Summer fun with water and chalk for fine motor
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I have been seeing kids this summer for an early intervention program, and have been playing with sidewalk chalk and water. Some younger kids will have trouble with squirt guns, so we are going to try a regular spray bottle.
I broke all of the brand spankin’ new sidewalk chalk into smaller pieces. There was a lot of full fisted coloring, and I wanted to illicit some coloring using just the fingers on the chalk. One fellow I see is very reluctant to try anything new, but he warmed up to coloring on the sidewalk.
Other days we colored on the sliding glass door with washable crayons. He was very quick to warm up to that, but needs to be watched closely so that he doesn’t decide it’s ok to color on the walls. It is great to color and draw in different positions, on the ground, on a vertical surface. Just break those crayons to encourage a digital grasp (holding the crayon with the fingers) rather than a fisted grasp.
Materials:
- Chalk
- Squirt gun
- Water
- Writing surface (sidewalk, wall, chalkboard, mirror, white board)
Skills:
- Fine motor
- Finger strengthening
- Visual motor
- Range of motion
- Lower extremity strength (squatting)
- Balance
