Working as a pediatric occupational therapist in the schools, we do many crafts with kids to support with classroom themes and literacy activities, while working on fine motor, visual motor, and visual perceptual skill development! Working on crafts also support with social emotional skills including following multiple step directions and sharing of supplies.Most of all, I love that craft activities inspire creativity in our littles and they have so much fun creating artwork! Some craft supplies are better than others and below is a list of some of my favorites that are hits with the kids with hidden fine motor and visual motor skills benefit:
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1. Glitter Glue
Using glitter glue is a fun way to work on hand strengthening skills and also adds some extra pizzaz to art projects. You can also work on visual motor skills by tracing around the outside of figures or tracing over lines in the craft. If you don’t have glitter glue, you can easily use white glue and then sprinkle glitter on top (I like to sprinkle over a garbage can for less mess.)
2. Kwik Stix Solid Tempera Paint Sticks
I love using Kwik Stixs for art activities with my preschool aged kids. These are tempura paint sticks that dry in 90 seconds!!! I love the vibrant colors that they create and have a thicker width that is perfect for smaller hands. These also are great for promoting fine motor skills development with opening the cap and twisting the bottom piece (similar to glue sticks.) They are also a fun medium for pre writing and letter practice!
3. Crayon Rocks
These are my FAVORITE crayons for preschool and kidergarten aged kids as they are perfect for promoting a tripod grasp (preferred grasp with writing) on crayons. I love that they come in a cute little bag that are perfect to throw into therapy bags or store in smaller spaces!
4. Tissue Paper
This is a great therapy tool that can be cost free! Save your tissue paper from presents and use it with your kids for art project. Tearing tissue paper and crumpling tissue paper (especially only using one hand to crumple) is a wonderful fine motor activity to activate smaller hand movements. There are so many crafts that you can incorporate crumpled tissue paper, below are a few examples. You also can often get tissue paper at the dollar store if you are not able to save any.
5. Fiskars 5 Inch Classic Blunt Tip Kids Scissors
These are my favorite scissors to use with little preschool and early elementary hands and are perfect for cutting skills practice. I often like to use left over strips of paper for cutting skills practice for sprucing up art projects. If your kiddos have difficulty with cutting with the above scissors, I would recommend using adaptive self opening scissors as a first step in scissor practice (see pic below of red scissors) and practice with cutting of small rolled out pieces of playdough for more cutting fun! Added OT tip- put a sticker on your child’s thumb to help promote a supinated “thumb up” hand position when cutting.
6. Washable Dot Markers
Dot markers are a great addition to crafts, especially with early preschool aged kids. They are colorful and work on fine motor skills of twisting open/closed twist top containers as well as visual motor skills marking paper! Added bonus- there are many free dot marker worksheets in which you can have your kids try to keep their dots inside the designated lines. I like the scented dot markers for some added olfactory sensory fun!
I hope you find this post helpful with fun ideas for craft supplies and activities! Happy crafting!!!!
by Kimberly Heyer OTR/L
Thank you For Alltel wonderful ideas$✌❤💙