Email Gold

bilateral coordination

Visual Christmas Count-down **25 Days of Christmas Play**

by
Day 5 of 25 Days of Christmas Play

Paper Chain Christmas Countdown

We put up the Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving and my daughter has been confused as to how many days there are until Christmas. 
She has been waking up in the morning asking me, “Is today the day?!?!”
I decided we needed a visual way of showing her how many days she has left until Santa comes.
I remember doing this chain link count-down when I was little and I am sure lots of you still do this.
This is a fun activity that can be used to count down any big day…vacation, birthday, holiday, sleepover…anything really!


Paper Chain Christmas Countdown by Sugar Aunts
 
{Note: This post contains affiliate links.  In other words, this blog will receive monetary compensation when any purchases are made through the links in this post.  Our opinions and ideas are in no way affected.  As always, we thank you for your support and community here at Sugar Aunts.}
Cut out some red and green Construction Paper
into however many days you have left until the big day.  This is an easy activity for your preschooler to help- cut straight lines across the construction paper.  You or your child can number the links if you want.  My daughter just wanted to decorate one of the links- the one for the big day!
Link them all together with glue or tape and let it dry laying flat on a table out of little hands way.
Once it is dry hang it up.  What an easy visual aide for the kiddos!
We hung ours off of the curtain rod next to the Christmas Tree to make it look festive and to keep it away from baby brother who really wanted to rip it to shreds.
Have the kids tear off the link and count the remainder of the days.  Only 23 days left!

Indoor play: baby edition…spoons and cups

by

Indoor Play Ideas

This was a simple invitation to play that I set up for the babies one day after breakfast was finished. 

They loved the idea!  Putting spoons in the cup, taking them out of the cups…
Banging the cups off of the table…

Hearing the loud sound when they rattled the spoons around in the cups.

They turned the cups over and started playing drums with the spoons.
Little Guy loves any thing drums, so this was too good to pass up!


This easy play activity entertained for a long time!
Looking for other indoor play ideas??? Try these:
Indoor Play Series
Rainy Day Play
Learning Apples/Red
~Colleen

Learning Red, Apples

by
This Apple Gross Motor Activity is the perfect way to introduce learning about the color Red and Apples this Fall with toddlers, preschoolers, and babies.  We made our own life-size apple tree (well, make that Toddler-life size!) that kids can really climb and develop gross motor skills while learning.  We’ve recently update our Toddler Play page with all of our play ideas in one place.  Your Toddler will love some of the other creative play ideas we’ve shared in the past.
 
Gross Motor Apple Tree activity for learning red and apples with toddlers and preschool children. Kids love this in the Fall!
 
 

Gross Motor Apple Activity for Toddlers and Preschoolers

So, two days a week, I have my nephew here with us while my sister is working.  That makes a 5 year old, 3 year old, 1 year old, and 11 and 1/2 month old.  We had a Red/Apple play day one afternoon, with something for each age to love! (This post contains affiliate links.)
 
Even with two children in two different stages of preschool (3 y/o class and Pre-K), it is easy to supplement school lessons at home (and keep the babies occupied).  Keeping the activities PLAY makes learning fun.  They never know that you are actually teaching so many ideas (turn taking, manners, colors, handwriting, developing motor skills…& so much more)!

 

 

 This time of year, it is all about apples in preschool. My 3 year old is learning all about red, apples, and circles in his class. We pulled those concepts into our play with this fun apple tree activity.  I placed this set up on our living room floor and had the kids pick ‘apples’. We counted them as we put them into baskets.  My 5 year old loves writing when I spell out a word, and so we worked on writing the words “red”, “apple”, “circle”, and “tree”.  She was “in charge” of  simple math ideas (We have two apples in the basket. Adding one more apple makes 3 apples).

 

The babies loved putting the red balls into baskets, taking them back out and then putting them into a different basket.  They are learning through exploring!

 

 

 


We did some Gross Motor balance beam play on the “trunk” of the tree. This was a hit for all of the kids.  These babies WATCH the big kids and try their hardest to keep up!

 

 

 
Gross Motor Apple Tree activity for learning red and apples with toddlers and preschool children. Kids love this in the Fall!
 
Gross Motor skills are tasks that require the large movements of the body.  Development of gross motor movement is important for so many play skills of childhood (riding a bike, throwing and catching a ball, hopping, skipping, climbing).  Developmentally, we refine our fine motor skills after and as a result of, appropriate gross motor skills. For example: Stable shoulder girdle strength is needed to produce controlled fine motor control needed to hold the pencil and write in a small area.
 

Baby Apple Theme and Red Learning Activities

The big kids did a few more motor tasks including tossing the balls into the baskets.  The controlled balance needed to stand on the balance beam, while tossing the ball into the basket is really working their eye hand coordination and can be a challenge for many kids!  
 
(The babies had a blast carrying the baskets around).
 
We went on a search for red toys, keeping with the red theme. These were put into a pretzel tub that we keep to store the baby pop-beads.
 
Babies love to manipulate objects, explore how they can move objects…love to see what they can do to a toy (chew it, bang it, throw it…).  And then see if they can do it again!  
Baby Girl is always putting these stacking rings onto her wrist. She’ll walk all over the house with one on her wrist, just like a bracelet. My other two never did that at this age! Is she a future fashionista??? Have your babies done this???
 
The babies loved pulling red objects out of the bin, chewing on a few, putting them back in (…pulling them away from each another, grabbing it back with a screech…these two cousins are more like siblings…LOL)
 
This is a great opportunity for language development.  Say each item that baby has.  Babies, at this age, love to hear your voice in different pitches.  Describe to baby the details of a toy, pointing out interesting parts.  Talking constantly to baby truly does wonders for their language development.

 

We finished up with a snack of sliced apples for the big kids and applesauce for the babies.
 
This post was originally posted in 2012.  We’ve recently updated to share with you again!
 

Our favorite ways to work on gross motor skills:

Golf Tees and a Hammer

by

This hammering golf tees activity is one of our oldest blog posts here on the website. I loved showing my toddlers how to use a toy hammer with golf tees in an egg carton. This is a wonderful fine motor activity for kids, and one that is very motivating for all ages!

Hammering Golf Tees

Counting Manipulatives and Fine Motor Skills 
 
I picked these golf tees up earlier this year during a shopping trip, figuring we would use them for some activity…or actual golfing 😉 They were only a buck for 100 tees. We have these hammers from a Melissa and Doug toy and I thought we could use that to hammer the tees into some egg cartons. 

 

 
 
Little Guy used the golf tees (or Golf Teeth, as he called them), to count out how many he needed for the egg carton, learning to count out manipulatives. 
 
He’s working that tripod grasp to hold the tees, pushing them into the egg carton for resistance, building those intrinsic muscles for fine motor dexterity. 

 

 
Little Guy LOOOOVED this activity! He said, “Mom, when I grow up, I am going to do this because I’m going to be a Dad and Dads hammer.”  He has been asking to do the “Golf Teeth Hammer Game” every day, several times a day, ever since. 

 

 
Look at that Tripod Grasp. This is such a great activity for pre-writing and working on the correct and most efficient way to hold a pencil.

 

 

 

 

 

 
Holding the tee and the hammer provides awesome bilateral coordination (using two sides of the body together) and eye hand coordination.
 
These are needed for so many functional skills in play, dressing, handwriting, shoe tying.

 

 
You could do this with a cardboard box or Styrofoam. Putting it on an incline or vertical incline would add an extended wrist for improved grasp on the tee. 

 

 
We will be doing this activity again, for sure!
 
Want to work on more fine motor skills with fun and engaging play activities? Grab one of our fine motor kits!
 
 

 

Working on fine motor skills, visual perception, visual motor skills, sensory tolerance, handwriting, or scissor skills? Our Fine Motor Kits cover all of these areas and more.

Check out the seasonal Fine Motor Kits that kids love:

Letters Fine Motor Kit
Kit de motricidad fina de verano
Summer Fine Motor Kit
Outer Space Fine Motor Kit
Space Fine Motor Kit
Spring fine motor kit
Valentines Day fine motor kit
winter fine motor kit
Winter Fine Motor Kit

Or, grab one of our themed Fine Motor Kits to target skills with fun themes:

Want access to all of these kits…and more being added each month? Join The OT Toolbox Member’s Club!

Pizza Dip

by
Delicious Pizza Dip
I made this dip for a Labor Day party and it was AMAZING!  I will be adding this to my recipe book and making it again. It smells like someone just baked a pizza in the kitchen…it is hot and bubbly and tastes like a warm gooey pizza.  You gotta try this!  Scoop it up with some bruchetta bread or crackers.
4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature

1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup mozzarella, shredded/grated
1/4 cup parmigiano reggiano (parmesan), grated
1 cup tomato sauce
1/2 cup mozzarella, shredded/grated
1/4 cup parmigiano reggiano cheese shredded/grated
2 ounces pepperoni, chopped slices
2 tablespoons chopped green pepper
2 tablespoons black olives, sliced
1/2 tsp italian seasonings
Directions
  1. Mix the cream cheese, sour cream mayonnaise, mozzarella and parmigiano reggiano and spread it across the bottom of a pie plate.
  2. Spread the pizza sauce on top and sprinkle on the cheese, pepperoni, green pepper and olives.
  3. Bake in a preheated 350F oven until the sides are bubbling and the cheese cheese has melted and turned golden brown on top, about 20 minutes. 
~Posted by Leanne
Quick Links
Explore
My Account
Sign Up for the OT Toolbox Newsletter

Get the latest tools and resources sent right to your inbox!

Get Connected
Facebook Instagram Pinterest Twitter