Jagger, Jemma and I have been enjoying prepping for the holidays. I must say, Halloween was a blast but I just didn’t have a chance to blog about it. You would think Thanksgiving would be busier with all of the cooking I have to do in the next week, but we did some fun activities that I couldn’t resist sharing.
Our Thanksgiving Countdown
This activity helps with counting, handwriting and hand strength. I came up with it because I have been working with Jagger on improving his pencil grasp.
By placing the turkey on a vertical surface, I can improve his wrist extension and shoulder stability.
Next, Jagger uses small colorful clothespins to pinch the corresponding number of “feathers” to the turkey. This works on his pinch strength, number skills and reinforces his knowledge of colors. When we had more clothespins, we were able to make patterns with the colors (also a math skill).
Math
I put Jagger’s Dannonino addiction to good use by making this turkey project. Not only does it work on physical development (hand-eye, fine motor) but also counting and math skills.
I found 10 empty Dannonino cups, painted the turkeys on them and then poked holes in the cups for the feathers to go into. Each cup has a different amount of holes. I had Jagger count each feather. When they were all done we added different turkeys together to see how many feathers they had in all.
Even Jemma was able to participate in this activity. She needed a little bit of help to stabilize the cups. When she got bored trying, she used them as stacking cups. A good 15 minutes of exploratory fun!
Reading
I hadn’t read “I Know An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Pie” since putting together the following activity for a preschool class I supported as an occupational therapist. Luckily, I found my “Old Lady” the other day as I was cleaning in the basement. She is so much fun. The kids loved stuffing her face! It is a great activity for Jemma (1 year) because it helps her identify new words. She had to find the food object to put it in the cut out. It’s also great for visual perception because some of the food pieces need to be put in just right to fit in the opening.
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