Everyday Play (5 page)

Read Everyday Play Online

Authors: Christy Isbell

More Fun!
• Help your child design and draw her own tracks by using a variety of lines and shapes.
• Encourage her to dip the wheels of the cars into paint and then trace the lines and shapes of the tracks.
Wall Washing
Develops your child’s pre-writing skills
What You Need
large adult-size paintbrushes (at least 3” wide) or paint rollers | large bucket of water | liquid soap (if you want to use soapy water) | sidewalk chalk | outside wall or fence
What to Do
• Encourage your child to use sidewalk chalk to draw large circles, crosses, and horizontal, vertical, and diagonal lines on the outside wall or fence.
• Give him a bucket of water and paintbrushes or rollers and invite him to “wash the wall” with the paintbrushes or rollers.
• Show him how to trace the lines or shapes with the wet paintbrush to make the drawing disappear.
More Fun!
• Use large sponges or rags instead of paintbrushes to wash the wall.
Yarn Shapes
Develops your child’s ability to trace simple shapes and to use glue and other art materials in play
What You Need
paper with horizontal lines, vertical lines, circles, squares, and triangles drawn on it | markers | glue stick or cotton swabs and small bowl of glue | yarn pre-cut into various lengths
What to Do
• Give your child the paper with lines or shapes drawn on it and encourage her to trace over the lines or shapes with glue.
• Glue yarn to the lines or shapes.
• Talk about the shapes she made.
• Once the glue is dry, she can feel and trace the yarn shapes with her fingers.
More Fun!
• Give her a blank sheet of paper and invite her to make her own yarn lines or shapes.
• Use the completed yarn shapes as templates and trace inside or outside the shapes with markers.
• You can also use the completed sheet with the yarn shapes to make a simple crayon rubbing. Place a sheet of plain paper on top and rub back and forth with a crayon. See what happens!
Cup Tower
Gives your child experience with lacing and develops his eye-hand coordination
What You Need
small paper cups, such as bathroom cups | coffee stirrers or plastic straws | pieces of Styrofoam | markers, crayons, stickers, and other materials
What to Do
• Poke a small hole in the bottom of each small paper drinking cup (adult-only step). Make sure the hole is just big enough for the straw or coffee stirrer.
• Encourage your child to use coffee stirrers or plastic straws to string the paper cups together.
• Show him how to stick one end of the straw into a Styrofoam base, to make the cup tower stand tall.
• Talk about how many cups can fit on one straw. Ask your child questions. For instance, “How tall is the finished tower?”
More Fun!
• If your child has difficulty holding or lacing the cups, consider having him place one end of the straw into the Styrofoam before beginning. This will hold the straw steady.
• Decorate the paper cups with markers, crayons, and stickers.
Ribbon Pull
Improves your child’s pincer grasp
What You Need
clean coffee can with plastic lid | variety of ribbon | scissors and sharp knife (for use by adults only)
What to Do
• Cut pieces of ribbon into different lengths at least 12” long (adult-only step).
• Use a knife to cut slits in the coffee can lid for each ribbon; thread ribbons through the slits (adult-only step).
• Tie a knot on one end of each ribbon.(The knot should be inside the can when you secure the lid. )
• Position the ribbons so that a small piece of each one sticks out from the top of the lid.
• Secure the lid (adult-only step).
• Show your child how to pull each ribbon with her fingers.
• Invite her to pull the ribbons out of the can. Once all the ribbons are as far out of the can as possible, remove the lid and reposition the ribbons to start again.
More Fun!
• Before beginning, ask your child to predict which ribbon will be the longest. Once all the ribbons are out, talk about the colors, textures, lengths, and widths. Help her determine which ribbon is the longest and which is the shortest.
Shish-Kabob Snack
Develops your child’s bilateral hand skills and expands his eye-hand coordination
What You Need
foods that are easy to skewer, such as bananas, pineapple, strawberries, melon, or marshmallows | wooden shish-kabob skewers or chopsticks
What to Do
• Give your child a wooden skewer or chopstick.
Safety Note
: Skewers have sharp ends, so be sure to supervise this activity.
• Let him choose the foods and show him how to lace the food onto the skewer.
• Talk about the shapes and colors of food items.
• After he finishes making his shish-kabob snack, he can eat and enjoy it!
More Fun!
• Challenge him to see how many pieces of food will fit on a skewer.
• Suggest that he create a food pattern, such as banana, pineapple, banana, pineapple.
Straw Jewelry
Develops your child’s eye-hand coordination and improves bilateral hand skills
What You Need
colorful straws | child-safe scissors | plastic string for making jewelry
What to Do
• Invite your child to cut straws into small pieces, ½”-1” in length.
Note
: See “Pop” Straws activity on page 34 for more ideas with straws.
• Help her cut a piece of string long enough for a necklace or bracelet.
• Tie a large knot in one end of string.
• Encourage your child to string pieces of straw onto the string.
• When the string is full of straw pieces, help your child tie the two ends together to make a bracelet or necklace.
More Fun!
• See if your child can make a pattern by using different colors of straw pieces. Simple patterns using two colors will work well for three-year-olds.
Walk Like an Animal
Develops your child’s upper-body strength and improves bilateral coordination
What You Need
No materials needed
What to Do
• This is a great activity to try inside or outside although it requires a certain amount of open floor space.
• Sing the song “This is the way we walk like a (insert animal name)” to the tune of “Here We Go ‘Round the Mulberry Bush.”
• Select animals that your child can imitate. Animals that require him to place his hands or his body on the floor will build more strength in the upper body. Some suggestions include: bear, cat, dog, snake, frog, crab, and giraffe.
• Demonstrate how to “walk” like the animal.
• Encourage him to move his body and pretend to be each animal.
Chapter 4
Now I’m Four So I Can Do More!
At age four, many children expand their repertoire of fine motor skills dramatically. Your child may learn to use thin writing and drawing utensils to trace, copy, and form a variety of shapes. He may also gain independence in simple scissor skills, such as cutting on a straight line. At this age, your child may enjoy manipulating clay, playdough, and sand and exploring new tools to create artwork. These experiences are necessary to prepare his hands for more challenging fine motor activities.
 
 
At age four, your child may be interested in learning how to:
• Cut out large shapes (for example: circle, square, triangle)
• Copy a square
• Copy a triangle
• Copy a cross
• Draw a person (may include a circle with two lines or be as detailed as a head, body, legs, arms and fingers)
• Make marks to represent her name
• Draw and paint with a variety of sizes and types of utensils (such as markers, paintbrushes, pencils, or crayons)
• Put together simple puzzles
• String small beads
• Use an easy-to-squeeze 1-hole punch and stapler, with close supervision
• Lace simple cards
• Manipulate clay or playdough with his hands
• Use tools such as a play hammer, rolling pin, or plastic knife with clay or playdough
• Use fingers to act out simple fingerplays and songs
• Use a zipper independently (may need help starting)
• Button large buttons
• Snap easy snaps
• Pour liquid into a cup
• Draw a picture that does not include all the characteristics of objects known to her (for instance, she may draw a square for a car and leave out the wheels)
• Attempt to sign her name (although she may often delete, reverse, inaccurately form letters, or write them from right to left)
• Undress and dress independently
Your child may hold a crayon with his thumb, index, and middle fingers in a more basic way, with his ring and pinky fingers slightly bent and held high up on the pencil; or he may hold it with the tips of his thumb, index, and middle fingers, ring and pinky fingers bent, moving his hand separately from his forearm.
Have fun doing the activities on the following pages with your child. They are designed with four-year-old children in mind, and they address more challenging precursors of fine motor skills, such as refined grasp of utensils and coordinating two hands together. They will prepare your child for the fine motor tasks she’ll need in kindergarten.
Crayon Rubbings
Improves your child’s eye-hand coordination
What You Need
large and/or small crayons with paper peeled off | white drawing paper | flat objects with texture, such as leaves and coins | templates of shapes, letters, or animals
What to Do
• Ask your child to select an object.
• Ask him to close his eyes and feel the object with his fingers.
• Show him how to place the paper on top of the object and color over it.
• Talk about his creations and label them by the objects he used to make them.
More Fun!
• Give your child black paper and chalk to create more rubbings.
• Choose new or unusual objects to use in crayon rubbings.
• Encourage his imagination (for example, ask him, “What if the object isn’t flat?” “What if the object doesn’t have a texture?”).
Dressing Up
Gives your child practice with using zippers and manipulating buttons and snaps, and encourages her independence in dressing
What You Need
dress-up clothes with zippers | dress-up clothes with large buttons | dress-up clothes with simple snaps
What to Do
• Give your child dress-up clothing that includes zippers, large buttons, and snaps, and show her how to use them, if necessary.
• If your child can’t do it independently, start the process and allow her to finish. For example, help her place the button inside the buttonhole and then help her pull the button through. This technique will help your child develop confidence in her attempts at fastening.
More Fun!
• Use dolls or stuffed animals with fasteners on their clothing to give her another opportunity to develop independence in dressing.
Finger Puppets

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