Happy Valentines Day

The holidays are a great time to use themes to address fine motor skills and messy play. Crafts or art projects involving cutting, coloring, gluing, finger painting and folding are perfect to create interest for working on fine motor and sensory play. You can grade the level of difficulty by making it more or less challenging based on their abilities. You want to make it just the right amount of challenge that makes it fun without frustration. Here are just a few suggestions: create thick boundaries to color within, use spring loaded scissors for beginner cutting, short or broken crayons for improved grasp, cutting either thin or thick paper (increased strength), or use slanted surfaces to promote development of grasp through wrist extension either with paper taped to the wall or on an easel. Adding tweezers or tongue use to a game with small pieces is a great pre-scissors activity. Aim for fine motor activities once a day or several times a week if your child is not in school.