Motor-based Activities for Summertime FUN!
Fine Motor Skills and Activities
Two Handed Activities
- Cooking activities that incorporate measuring, stirring, kneading or shaping dough, etc.
- Building with Legos
- Dressing activities such as buttons, laces, snaps, zippers, etc
- Cutting, writing and gluing activities
- Typing
- Playing an instrument
- See how long you can hold a plank position
Hand Strengthening
- Use a vibrating or “squiggle” pen to doodle or complete a worksheet
- Squeeze or wring out sponges, rags, etc
- Use hole-punches or staplers during a craft
- Playing with Playdough or putty http://www.puttyworld.com
- Use spray bottles to mist house plants, etc.
- Playing tug-o-war or similar games
Pinch Strength
- Pop bubble wrap with the thumb and index finger
- Hide beads or other small items in play dough or silly putty
- Stringing beads
- Use tongs to pick up puff balls, beads, etc
- Bend pipe cleaners into shapes, letters, spirals, etc
- Have student hold coins in palm and move them to fingertips to put into a piggy bank
- Use a small hole-punch with fun shapes.
- Make designs with a peg board or push pins
- Use a mini stapler during a craft project
- Playing Jenga or other stacking games
Handwriting Skills and Activities
- Trace a letter on your child's back and have them guess which letter it is, then write that letter on a piece of paper. Take turns and have them trace a letter on your back.
- Finger paint letters.
- Write letters on the sidewalk with chalk.
- Trace letters in the sand at the beach.
- Forms letters out of Play dough or clay.
- Make cookie letters. Have your child form the letters by rolling the dough and putting the pieces together.
- Make letters with pipe cleaners.
- Draw letters with your finger on the carpet.
- Decorate a letter collage using glitter, puffy paint, and markers.
- Use different types of pencils for writing practice (gel pens, vibrating pens, colored pencils, scented markers, crayons).
- Have your children write your shopping lists or a packing list for vacation.
- Put letters on a die and have your child roll it; then have the child write a word that starts with that letter.
- Fish for words. Place cut out fish in a shoebox. Write words or letters on the fish. Attach paper clips to the fish and adapt a small pole with a magnet. Whichever fish the child gets, they have to come up with a word or sentence using what is on the fish.
- Have children write with icing tubes.
Crafts and Projects to Build Fine Motor Skills
- Make kalidescopes out of Pringles cans
- Make rain sticks out of toothpicks, beads, pebbles and paper towel tubes
- Paint flower pots and plant something in them. Beans sprout in 3-4 days if placed with dampened paper towel in a baggie and placed near a window.
- Decorate the driveway with sidewalk chalk. Use squirt bottles to “erase” the drawings or use a paint brush or roller dipped in water to “erase”
- Have a car or bike wash using sponges. Squeezing and wringing out sponges will help build grip strength.
- Have your child help in the garden by digging holes, pulling weeds, carry water, etc.
Visual Perceptual and Visual Motor Skills and Activities
Visual Discrimination
- Matching cards or toys
- Sorting colors, letters, small toys, etc
- Finding various shapes in the room (find all the squares, etc)
- Sort alphabet cereal into a muffin tin with each hole labeled for a specific letter
- Find and circle a specific letter(s) on a magazine or coloring book page
Visual Memory
- Memory card games
- Open a drawer/cupboard have the student recall what they saw
- Place various items on a desk, have student look for a few seconds and then recall what they saw
- Reproduce designs made out of blocks, beads, etc
- Read a picture book and have student recall items on a specific page
- Place a few items on the desk, have student look away. Remove an item and have student identify what item is missing.
- Show student directions for a treasure hunt. Have the student recall the steps and find the treasure.
- Draw shapes in sand, salt or shaving cream
- Play copy cat and have student copy gross motor movements in a specific sequence. Take turns adding on movements
Visual Figure Ground
- Have a treasure hunt in student’s desk, cupboard or classroom to look for specific items
- Play eye spy in the classroom
- Color by number pictures
- Hidden picture worksheets
- Have the student leave the room. Hide clothes pins in the classroom and have the student come in and find the clothes pins.
- “I Spy” and “Where’s Waldo” books
Visual Tracking
- Play flash light tag on a wall in a dimmed room
- Dot to dot
- Find to routes on maze worksheets with eyes first
- Play catch
- Jump rope with a group
- Marbles and Jacks are great games for visual tracking
Spatial Relations
- Have student complete an obstacle course
- Play the “zoo” game. Draw a large square on a chalkboard or paper. Give students instructions to draw cages for the animals in certain parts of the zoo (right, left, upper, lower, etc). Have them practice writing the names of the animals or drawing them.
- Have student replicate designs from pegs, blocks, beads, etc
- Have the student play a game like Twister while you read out the directions
Sequencing
- Spell out words with magnetic letters
- Follow bead patterns, spelling out words
- Give student a series of directions to follow during an activity
- Copy Cat games each person can take a turn to do an action and add one to the end of the sequence. The next player repeats the sequence and adds a new move.
- Play the game Simon
- Play a tune on a key board or toy piano. Have the student repeat
Recipes
Flubber
2 cups white glue
2 cups water
1/3 cup warm water
About 10 drops of food coloring
1 tablespoon Borax
Ziploc baggie or plastic tub
Mix together 2 cups water, blue and food coloring until well blended. Dissolve Borax into 1/3 cup warm water and mix until blended. Add Borax mixture to the glue mixture. Stir immediately! The mixture will begin to thicken. Repeat Borax and warm water step two more times, these times using 3 T Borax and 1 cup of water. Let it set for a few minutes and it will be ready to use. Store in a Ziploc baggie. CAUTION: Borax is toxic so do not let the child put it in their mouth!!
Salt Dough
2 cups salt
1 cup water
1 cup cornstarch
Food coloring
Cook salt and ½ cup water for 4-5 minutes. Remove from heat. Add cornstarch and ½ cup water. Return to heat. Cook and stir until mixture thickens. Let cool and store in a plastic bag.
Bathtub Paint
1 cup liquid baby bath
1 tablespoon corn starch
2 drops food coloring
Mix all ingredients well and have fun!
6 Foot Bubbles
1 cup yellow or blue Ultra Dawn or Ivory dish soap
3-4 tablespoons glycerin
12 cups clean, cold water
Measure 12 cups of water, then add dish soap. Add the glycerin. Stir gently, but not too much. If it begins to froth, skim off the top.