• Going to the beach and collecting sea glass. This activity targets visual perception meaning that a child has to find an object within a busy environment i.e. sea glass on the sand. This activity also prompts the child to communicate with their parent or friend when they find the object. We are also incorporating a range of sensory experiences such as the wind, sea, and sand on their feet. This helps with developing sensory processing!

• Scavenger hunt at the park is another  visual perception task. You can create your own scavenger hunt list before you go. Some ideas include finding a tree, some water, a bird, a stick, a ball and a dog. A sensory component can also be added to this task by describing the feeling of the objects!
• Eye spy but identify shapes and colours in different objects. For example, a square window and red leaves. This will help your child work on shape and colour identification, language and visual perception.
• Draw on the pavement with chalk. You can buy a bucket of jumbo chalk sticks at Officeworks for $2! Create a hopscotch court outside so children can work on their gross motor skills.
• Playing with bubbles. You can either buy some, or make your own solution. You can use bubble wands or even better, your hands. Slowly form an O shape with your thumb and pointer finger and blow gently. This will work on fine motor and oral motor skills. Add in some hand clapping and stomping on the bubbles and you will be working on gross motor too!

• Alphabet scavenger hunt around the house. Find an object for each letter around the house. For example, A for apple, B for button, C for car and so on. This will again target visual perception and pre-literacy skills.
• Playdough is a classic to work on sequencing of tasks, fine motor skills and exposure to sensory experiences. Tip: add essential oils to increase the sensory experience. Get your scissors, cutters and rolling hands out to get started!

You can make your own playdough recipe e.g. https://theimaginationtree.com/best-ever-no-cook-play-dough-recipe/.

• An obstacle course is a great gross motor activity. You can use chairs, mats, pillows, blankets, toys, hula hoops, pool noodles and more!

• Playing with Lego or Duplo. Building mazes, and their own structures helps develop children’s creative play, and works on fine motor manipulation of the hands. Building from a booklet will also work on following instructions and sequencing.

• Create your own calming corner. Find a spot that isn’t too busy, and use a play tent, or a rug to delineate the area. Make it comfy by putting rugs, pillows, or soft toys and place a bucket of your child’s favourite things to keep them entertained whilst calming themselves. Examples include their favourite book to read, a stress or fidget ball, colouring pencils and paper, some headphones for music or an audiobook, an eye mask, or a photo album of friends and family. A calming corner should be an open and inviting area for your child to use when they are feeling dysregulated. 

• Create a sensory water bottle. The creative process involves fine motor skills to manipulate the items into the bottle and you can add language by talking through the process. Once it is made, it is a great calming tool to add to their calming corner! For more on sensory bottles, you can do a Google or Pinterest search for inspiration. There are a whole range of different ideas you can try!

• Bake some cupcakes or cookies. Get your child to use the rolling pin, place ingredients in the bowl, mixing, and placing fruit or choc chips on to decorate. This focuses on both gross motor skills using the whole body for mixing, kneading and rolling dough, as well as fine motor skills when placing the small fruit pieces on the top. It also incorporates sequencing to follow a recipe. 

• Arts and crafts are fun and creative fine motor skill developing tasks. The creations can then be used in pretend play for more interactive language development.
  • Toilet roll owls, dinosaurs, or rocket ships – cutting, gluing, drawing/colouring
    • https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/478155685444956962/
    • https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/478155685433714975/
    • https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/478155685433714916/ 
  • Build a castle – shoe box and toilet paper rolls, painting / decorating
  • Shoe box towns – https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/233765036895586741/; https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/832673418590342387/ 
  • Shoe box doll house https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/41376890307043285/
• Folding origami. Works on fine motor finger manipulation and following instruction.

• Write a wish list for Santa or create Christmas cards. You can draw pictures if your child is too young to write. This helps with handwriting, pencil grasp, and both verbal and written communication skills.
• Make a sequin Christmas ball (pin sequins in to a Styrofoam ball) https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/203295370669819618/ This works on fine motor finger and hand manipulation, bilateral coordination, planning and sequencing, and visual integration 
• Cut out snowflakes – fold a piece of paper into a triangle and cut out any pattern, unfold to see your beautiful unique snowflake. Cutting is an important school readiness skill.
• Make a hand wreath – your child can trace their hand multiple times over on different coloured paper and then cut them out. Decorate as you wish. Place the decorated hands in a circle resembling a wreath and glue together, or you can stick them to the the edge of a paper plate. This is a great multi-step activity that also works on fine motor skills. https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/1055599901866446/

• Create popsicle Santa and Christmas tree figurines. They can then be turned into bookmarks or add some ribbon to make it a tree ornament. These activities work on fine motor control​ https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/4714774598957963/ and​ https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/510103095295497920/ 

​To find out more, contact us at SPOT Therapy Hub on spottherapyhub@gmail.com or 02 9389 3322. Also check out our podcasts and blogs on a variety of topics at www.spottherapyhub.com.au