One of my personal goals this year is to find more ways to integrate sensory and fine motor activities into my students days. Every academic activity we give our students can be modified to include fine motor or sensory.
Some activities, we can create with fine motor needs in mind. My kids DON’T enjoy gluing, and their OT wants to expose them to more liquid glue, and less glue sticks. So this project was developed with that in mind.
All of my kids are working on counting, some 1:1 correspondence, some making a set, and others making arrays for early multiplication. This activity hit all of those needs.
First we set up the trees by cutting large construction paper using a paper cutter. Then using a ruler, we made 12 equal sections.
Next we readied 12 materials that could be used for each section. I wanted my students to have 12 rows of each material.
Some of my students need a bit more visual support for counting and gluing using 1:1 correspondence skills. It can be tough to count, glue, and check that you have enough in the row. I added in some visual support for them.
Next we set up the glue, We used pom poms and clothespins, one of my favorite ways to get kids using the pinch grasp. The pom poms lined up perfectly with the circles, so helped to let them know how much glue they needed, one dip was good for a whole row! I like using these paint containers for glue, because it gives the pom pom somewhere to rest when they aren’t using it, much better than laying the glue pom pom on the table making a big mess!
Next, we started making choices. All the bins of materials were out on the table. Students had to request what bin they wanted and counted out the number of items needed.
They did a great job of choosing a different material for each row!
You can see even more ideas for materials in this photo. I bought nothing new for this, just used what we had in our closet, and cut things into smaller pieces. The smaller the pieces the better for kids to practice fine motor skills and counting the exact amount they need.
The finished product was so beautiful, and every students was different! We have already gotten so many compliments on our new door decorations.
The best part about this project, is that it actually extended the amount of time my students usually can sit for a project. Art activities aren’t a favorite, we don’t like to get our hands dirty and touch glue. The clothespins we used this time were FUN, our fingers didn’t get sticky and it took us longer to do each step because we had to FOCUS and COUNT. I call that a win!
