Seated Classroom Stretches – Free Printable

Seated Classroom Stretches – Free Printable

Students and teachers tend to sit in one position for extended periods of time especially as the children get older.  Hang this handy free printable with classroom stretches to remind everyone in the classroom to take a break and stretch your muscles.  Remember to complete each stretch to the right and to the left.

This free printable is from the School Sensory Motor Packet. This digital download includes 25 games, activities and puzzles to encourage playtime, visual perceptual skills, fine motor skills, and physical activity all with a school time theme!

DOWNLOAD YOUR FREE SEATED CLASSROOM STRETCHES PRINTABLE.

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Are You “Stuffed”? – Thanksgiving Mini Workout

I don’t know about you, but I know I always eat too much on Thanksgiving (and quite a few of the days leading up to the big feast).  Here is a quick, physical activity workout for the children, classroom, brain break, physical education class, therapy room or anyone who just ate too much on turkey day – Are You Stuffed?  Download ARE YOU STUFFED?

This activity is from the new Thanksgiving Packet.  This 20 page packet includes 15 activities that encourages fine motor, gross motor, visual perceptual and handwriting activities all with a Thanksgiving theme.  Find out more information.

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Summer Olympic Games Freebie Activity

The Summer Olympic Games are only a few weeks away!  This Summer Olympic games freebie activity, Find and Color, is a fun way to encourage visual discrimination and visual motor skills with a Summer Olympic theme.  Find the medal winners and color them the correct color.  This visual perceptual puzzle is just one from the new Summer Olympic Games Packet that is filled with sensory motor and visual perceptual activities and games.  There are 40 Summer Olympic sport cards including:

1. archery
2. badminton
3. basketball
4. boxing
5. canoeing
6. diving
7. equestrian dressage
8. equestrian jumping
9. fencing
10. golding
11. gymnastics male
12. gymnastics female
13. handball
14. judo
15. karate
16. mountain biking
17. road cycling
18. sailing
19. shooting
20. swimming
21. synchronized swimming
22. table tennis
23. tennis
24. track cycling
25. trampoline
26. weightlifting
27. wrestling
28. soccer
29. volleyball
30. running
31. high jump
32. javelin
33. long jumping
34. hurdles
35. discus
36. shotput
37. hammer
38. gold medal
39. silver medal
40. bronze medal

Use the posters and cards in the Summer Olympic Games Packet to encourage literacy, physical activity and just play some fun games!  The packet includes 7 game and activity ideas.  Make watching the Summer Olympics even more fun this year with this download.  FIND OUT MORE INFORMATION about the Summer Olympic Games Packet.

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Make Your Own Action Dice

Here is a fun freebie to create your own dice. At Big Huge Labs you can upload up to 6 images to create your own paper dice. Here is a simple set that I created using locomotor skills. Try rolling the paper dice along with a regular dice to see how many of the locomotor actions you need to perform. Makes for a nice exercise break in the classroom.

Try making your own dice by taking pictures of the children that you work with performing different exercises or stretches. How about yoga poses?

You can download my sample die below.






Need more physical activity ideas for the classroom?

Check out Action Alphabet and more sensory motor activities at Your Therapy Source.

Benefits of Gardening and Children

With Spring upon us, why not get children started with some gardening. Gardening offers children excellent sensory motor exploration. Think of all the senses that are involved in gardening:

1. Tactile - touching the rough seeds, feeling the dry dirt, experiencing cold, wet mud, handling the soft fuzz of a green bean or the smooth skin of a melon
2. Proprioceptive - digging in the dirt, pushing a seed into the ground, carrying watering cans, hauling watermelons and pulling weeds
3. Olfactory - smelling the flowers, herbs and vegetables
4. Taste - enjoying a crisp bite of a carrot or a warm tomato from the sun

Now think of all the motor experiences:

1. Fine motor - handling the small seeds or picking a berry or bean
2. Gross motor - kneeling in the garden, quadruped searching for cucumbers, squatting and standing
3. Coordination - using garden tools with both hands or maneuvering a wheelbarrow
   
4. Balance - avoiding stepping on plants or walking on the uneven ground

Why not start a garden this Spring. Here are some tips to creating a successful garden experience with children.

• Make sure you get the children involved. Ask what types of food or flowers they would like to grow.
  
• Look for seeds with short germination periods to keep the children interested.
• Give each child a small area that they can plant their seeds. Mark each child's with a self decorate garden marker (i.e. large paint stirrer stick) in the ground.
• Use good soil to ensure growth of the plants
• Remember to water and weed (fertilize if necessary).
• If you do not have the space to garden, how about creating a large container garden for the children to nurture and watch grown.
• If necessary, adapt the garden tools with bigger handles or velcro straps. If a child can not get to the ground to garden, bring the garden to them by starting a container garden.
  

Happy Gardening!

For more Spring activities check out: Sensory Motor Activities for Spring, Spring Handwriting Activities and Print and Create Fine Motor Projects - Spring.

Free Sensory Motor Activity for Fall

Print and Play Fall Sensory Motor Activity

Here is a fun, print and play sensory motor activity for the Fall season. Just print and cut out to start playing the Fall themed movement activity.  You can view and print the game for free at YourTherapySource.com.   Need more activity ideas for Fall? Check out our ebooks

Sensory Motor Activities for Fall

Fall Handwriting Activities

Print and Play Fine Motor Projects - Fall

100th Day of School

Lots of early childhood and elementary school celebrate the 100th day of school. For most schools this day is rapidly approaching(or perhaps past so you can use these ideas next year). Here are some suggested activities that celebrate the 100th day and encourage sensory motor skill development:

1. 100 Day Snack Mix: Ask each child to bring in 100 small food items. Mix together a large snack mix. The children will have to manipulate the small items, count them and follow several steps to create the recipe. This activity will encourage fine motor skills, motor planning and perhaps expand food tasting.

2. Hide and Seek: Hide 100 small objects in the sand or rice table. Have a large chart near by and the children can put one object in each box until all 100 are found. This can be a great small group activity. This activity encourages fine motor skills, tactile input and counting skills.

3. 100 Day Exercises: Perform 100 of several different exercises. Count by tens to have some variety and to keep the children's interest.

4. 100 Day Toss and Catch: See if the children can partner up with different kids. Throw and catch a bean bag, soft ball or beach ball. Keep tally marks and see if a child can accomplish 100 catches. If not, can any kids partner up to equal 100 catches.

5. 100 Day Walking Club: Start a walking club on the 100th day. The goal will be to walk 100 minutes per week. Give each participant (students and staff) a chart to keep track of their walking. Provide prizes for anyone who is able to walk 100 minutes per week until the end of the school year. Print out this 100 Day Walking Chart to get started.


Click on the link below to preview the document.


100 day walking

Sensory Motor Countdown to the Holidays

Here is a twist on the usual countdown to the holidays. This calender for December includes gross motor and fine motor activities for each day leading up to the holiday season. You can get a printable version at Your Therapy Source. Print it out and give to parents or hang up in your home to get children's hands and feet moving during this holiday season. There is a pattern to the calender - gross motor followed by fine motor. Some activities are outdoors. If the weather does not cooperate, just switch a fine motor day for a gross motor day.

Dec. 1: Talk a walk outdoors. Find at least 5 types of fir trees or bushes.

Dec 2: Create your own handmade holiday cards to mail to family and friends.

Dec 3: Go on a hunt and find objects that begin with each letter in the work HOLIDAY.

Dec 4: Use play clay to create a snowman and a holiday tree.

Dec 5: Use rolled up socks to create pretend snowballs. Have a snowball fight.

Dec 6: Play with red and green colored water in the sink or sensory table.

Dec 7: Decorate a tree outdoors with some popcorn garland that you have made.

Dec 8: Knead, roll and bake your favorite holiday bread.

Dec 9: Talk a walk and collect pines cones, acorns or rocks.

Dec 10: Put glue and glitter on pine cones and rocks. Place in bowl as center piece on table.

Dec 11: Go outdoors. Pretend to float like a snowflake and make pretend snow angels.

Dec 12: Make a miniature snowman using marshmallows and toothpicks.

Dec 13: Make you body into holiday shapes such as a tree, snowman, angel and candy cane.

Dec 14: Cut out paper snowflakes and hang in your home.

Dec 15: Put paper plates under your feet and pretend to ice skate.

Dec 16: Paint a holiday tree. Glue on small balls of tissue paper as ornaments.

Dec 17: Turn on holiday music and dance.

Dec 18: Create a paper chain with red and green paper. Hang up as a decoration.

Dec 19: Take a walk outdoors. Find 5 green objects and 5 red objects.

Dec 20: Cut up old holiday cards or pictures into puzzles.

Dec 21: Go caroling. Walk around your neighborhood and sing holiday songs.

Dec 22: Make a homemade gift for someone special. Try a bookmark or key chain.

Dec 23: Prance and run like Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.

Dec 24: Stir, mix and bake holiday cookies!

Sensory Motor Video Idea - Indoor Ladder Path

Here is an activity idea that encourages fine motor and gross motor skill development. Great for an indoor movement activity. You will need low adhesion painter's tape. This is available at painting or hardware stores. It comes up easily from the floor or rugs (would not use it on any type of expensive flooring though just in case but it has always come up for me no problem).

NDT, SI or Perceptual Motor Approach for Children with Mild MR

The American Journal of Occupational Therapy published research on the effects of neurodevelopmental treatment (NDT), sensory integrative therapy (SI) and perceptual motor (PM) therapy for children with mild mental retardation. One hundred sixty children were randomly assigned to one of four groups: NDT group, SI group, PM group and control group. After interventions, the three groups all performed better than the control group on most measures. The children in the SI group showed greater improvements in: upper limb coordination, fine motor skills and SI functioning. The children in the PM group showed greater improvements in gross motor skills. The NDT group exhibited the smallest changes.

Reference: Yee-Pay Wuang-PhD, OTR, Chih-Chung Wang-MA, OTR, Mao-Hsiung Huang-PhD, MD, Chwen-Yng Su-PhD, OTR (2009) Prospective Study of the Effect of Sensory Integration, Neurodevelopmental Treatment, and Perceptual--Motor Therapy on the Sensorimotor Performance in Children With Mild Mental Retardation AJOT 63 (4) Abstract.

5 Indoor Fitness Ideas For Kids

The days of running around neighborhoods freely and walking to school seem to be a thing of the past. Instead, children sit in front of a television or computer screen for hours a day. When the weather outside is bad, the television hours increase even more. Because of this, children lead more sedentary lifestyles than ever. Parents must make an effort to provide daily physical activity opportunities for their young children. Here are five fun indoor fitness activity ideas for young children using basic items from around the house. Remember, have fun and be safe!

1. Paper Towel Path: Place 10 paper towel squares in a line on a carpeted floor. The child can practice jumping from square to square. Separate the squares further. Jump again from square to square. Continue separating the squares to encourage the child to jump further distances. Try playing the game hopping on one foot.

2. Paper Cup Conditioning : Gather at least 12 small paper cups. On a carpeted surface, place 4 paper cups next to each other upside down. Several feet away, place 4 more paper cups in a line. Repeat. You have set up a small hurdle course. The child can practice jumping over the paper cups. Place the paper cups in a line with each cup about 2 feet apart. Try weaving in and out of the cups. Stack the cups in a pyramid shape and throw a soft ball at them. Use the cups as bowling pins. When done, try smashing all of the cups with your feet or hands.

3. Time It: Using a stop watch or kitchen timer, time how long it takes your child to complete various tasks. For example, ask your child to walk upstairs to your bedroom, come back down touch the couch and skip back into the kitchen. Go for the best time over three trials. Try different movements such as hopping, jumping, crab walk and crawling.

4. Dance Party: Crank up the music and dance. Here are some variations on just dancing: play freeze dance, invent a new dance and teach it to a friend and put on a dance show.

5. Shoe Box Trail: Gather up old shoe boxes. Scatter them around a carpeted floor. See if the child can step from one side of the room to the other only stepping in the boxes. Try pretending to skate or ski around the room wearing the shoe boxes as skates or skis. Use the boxes as targets and throw wadded up pieces of paper into the boxes.

Allow your children to be creative with the activities. See what games they can create with the materials as well.

Need more ideas? Check out $ensory Motor Fun on a Budget