Tag Archives: tactile

Mar4

Week 23—Florida and Letter W

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Week 23—Florida and Letter W

Our theme for our Sensory and Fine Motor groups was Florida and our theme for our Language group was Letter W.

Sensory Group—Florida

The Unique Curriculum topic this month explored home, family and where you live, so we we chose our home state as our theme this week. We hope you enjoy exploring our wonderful state with us 🙂

We started our session by looking at a map of Florida. We pointed out where we live and where we might like to visit.

Then we read Cara’s book. Our students took turns activating the voice output device to comment on things we might see in Florida. We were quite excited when one of our students started kicking his feet (he activates the switch with his foot) as soon as we told him it was his turn.

Looking at maps and identifying places on maps is a social studies access point. Reaching for the map, since we held it vertically, helps strengthen shoulder stability.

 

 

 

 

Florida is the Sunshine State!

Our box of sunshine contained  soft, round, yellow pom poms and some hard, rayed yellow shapes (from a set of manipulatives).

These bright and cheery items let us compare properties of  materials: a science access point.

 

 

 

 

 

The next box contained some dried moss, just like the spanish moss that hangs from oak trees in Florida. It had a dry crinkly texture which was very different from the soft black bear “fur”. Again, exploring contrasting properties of materials is a science access point.

We put in a plastic orange and orange slice. This let us compare part to whole concepts which is a math access point.

There were lots of other cool Florida symbols that our students enjoyed pulling out which gave us lots of opportunities to explore language and literacy skills!

 

 

 

Seminole Indians are native to Florida.

They are known for the  bead work on their clothing. We put our colorful beads in some sealed bottles.

We also put in a few shells to encourage  visual discrimination as the bottles are turned.

Of course they are also lots of fun to shake, adding an auditory component!

 

 

 

 

In our next box we learned about alligators—we have lots of them in Florida!

Our alligator puppet had a zipper mouth which gave our students the opportunity to practice some activities of daily living skills.  Feeling the open zipper  was a safe way to touch a gators sharp teeth 🙂

We found a toy that  reminded us of an alligators  bumpy, rough skin.  Also included was in the box, was a gator puzzle piece and a little rubber one. Comparing the sizes of the large gator puppet and a small rubber alligator targets a math access point.

 

 

 

Cape Canaveral, where men were first  launched into space!

Black beans look like the dark night sky and are so nice to scoop or pick up with fingers to practice pincer grasp skills. Lots of tactile input is given when burying/digging out the astronaut and moon.

We also put in a small star shaped cookie cutter, can you find it?

Discussing the star shape and the sphere shaped moon addresses math access points.

 

 

 

Yikes, we are also known for hurricanes! Put a hair dryer on a high, cool setting and you have WIND.

Lots of giggles and smiles erupted as hair was blown or the wind touched their hands. Our students loved this so much, we ended up bringing the “wind” into the Fine Motor and Language groups also!

Exploring the effects of wind/weather is a science access point and the tactile effects increase body awareness.

 

 

 

Ok, we finally got to the beach! We have miles of it here to walk along barefoot (we found this plastic foot on a halloween clearance rack). The foot was a HUGE hit—no pun intended 🙂

We looked for the letter F and made seashell impressions in the sand.

 

 

 

 

 

Other students enjoyed trying to catch the sand as it as it was spilled from the shell—-so much fun in one little box!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next we practiced our prewriting strokes in “key lime pie”, our state pie. Its actually vanilla pudding but its a similar color to REAL  key lime pie—and a lot cheaper 🙂

The tactile aspect of finger painting helps reinforce motor memory patterns and is a great way to encourage hand and arm movements.

 

 

 

 

We rinsed our hands in orange scented water and took a little time out for some fishing, sometimes with a little help from our friends 🙂

Using the fishing pole to catch the fish promotes shoulder stability and eye hand coordination. The opening in the fish tails also makes them easy to grasp with hands.

Counting the fish as they are caught  addresses math access points.

 

 

We had some other fish that were squirters! Fun to squeeze, working on grasp skills. Also fun to have the water squirt on your hand! We were really excited to see this student actively moving her fingers and smiling during this activity.

After drying our hands, we rubbed on some orange scented lotion. A wonderful citrus scent to help us remember all the things we learned about our state today!

Thank you Ms. Metra for donating that yummy scent!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fine Motor Group—Florida

On Tuesday, we read Cara’s book about Florida. The students got excited as they recognized some of the familiar places and things pictured.

Talking about the different things they point out allows for lots of language and literacy opportunities.

 

 

 

 

Then we proceeded to make a palm tree—one of the most recognizable symbols of Florida!

We started by counting out rectangular pieces of white paper, working on math access points, of course!

Then we made a “down” stroke using a foam brush and brown paint.

We helped our students with the initiation point but they did a really nice job of completing the stroke. we were so proud!

 

 

Then we painted one of their hands with green paint and counted as we pressed it at the top of the brown line 2 times.

We told you we were making a “palm” tree 🙂

Some of our students could do this step independently but most of them needed some assistance.

 

 

 

 

WOW, doesn’t this make

you think of Florida 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Thursday we read Cara’s book again. Once again our students did a great job helping us read the repeating line. We didn’t talk about them in our book but Manatees are some of the wonderful animals that are native to Florida and we wanted to do a project that included them.

To get started on our activity, we counted out rectangular pieces of blue paper (addressing math access points).

Then we tore pieces of blue and green tissue paper. Tearing the paper helps promote bilateral coordination and fine motor skills.

We are making an underwater habitat for a manatee!

 

 

 

 

Our students dipped the tissue into glue and glued it onto the paper. Crumpling the paper was encouraged!

Grasping the paper encourages pincer grasp skills and eye hand coordination.

This student needed a lot of help with his pincer grasp skills last year, but look at him now! Joy (the OT) is very pleased.

 

 

 

Then we painted our manatee. Joy drew the outline on some white craft foam. Its texture really resembles that of a manatee, just perfect for our project!

 

 

 

 

We added a googlie eye, OF COURSE, and glued our manatee into its habitat.

TA-DA!

Jeannie’s hallway looks so cute with the palm trees and manatees hanging on the wall!

 

 

 

Language Group—Letter W

We started by Wadding up some scrap paper.

This activity is great for encouraging bilateral coordination and palmer arching.

And its really fun!

 

 

 

 

 

Then We took out the hair dryer again and made some Wind!

The students had so much fun Watching the hair dryer blow the paper Wads down the  table. It was also fun to Watch our post-its Wave.

Most of the students could hardly Wait for their turn with the hair dryer 🙂

This activity addresses shoulder stability and eye hand coordination.

Discussing the effects of Wind addresses science access points.

 

 

 

 

 

Next We Wiped out a W on the dry erase board.

Following the strokes promotes Motor Memory for letter formation and Working on a vertical surface promotes shoulder stability.

We also made it big enough to sneak in a crossing midline component.

 

 

 

 

Now We are going to make a Walrus!

For our project, some of our students cut strips of White  paper using our paper cutters.

These are going to be some Walrus tusks!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Other students practiced cutting on curved lines (this is going to be the muzzle). They needed a little help but really did a nice job.

As usual, we had a variety of scissors, both adaptive and regular on hand to suit our students needs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We used our hole punches to cut 2 large White circles and 2 small black circles using our hole punches. We love these because they make it easy for our students to cut circles and they help with hand strengthening.

Comparing the relative sizes and counting the circles addresses math access points.

 

 

 

 

We glued all the pieces onto a brown paper lunch bag.

Assembling this addresses following directions, fine motor skills and visual spatial concepts.

 

 

 

 

 

Wow! A Wonderful Walrus!

Isn’t he just so super cute 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What fun to play Cara’s latest sound game. Lots of cool W sounds to listen for this Week.

Watch out for that Wasp!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Whew—what a lot of W words we found today. There were so many and scattered all around the table—-here are just a few of them!

 

 

 

 

 

It was just an awesome week, we had a blast! We hope you join us again for more fun Group by Group.

Feb25

Week 22—Mardi Gras and the Letter V

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Week 22—Mardi Gras and the Letter V

This week the theme for our Sensory and Fine Motor Groups was Mardi Gras. Letter V was the theme for our Language Group.

Sensory  Group—Mardi Gras

Cara’s book “At the Mardi Gras Parade” had such bright colorful pictures that our students loved. We continue to encourage them to press the voice output device to help read the story.

Our first box focused on the Mardi Gras colors of purple, yellow, and green. We included yarn, garland, curling ribbon, feathers, beads, small toys, and crowns. We also included a little toy baby because of the Mardi Gras tradition of luck coming to the person who finds it in their piece of King Cake.

This box helps work on color identification skills. All the different textures explored properties of materials (science access point). Fine motor skills are addressed while reaching for, grasping, and releasing the different objects. And, of course, talking about all the different objects addresses language skills.

This was such a colorful box and we all loved it!

 

We continued exploring textures and colors

with our next box. Easter grass made a great stand-in for cotton candy that you might buy some from a street vendor while watching the Mardi Gras parade!

Its light and easy to grasp and Pulling the it apart encourages bilateral coordination.

 

 

 

There are lots of lights on the floats at the Mardi Gras parade so course we had to have some! We included some of our spinning light up toys as well as these battery operated lights we found at Target.

Our students had fun touching them or having them draped around their shoulders.

Looking at the lights encourages visual attending and tracking.

 

 

Our next box contained some purple“macaroons” that you might find at the French Quarter! Well, actually, its a substance called “Bubber”  which can be purchased from a variety of catalogs. It has the most amazing feel—light and silky just like a macaroon! The adults loved it as much as the students —-you just can’t stop touching this stuff!

 

 

 

 

BEADS! BEADS!! BEADS!!!

Of course we had to have beads, its Mardi Gras! We filled a box with them and to say our students loved them would be an understatement. Everyone had to grab one or two or a handful 🙂

The beads are excellent for addressing color identification and size comparisons. Their shiny texture makes them very eye catching when shaken and an auditory component is included when rolling across a table.

 

 

We looked for the letter M in our Mardi Gras rice—green, yellow, and purple of course! We loved the way it turned out, reminding us of a box of confetti.

 

Scooping, pouring, sifting—FUN!

 

 

 

 

 

 

King Cake is always served at Mardi Gras. Its yummy and topped with a sweet white sugar glaze that was easy to imitate with our oobleck!

Playing with the oobleck improves tactile awareness and provides a medium for practicing prewriting strokes—or you can have fun just watching it drip off fingers.

 

 

 

 

 

After playing with the oobleck, our students rinsed their hands in vanilla sugar scented water and then rubbed  on some hand lotion.

Everybody left smelling like sweet yummy King Cakes to remind them of all our Mardi Gras fun!

 

 

 

 

 

Fine Motor Group—Mardi Gras

On Tuesday, we read Cara’s book and learned about all the things we might see at the Mardi Gras parade. Then we decided to make some masks.

First we let our students choose whether they wanted a green or purple mask. We found these foam masks at Michaels on clearance after Halloween.

We counted the masks to work on one to one correspondence.

 

 

 

Then we added some

glue. Squeezing the

glue helps improve

hand strength

and eye hand

coordination.

 

 

 

 

 

Now for the fun part —decorating! We decorated the masks with feathers, glitter, sequins!

Our students had fun choosing which items to include on their masks. This student especially LOVED the glitter 🙂

A variety of fine motor skills are addressed during this activity from a pincer grasp to pick up feather to shoulder stability needed to shake the glitter.

 

 

 

 

 

Jeannie got some great pictures of her students holding their masks in front of their faces. They are going to look so cute in the yearbook.

Aren’t they just so bright and colorful!

 

 

 

 

 

Snack time comes after our fine motor activity and we just had to include a picture of this students spontaneous food art.

Isn’t it just fabulous—he was just so proud 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

On Thursday we read our Mardi Gras book again and then made some jester hats.

We started by letting our students choose which color to use for their hat band. After they made their choice, they practiced writing their names on their bands.

We made sure to reinforce color identification skills by naming the colors and encouraging our students to vocalize the color names when possible.

 

 

 

Then we used our paper cutters to cut out purple and green triangles. We really like using these paper cutters. They make it so easy for the students to cut straight lines and they really enjoy using them.

Identifying the triangle shapes addresses math access points.

 

 

 

 

We cut out yellow circles with our hole punches.

By either squeezing or pushing down on the hold punch our students are working on strengthening their hands.

Counting and identifying the circle shapes—more math access points!

 

 

 

Next, we taped the triangles to the band in an alternating pattern.

After 3 triangles, we asked the students to pick which color in the pattern came next.

Sequencing is another math access point. Putting the triangle beside the previous one addresses spatial relationships.

 

 

 

We added a yellow circle to the point of each triangle. Picking up the circle promotes a pincer grasp and placing it on the glue promotes visual spatial skills.

Its starting to come together!

 

 

 

 

 

Our hats are all done!

Time for the Mardi Gras parade 🙂

 

 

Language Group—Letter V

We started our group by talking about the letter of the week and we practiced forming the letter V with our fingers.

Making letters and other signs gives our students an opportunity to practice finger individuation skills.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then we made Vertical

lines on the magna

doodle to practice

pre-writing strokes.

We Voted on

which line was the longest!

 

 

 

 

We opened the Velvety bag by pulling apart the Velcro.

Then we reached in and pulled out one of the Vehicle beads.

Reaching into the bag and pulling out a bead without seeing it helps address tactile discrimination.

We purchased the bead set at Target.

 

 

 

He put a vibrant Van on

the string—Vroom Vroom!

After everyone had  a turn, we counted  the beads, working on one to one correspondence.

We really like this bead set because the end is a wooden dowel which makes it easier for our students.

 

 

We started our next activity with a Vulture that Joy drew—thanks for the inspiration Ms. Cathie 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our students tore black paper into Very small pieces to make “feathers”.

Tearing the paper helps improve bilateral coordination and pincer grasp.

The feathers were glued onto the Vulture working on eye hand coordination and visual spatial skills.

 

 

 

We like this View of the Varmint 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We played Cara’s latest sound game.

This game addresses listening and language skills.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We finished by looking at our V words. The post -its work so well in our group. Sometimes it hard to write down the words fast enough! Another advantage of them is that they are easy to move around and stick to different objects. They are also easy for our students to pick up and point to.

 

 

 

 

What an awesome week, we really enjoyed it! Please join us again next time for more fun Group by Group.

Oct30

Week 9—Pumpkin Time and the Letter I

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Week 9—Pumpkin Time and the Letter I

Pumpkin Time was the theme for both the Sensory and Fine Motor Groups this week. For our Alphabet Group, the theme was the letter I. All the groups were so much fun—see what we did!

Sensory Group—Pumpkin Time

We started by reading Cara’s book Trick or Treat. In addition to using our voice output device, the students got to take turns with these goofy finger puppets. Great for working on finger individuation.

For our water play and lotion, we used Pumpkin Pie Paradise (from Bath and Body Works). It had a really strong aroma that wafted all around the room. Everyone enjoyed the yummy, sweet scent.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We looked for the letter P in a mixture of orange colored rice and black beans. In addition to letter and color identification, we were able to discuss the concepts of big and little.

The picture really doesn’t do justice to how brightly colored the rice was. It was very eye catching.Here, one of our students who usually needs some assistance to engage with the materials, just dove on in with both hands.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We also made some pumpkin pie scented playdough to use with our bat and pumpkin cookie cutters. Pushing down on the cookie cutters addresses hand strengthening in addition to working on tactile desensitization.

Despite its rather yummy aroma, almost all our students were very good about not trying to eat it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We also put some eyeball rings to squish around and find in some plain playdough. As these rings were pretty small, we did put the mixture into a double ziplock bag before our students began playing with it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our shaving cream ghost was a hit. For some of our students it is easier to work on a more vertical surface—-shaving cream is a perfect choice!

After the ghost was rubbed away, we worked on making vertical, horizontal and circular motions to address prewriting skills.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This sensory box emphasized the contrasting properties of materials—a science access point. We had rough pumpkin scrubbers and a smooth piece of orange fabric,  hard beads and soft garland, big pumpkin bean bags and little black pompoms. We also put in black and orange yarn and a few halloween themed trinkets.

It was fun to see the items different students chose to interact with.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fine Motor Group—Pumpkin Time

We started by reading Cara’s book and taking turns with the finger puppets again. The we made the cutest mummies using an idea we found at crafts.kaboose.com/juice–box–mummy.html

We started by tearing  a piece of white paper into strips  and glueing them around a juice box. Tearing paper is a wonderful pre-scissor activity, great for improving bilateral coordination.

Before we started tearing the paper, we discussed its shape (rectangle) and color.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We tore a small piece of black paper and glued it near the top of the box.

And then, we counted out 2 googlie eyes and glued them on the black paper—great for pincer skill practice (Joy being an OT, just had to mention that of course!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our artists always “sign” their work but we were particularly excited to see students emerging independence using his adaptive writing utensil.

And now here they are………

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MUMMIES!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Thursday we used punches to cut out 1 square and 2 circles (working on math access points and hand strengthening).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We cut the square into 2 triangles….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and glued them onto an orange paper plate (using our home made colored glue to help our students see where to place their pieces).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then we added our circle and some rectangles—more math access points

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

…………………Let the trick or treating begin!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alphabet Group—letter I

We started by putting an Iguana In and out of a jar. Unscrewing the jar works on bilateral coordination, palmer arches, and grasp patterns.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
We then played the game “Whats in Ned’s Head”….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and found some really Icky things! On side note, this class is made up of all boys and needless to say, they absolutely loved this game. What can you say, boys will be boys 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We then moved on to something a little more appetizing—Ice cream!

First we practiced cutting along lines to make our triangle cone. This student is using an adaptive squeeze scissors (available from a variety of catalogs).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The cone and a small paper plate were glued onto a piece of paper. Our students colored their plates with markers.

For our students with significant physical differences, Joy used velcro to attach a marker to a switch toy. By pressing a switch, the students were able to color also. Their classmates also enjoyed taking their turn, of course.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We finished by adding a few sequins for sprinkles.

I like It!! !!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here are some of the I words we found today.

It was certainly another fun week, join us next time Group by Group!