Step By Step Directions for a Mini Snowman Scene

After seeing this artist trading card idea at Art Projects for Kids (excellent website by the way), I thought this would make a wonderful craft projects for children who can benefit from practicing fine motor skills, scissor skills, sequencing, visual motor skills and creativity.

You can download the one page step by step directions fro the Mini Snowman Scene at http://yourtherapysource.com/freesnowmanscene.html.

The added bonus is if you make it artist trading card size you can have the children start a collection of their cards.  You can read more about artist trading cards and download a lesson plan at http://yourtherapysource.com/OTarttradingcards.html.

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Need more step by step projects to practice sequencing, scissor and visual motor skills?  Check out Cut, Sequence, Paste and Draw at http://yourtherapysource.com/cutsequencedrawaz.html and download a free sample page too!

Free Cutting Skills Strips

Download some free cutting strips for children to practice basic scissor skills.  You can download the 3 black and white pages and 3 color pages at http://yourtherapysource.com/freecuttingstrips.html

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5 FREE Printables to Practice Scissor Skills and More

Here are 5 FREE printables to practice scissor skills, visual perceptual skills and motor planning skills:

1.  Step By Step Puppy - cut out the simple shapes and follow the step by step directions.  You can download it here http://yourtherapysource.com/stepsample.html

2.  Cutting Cards - Practice cutting skills on these smaller 3x5" cards.  Download a few sample pages at http://yourtherapysource.com/cuttingcardsfree.html

3.  Speed Match - Cut apart the rectangles or simple shapes to test your visual perceptual skills.  Download the free sample page at http://yourtherapysource.com/speedmatchfreebie.html

4.  Cut and Paste Pig Puzzle - Cut apart the puzzle, mix it up and glue it back together.  Download some additional free sample pages at http://yourtherapysource.com/cutpastefree.html

5.  Shape Stationary - Cut and fold this stationary to send a nice note to a friend or family member.  Practice cutting skills, fine motor skills and handwriting all in one!  Download this freebie at http://yourtherapysource.com/files/cutfoldfreesample.pdf

Check out all of our freebies at http://yourtherapysource.com/freestuff.html

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Flower Fine Motor Activity

Flower Fine Motor Activity for Fall

Here is a fun flower activity for Fall. Write the child's name, a shape or a pattern. Pick some Fall flowers. We used mums. Have the child squeeze some glue onto the first letter and spread it around. Use scissors to cut the petals or pull the petals off with the fingertips.  Scatter the petals on the glue.  

When you pull off the flower petals it smells amazing. Instead of giving the child a shape, have the child squeeze the glue anywhere on the paper to create any designs that he/she wishes. 

This activity encourages

1. Fine motor skills

2. Finger strengthening

3. Visual motor skills (placing the petals in the correct location)

4. Cutting practice

Need more activity ideas for Fall?  Check out Print and Create Fine Motor Projects for Fall - http://www.yourtherapysource.com/fmfall.  

Scissor Skills - Not so "cut and dry".

Learning to cut with scissors is a very complex task. Think of all the control required to actually open and close scissors. You many think just the wrist, hand and fingers does the job but in reality it is almost your entire body working to cut the paper. You need to have appropriate posture (back stable, feet on floor and hips in neutral). Shoulders and arms need to be stable to allow the hands to work. The muscles in the fingers need to work in isolation. The eyes need to look at what the hands are doing. The brain has to process what the hands are doing on both sides of the body (one cutting and one holding the paper). Have I left any body parts out? Alright, maybe a few but in general it is a full body task just to get the hands and fingers to work with precision.

Here are 10 activities to help develop pre-scissor skills to get the body ready for cutting:
1. Activities that require upper extremity weight bearing - crawling over and under objects, animal walks and walking on hands.
2. Activities the encourage upper extremity muscle strengthening - monkey bars, rock climbing walls and tug of war.
3. Paper activities: Tear paper into small pieces and scrunch tissue paper into small balls.
4. Lacing activities (Try our Lacing Cards download).
5. Playing with clay - creating small balls, pull clay apart and use rolling pins. (Try Creative Clay Activities or Play Clay Mats.)
6. Use a hole punch or paper punches (Try Make Your Own Mobiles).
7. Use tweezers or tongs from the bathroom and kitchen to pick up small objects like cotton balls or dried macaroni.
8. String beads or macaroni.
9. Complete puzzles.
10. Use clothes pins to help strengthen the small muscles of the hands (Try Clothes Pin Collection).

Once the child is ready to cut start out with card stock or light cardboard and progress to paper. This is a collection of free downloads to practice scissors skills.
Cut and Paste Free Sample
Cutting Cards Free Sample
Step By Step Shape Projects Puppy Free Sample

Visit www.YourTherapySource.com for more fine motor activity books.