crafts

Craft Pom Snowflake Line Awareness Craft

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Snowflake crafts are very big right now.  With the recent freeze we’ve been experiencing this week, paper snowflakes, snowflake drawings, and real snowflakes are seen daily in and around our house!  We made these pom pom snowflakes one morning and not only created a fun wintery craft, we also worked on line awareness and fine motor skills.

Snowflake Line Awareness Craft
{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.}
We received the crafting poms from our friends at craftprojectideas.com.  The white color was perfect for a winter-themed snowy craft!

 Crafting Pom Snowflake Line Awareness Craft

We started by using small squares of light blue construction paper.  I wanted to use small squares of paper so that the snowflakes wouldn’t get too big, and then would encourage smaller movements…and more fine motor work.  I drew a basic snowflake shape on the paper with a pencil.  Little Guy used a bottle of glue to trace the lines.  He needed some help with this.  Squeezing the glue bottle and maintaining awareness of the lines to trace the snowflake shape really was a difficult task for a preschooler.  An older child who is working on handwriting and letter placement on lines would be more efficient at this task.  Keeping the glue right on the stimulus line is a great way to work on not only line awareness for use in handwriting, but also visual motor skill.  The ability to move the hand and watch with the eyes in a coordinated manner is visual motor ability, or eye-hand coordination.  This ability is a refined task that is needed for accuracy with lines and spacing in handwriting and ultimately leads to neatness in handwriting.  Line awareness can be addressed by crafts in many ways.  This Beads Sorting & Line Awareness craft was a fun way to create and work on eye-hand coordination.
Line awareness (and eye-hand coordination) is also necessary for scissor use in cutting tasks.  We used Stickers to Help with Scissor Skills while working on line awareness with cutting.
Once our snowflake was drawn in glue, we worked on more line awareness!  Placing the crafting poms in the glue lines was a great activity for Little Guy.  This task was great for the preschool age range.  He had to use a tripod grasp to manipulate the larger poms and a tip to tip grasp to manage the smaller poms.
Keeping those poms on the lines was a fun way to work on line awareness and fine motor skills at the same time.
Small snowflake decoration would be great for a wintery banner, hung in the window, or even on a card to Grandparents!

Small World Pretend Play Cardboard Box

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 We do tons of play, crafts, and activities with recycled materials.  Cardboard boxes are a bit hit in our house!  We are very excited to join the Project Recycle & Create series each month this year as we create, explore, and play using recycled materials.  This month is all about creating with cardboard.  I don’t know about you, but since Christmas, we are well stocked on the cardboard supply!  This activity was made with a simple cardboard box and inspired so much creative play and fun.  We made a small world zoo that encouraged pretend play, fine motor skills, imagination, language development…and FUN!  Pretend Play is something we love and have done before with many themes and senses.  This zoo themed small world stayed out for a while and was a huge hit with the cousins.


Small World Pretend Play Card Board Box
 
{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.}
Baby Girl is a big fan of Little People.  We pull out the Little People Learning Zoo Playset almost daily.  The animals were definitely needed for our cardboard zoo.
Small World Pretend Play Card Board Box

Using a large piece of cardboard, I drew a pathway and a few areas for the animals.  Little Guy provided great input about what we needed in our zoo.  He said we needed a few cages for the animals and an igloo for the polar bear.  He set all of the animals around the zoo and gave everyone a home.

We added a few Little People from the Fun Park
set to walk through our zoo.
This DIY zoo play mat sat out in our dining room all day and once the Toddlers were up from their nap, they were excited to get in on the play too!  What a great way to encourage pretend play and language!

We had so much fun with our pretend play zoo.  And, it doesn’t get much easier to set up a small world for hours and hours (days…) of imagination and pretend play!  How many small worlds can you create with just a few sheets of cardboard?

We’re joining these creative bloggers in the Project: Recycle & Create series this month for cardboard crafts and activities:


P is for Preschooler


Powerful Mothering


Afterschool for Smarty Pants


Still Playing School


Lemon Lime Adventures


Creative World of Varya


Mama Miss


There’s Just One Mommy


Little Bins for Little Hands


Peakle Pie


Teach Me Mommy


Danya Banya

 

New Year Goals Quote

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New years goals quote

Looking for a New Year Goals quote? I love this as a no-prep New Years activity for preschool and any age! Simply ask your child about their goals, or what matters most to them!

New Years Goals Quote

As occupational therapists and OT assistants, we talk a lot about goals! We also focus on what matters most to the client, student, or patient that we are working with.

Occupational therapy focuses on meaningful occupations or the things we do that occupy our time. The goals we work on in therapy are the things that matter most to the clients we serve.

Then, we take those goals and work on breaking down goals into step-by-step action tasks.

So when it comes to setting goals, we can talk about meaningful goals with children we can talk about what matters to them, and what they would like to get better at or achieve.

With a new year upon us, we wish you and your family the happiest and healthiest of new years full of Dreams and Goals!  We are looking forward to the new year and all that it brings in meeting our dreams with this community.  Thank you so much for joining and supporting us as we work slowly toward our goals.  May you set another goal and dream another dream!

Set another goal and dream another dream
 
 
 
 


 
 
 

Spaghetti Wreath Christmas Ornament for Kids to Make

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  We’ve been making a ton of Christmas crafts this month.  This Spaghetti Wreath Ornament made from dyed pasta was SO much fun!  One of the cousins were at our house one day for a little crafting time and all of the kids really got into the process of making our ornaments.

 Kid Made Ornaments: Spaghetti Christmas Wreath

My kids (aged 6, 4, and 2) and my little niece and nephew (age 2) really got into each step of this kid-made ornament.  They got to explore a little sensory fun with dyed and cooked pasta AND hone their fine motor skills while placing the pasta in the wreath shape and adding pom pom berries.
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Materials needed for these ornaments:
  1. Start by adding green food coloring to your cooked pasta.  I put the pasta into a container with a lid so the kids could shake, shake, shake that pasta. The gross motor work was a great way to get out a little excess winter energy (perfect!) and at the same time, coat the spaghetti with a nice green color. 
  2. Squirt in a lot of glue (depending on how much pasta you’ve got going on there…)
  3. and give that container another good shake.  You want all of the pasta coated with glue.

4. Place a sheet of wax paper on the table and you are ready to get started on forming the wreaths!  This job was a little better for Big Sister (age 6), and we used a spoon to help form the wreath shapes.  {Note:  If you use your fingers, you WILL end up with Grinch-like green fingertips!}

5. Place the red pom poms around the wreaths.  This part was great for fine motor dexterity.  Picking up those little poms and placing them carefully on the wreaths used a nice tip to tip grasp and was pretty fun, too!
We finished with another generous squirt of glue around the wreaths to make sure they stuck together as they dried.
These little guys took two whole days to dry!  This is definitely a craft that will require advance planning, but it is so worth the wait!  Once dried and on the tree, these pasta wreaths look pretty cool!

Let us know if you try this craft at home, and how it goes for you!  We love to hear from you.

Christmas Sorting Activity for Kids

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A fun Christmas Sorting Activity for the kids was easy to set up one day.  The kids loved doing this sorting peppermint activity while we created a little Christmas craft.  The kids know that they can’t eat these candies because it’s a choking hazard, so if you do this activity at your house, please use extreme caution and supervise your kids during the entire activity.  This activity sure did smell good while we manipulated the two colors of peppermints and had a little fun with sorting!
 
Check out these Christmas Fine Motor Activities for more creative ways to work on fine motor skills and address development of skills this Christmas season. 

 Christmas Sorting Activity for Kids

We started with a pile of red and green peppermints in our Christmas sorting task.  The kids were very interested in helping (it is candy!) and we got to work.
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We pulled out the wooden baskets from our Melissa & Doug Food Groups toy for sorting bins.   I had the kids put red peppermints in one and green peppermints in the other.

So what did we do with these sorted mints once we were done?  We had a fun project planned!  Little Guy and Big Sister helped to place the peppermints on a piece of aluminum foil.  We made a little circle of peppermints with a design using the red and the green colors.  (Big Sister especially liked this part!)  I pre-heated the oven to 350 degrees F and placed the foil on a cookie sheet.
Keep an eye on your peppermints in the oven, they will melt fast!  We kept the candies in the oven for about 10 minutes and pulled them out when they looked nice and melty.  I had sprayed the foil with non-sticking cooking spray before placing the peppermints in our design, but it turns out that step isn’t needed.  The candy will pull right off of the foil without difficulty and the non-sticking cooking spray only added a layer of grease that wasn’t needed.  (It wiped right off.)
We used our little candy plate to hold some almonds for a Christmas-y snack that afternoon.  It was a fun sorting activity and crafty experiment!

Kid Made Christmas Ornament Crafts

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The ornaments on the tree that mean the most are the Kid-made ones, right?  The ones that you keep year after year are so special!  We’ve started making more Christmas ornament crafts this year (so watch this space for a few more fun ideas, coming soon!) We wanted to put together this round-up of Christmas ornaments for kids feature from you fabulous bloggers who link up week after week, with amazing creativity and fun ideas.  If you’re looking for a few special Christmas keep-sakes for the tree this year, check out the links below! Get ready to get crafty with the kids, because these are some fun ornament making ideas!





Check out these Christmas Fine Motor Activities for more creative ways to work on fine motor skills and address development of skills this Christmas season. 

Christmas Ornament Crafts for Kids. Sugar Aunts
 
Note: This post contains affiliate links.

Christmas Ornament Crafts for Kids

Abstract Homemade Christmas Ornaments from Buggy and Buddy

CD Snowman Ornaments from Happy Hooligans

Egg Carton Jingle Bells Christmas Ornaments from Powerful Mothering

Handprint Ornaments from Sugar Aunts

Gingerbread Men, Christmas Tree, and Star Ornament Printables from Powerful Mothering

I Spy Christmas Ornament from Teach Beside Me

Craft Stick Stars Ornament from Powerful Mothering

Popsicle Stick Tree with Buttons Ornament from Crystal’s Tiny Treasures

Gingerbread Salt Dough Christmas Tree Garland from Sugar Aunts

Milk Carton Christmas Ornaments from Laughing Kids Learn

Christmas Tree Candle Lights from Peakle Pie

Pine Cone Christmas Tree Ornaments from Sugar Aunts

Egg Carton Bells from Crystal’s Tiny Treasures

Cheerios Bird Feeder Ornaments from Frogs and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails

Fine Motor Egg Carton Tree Activity

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Egg carton tree for a fine motor Christmas craft
 

We are in full Christmas craft mode around here with tons of Christmas fine motor activities…and this egg carton tree was a fine motor hit! We’re excited to share more Christmas crafts and activities that develop motor skills, like this festive egg carton craft.

For now, we’ve got a fun fine motor activity that the kids will love!  This Fine Motor Christmas Tree activity and craft was a favorite of Little Guys’.  He loved sticking the egg carton pieces through the skewer and seeing his Christmas tree grow!  We do so many fine motor activities in our house and this one was just right for the Christmas season!



Fine Motor Christmas Egg carton Tree 

fine motor christmas tree craft made with egg cartons
 
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We started with a recycled egg carton and some Washable Green Tempera Paint, a paint brush, and our Spill Proof Paint Cup. (We love these things!  Never have spilled paint and the snug lids keep the paint from drying up between uses. Perfect for little artists!)
 
Paint the egg carton green.  Let dry.
 
 

After the paint dried, I cut out each section of the egg carton.  Now we were ready for the fun part!

 
Little Guy LOVED this!  He used a Bamboo Skewer to poke through each of the egg carton sections.  He slid each section down the length of the skewer.  This is pure concentration, here!  (I would suggest putting a wooden cutting board under the skewer if you do this one at home.  Our table was fine, but I wouldn’t want any skewer holes in your dining room table!)
 
 
Once all of the egg carton pieces were on the skewer, we slid them down to fill out the whole tree.  For the next part, I didn’t get any pictures, but it was really easy. 
 
We put a lump of play dough in a little red Christmas-y cup and stuck the skewer into the dough.  Little Guy and I used glue to put little dots all over the egg cartons. 
 
Now, this was Baby Girl’s favorite part…She loved sticking the red Sequins onto the glue dots.  This is such a great fine motor activity using a neat pincer grasp to hold the sequins and place them on the tree. 
 
When the skewer is positioned upright in the play dough, the child’s wrist is positioned in an extended position.  This is just right for pre-handwriting and for improving tripod grasp when writing. 
 
This Christmas tree activity and craft was fun for all ages!  If you make one at home, let us know! We love to see your versions of our ideas!!
 
 
 

More Fine Motor Christmas Tree Activities

For more fine motor Christmas activities that develop precision and dexterity skills, try this fine motor Christmas card that kids can make and give to family and friends.
 
This clothes pin Christmas tree builds hand strength, bilateral coordination, and eye-hand coordination skills.
 
Be sure to check out all of our Christmas fine motor activities here.
 
And, for holiday fun with fine motor skill-building, you’ll love the convenience of our Christmas Fine Motor Kit:
 

Looking for done-for you therapy activities this holiday season?

This print-and-go Christmas Therapy Kit includes no-prep, fine motor, gross motor, self-regulation, visual perceptual activities…and much more… to help kids develop functional grasp, dexterity, strength, and endurance. Use fun, Christmas-themed, motor activities so you can help children develop the skills they need.

This 100 page no-prep packet includes everything you need to guide fine motor skills in face-to-face AND virtual learning. You’ll find Christmas-themed activities for hand strength, pinch and grip, dexterity, eye-hand coordination, bilateral coordination, endurance, finger isolation, and more. 

Click here to grab the Christmas Therapy Kit.

Colleen Beck, OTR/L has been an occupational therapist since 2000, working in school-based, hand therapy, outpatient peds, EI, and SNF. Colleen created The OT Toolbox to inspire therapists, teachers, and parents with easy and fun tools to help children thrive. Read her story about going from an OT making $3/hour (after paying for kids’ childcare) to a full-time OT resource creator for millions of readers. Want to collaborate? Send an email to contact@theottoolbox.com.