When the weather is too cold to go outdoors and the kids are bouncing off the walls, you sometimes need to get creative. Maybe you’ve got a few Occupational Therapy students who would benefit from a vestibular movement activity like this snowflake balance beam! This is a great indoor gross motor activity for preschool or older ages.
Balance Beams and the Vestibular System
Balance beams are perfect to address needs in the vestibular system. Our body’s ability to regulate position in space helps us to manage obstacles in our path without losing balance. The vestibular system allows us to move in space without falling or without making us thing we will fall (gravitational insecurity). We’re able to take in visual information, process it, and respond accordingly…all with the help of the vestibular system!
When there is a problem in the vestibular system, a child may appear clumsy, running into objects or people, have trouble with visual tracking, attention in reading and writing, difficulty focusing on a task, and trouble with motor planning in coordinated activities that a child needs to do throughout their day.
Balance beams are a great way to practice and work on vestibular sensory integration into functional activities. A child can work on balance and motor planning as they visually scan their balance beam and track the line they need to walk along.
Balance beams challenge the vestibular system with variances in difficulty. The great thing about this snowflake balance beam is that you can adjust the size and provide many, many alternate activities to work on coordination, listening, motor planning, direction following, and attention.
Snowflake Winter Balance Beam: Making therapy fun!
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Cut snowflakes from paper and place them around the room. Get the kids in on the snowflake cutting for seasonal scissor skill work!
Using double sided tape
, create a balance beam on the with the snowflakes. Arrange them in a line along the floor. It can be a simple strait line or a multi-angled balance beam track. Ask your child to walk along the snowflake line without falling off.
Other balance beam activities that challenge the vestibular system:
Walking on tip to
Walking toe-to-heel
Hopping on one foot
Jumping
Walking sideways
Walking backwards
Crawling
Walking with feet and hands. Encourage direction-following and listening skills by calling out different ways to walk along the snowflake balance beam.
Toss a ball to your child as they are on the balance beam.
Ask your child to change directions as they walk along the beam.
Have the child look up at the wall and not down at their feet as they walk.
Looking for more balance beam ideas? These are some of the best out there:
This Folding Beam is great for storage concerns. Add creative balance beam activities like transferring items from a bucket at one end to a bucket at the other end. Balance Pods can be positioned in any room or activity. Encourage big and little steps by spacing them closely and further apart. Gonge Riverstones are a great challenge to the vestibular system with various sloped sides. Stepping Buckets Balancechallenge motor planning. Place obsitcals in between the buckets for more visual tracking while working on vestibular sensory integration. The BSN Gymnastics Curve-A-Beam can be reconfigured in curved patterns.
Are you looking for more information on Vestibular or Proprioception (and ALL of the sensory systems) and how they affect functional skills, behavior, and the body’s sensory systems? This book, Sensory Lifestyle Handbook, will explain it all. Activities and Resources are included. Get it today and never struggle to understand or explain Sensory Integration again.
Looking for more vestibular activities? Check out our January calendar that has 31 days of vestibular and proprioception activities based on winter play.
Last month, we created a calendar of Occupational Therapy ideas using a Christmas theme. It was such a hit among our readers (that’s you!), that I decided to create a monthly version of sensory integration activities. Be sure to read our blog post on Ayres Sensory Integration for more information on this theory.
What’s better is that these SI activities are geared to turn therapy into play. Children of all ages can participate in their Occupational Therapy goal areas with themed activities while working on proprioceptive and vestibular input. These activities are designed to address gross motor, fine motor, and visual perceptual skills through January’s winter theme of snow, snowballs, snowflakes, and ice.
Occupational Therapists are skilled at turning therapy into play in order to make goals of therapy fun. Kids can work on areas they need to develop with fun and playful winter activities. You’ll find many recommendations for winter play with a focus on sensory integration.
Be sure to stop back each month for a calendar of Occupational Therapy and playful activities!
NOTE: These activities are meant to be a resource. No child is alike and so no therapy regime is alike. Please contact you physician and Occupational Therapist for individualized evaluation and treatment. These activities are designed to provide creative treatment ideas only.
I’ve tried to keep many of the vestibular and proprioceptive activities the same or similarly themed for each day.
The links below will show ways to work on vestibular and proprioceptive activities and has descriptions on how to work on each area with the day’s theme. Many children have specific proprioception or vestibular needs. Other children benefit from a combination of these treatment areas. The activities linked below show ways to hit these areas in a combination or separately.
I’ve included other resources with each linked activity as well, so be sure to check out each activity for proprioception and vestibular therapy ideas. Make sensory integration fun by turning therapy into play!
These calendars are meant to provide a general plan for daily vestibular and proprioceptive input. We all have best intentions when it comes to our day’s schedule and sometimes life challenges our plan for the day. No problem! You can easily switch activities with another day’s activity and adjust activities according to your family’s needs.
Just a small amount of proprioception and vestibular activity are enough to help with regulating a child’s sensory needs.
One activity each day should be effective for most children, so add these themed activities to the sensory diets you’ve got in place to turn therapy into play this winter. HOWEVER, all children should be assessed by an Occupational Therapist to assess individual needs and abilities.
January Winter Calendar: Proprioception Activities turning therapy into play
Proprioception Activities with a Winter Theme:
The proprioceptive system involves receptors in joints and muscles that tell our body how much effort to put into a task. The system allows us to know how to move and use our bodies in response to stimulation from the environment. Children with proprioceptive difficulties may bump into other children, break pencils when writing because they press too hard, show “no fear”, crash into objects, appear uncoordinated, appear lazy, chew clothing/pencils/anything, among other signs.
Proprioceptive input can be achieved through heavy work activities that adjust the child’s level of arousal and “wake up” or calm the body’s system. Activities that involve pushing, pulling, jumping, blowing, squeezing, pinching, throwing, skipping, crawling, and lifting can be achieved through play.
1. Heavy Work Sled Pull- For a proprioceptive work activity, load a sled up with books (or another child!) Pulling a loaded sled is a heavy work activity that is calming to the sensory system. Try pushing the sled with arms or legs, too. Take the sled outside and pull it on snowy slopes for added resistive work.
4. Snowball Stomp-Stomping with the legs is a great way to incorporate proprioception into the lower extremities. Make snowballs and STOMP on them for a fun and playful heavy work activity. Don’t have snow? Try makingbaked cotton ballsand stomp on them. Have you ever made baked cotton balls? It is a super sensory and creative way to work on so many fine motor skills. Simply coat cotton balls in a flour/water mixture and bake them until hared. They will have a hard shell that is perfect for pulling, tearing, and stomping on. Read more about making baked cotton ballshere.
5. Polar Bear Igloo- Get into the polar bear theme and build a polar bear igloo using couch cushions. Cover your cushion igloo fort with a white blanket to make an igloo. Pulling heavy couch cushions to build a fort is a great whole body proprioceptive workout. This heavy work activity is calming, but the warm igloo will be an even more calming area to relax and organize a child’s body.
6. Paint Snowflakes- Create masking tape resist snowflakes with tape and blue paint. Pinch and peel the tape from the roll and stick it into a snowflake shape on white paper. Now add a dab of blue paint onto the paper. Use a heavy cardboard box to smash the paint on the snowflake. Moving a box full of books is a proprioceptive activity that provides heavy work to the whole body.
7. Build a snowman- Rolling snow into a snowman is a great proprioception activity. If you don’t have snow, use several blankets to fold and roll into snowman-ish balls. Lift those blanket balls to build a snowman indoors. You’ll probably need to prop your blanket snowman against a wall to keep him standing.
8. Blanket Bundle- Lay a blanket out on the floor. Roll the child up in a blanket, burrito style. Now roll them back and forth on the floor. This works best on a carpeted floor. Add extra blanket layers and pillows for more proprioceptive input.
9. Indoor Skiing- Coming soon! (I promise!)
10. Snow Angels- Snow angels are an excellent way to provide proprioceptive input! Pushing snow or heavy blankets with the arms and legs is a powerful proprioception activity for kids. You’re providing heavy work input to the legs and arms as they abduct and adduct. Don’t have snow to make snow angels outside? No problem! Incorporate proprioceptive work into this activity by using heavy blankets on a carpeted floor.
11. Snowman Soda Dough- Soda Dough is a fun activity that provides proprioception to the small muscles of the hands as the child rolls small snowmen. You can find the recipe here.
12. Cut Icicles– Cut multiple layers of paper to create indoor icicles while providing proprioception to the hands.
13. Boot Dash {link coming soon!}
14. Snowshoe Walk {link coming soon!}
15. Polar Bear Crawl- Animal walks are a great way to incorporate proprioception into play. Show your child how to crawl like a polar bear on hands and knees. This position is a great way to provide proprioceptive input to the shoulder girdle and hips. Add a heavy blanket or towel over your child’s back for additional deep pressure.
16. Build a Snow Maze- If you’ve got snow in your area, this snow maze activity is a fun way to add heavy work to play. (My kids are still talking about our snow maze!) If you haven’t had snow in your area, build a maze using rolled an piled blankets, pillows, and couch cushions. Move the items around to construct a maze right in your living room.
17. Skate on Thin Ice {link coming soon!}
18. Snowy Walk- Just walking around in snow is a proprioception activity in itself! Enjoy the sights, sounds, and smells of a snowy day during an outdoor winter nature walk.
19. Snow Bin- Create a proprioception sensory snow bin with resistive materials like rice or homemade proprioception dough. Add scoops, cookie cutters, and plastic utensils to work on proprioception to the hands and arms. Push glass gems, beads, or other small items into the dough for more play.
20. Dance Party- Get the kids moving with a winter dance party! Add a proprioception component to your snowy winter dance party by adding wall push ups, floor push ups, and push-pull movements.
21. Hole Punch Ice Drops- Punching holes with a paper hole punch is an excellent way to provide proprioceptive input to the hands. Use this activity as a fine motor or handwriting warm up activity to wake up the muscles of the hands. use white paper to punch mini snowflakes and ice droplets. You can scatter these on blue paper covered in glue to create a snowy scene.
22. Snowman Squash- {link coming soon!}
23. Snowball Roll- For this activity, you’ll need masking tape, cotton balls, and a straw. Tape out a line across the floor. Use the straw to blow the snowman snowballs (the cotton balls) along the line while crawling. Adding the straw provides proprioceptive and oral motor input, too. Consider more ways to add proprioception to this activity: Have your child sit on a scooter as the adult pulls the child along with a towel. Another child can push a child’s back as they scoot along the line. Have the child sit on a square of cardboard and move their way along the line using their feet. Roll a weighted ball along the line.
24. Snowman Says- Play “Simon Says” with a winter theme by calling it “Snowman Says”! Add proprioception directions to the game like calling out:
Animal Walks
Wall Push Ups
Tug of War with a blanket
Jumping
Hugs
Stomping
25. Shovel Snow- Shoveling snow is a great way to provide proprioception to the whole body. If you’ve ever shoveled snow, then you know it gets all of the muscles moving…even muscles you didn’t know you had. And the sore body for the next two days keep reminding you! Have your child shovel small scoops of snow to clear a sidewalk. They can help out in the neighborhood by shoveling neighbor’s walks, too. If you are lacking in the real snow department in your area, take the shovel indoors. Use a clean shovel to scoop and move piles of towels, small toys, or even shredded paper.
26. Snow Bucket Brigade- Fill buckets with snow and create a bucket brigade with neighbor hood kids. Use all of that snow to build a snow fort. If you don’t have snow in your area, make an indoor bucket brigade using bean bags, toys, balls, or other small items. Children can dump the buckets’ contents into an empty laundry basket. Pouring the weighted buckets is a great rhythmic and calming activity.
28. Snow Pile Jump- Use outdoor snow to create a pile of snow. Jump into the snow with both feet. Show the child how to try to land on their back or on their side. They can also jump into the snow with one foot or two, or on their knees. No snow in your area? No problem! Create a snowy pile using bed pillows, couch pillows, or foam and cover it with a thing blanket or bed sheet. Jump into the “snow pile” from a trampoline. Use both feet, one feet, and knees to jump.
29. Snow Plow Push- For this activity, use a large cardboard box. Play snow plow by turning the box or laundry basket on it’s side and have the child push the basket around the room, pushing on all fours. They can scoop up balls or other items, including heavier items like pillows for heavy proprioceptive work.
31. Snowboard Balance- Create a homemade balance board like this one for proprioceptive and gross motor input. OR, make an ice wobble disc!
January Winter Calendar: Vestibular Activities turning therapy into play
Vestibular Activities with a Winter Theme:
The vestibular system involves the body’s ability to adjust and move in space based on organs within our inner ears. Problems with vestibular integration may exhibit by difficulty with balance, or a gravitationally insecure child.
You may see a child who craves movement, can’t sit still, seeks excessive movements, or is hyperactive. They might have trouble planning movements, crossing midline, or difficulties with reading and writing. Vestibular activities can be completed in therapy goals through play:
1. Sled Rides- Have your child ride a sled while sitting up, laying flat on their belly, an laying on their back. Pull your child around a yard covered in snow, down gentle slopes, and up small hills. The changes in grade challenges the vestibular system. Don’t have snow? Bring this activity indoors! A plastic sled works great on carpeted floors. Pull your child as they sit/lay in all positions. Add a bit of bumpy terrain by building a “ramp” with couch cushions and a blanket. Don’t forget to spin the sled for circular spinning motions.
2. Snowflake Toss- Use an inflated balloon to toss and hit from above and the sides. Encourage your child to extend their head and neck back to see a high “snowflake” and down low as they hit the low tosses. Bending, reaching overhead, and swooping side to side allow vestibular motions with a playful function.
4. Snowball Spin- Curl up like a snowball and get ready to spin! Use a large piece of cardboard for fun break-dancing, snowman-style! Show your child how to turn and move on the cardboard and slide in all directions and planes. For a challenge, draw or paint snowflakes on the cardboard. These are targets for hands and feet and provide a visual motor planning, visual tracking, hand-eye coordination, and crossing midline components! You can number the snowflakes to incorporate more skills. This is an activity that is sure to inspire smiles!
5. Polar Bear Roll- Lay on the floor and roll like a polar bear (log roll style). Use pillows to create obstacles and bumpy targets. Put items on both sides of the room and transfer the objects by only rolling. Rolling is an organizing activity for children.
6. Upside Down Snowflake Paint- Place a large sheet of butcher paper or newspaper on the floor. Have your child hang over a large therapy ball or ottoman to paint on the paper. You can also push dining room chairs together to create a place to hang. Try turning the child over so they are laying on their back and painting overhead with an extended head and neck. When your snowflake paintings have dried, hang them on the ceiling to encourage more neck and head extension as you gaze up at your snowy work of art! TIP: Try this snowflake stamping art activity to incorporate fine motor skills.
7. Bounce a Snowman- Bouncing a ball is rhythmic and calming. Bounce three different sized balls (the snowman’s bottom, middle, and head). Bounce the balls one at a time, then try to bounce two balls at once to encourage bilateral hand coordination. Add ping pong balls (the snowman’s eyes and buttons!) for a challenge. THEN, change the vestibular input by sitting on the balls and bouncing the child or showing them how to bounce up and down. A large therapy ball works well for this activity but other options include blow up beach balls, rubber balls, and kick balls.
8. Blanket Roll-Roll the child up in a blanket on the floor. Roll the child back and forth the whole way across the floor. Be aware of overstimulation and be sure to only do this activity for 10 rolls before taking a break. Now pull the blanket’s end so that the child is moving in the direction of their feet or head. Try pulling the child as they lay on their belly and then on their back.
9. Indoor Skiing-Coming Soon (I promise!)
10. Snow Angels– Cover a hard floor with a bed sheet. Ask the child to lay on the blanket and do snow angels. The thin sheet on a hard floor will provide little resistive feedback (which is what you want if you are working on proprioception activities!) Do angels while standing and while laying on a large therapy ball or over an ottoman, too.
11. Snowman Hop Scotch- Draw a snowman on a sidewalk or driveway. If it has recently snowed, draw a snowman in the snow with a stick. If the temperatures are too cold to play outdoors, draw a snowman on a large sheet of cardboard or create a snowman on the floor using masking tape. No matter where you make your snowman hop scotch board, don’t stop at just three circles! Make your snowman as high as you like! Play hop scotch with the snowman shape for jumping and hopping vestibular input. For a challenge, draw buttons on each circle. Children can count the number of buttons as they play hopscotch.
15. Polar Bear Crawl- Crawl on all fours like a polar bear. Add throw pillows and a body pillow, as well as rolled blankets to add a balance course. Ask them to hang their head down low as they crawl, then stand up on their knees like a polar bear. Changes in head position is calming and organizing for the vestibular systems integration of sensory input.
16. Snow Maze Obstacle Course- If you’ve got snow outside, build logs of snow for climbing over, walking along, and rolling over. Pile up a lump of snow for climbing on and sliding down. Get creative with building piles of snow and showing your child how to slide, drop, swoop, jump, roll, and crawl around, over, and through. Kids can position themselves in all planes for a variety of vestibular input. If you haven’t got snow in your area, create an indoor snow maze. use pillows and blankets to make “snow piles”.
19. Snow Slide- Use a large sheet of cardboard to create a snowy slide on the steps. You can also pile up a few couch cushions and pillows to create a ramp for sliding. If you’ve got snow outdoors, cardboard makes a great sled! Try sliding while sitting, laying, and spinning for more vestibular play.
20. Snow Dance Party- Turn up the music and spin, twirl, shake, stretch, jump, and sway to the music. Play music listening games like Freeze Dance. Turn the music off and everyone needs to freeze in the position that they are in. Try dancing with scarves and hoola hoops for more movements.
Other Winter Dance ideas:
Spin and twirl around a frozen lake
Pick up “ice cube” cotton balls and leap across the room to another “ice cube” as kids collect the ice cubes.
Frozen Bottom: dance to music and someone stops the music. When the music stops, everyone drops to the floor and sits on their bottom.
Winter Clothes Dance- Everyone dances until someone stops the music. When the music stops, everyone grabs an article of winter clothing and puts it on. You can have available a sweater, scarf, mittens, hat, earmuffs, coats, etc.
21. Snowflake Pillow Pull- Cut snowflakes from a small square of felt. Pin these to a body pillow. Children must lay on the body pillow, holding onto the snowflakes. An adult can pull the body pillow around the room as the child hugs the pillow. An alternate activity is to have the child sit on a a snowflake on the pillow as they hold on to the sides. Being pulled around on a moving seat is a calming vestibular activity for kids.
22. Snowman Squash- {link coming soon!}
23. Snowman Roll- Do somersaults along the floor. Tape a line of masking tape on the floor and have your child somersault along the line. Use the line to roll balls across the room, using ping pong balls and larger balls. Use a wheeled scooter to roll along the line. Scoot along the tape with the scooter while blowing a cotton ball “snowman” with a straw.
24. “Snowman Says”- Simon says with a snowman theme is a fun way to incorporate vestibular and proprioceptive input and adding the components of your child’s needs into a playful game.
Try some of these Snowman Says movements: Vestibular: Twirl your arms. Bend at the waist and reach between your legs. Jump Hop Skip Roll Dance Spin Somersault
25. Shovel Tumbles- Use a sandbox shovel to toss a ping pong ball “snowball” into a target such as a bucket or an empty laundry basket. For added vestibular input, add a tumbling movement to the activity as the child tries to keep the ball in the shovel while they tumble.
26. Snowy Wobble Jump- You can up the vestibular input by placing a mini trampoline on the wobbly cushion base. Jump on the trampoline or jump off of the trampoline. Put a cushion or pillow on the trampoline and jump on that.
27. Upside Down Frozen Writing- Encourage head tilt and alternate planes by writing while hanging over a chair or stack of couch cushions. Writing in the prone position puts the hands at a more optimal writing position than hanging from supine.
28. Snow Pile Jump- Use outdoor snow to create a pile of snow. Jump into the snow with both feet. Show the child how to try to land on their back or on their side. They can also jump into the snow with one foot or two, or on their knees. No snow in your area? No problem! Create a snowy pile using bed pillows, couch pillows, or foam and cover it with a thing blanket or bed sheet. Jump into the “snow pile” from a trampoline. Use both feet, one feet, and knees to jump.
29. Snow Plow Push- For this vestibular activity, use a large cardboard box. The child can climb into the box and an adult can pull them around. Take the cardboard outside on a snowy hill. If you don’t have a cardboard box large enough to hold your child, use a laundry basket. Play snow plow by turning the box or laundry basket on it’s side and have the child push the basket around the room, pushing on all fours.
This time of year, kids can feel cooped up indoors when the winter weather is too cold to play outside. A proprioception activity that engages children can provide calming or regulating input that is desperately needed.
Cutting paper snowflakes with heavy weight paper like cardstock, cardboard, or several sheets of paper provides proprioceptive input to the hands.
Paper Snowflakes Prorprioception Activity for Kids
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While it is difficult to cut heavy paper after it’s been folded many times into a paper snowflake, you can use two sheets of paper. Just the added layer provides a bit more work for the hands.
Try adding a few layers of tissue paper to your snowflakes. This is a great warm up activity for kids to complete before handwriting.
Additional ways to provide proprioceptive input to the hands through making paper snowflakes:
Cut aluminum foil. Use two (or more) Rainbow colored cupcake liners. Cut thin white felt. Make snowflakes with several paper napkins stacked up. Cut snowflakes from wax paper. Several coffee filters stacked up.
For our proprioception activity, we cut several cupcake liners stacked up. If you use the miniature sized cupcake liners, like we did, you can really work on scissor skills on a small scale. Fold only two cupcake liners together in half and in half again. You will end up with a triangle with a curved outer edge. Now start snipping triangles out of the cupcake liners. This activity provides proprioceptive input to the hands and is an exercise in precision in scissor skills.
These brightly colored snowflakes will add a pop of color to a dreary winter window. Simply tape them up with double sided tape. You can also tape them along a string to make a fun and cheery wintery garland. Have fun making miniature snowflakes and working on proprioception and scissor skills!
This post is part of our January Calendar activities where we’re sharing proprioceptive and vestibular activities for each day. See all of the posts here. Are you looking for more information on Vestibular or Proprioception (and ALL of the sensory systems) and how they affect functional skills, behavior, and the body’s sensory systems? This book, Sensory Lifestyle Handbook, will explain it all. Activities and Resources are included. Get it today and never struggle to understand or explain Sensory Integration again.
Looking for MORE scissor skills or proprioception activities? These are some of our favorite ways to play:
Proprioception activities are organizing and regulating. This weighted snowflake activity is a fun way to turn Occupational Therapy and therapy goals into play with a winter theme.
Proprioception activity to throw weighted snowflakes
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Make weighted snowflakes. We used bean bags and felt snowflakes.
Cut felt snowflakes from white glitter felt. Cut a small square of the glitter felt. Ours were 3″x 3″ and big enough to fit on our bean bags. Cutting the felt is a great proprioception activity for the hands.
Pin these to bean bags with safety pins to create weighted snowflakes. Your weighted snowflakes are done and ready for a little indoor proprioception play!
Toss the weighted snowflakes into a target such as a bucket or a basket. You could even toss them into a sled like we did in this snowball fight activity.
This activity can be modified to work on other goal areas: Move closer or further back from the target. Try adding additional body movements like jumps and hops for added proprioceptive input. Work on counting with one-to-one correspondence. Add additional movement components by creating an indoor obstacle course.
This post is part of our January Calendar activities where we’re sharing proprioceptive and vestibular activities for each day. See all of the posts here.
Are you looking for more information on Vestibular or Proprioception (and ALL of the sensory systems) and how they affect functional skills, behavior, and the body’s sensory systems? This book, Sensory Lifestyle Handbook, will explain it all. Activities and Resources are included. Get it today and never struggle to understand or explain Sensory processing again.
Looking for more proprioception activities? Try these:
Great books for preschoolers need a fun activity to extend the fun. We’ve shared a bunch of our favorite books and activities here on the blog and this Steam Train, Dream Train busy bag activity is another great book and play idea.
Busy bagsare a playful way to get kids involved in creative and independent learning through play and are many times, a DIY craft for the moms to make. If you’ve got a child who loves trains, this preschool book and busy bag activity is for you!
“Steam Train, Dream Train” Book and Busy Bag Activity
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“Steam Train, Dream Train” is a fun book to read. My kids loved the rhymes and details in the gorgeous pictures. In the book, a train is rumbling to a stop where it fills it’s cars with toys of all kinds. The train workers are playful animals who rest in the trains cars after they’ve filled it. At the end of the book, we see the train is a playset in a child’s bedroom and you can just imagine all of the creative play that happens with that train!
We decided to make our own playful train set that can be carried along to places where waiting is difficult. This book-related busy bag would be a fun way to pass time while waiting at a restaurant. Slip the book
into a bag along with a few play items and you’ve got a busy bag that will inspire creative play of limitless capacities.
You’ll need a few items to fill your busy bag. We used items that correspond with the book
that we had in out house, but if you’re needing a few items, it would be easy to replace them with other toys.
Read the book together and as you read, play along and build your dream train!
We used the cardboard shapes to build a shape train. Now is a great time to discuss the shapes that can be used to build a train. Talk about colors, too!
Use the toys to add to the train as you go through the story.
When you’re child is playing independently with their busy bag, they can recall the story or create parts of their own.
Play with your shape train busy bag over and over again!
Want to find more “Steam Train, Dream Train”? Stop by and see what the other bloggers in the Book Club Play Dates series have come up with for this book:
Grab our NEW book that explores friendship, acceptance, and empathy through popular (and amazing) children’s books! It’s 50 hands-on activities that use math, fine motor skills, movement, art, crafts, and creativity to support social emotional development.
I would have to say that we really love reading books and creating activities and crafts based on the books. We’ve re-created books through play, busy bags, snacks, sensory play, but one of my favorite ways to explore a great book is through crafts. These are a collection of all of our crafts based on great books. You can see all of our book related activities over here. For now, grab a piece of paper and and a pencil, because you are going to want to check out all of these books from your library!
Now, there are many who proclaim the benefits of process-related creativity in children. I am a big believer that both process and product based arts and crafts are hugely beneficial to children in many similar and different ways. Crafts are a great way to work on developmental skills and are used by Occupational Therapists to develop certain goal areas.
WHY use crafts to work on skill areas in kids? These are just a few ways that crafts can help kids: Scissor skills Fine motor grasps Direction following Problem solving Expressive design Weight bearing Multi-step task organization Executive functioning Visual perceptual skills Handwriting Sensory integration
So, use those book related crafts to work on skills that kids need in a fun and developmentally appropriate way, while exploring new books!
Book related crafts for kids based on popular children’s books
Looking for MORE book-related activities? Visit our book page for more creative ideas from book-related snacks, to busy bags, to sensory play, and more.
Love exploring books with hands-on play?
Grab our NEW book that explores friendship, acceptance, and empathy through popular (and amazing) children’s books! It’s 50 hands-on activities that use math, fine motor skills, movement, art, crafts, and creativity to support social emotional development.
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advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #ZiplocSavesSpace #CollectiveBias
I thought, “It’s a chilly December
evening. We need a snugly blanket.”
That was my last thought before the avalanche.
The avalanche of blankets and hats and
spring jackets that were long past their wearing season.
Our snugly evening on the couch with a
Christmas movie was delayed by putting away the piles of closet paraphernalia. Again.
Big
Family in a Small House Storage Problems
When you’ve got six people living in a
house with small closets, you tend to have closet avalanches.
Now, let me mention: We’ve got four kids. That’s not a ton by some families’
standards. But, we do get the “Are
they all yours?!!?” question daily.
We get the amazed looks of “WOW.”
when my husband and I are out for a dinner date and we casually mention that we
have four little ones at home with the babysitter.
A family with four kids is not HUGE, but
they sure do come with a lot of stuff.
When you have four kids, you need to
organize. There is just no way around
it. Otherwise, you’ve got bathing suits in the winter gloves bin and baseball
equipment leaning on the sleds.
Now, I will be the first to admit: I need
a lot of work in the organizing department.
Hence the closet avalanche that happens every time I open the front
closet. (And the fact that we DO have
baseball equipment smack dab beside the sled.)
More big family-isms:
● You get asked
every day: Are you done? Are they all yours? You sure do have your hands full!
● You go through a.
lot. of milk. A lot.
● The grocery bill
is a large percentage of your paycheck.
● Younger kids wear
the older kids’ clothes. They love going
through garbage bags of old clothes…garbage bags that are not labelled and
have size 9 months winter clothes mixed with 3T summer stuff. Yeah, I definitely need organizing help.
● They are all
hungry at the same time. And they are
all hungry at different times.
● A kitchen full of
kids all talk at the same time…and it is loud.
● They wake each
other up. Every single day.
● A big family has
built-in friends. And great argument
practice.
● A big family has
a lot of socks. That don’t match.
Our house has itty bitty closets. Granted, the folks who lived here before us
raised NINE kids in this house. And
every day I wonder “How????” Our front closet is as wide as three of
my kids standing shoulder to shoulder.
And it’s loaded with four kids worth of winter coats, jackets,
umbrellas, hats, mittens, the vacuum that
MUST-be-on-the-main-living-level-when-you’ve-got kids, bike helmets, backpacks,
a full sized American flag, and all of the other THINGS that accumulate in your
front closet.
Storage
idea for big families
The latest closet avalanche was the final
straw. I HAD to do something about the
organizing. We need more snugly winter
evenings on the couch with our big family and less time spent rearranging.
There is just something about fitting
four kids on a couch under a fuzzy blanket and watching kids Christmas movies
as a family that makes your heart swell in the memory-making kind of way.
So, when I had the chance to try out Ziploc® Space Bags®, I said an ecstatic YES!
A mom gets excited about storage.
I grabbed a giant pile of blankets,
afghans my Grandmother had made, spring jackets, picnic blankets, summery couch
throws…and dumped them on the floor.
Four of the four children jumped in that pile. Of course. A pile of blankets on the floor
just asks for jumping in.
I grabbed a few boxes of Ziploc® Space Bags® that I had found
at Lowe’s.
When we had shopped at Lowes, we were
immediately greeted at the door and shown a car grocery cart. The Lowe’s employee seemed to notice my full
hands, but politely omitted the exclamation of “Wow! Your hands are
full!”
(A mom of a big
family LOVES when a person clearly sees their hands are full and does not point
that fact out, but instead actually helps!)
I had two excited helpers (aged 4 and 1) as we looked
for our Ziploc® Space Bags®. It was easy to find them, right in the
storage department of the store. When we got to the correct aisle, I showed
them an example of the box, and my preschooler had fun searching for them on
the shelves. They were right above their eye level, and with one look up, they
were able to spot them.
Getting that giant pile of stuff into
compact packages was so simple that even a distracted Mom with four little
(loud) voices in her ear could easily package away closet stuff.
I am in love with these Ziploc®Space Bags®. I put a pile of
blankets into one and sealed up the zipper.
I attached the vacuum (which was conveniently in the little closet that
I just emptied), and within seconds, I had an easy to carry/stack/slide package
(*compared to
uncompressed storage volume) that I could putaway until
spring. They are waterproof, airtight,
and reusable. And my stack of spring
jackets are out of the front closet!
I packaged away spring blankets, jackets,
and my Grandmother’s gorgeous afghans. And I took a giant sigh of relief at the
clean closet!
A few tips and more information about
Ziploc® Space Bags®:
Protects against bugs, moths, dirt,
mildew, and odors.
Don’t fill past the “do not fill” line.
Keep bags out of reach of children.
Product not for use with food.
They are airtight, waterproof, water
tight, and reusable.
Be sure to choose the right bags for the
right usage occasions. There are storage options for comforters, shirts, and
sweaters. Although you are not limited to those items. The Ziploc® Space Bags®
are perfect for seasonal clothing, pillows, blankets, and many other items.
We now have a cleared out little closet
that is ready for the comings and goings of six people. And, better than that:
we’ve got the snugly blankets we need for cozy winter family nights without
closet avalanches!
I love to make homework fun. At the end of a long school day, the last thing my kids want to do is worksheets. They do it, because the are hard workers and want to do what they need to do. So, when my kids are hit with a new concept that makes for homework grumbles, I try to get creative and make the extra practice fun.
This Sight Words Winter Tic Tac Toe game is just that. It’s a fun and creative way to practice sight words. When pain old flashcards are just boring. (And, we’ve done a few sight word activities in our day!)
My Kindergarten boy LOVES tic tac toe. So, when we needed to practice a bit more on some sight words, that adding a tic tac toe component would make him perk up to practice!
And, when he came home from school and saw this winter snowflake tic tac toe game waiting for him, he was so excited to start playing.
Winter Sight Words Tic Tack Toe Game
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To make this game, you’ll need a few materials: Black cardstock
Snowflake foam shapes
(sticky-back or not, but you’ll need glue if yours are not stickers) Blue cardstock
It is easy to make this sight word game: Cut circles from cardstock. On one side, write sight words. On the other side, stick snowflake stickers or glue foam shapes.
Tic Tac Toe Game and Visual Skills for handwriting and functional tasks
From the black cardstock, cut four long, thin strips. Build a tic tac toe board with the strips. We glued ours together. Building the form was a fun task for my kindergartner. He has drawn tic tac toe boards so often, that he could easily build and glue the shape together. But, for kids who might need more help with this part, draw or make an example. This is a great way to work on visual perceptual skills which are needed for forming and writing letters.
You could expand this activity by adding a word scavenger hunt component. Hide the word cards around the room or in an obstacle course. The players can find the words they need for their tic tac toe game.
Related, is our resource on name practice in kindergarten. These snowflake markers could be made with letters on each back, creating a hands-on activity for supporting sequencing of letters in writing names or kindergarten spelling words.
I had my son scan the pile of snowflakes and search for matching shapes. Looking for a particular snowflake within a jumble of shapes is a fun way to work on visual scanning, figure ground, and visual form discrimination. These are skills needed for tasks like handwriting, reading without losing their place, finding a page in a book, reading charts and graphs, scissor skills, and many other skills.
Scanning a tic tac toe board for an open spot is a great way to incorporate visual scanning into a hand-eye coordination game.
Sight Word Tic Tac Toe Game
We started playing using the snowflake side. When we placed it on the board, I had my son turn the snowflake over and read the sight word. He wanted to play again and again, and I was fine with that!
Alternative ways to play: Have your child pick up 3-5 snowflakes and read the words. Then play tic tac toe. Create matches for each word and play memory. Play tic tac toe with the sight words. Take turns placing sight words on the tic tac toe board. When the whole board is filled, turn the snowflake over to see if you’ve got three in a row.
Looking for more winter activities to do with your Kindergartner? Try these:
There is just something about the minions that make you smile. I love to watch my kids when they are watching them. They have big grins and lots of giggles that are irresistible. This minion party would be perfect for a Minions movie night party, birthday party, or creative play date. I’ve got tips and ideas to keep it easy with the BEST and the cutest minion crafts, minion themed food, and minion decorations you will find.
I am all about easy party decorations that make a big statement, and putting this minion party together was no exception. The crafts became part of the decor and aside from a few examples, they were mainly made at the party. Easy, right? The other decorations were no-fuss and made a big statement with their simplicity. Minions mean silly fun and that’s what our party was all about! These minion party ideas are so easy, that you will be able to re-create all of the details at home during your Minions movie night.
Minion Party Ideas
We love having family movie nights in our house. They are something that my kids really look forward to.
Minions Party Decorations
When I think minions, I think about their bright yellow and blue colors. So our party table was covered with a bright yellow and blue covering.
TIP: Use a blue table cloth draped halfway over the length of the table to create a skirt. You can tape it to the length of the table about half-way across the width. THEN, unroll a tube of yellow gift wrap right on top. The paper gift wrap is a vividly yellow color, just like our minion friends.
The back wall of our party table was just rolls of yellow and blue crepe paper taped in swooping waves. My preschooler helped me twist and tape the two colors together to quickly decorate the wall.
We then rolled the crepe paper across the length of the table a few times. This task brought out the giggles from my daughter. Who knew that unrolling crepe paper could be so much fun??
To finish up our minion decorations, I grabbed a bag of yellow shredded paper from the store’s craft section. It was used around the movie and our snacks. Scatter the shredded paper to fill in gaps on your table and to add texture.
And besides the crafts and craft supplies on the table, that’s all we did for our decor.
Minions Party Crafts
My kids helped me make the craft examples for our party. We decided to make minion book marks, minion hand print art, and minion snack cups.
Minion Bookmark Craft
To make the bookmarks, you’ll need a few materials: 2 inch x 6 inch rectangle of yellow card stock 2 inch x 3-4 inch rectangle of blue card stock Black yarn White paper cut into small circles for the eyes Black marker Glue stick Scissors Hole punch
Glue the blue rectangle on the yellow rectangle. Glue the white circles near the top of the bookmark and trace to make the minion’s goggles. Add straps by drawing black lines to each edge of the bookmark. Use the hole punch to punch a hole at the top of they bookmark. Fold the length of black yarn in half. Push the folded middle of the yarn through the hole. Pull the ends through the loop to create the minion’s hair and the top of the bookmark.
Place all of the materials you need for the minion bookmark into a sectioned platter and place it on the party table, along with a few examples. Party go-ers will love to create this fun minion craft during the party.
Minion Hand Print Art
Another craft we made were this minion hand print craft. You’ll need a few materials for this craft: Yellow Paint Blue Paint White Paper Black Marker Paintbrushes White paper cut into small circles for the eyes.
Paint the child’s hand yellow on the top and blue on the bottom. Enjoy the giggles from tickle-y paintbrushes on hands. Show the child how to keep their fingers together and how to press straight down on the white paper. Allow the paint to dry. Glue on the white circles to make the minion’s eyes. Add the minion’s goggles and smile with the black marker.
Minion Snack Cups Craft
The last craft we made were these snack cups that we used to enjoy our minion themed snacks. Simply tape a rectangle of blue card stock onto yellow paper cups. Glue on white circles for the minion’s eyes. Draw the goggles and mouth on with the black marker. Set these snack cups out on the party table for snacking.
Kids will love to create all of these crafts before watching the movie at your minion party.
Minion Themed Snacks
Everyone needs snacks while watching a movie! These minion themed snacks will fill hungry bellies after all that crafting.
Minion Puppy Chow Recipe
You’ll need a few ingredients to make the puppy chow for your minion party: 1 cup Yellow chocolate melts 6 cups Square rice cereal 1 cup Confectioners sugar Yellow and Blue chocolate candies
Melt the chocolate melts in the microwave or over the stove top. Stir in the cereal and gently stir until coated. Pour the chocolate covered cereal into a gallon sized plastic bag. Pour the confectioner sugar over the cereal 1/2 cup at a time and shake gently until coated. Pour onto a wax paper covered surface and separate the cereal with a fork. Allow the candies to dry and sprinkle in blue and yellow chocolate candies.
Minion Rice Cereal Treats
You’ll need a few ingredients to make these marshmallow cereal treats: 1 bag (10 ounces) marshmallows 3 Tablespoons butter 6 cups rice cereal 1 cup blue chocolate melts Lollipop sticks Candy eyes Black icing
Melt the marshmallows and butter in a large pan. Stir in the cereal. Using wax paper, press the mixture into a 9 x 13 inch casserole dish. Allow the treats to harden. Cut into rectangles. Melt the blue chocolate melts on the stove top or in the microwave. Dip the bottom of the rectangles into the blue chocolate. Gently lay the cereal treats on wax paper and allow the chocolate to harden. Use a bit of the melted chocolate to stick the candy eyes to each minion treat. When the chocolate has hardened, press a lollipop stick into the bottom of each treat. Use the back icing to draw goggles on the minion treats. (NOTE: With all of the minion fun that we had going on at our party, I FORGOT to add goggles to our minion treats. Ack! They still tasted great, though and brought out smiles on the faces of my kids and their friends!)
Press the lollipop sticks into a piece of hard foam to stand up on the party table. Cover the foam with the shredded yellow paper.
Add the minion snacks to your snack table and serve them in the minion snack cups at your Minions movie night. They are fun snacks that go along with fun crafts and will make your movie night memorable!
Let me know if you try any of these minion ideas at your party. You can find more creative and fun minion ideas here.
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, like we did, you can really work on scissor skills on a small scale. Fold only two cupcake liners together in half and in half again. You will end up with a triangle with a curved outer edge. Now start snipping triangles out of the cupcake liners. This activity provides proprioceptive input to the hands and is an exercise in 
. Cut a small square of the glitter felt. Ours were 3″x 3″ and big enough to fit on our bean bags. Cutting the felt is a great proprioception activity for the hands. 
