Leap into the New Year Activity for 2018

Can you believe it will soon be 2018?  I certainly can not.  The Fall always seems to go by so quickly.  Back to school quickly morphs into Halloween, then Thanksgiving, the December holidays and BOOM New Year’s Eve.  The younger you are the better this celebration.  Kids and teenagers love to stay up until midnight and parents not so much haha!  The latest themed sensory motor packet is to help celebrate the new year.

This Leap into the New Year Activity for 2018 is from the New Year’s Sensory Motor Packet.  Children can practice all the different types of leaps.  Print and test your leaping skills.

DOWNLOAD LEAP INTO THE NEW YEAR 2018

Check out the complete New Year’s Sensory Motor packet.

This download is great for schools that only allow secular holiday activities.  It is also wonderful for your own children.  Waiting up until midnight can get loooooooooong with young children.  This packet will help to keep the children busy until the countdown.  Find out more here.

The post Leap into the New Year Activity for 2018 appeared first on Your Therapy Source.

Mother’s Day Movement Activities

Mother’s Day is just around the corner.  Children will enjoy these Mother’s Day movement activities as they move like the baby and mama animals.  Below are some ideas from the Mother’s Day Movement Cards and Games complete packet.  You can download three sample pages for the full color posters.  Encourage the children to make small movements while moving like the baby animals and larger movements while moving like the mama animal to practice grading muscle control.

1.  Fly like a baby owl.  Fly like a mama owl.
2. Crawl like a baby lamb.  Crawl like a mama sheep.
3. Climb like a baby panda.  Climb like a mama panda.
4. Slither like a baby snail.  Slither like a mama snail.
5. Walk like a baby chick.  Walk like a mama chick.
6. Trot like a baby zebra.  Trot like a mama zebra.
7. Leap like a baby frog.  Leap like a mama frog.
8. Move like a baby calf.  Move like a mama calf.
9. Stand tall like a baby giraffe.  Stand tall like a mama giraffe.
10. Waddle like a baby penguin.  Waddle like a mama penguin.

To get all the movement cards and 2o suggested games to use with the cards, check out the complete Mother’s Day Movement Cards and Games.

The post Mother’s Day Movement Activities appeared first on Your Therapy Source.

Superhero Match Up Fine Motor and Memory Activity

Challenge fine motor and memory skills with this Superhero Match Up freebie from the Superhero packet.  Print and laminate the page. Using thumb, index and middle finger create small balls of clay. Flatten each ball between thumb and index finger. Place clay over each circle. Player one removes two pieces of clay. If it is a match, keep the clay. If it is not a match, make the clay into a ball, flatten it and return back over the circles. Continue taking turns. The winner is the player with the largest ball of clay at the end of the game.

Option 2:  Use pennies to cover the circles instead of clay. Keep the pennies if you find a match.

Option 3: Print 2 copies. Cut out all the small squares. Play a memory card game with the mini cards.

Go to the Superhero Packet page and scroll down to download the Superhero Match Up freebie.

 

 

 

Find out more information on the Superhero Packet.

 

The post Superhero Match Up Fine Motor and Memory Activity appeared first on Your Therapy Source.

Mental Practice versus Physical Practice for Finger Opposition Skills in Children

Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport published research on the effects of mental practice (MP) and physical practice (PP) on a finger opposition task among 36, nine to ten years old, children. The children were randomly assigned to either a MP group, PP group or no practice (NP) group. The MP and PP groups participated in a single session of training with the dominant trained hand. The MP group was trained by mentally rehearsing the movements, the PP group was trained by executing the movements, and the NP group had no training. The performance of three groups was evaluated under identical conditions before training, after 5 min, and at 4 days, 7 days, and 28 days after training.

The results indicated the following:
1. both trained groups (MP and PP) showed statistically significant improvement in the trained sequence using the trained hand at all assessment points after the training
2. only MP participants were able to transfer the performance gains from the trained sequence to the untrained reverse sequence and from the trained hand to the untrained opposite hand.

The researchers concluded that children were able to learn the finger to thumb opposition sequence task through MP or PP with a similar level of performance. Although, MP allowed for the transfer of untrained reverse sequence performance gain and transfer to the opposite hand, suggesting that the internal representations developed by MP were effector-independent.

Reference: Sabrina Kyoko de Paula Asa, Mara Cristina Santos Melo and Maria Elisa Pimentel Piemonte. Effects of Mental and Physical Practice on a Finger Opposition Task Among Children. Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport. Volume 85, Issue 3, 2014, pages 308- 315
Published online: 20 Aug 2014. DOI: 10.1080/02701367.2014.931557

Imagination Action Journeys are 10 fun filled stories that encourage literacy, physical activity, imagination and creativity. Children will enjoy reading and acting out the stories. These can be completed indoors or outdoors with one child or a group of children. What a great way to promote literacy and physical activity!  Find out more at http://yourtherapysource.com/imagine.html

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12 Printable Halloween Freebies

Need some last minute Halloween activities?  Here are 12 free printable activities:

1.  4 Pages from Halloween Handwriting Activities at http://www.yourtherapysource.com/files/Halloween_free_sample.pdf

2.  Halloween Clothes Pin Mat at http://www.yourtherapysource.com/freehalloweenmat.html

3.  Pumpkin Patch Fine Motor Game at   http://www.yourtherapysource.com/freepumpkinpatch.html

4.  Jack O Lantern Challenge Maze at http://www.yourtherapysource.com/freejackolanternmaze.html

5.  Copy the Clay Monsters at http://www.yourtherapysource.com/freeclaymonster.html

6.  Halloween Handwriting Hunt at http://www.yourtherapysource.com/hwhuntshalloweenfree.html

7.  Halloween Door Hanger at http://www.yourtherapysource.com/fmhalloweenfree.html

8.  Halloween Mummy Pose at http://www.yourtherapysource.com/halloweenposesfree.html

9.  Halloween Group Game Lesson Plan at http://www.yourtherapysource.com/freehalloweengame.html

And one more I forgot to add in the picture above - Monster Mazes Free Pages at http://www.yourtherapysource.com/monsterfree.html

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Motor Planning Activity Using Pool Noodles

Here is a super easy set up but challenging activity to encourage motor planning skills, coordination and body awareness.  Cut up pool noodles lengthwise and lay them on the floor in different directions.  Ask the child to jump from noodle to noodle keeping the pool noodle between the feet.  You can view the brief video at http://yourtherapysource.com/videomotorplanningpoolnoodle.html

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Gross Motor and Fine Motor Activity Using Colored Dot Stickers

I am not sure why but I just LOVE colored dot stickers.  They are cheap and versatile for all sorts of activities that combine movement with learning.  Here is my latest idea using these awesome stickers:

1.  Write some numbers on colored dot stickers.  For this example, I wrote the numbers 1-4 twice.  Draw matching circles with the same numbers on a piece of paper.  For this example, the matching numbered circles were horizontally across on the paper.

2.  Place the colored dot stickers randomly on the floor (carpet works best so you can pull them off easily and they will still stick to paper).  For this example, I placed the colored dots around a balance disc.

3.  Ask the child to squat down to get a colored, number dot.  The child then matches the sticker number dot to the ones on the white paper.  Continue until all the numbered dot stickers are matched up to the numbers on the paper.

4.  Finally, the child draws a line connecting the matching colored number dots.

There are so many ways you change up this activity to challenge children in terms of reinforcing academic material (letter matching, color matching, etc.) and different movements (wheelbarrow walking, prone over a ball, up/down stairs to retrieve stickers, etc.).

How about use this activity to encourage some upper extremity weight bearing before handwriting practice?  Place the colored dot where you start to write a letter and the child has to practice writing the letter starting at the dot. 



Need more activities that include fine and gross motor skills?  Check out Motor Magic - Turn Fine Motor Skills into Gross Motor Skills at http://yourtherapysource.com/motormagic.html.



Love colored dot stickers just like I do?  Check out Dot Phonics Mazes at http://yourtherapysource.com/dotphonics.html

Raining Letters Activity

Check out this free activity, Raining Letters, to print to encourage letter identification, matching lower case to upper case letters and physical activity. You can download it at YourTherapySource.com