Prewriting - Getting ready to Write!

Adeline's motor skills are weak, so we are working hard to improve that.  I would like to start teaching her how to write letters soon but I feel that we need to strengthen the muscles in her hands a bit more.

What we are doing:

1.   Crawling every day.  Crawling strengthens the hands as weight is put on them.

2    Hanging from a monkey bar.

3.   Playing with play dough

4.   Lacing beads

5.   Peg board
 
6.   Scooping with a small scoop is very good because it forces you to use your pincher grasp.

7.  Drawing lines - we have been doing lots of matching pages.  I laminate them and use them over and over.
   
8.  Prewriting  pages-  I love these pages from:  3 Dinosaurs  

The number matching page is also from  3Dinosaurs 

We love these dry erase makers they are thin like a pencil and Adeline can erase when she is finished.

Straws and a Box

Using a shoe box that I covered with paper we played "straws in a box".  This activity is a great fine motor activity, but also eye hand coordination.  I cut the strays in various lengths and we put them "in the box".  Pipe cleaners would work great for this activity also because you could incooperate matching the colors.   Ours straws had some color strips and I was not sure if Adeline would notice them or not but she did.

Recycled Board Book

We have many board books that I don't like, and Adeline is not interested in.  I always try to purchase board books at garage sales or thrift stores and many times I can pick them up for 25 cents.  Last night I recycled a board book into a simple counting book.

I used some file folders that I had on hand, card stock could also be used.   I cut each page the size of my board book and rubber cemented them onto the book.  When I was finished with that, I used some duck tape on the spine and on the edges.

Fun Gross Motor!

Adeline has been really enjoying her trumpette cow lately!  She like to sit and bounce.  I know that crossing mid  line activities are important so I am trying to add this to playing on the cow.  Today I used some bags of beans to start adding some extra weight.  I want to make some weighted bean bags but have not had time for that yet.  We started with the beans on one side and moved them to the other, crossing midline not handing off to the other hand.

  

Pre-Writing

I stole this great idea from Pudge and Zippy.  http://pudgeandzippy.blogspot.com/.
Using some play dough and a cake pop stick,  Adeline drew some lines in the play dough, and her favorite is to go "dot, dot" making dots.  We also took some beans and colored glass and "pushed" them into the play dough.  Well I "pushed"  Adeline just wanted to up them "on" the play dough.

This similar activity would be to difficult for Adeline but I wanted to give an extension idea if you have an older child.  

I really like printing up coloring pictures for Adeline that are very simple and would also be a word that we are working on speaking.

Play With A Plan

I am sure you have seen these little waters balls somewhere else. It is a great idea and I have many read great blogs about them.  Today we tried them out.  I think it is very helpful to throw new things at Adeline all the time, using different textures and methods.  Well, Adeline really really liked these, she played with them for a long time.  I bought some at the Dollar Tree in the floral area and I also got some at Hobby Lobby.  The ones from Hobby Lobby have to soak in water before they expand and the Dollar Trees are all set.  I just mixed them.  I liked the Dollar Tree brand better.

 
We used them at the light table too.

Later took some foil and we played "where is the cow and pig"  Unwrapping something help to get those fingers moving and develop fine motor skill.  We are also working on learning those "wh" words.  Adeline thought this was fun.

Later I wanted to do a fun gross motor activity since Adeline is now starting to be a full time walker.  I think this was good because she was not tempted to go down at all.  I took out the yoga ball and some paddles and we played "push the ball".  First Adeline would push it and then it was my turn.  We had fun and used some language at the same time.

   Now if you noticed Adeline's interesting hair duo, her big sister did that.                      

Thanksgiving Fun

Today we had some fun learning about some of the things we see in the fall and during the Thanksgiving season.  I have been doing some reading about some of the Montessori  methods and I feel like they work so well with what we are trying to do with Adeline.  I will be incorporating more of these things into our day.

One important aspect is teaching our children how to use everyday tools.  Today we put together a sensory box of fall items and Adeline practiced using a tong, and ladle.  The tong was a little more difficult but she really enjoyed using the ladle.  This exercise requires a lot of turning the wrist and arm, all important skills.   Her favorite were the pumpkins that I found on clearance at Wal mart.

One on one correspondence with pumpkins.