Christmas is a hectic and chaotic time. With school holidays, parties and altered schedules Christmas can be overwhelming for adults and children. It can be hard to continue developing and improving specific skill areas, like fine motor or handwriting.
So, I have put together some Christmas-y activities to continue working on occupational therapy areas including fine motor skills whilst simultaneously having fun and connecting as a family. Here are some ideas:
Building a gingerbread house – This addresses fine motor, proprioceptive and olfactory areas. Cut out gingerbread men, encourage pincer grip with small lollies or just play with dough!
Write a letter to Santa – practice letter formation, spacing and legibility.
Writing to Santa can be a great time to practice handwriting
Make a bead ornament. Work on fine motor skills and finger strength by threading beads onto pipecleaners. Threading beads works on a tripod grasp, bilateral hand coordination, hand-eye coordination, visual scanning, visual tracking, patterning, and more.
Cut snowflakes to work on scissor skills. Try using different textures for line accuracy practice.
Wrapping presents is an activity that requires a lot of fine motor precision. Measure paper to fit packages, cut paper with scissors in a straight line, fold paper, tear and cut tape, stick tape along edges of paper. This helps practice motor planning, problem solving, and executive functioning.
Wrapping presents can be a great fine motor activity
Baking Christmas cookies. Choose recipes where children can roll out and squish dough – good for bilateral coordination. Cut out shapes with cutters – good for spatial awareness and planning skills. Choose and measure ingredients – good for math skills, memory skills and following instructions.
Please contact Childworks, if you would like to learn more about how occupational therapy can help your child and their fine motor skills. Please call at 02 9098 1635 or make an enquiry at [email protected]
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