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Freebie Friday! Christmas Clothespin Wheels

December 15, 2011 by Katie Filed Under: Fine Motor Activities, Freebie Friday, Language Enrichment Activities for Parents, Therapy Ideas and Activities 10 Comments

This week, I was perusing the internet in search of some new and fun fine motor activities to do with my daughter when I found this cool clothespin activity at Preschool Printables..and another one at Story Time Standouts and then I found these ADORABLE clothespin reindeer on 2 Teaching Mommies…so I decided to combine the three and make my own clothespin wheel activities with a Christmas theme!

christmas clothespin wheels pin

These fine motor clothespin wheels can be used to target the following:

  • Christmas vocabulary
  • Letter ID and matching
  • Counting
  • Color ID and matching
  • Answering and asking “wh” questions
  • Describing skills
  • Fine motor and visual motor skills

Christmas Letter Match Up

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reindeer Food Counting & Reindeer Color Matching


 

 

 

 

 

 

Directions:

  • Print out the pages on card stock, cut out, and laminate for durability
  • You will need 8 clothespins for the Reindeer counting/color activities. Make these reindeer like we did below. Write the numbers 1-8 on them and give each reindeer a nose of a different color (that matches the colors on the wheel)
  • For the Reindeer counting: Have your child count the carrots in each section of the wheel and attach the corresponding clothespin number.
  • For the Reindeer Color matching: have your child match the reindeer nose color to the colors on the wheel.
  • Other activity idea: Print out two sets of each wheel, cut out each individual “slice” and use them for a memory card game or a “go fish” game. To make it more difficult, instead of just asking for the objects by name, have your child describe them.
  • Other activity idea: To work on describing skills, you can take turns playing “I Spy” by describing the different Christmas objects on the two wheels. When the other player figures out which object it is, he/she can place the clothespin on it.

We had a great time with these..I hope to do them often in the next week and a half leading up to Christmas. I could tell it was a good fine motor activity when my daughter told me her fingers were “too small to do it” (her way of saying tired/hurting) after a while!

So first, we made the clothespin reindeer from 2 Teaching Mommies. We made eight of them, originally just for the counting activity I had made….but then when we were making them with the different colored noses (because those were the only kind of pom poms we had! HA!) I realized that we could also do a color matching wheel with their noses! So I headed back to the computer and made that one too 🙂

Also, you could do a describing activity using just the reindeer…especially if you make them with different sized eyes like we did! (And of course, the making of the reindeer is a learning activity as well…following directions, colors, fine motor, turn taking…)

Here are our Reindeer friends!

And the reindeer were very very hungry. They wanted to eat some carrots! Let’s see how many carrots each reindeer wanted to eat…

Oh no! the the reindeer want to eat some colors! they want to eat the same color of their noses…

(By the way, my daughter thought the reindeer “eating” the paper was hilarous! She would actually open and close the clothespin over and over like the reindeer were actually chewing! 😀 It was adorable…and GREAT for fine motor!)

Now that the reindeer are nice and full, they are going to take a nap while we do some letter matching. Here are our letters all set up on the basket.

Now we will match them up while we talk all about the different Christmas words! We are learning new words today! (Like Kris Kringle…my daughter said “No mama, that’s Santa” ha ha ha). Another variation: Rather than letter ID/matching, you can print out two copies of each wheel and cut out and glue one copy of the images to a clothespin and have your child match the pictures (this is great for little ones who are not yet ready/interested in letters).

To make this a language rich experience, be sure to have conversations about the pictured items. Talk about where we see it (do you have this in your home? where?), who might have it, what we do with it, what it looks like, what it feels like, what it smells like, what it sounds like, how BIG or SMALL, etc.

Another idea: Go for a Christmas scavenger hunt! How many of the items can you find in/around your house? Attach a clothespin for each item you find. If you can’t find an item, where might we find it?

You can download the four Christmas Clothespin Wheels HERE (graphics thanks to Office Images) You will just need to get the clothespins! 😉 (And the supplies for the little reindeer, you know you want to make them now too!).

Have a fantastic weekend! 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. Barb says

    December 16, 2011 at 6:46 am

    Oh my goodness. That is just so sweet! I wish I knew about all this fun stuff when my boys were babies 🙂
    Merry Christmas!
    Barbara
    Grade ONEderful

    Reply
    • Katie says

      December 16, 2011 at 12:06 pm

      Thanks so much Barb! And Happy Holidays to you! 🙂

      Reply
  2. Jessica @ Preserving Life's Moments says

    December 16, 2011 at 10:37 am

    As always I am in LOVE. I think Christmas activities are going to have to extend past the 25th. 🙂

    Reply
    • Katie says

      December 16, 2011 at 12:06 pm

      Awe thanks Jessica!! 😀 Happy Holidays!

      Reply
  3. Sierra at H is for Homeschooling says

    December 16, 2011 at 11:50 am

    Katie, again you amaze me! Pinned this and hope to do this and the hungry reindeer on 2 of our trays this week. I have not linked up this week because my trays are not as thrifty as usual. Next week I have to be more thrifty though or I am going to get coal in my stocking!! 🙂

    Reply
    • Katie says

      December 16, 2011 at 12:05 pm

      Sierra too funny…I hope you don’t get any coal!!! 😉 And thanks for the kind words! And for the PIN! 😀 Happy Holidays!

      Reply
      • Sierra @ H is for Homeschooling says

        December 19, 2011 at 8:05 pm

        Katie, just wanted to let you know I linked back to your blog in my newest post with my reindeer tot tray 🙂 Merry Christmas!

        http://his4homeschooling.blogspot.com/2011/12/christmas-tot-trays-part-2.html

        Reply
  4. Janine says

    November 3, 2013 at 1:05 pm

    Brilliant!

    Reply
  5. Lola says

    November 14, 2013 at 5:46 pm

    Hi,

    Your site is a great resource of ideas and more. However, I was wondering if you can share some ideas. I am currently working with a young boy who is non-verbal but as well likes to put everything in his mouth. Is there any activities I can do with him? As well how do I get him to enjoy activities that can help his fine motor skills?

    Big thanks!

    Reply

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