Fine Motor Balance Tree

This task is more geared to 2-4 year olds, it was a bit too challenging for Caroline (16 months) but she had fun toppling it, and we used the time to talk about different colors and animals. This little tree can be used for a variety of different tasks, and it makes for a cute addition to any kids animal play.

Items needed:

• Paper towel roll
• Popsicle sticks
• Scissors
• Hot glue or tape

How to create your balance tree:

• Cut 4 evenly spaced slits at the end of the roll and fan out each side. This will be used as your base.
• Next, hot glue or tape Popsicle sticks in a cross and attach to the fanned out cardboard (see above in picture)
• Now make your “branches,” at exactly the same height, cut 2 small slits on opposite sides of the roll. Space these out along the paper towel roll. You should be able to fit 3-4 of these.
• Push Popsicle sticks through the slits so that the ends stick out evenly for objects to sit on

What we are working on:

• Fine motor coordination: instruct your little to gently place an object (we used plastic animals but you may use whatever item you like. Some ideas are: pom poms, coins, other small figurines). This works on finding the correct force to apply to the object to balance on the tree branch
• Visual motor: your little is using the input from their eyes to tell the muscles of the arms (the output) what to do!
• Cognition: significant concentration is required to successfully balance an object on each branch. Problem solving skills are also at play here by learning trial and error. Sequencing and following directions: ask your little to place an item on an orange branch, and then a green branch. Keep adding steps until you find the just-right-challenge for your little. This also works on color recognition if you are using colored Popsicle sticks.
• Language development: Encourage your little to tell you about what they imagine the animals “doing,” ask them what sound the animal makes.

Pop Some Bubbles

Save that packing paper from your last Amazon order! One person’s trash is another baby’s treasure! Bubble wrap is a simple way to get your baby to explore their senses and work on gross and fine motor skills!

Modify this game by wrapping and taping your little’s feet in plastic bubble wrap, have them hop, and stomp all over the house pretending they’re different animals:

• Hop like a bunny
• Bear walks
• Jump like a frog
• Stomp like an elephant

Benefits of bubble wrap:

• Sensory processing: snaps and pops aren’t everyday sounds, the sound should excite your little ones’ auditory senses!
• Fine motor: Bubble wrap has many benefits for fine motor skills – pincer strength, fine motor coordination, grading the force used to pop each bubble, finger isolation, visual motor skills, etc.
• Gross motor: make this activity gross motor too by putting the bubble wrap on the floor and having your little step on the sheet to pop the bubbles!

Let’s get the ball rolling!

With the weather changing, it’s time to start thinking of activities to entertain your little indoors! I don’t know about you, but Caroline (19 months) is a very active toddler. I’m seriously considering a mini trampoline for the winter, haha! Simply instruct your little to roll balls across the room while aiming to hit a target (I used storage baskets).

What I love about this simple activity is that you can modify it to make it easier or harder! We are working on all kinds of things:

• Hand-eye coordination
• Cognition: working to obtain an end goal and learning activity to task
• Gross motor: Crouching, standing, and running to go retrieve the balls, this activity should be enough to wear your little one out

How can I modify this for my toddler?

• Go vertical: stack the baskets and have your little try to toss soft balls or small stuffed animals underhand into the target
• Make it more educational: Assign a point value to each basket, have your older toddler count up how many points they earn for making a basket
• Make it sensory: give your toddler different items to toss, a bumpy ball, a soft plush, something that has a rattle, etc

Try this at home and tell me how you modified it for your little!

Paper Tube Stringing

Continuing the week with more upcycled ideas! You all know how much I love 5 min DIYs 😉 All this one needs is a couple paper towel or toilet paper rolls, pipe cleaners, and markers. Simply cut up the cardboard tube, slap some colorful letters or numbers on each piece, and voila! You have a gold mine for your toddler. Age range 12 months – preschool depending on what skills you are targeting. Read on below to see how many different ways you can use this gem!

This simple task is packed with educational goodies:

• Cognition: this one is huge because there are endless ways to incorporate new knowledge. You can work on color/letter/number recognition, language development (helping your little identify the sound each letter makes), for older littles you can work on sequencing, counting, problem solving. A higher level challenge example would be to remove a number and see if your little can figure out which one is missing.
• Fine motor skills: pinching, pulling, threading the rolls onto the pipe cleaners paves way for more complex skills like being able to fasten clothing, and pre-writing skills
• Bilateral coordination: two hands working together while doing separate tasks to complete a goal

Rotating Can Puzzle

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Truthfully, I thought this would be a big hit for Caroline (19 months) because she loves shapes and puzzles, but it’s still a little too advanced for her. I’ll have to save this for when she’s a little bit older, but I really think older toddlers and preschoolers would find this very fun! And after I finished this, I thought it would be even more fun to put a pumpkin face on it for Halloween! So this may make a reappearance next month with a jack’o’lantern face! haha

Items needed:

• Colored paper
• Tape
• Scissors
• Markers
• A canister (I used an empty oatmeal can)

How to make it:

1. Measure and cut a piece of paper to wrap around the canister
2. Draw and color shapes or other designs onto the paper
3. Cut the paper in 3 strips
4. Tape each strip to itself around the canister (strips shoulder be snug, but loose enough to be able to easily rotate

What we are working on:

• Visual perception and visual closure: ability to see, organize, and interpret the images. Visual closure is the identification of forms or objects from incomplete presentations
• Fine motor: using strength in the fingers and wrist to rotate the puzzle around the canister
• Cognition: Problem solving the incomplete image and determining what the whole image should look like

Introducing Sorting Activities

Many parents say that the knowledge and language centers really start to take off at an exponential rate around the 1.5 year mark, so many skills are emerging at this critical time in development. The prerequisite for sorting is basic problem solving and eye-hand coordination that emerges around 15-18 months. At this time, your little should have an interest with that shape sorter toy you bought for their first birthday. Recognizing different colors emerges between 12 and 18 months as well.

Then, around 18 months – 2 years old, your little will be able to use those previous skills with identifying colors and objects, and begin to sort them into their appropriate categories.

How do we teach sorting?

• Start small: give 2-3 choices max, once they master this, add another option and keep building
• Make it simple: You don’t need any fancy toys or gadgets that are distracting. Use something simple for them to grasp the concept. An example would be pom poms
• Guide them: Show them that the color of the object matches another object, help them gather the items together
• Begin with an easy category: sort colors, or shapes to begin with, then move to more complex categories

Here’s an example of a basic sorting activity: place 3 colored cups in front of your toddler along with a handful of same colored pom poms. talk and show your little that you have a blue pom pom that matches the blue cup. Give the blue pom pom to your little and point to the blue cup. Allow your little to put the pom pom in the cup you pointed out. Repeat this with more pom poms in each cup!

Toddler-Led Play

Caroline came up with her own sensory activity today! We asked me for an ice cube, so I gave her one. Then she said “more!” So, of course, I went to the freezer and filled up a bowl of ice cubes. She sat in the kitchen with 2 bowls and a spoon for 20 minutes by herself, transferring ice cubes, stirring the ice cubes, holding the ice cubes using lots of descriptive words like “cold, and brrr!” A lot of people would look at this and say, that’s nice, so what’s the big deal?

Have you heard of child-directed play? Child-led play is about letting your little play freely, without direction or intervention. Around 18 months – 2 years old, toddlers start learning that they are an independent being. They can sometimes be called “defiant” because they are seeking control and testing the limits of their independence. Allowing your little to pick and choose their own activity has so many benefits!

• Learning at their own pace
• Independent discovery keeps your little interested and wanting to learn more
• Development of their sense of identity
• Development of self-esteem
• Independent problem solving
• Development of imagination and creativity
• Observing your little play independently allows you as the parent to learn what your little is interested in

How to encourage this type of play:

• Sit with them while they play and just watch them. If they come to you to play with them or ask questions, go ahead and join by following their lead. Ask questions throughout play to encourage their problem solving, but try not to tell them what to do or what to use. An example could be: “That tower you built is so tall! What else can you stack on your blocks?”

DIY Tool for Teaching Empathy and Emotions

Toddlerhood is a non-stop roller coaster for learning and managing emotions. You can introduce emotions early on, and the more you engage and talk to your little about types of emotion, the better they will be at recognizing what is happening to them and begin to be able to understand how to manage them.

I’ve created these little cardboard roll “dolls” that have a rotating facial expression as a tool to help parents and educators role play different emotions. Make up a simple story and have your characters act out why they are happy, sad, or mad, about the situation. Ask your little to why your dolls might be feeling this way. Help them identify the expression, match it to the correct emotion, and develop empathy.

Items needed:

1. Scissors
2. Hot glue
3. Sharpie
4. Tape
5. piece of cardboard (I used a flap of an amazon box)
6. A paper towel roll cut in half or 2 toilet paper rolls
7. Colored paper

How to make your dolls:

1. Cut out 2 small squares of cardboard to use as a base for your dolls.
2. Hot glue each base on the cardboard roll

3. Measure and cut 2 pieces of colored paper to fit inside the cardboard roll. It should be just slightly smaller so that you can easily move the paper inside to rotate the paper

4. Remove the paper and draw different faces on your colored paper

5. Roll up and tape the paper together

6. Cut a “window” in the cardboard roll so that the faces can show through

7. Slide your rolled up colored paper inside the cardboard roll and you’re all set!

“Stuck On You” Fine Motor Game

Recycle and play are easily my favorite tasks. I love turning every day “junk” or “trash” into something functional and fun for littles at home! When you’re working in the field, not all of your families will have access or funds to go and buy some fancy toy. That’s where the creative mind of an OT comes in! OT’s are known to be resourceful, creative, problem solvers! This week I challenge YOU to see what you can make with some everyday household items you find around the house! Tag me with the hashtag “PouchTopRecycleChallenge”, and you may just end up with a shout out!

This week’s challenge is those twist tops from fruit/veggie pouches! I’ve seen lots of fun ideas floating around, let’s see what you can come up with!

I’ll kick off the challenge. I call this “Stuck on You!”

Items needed:

• Twist tops from fruit/veggie pouches
• Velcro
• Hot glue
• Scissors
• Empty bottle/jug

How to set it up:

1. Cut several squares of hook and loop
2. Hot glue hook onto the bottle/jug
3. Hot glue loop onto the twist tops

What we are working on:

• Fine motor skills: eye-hand coordination, finger strength, dexterity, and object manipulation. All great skills to ready your little for self-feeding and handwriting!
• Cognition: Color recognition, sequencing ie. “Put on the white top, then the green top,” problem solving, building attention to task, counting (count out loud each top as baby puts/takes them off)
• Bilateral integration: this activity requires 2 hands to complete, one hand to steady the bottle, the other to place and remove the pouch tops

Feed the Farm Animals – Sensory Activity

Hey crafty moms! Want to add some cute DIY props to your sensory bin? How about some handmade farm animals that your little will enjoy scooping and feeding?

Items needed:

• Plastic cups
• Plain paper
• Sharpie
• Colored pencils/crayons/markers
• Scissors
• Tape

Here’s how to make your cute farm animals!

• Trace the cup opening on your plain white paper to make a circle
• Draw your farm animal head attached to the top of the traced circle
• Once you have your animal nicely colored/decorated, cut out your animals
• Cut out the center of each white circle to create a “mouth”
• Tape the edges of the circle and animal head to the plastic cup

What we are working on:

• Sensory processing: add any filler to your sensory bin, pom poms, chia seeds, dry corn, dry beans, etc. Different textures and colors allow your little to process the world around them
• Fine motor skills: Scooping, pouring, transferring the sensory filler into the animal cups helps your little learn coordination needed for independence with self feeding and pre-writing
• Language development: Help your little describe what they’re touching & what actions they are doing
• Cognition: following directions “Feed the chicken,” and attention to task

DIY Peg Board

Have a golfer in the family? Then you can do this simple DIY in less than 10 minutes! This DIY peg board will help your little enhance those fine motor skills as they pick up and place the golf tees in holes. Appropriate age: 14+ months (due to the size of the tee, it is harder for younger littles to grasp. For younger babies, try starting with a wooden dowel). *See my note for other variations of this task below!

What you need:

• 6 golf tees
• 1 small cardboard box
• Scissors or X-Acto knife
• Tape
• Decorative paper if you want to wrap the box

How to make your peg board:

1. Use the point of your scissors, or a X-Acto knife to create a small hole
2. Push a golf tee through the hole to widen the hole to the appropriate size
3. Wrap the box as you would for a gift and then re punch the holes with the golf tee

What are we working on?

• Fine motor: your little is tuning his coordination, manipulation, accuracy, using the pincer grasp! Because the golf tees are thin, it makes the challenge harder than a larger peg or dowel
• Eye-hand coordination
• Cognition: problem solving and attention to task
• Other considerations: Color each tee to work on color recognition, or number each hole to work on number recognition and sequencing skills

*Other variations for this task: Use this for pretend play! Give your little a wooden toy hammer and have him “nail” the tees into the ground outside or on a piece of Styrofoam!