough with scissors is one of the activities her OT recommended to help with building strength too…

…as well as pushing cookie cutters and other objects into the dough…

Building Foam Snowmen

I hit up the Target After-Christmas-Sale and picked up this foam snowman set for less than a dollar! It comes with enough loot to build 20 snowmen.

My daughter LOVED this soo much that we actually built snowmen on several different days at her request. These are GREAT for fine motor as she first has to feel the sticker paper off the back, which requires skill, especially for the eyes/buttons which are small. Then she uses her fine motor skills to place all the items on the snowman.

Bubble Wrap!

What kid doesn’t love popping bubble wrap! I read this idea on an occupational therapists blog. Popping the bubbles can be great for fine motor, and with Christmas just behind us, we happened to have some left over from some presents.

We have some other activities planned for the next couple weeks, but I want to know…what fine motor activities do YOU have planned this week?

Cheers!

About Katie

Katie is a licensed, credentialed and certified pediatric speech-language pathologist and mom to four (8, 6, 3 and 6 months). Her passion for educating, inspiring and empowering parents of children with all abilities led her to start her blog playing with words 365 where she shares information about speech & language development & intervention strategies, parenting, photography and a little about her family life too. Katie has been working in the field of speech pathology for 12 years and is certified in The Hanen Centre’s It Takes Two to Talk ® and Target Word ® programs and holds a certificate in Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA). In addition to blogging and being a mommy, Katie works part time in her small private practice in the San Francisco Bay Area. You can follow her on Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter.

Comments

  1. Trina says

    January 9, 2012 at 5:57 am

    Awesome post, Katie!!! You rock! I too love the stickers on the back of foam stickers. As tempting as it is to help my boys right away, I always make them try to get it off first. This week for fine motor skills we will work on beading pipe cleaners in our winter sensory bin and work with white and blue playdoh. Today we are working on YOUR “Snowman, Snowman, What do you see” book! We are all so excited! Have a blessed and marvelous Monday!

    Reply
    • Katie says

      January 9, 2012 at 2:02 pm

      Trina, think we will be making snowflakes our of pipe cleaners and beads this week! Have sun with the Snowman Book, let me know how it goes!! 😀

      Reply
      • Trina says

        January 9, 2012 at 7:43 pm

        It was an awesome day with your book! My boys really surprised me! I can’t wait to blog all about it. You would have been so proud. My 2 year old “read” the book many times with the picture prompts. And my 4 year old said, “Oh I have an idea, Mommy! How about I draw a picture of me all dressed in winter clothes!” To which I replied “Well, here are all the items from the book that you can put together with a picture of your face!” To which he loved and ran with it! Then we had a blast dressing up in winter attire numerous times today! Thanks again!! I’ll be sure and link to your site when I do blog all about it. 🙂 By the way your guiding questions really helped when working with it. There were questions I wouldn’t have thought to ask and it was awesome!

        Reply
  2. Jode says

    January 9, 2012 at 2:27 pm

    What lovely, lovely photos and such great fine motor activities…i hope they are helping your daughter, she is lucky to have a Mum like you!

    Reply

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