Two Are Better Than One

(And Some Other Tips!)

Does your child need to work on some skills over the summer? Perhaps some coordination skills, or visual perception, or scissor cutting, or pencil control?

Do you need some inspiration to figure out how to work on these skills without your child realizing it?

Here are some tips that I have used over the years, to make activities fun for kids of all ages! I have linked out to quite a few pages on my site that show you real-life activities to go with the tips.

Make it a contest between you and your child!

Whether you are doing snake curls for core strength, or bouncing a ball against a wall for eye-hand coordination, or making playdough balls for finger dexterity, you can make it a competition – see who can get to 10 the fastest.

Being the adult, you can control your body a bit better, so you can let your child win some, and also win some yourself so your child feels like it’s a real competition! There are also many visual perception games that work well for parents to do with their kids, like Spot It!, Concentration, and others!

All of OT Mom's gross motor articles!

Invite a friend!

Why not invite your child’s friend over, and show them how to build an obstacle course (indoors or outdoors), and then go through it with them the first time? You can incorporate leopard crawls, crab walks, balancing, coordination exercises and lots more! It’s way more fun with a friend - hence “two are better than one” in the subject of this email!

And it’s not just gross motor activities that are more fun with a friend – you can have a lot of fun with fine motor ideas too – try making a big batch of homemade playdough, and show them how to roll balls and sausages to make all kinds of creative critters! Or do some scissor cutting together to make rockets or houses for a wall mural…

Go to the playpark!

Not everyone lives near a great playpark with fancy equipment, but there are still lots of things you can do in an open space with a thick piece of rope, a ball, a blanket, some hula hoops or some bean-bags.

Try balancing along a low beam or along the rope on the grass, clambering over rocks, throwing bean bags at a target, using hula hoops to mark targets that need to be hopped, skipped or jumped towards. Doing some core exercises on a blanket at the park, especially if your child does them with a friend, can be more fun than doing them indoors, unless of course, you are suffering through a heat wave :/

Make something edible!

Most kids love being in the kitchen and making something yummy! Check out my tips on how to incorporate different skills into your kitchen time (coordination skills, math skills, fine motor skills) and then choose a dish that can use some of those techniques! Baking is not just for Christmas time!

Bake with your kids and build their skills!

Use water!

Summer is a great time for outdoor water play! From washing plastic dishes on an outside table, to throwing sponges at a target, to using squirt toys, water is always fun!

I love to have my kiddos practice shapes and patterns (for visual motor integration) using sidewalk chalk on an outside wall. Then they get to scrub it clean using two hands on a scrubbing brush (bilateral coordination) and a BIG bucket of water. Again, doing this with a friend makes it waaaaay more fun!

All of these ideas are covered on my website, but they are combined with many, many more in my OT Mom's Gross Motor and Fine Motor E-Books.

They are discounted by 20% until the end of June (with an even deeper discount if you purchase the already discounted bundles)! For the price of a couple of coffees, you can have access to reams of photographed activities with detailed instructions and tips, and everything you need to get started with some summer skill-building fun!

Grab Your Discounted E-Books Now!

I hope you find these pages to be useful!

Please do feel free to share this info with anyone you think would benefit.

Thanks so much for joining me again this month. All the best as you help the children in your life! And stay cool if you are in a heat wave!

Tracey

Living Life Abundantly!
John 10:10

These Visual Motor and Drawing Worksheets
Are Great For Vacation Days!

This information and the suggested activities on my email and website are meant to promote your child’s normal development. If you are at all concerned about your child's development, please consult your health professional. The information on my email and website is not intended to take the place of an occupational therapy evaluation and treatment!