Hands-On Learning with Craft Sticks

 

                                        

This hands-on learning activity with craft sticks was first featured on the Planning Playtime website. It is extremely easy to set up, you just need craft sticks and clothes clips and a marker. You can see the video here

 - https://in.pinterest.com/pin/AQQXfW416wKa0TtEeudunqinxAko5EdPcRVopm0v8dLLlKbhmnEhnlNTXaLFRRcVbFP9m8jvaKZYeDyDnDEVi1c/

You can try other variations with the same material - alphabets, words with missing alphabets, tally marks and many more. This activity helps in the development of thinking skills, matching skills, problem solving and fine motor skills. Do try it out with your kiddo!

Hands-On Learning : Roll And Color

 

                                                    

Roll and Colour is a free printable game that was featured on the Craftilifia website. It is a pretty simple activity to set up. All you need is a copy of the free printable, colour pencil/sketch/crayon and dice. Your kiddo rolls the dice and colours the corresponding one on the paper. Gather the dice from your old games at home and get started!

Here are a few ideas to add more variety to the game:

- Instead of the dots, you can use numbers, say three, four, etc.

- You can make a worksheet with addition/subtraction/multiplication/division to suit your child's needs. For example, instead of writing 4 try 2+2; 6-2; 2*2;  12/3

- You can try colours/shapes if you have the appropriate dice 

 

You can download the free printable and check out the video here:

https://craftilifia.com/printable-counting-game/

This seemingly simple activity is great for developing fine motor skills, visual skills, thinking skills, matching skills and eye hand coordination. I hope you found this post useful. As always, please don't hesitate to reach out using the contact form on the blog.

Hands-On Learning : Find The Other Half

 

                                             

Find the other half is an activity we have tried many times at home but couldn't find a good image for this post, so I am sharing a product image from Mungfali website. You don't need to buy this, it is just for visual representation.

You may be having many old flash cards at home. You can use them or cut out images from news paper or magazines for this activity. Cut the cards into two vertically and spread them out on the table. Your kiddo has to match the cards to their corresponding halves. This helps in developing visual scanning and visual perception skills along with thinking skills, fine motor skills and matching skills. You can keep it as simple as matching two cards to twelve cards. 

A simple and effective way to teach using items easily available at home. Hope you like it!

Hands-On Learning : Teaching Prepositions

 

                                     

Teaching prepositions for our visual learners becomes exciting when you try this hands-on learning activity. You just need a couple of transparent cups and some toy or object that your child finds interesting and you are all set. You can find more details on this website which featured the activity:

http://lessonslearntjournal.com/prepositions-vocabulary-for-beginning-readers/

The best way to learn is while having fun and this activity is a classic example. Hope you find it useful!

Hands-On Learning : Bilateral Coordination Activity

 

                                           

This Hands-On Learning activity is from the website - OT toolbox. It is simple to set up and needs an ice cube tray, small objects, pop tubes/any cylindrical tube and tongs. The image is pretty self-explanatory and you can find more details on the website:

https://www.theottoolbox.com/bilateral-coordination-activity-using

The beauty of this simple activity is how effective it is in developing fine motor skills, visual skills, eye hand coordination and of course, bilateral coordination, which is essential for many activities of daily living and learning.

If you want to make it more challenging, draw a pattern and your kiddo has to recreate it in the ice cube tray by dropping the object in the correct location through a tube. Hope you find it useful!

Hands-on Learning : Shadow Drawing

 

                         

Shadow drawing is a very easy to set up learning activity. All you need are some toys, paper and pen/pencil. This activity was featured on the website:

https://www.rookieparenting.com/shadow-drawing/

Though the article explains the activity as a light and shadow experiment, you can simplify it for our younger kids. Use it as a simple shadow drawing activity and ask your kiddo to draw the outline of the shadow and colour it. You can also try shadow matching and ask him/her to match the toy to the correct shadow. Good for developing fine motor skills, eye hand coordination and visual skills. Do try!

Hands-On Learning - Fun Pizza Counting Activity

 

                                 

Fun Pizza counting game is a really simple and fun activity I came across on this website:

https://www.123homeschool4me.com/fun-pizza-counting-activity/

This is an ideal activity for our Hands-on learning series, wherein, we use pocket friendly , easily available materials to teach our children. For this activity, you need a paper plate, sketch pen, scissors and glue. I think the image is pretty self explanatory and you can visit the website for more details. You can also use it as a fine motor activity by asking your kiddo to stick the parts in the correct places on the paper plate.

Another additional activity you can try is teaching fractions from this. I hope you find this useful and do share your feedback after trying it!

Nail Salon Kids Activity

 

 

Nail Salon kids activity is a simple and interesting way to work on nurturing fine motor skills, dexterity and eye hand coordination in your kiddo. I came across this activity on the website – Montessori From The Heart. There is a free printable available on the website or you can just trace  the outline of your hand and put the paper in a sheet protector or laminate it. You will also need nail polish(es), nail polish remover and cotton balls. You can ever try creating a pattern by using two or more colours of nail polish and ask your kiddo to recreate that pattern. Head over to the website for more details and a free printable :

 

https://montessorifromtheheart.com/2019/08/08/nail-salon-kids-activity-free-painting-nails-printable/

 

 

 

 

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Alphabet sensory Bag

 

 

Alphabet Sensory Bag is a lovely activity I recently came across on the website – Fun Learning For Kids. This is an easy to set up activity, you just need plastic alphabets, zip lock bags and hair gel.

 

 

 

You can use it to identify letters, spell their names, sight words and many many activities while having fun and developing fine motor skills and eye hand coordination skills in your kiddo. Please visit the website for more details:

https://funlearningforkids.com/alphabet-sensory-bag/

 

 

 

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Animal Tape Rescue

 

 

Animal Tape rescue is an excellent activity that provides the much needed fine motor workout for our children. I came across this activity on the Busy Toddler website, you can read more HERE.  It is very easy to set up this activity. You will need a tray or even card board will do. Stick the animals with a tape and your kiddo will have to rescue the animals by removing the tape. If animals are not your kiddo’s cup of tea, try toys, vehicles, or anything that fascinates him/her. You can make it more difficult by changing the tape to more sticky ones like electrical tape or surgical tape.

 

Another interesting way is describe the animal, say I am the largest animal on Earth and I have tusks, your kiddo has to infer that you are talking about an elephant and then rescues it.

 

 

 

Taping the animals on a vertical surface as shown on the Play Inspired Mum website adds a gross motor challenge in addition to fine motor workout. You can read more HERE

 

 

 

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Pop Stick Shape Dominoes Game

 

 

Pop stick shapes dominoes game is an easy to set up homemade activity.  I came across this activity on Learning4kids website. You can read more HERE.

 

We tried a more simplified and easier to set up version of this activity at home. We got craft stick or pop sticks from Amazon ( You can purchase them HERE) and drew shapes on them using sketch pens, let them dry and that’s it!

 

This is a good activity that help develop thinking skills, problem solving skills, eye hand coordination and fine motor skills. Do try it at home with your kiddo.

 

 

 

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Puppy Preposition Bingo Freebie

 

 

 

Puppy Preposition Bingo is another useful freebie from the house of the Autism Helper.   It comes with four bingo boards and the prepositions included are under, behind, in, next to, between, over, in front of, etc.

 

 

 

 

The freebie comes with two levels – first level comes with sentence strips and visual support to find the correct answer and in the next level, you can verbally say – ” find the puppy under the table”, and your kiddo has to find the correct one.

 

 

 

Visit their website for more details and the download link for this freebie. This is a digital download that you will have to print after downloading. I hope you find it useful!

 

https://theautismhelper.com/where-is-the-puppy-and-free-puppy-preposition-bingo/

 

 

 

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Threading Straw Shapes

 

 

Threading straw shapes is a simple hands-on learning activity that is easy to set up and helps develop fine motor skills, eye hand coordination and shape recognition through multi-sensory learning.  Just cut out cardboard shapes and stick straws along the border. Give your kiddo a lace and you’re all set. Check out this website for more information and many more ideas:

 

https://planningplaytime.com/2d-shapes

 

This is another interesting variation :

 

 

Check out this website – HERE

 

 

 

 

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Spot & Dot Alphabet

 

 

Spot & Dot Alphabet pages is available as a free download courtesy of Amber of the From ABCs to ACTs website.  This digital download has Do-A-Dot printable for each letter of the alphabets. On each page, you will find an image, say for example, apple for A, bee for B, cake for C and so on. There are alphabet circles on the page and your kiddo has to scan them and find alphabets that match the starting letter of the picture. The alphabets are all upper case only.

 

 

 

You can use dot makers, stickers, crayons/sketch pens to colour/mark the matching alphabets. This activity helps develop letter recognition, fine motor skills, visual skills and pincer grasp. Head over to her website and get the free printable. You can print it out and get started. Thanks a lot Amber!

 

https://fromabcstoacts.com/spot-and-dot-alphabet-pages/

 

 

 

 

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Sight Word Targets

 

 

Sight Word Targets from the house of Playdough to Plato is a wonderful way to practice playful learning. A huge thanks for the free download. Just print it out and put them on a wall. Your kiddo has to target the sight words by throwing a dart on the specified word/target. A great way to work on developing learning along with motor coordination and eye hand coordination.

 

 

 

This is a editable one, it means that once your kiddo is done with the current list of words, you can add new words and take another printout! This increases of scope of things you can teach using this game manifold. You can teach numbers, alphabets, sight words, synonyms, antonyms, addition ( for example, if you say 2 + 2 is, your kiddo has to target the card that reads 4), subtraction, multiplication and many many more!

 

What are you waiting for? Head over to Playdough to Plato to grab this free printable :

https://www.playdoughtoplato.com/sight-word-targets/

 

 

 

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Free Printable Tangrams

 

 

Printable Tangrams and Challenge cards is a free printable developed by Keri and featured on her blog – One Mama’s Daily Drama. This printable contains 7-piece puzzle tangrams and accompanying challenge cards.

 

 

Head over to her website for detailed instructions:

http://onemamasdailydrama.com/printable-tangrams-challenge-cards/

 

Also, check out Keri’s Printable tangrams mandala puzzle pieces which are an advanced level of puzzles.

 

 

 

http://onemamasdailydrama.com/printable-tangrams-mandala-puzzle-pages/

 

Thanks Keri for the wonderful printables!

 

 

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Alphabet Sift And Find

 

 

 

Alphabet Sift and Find is a fun hands-on learning activity. It is very easy to set up this activity the materials readily available at home. Follow the link shared below for detailed instructions

 

http://busytoddler.com/2016/10/alphabet-sift-and-find/

 

This activity helps develop fine motor skills, bilateral coordination and visual skills. You can make this activity more complicated by asking your kiddo to form words from the alphabets, try shapes  or numbers instead of alphabets or even better try puzzle pieces, which your kiddo has to assemble once he is done sifting them from the sand/flour,etc.

 

Thank you Susie from Busy Toddler for this wonderful activity suggestion!

 

 

 

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Symmetry Picture Drawing Free Printable

 

 

 

Symmetry Drawing is a wonderful free printable developed by Viviana and featured on her Totschooling website. This fosters development of visual skills, drawing skills, thinking skills, fine motor skills and eye hand coordination in your kiddo.

 

 

This free printable contains symmetry drawings of basic shapes, flower, smiley face, butterfly, cat, house and many more. Thanks a ton Viviana! Check out her website for detailed instructions :

 

https://www.totschooling.net/2018/05/symmetry-picture-drawing.html

 

 

 

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Apple Math Tree

 

 

Apple Math Tree Learning activity was developed by Agnes Hsu and featured on the website – Hello Wonderful. This is a free printable activity that fosters math skills in your kiddo along with thinking skills and eye hand coordination. The concept is pretty simple and easily understood from the image shared above. Your kiddo has to match the answers on apples to the correct equation on the apple tree.

 

 

 

Though the post features the addition problems, you can easily customize it to suit your child’s needs, Make it as simple as matching numbers to addition to subtraction to multiplication to division. Check out the website for more detailed instructions:

 

https://www.hellowonderful.co/post/apple-math-tree-learning-activity/#_a5y_p=6740765

 

 

 

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Matchstick Colour Drop Game

 

 

Matchstick Colour Drop game is a very good way to work on developing multiple skills in your kiddo. Anna from The Imagination Tree, illustrates this activity with many suggestions and images. Head over to her website – Here.

 

This game is very simple to set up. You will need colour matchsticks and box with transparent lid. Punch small holes sufficient to push a  matchstick through them and circle the holes with colours matching the matchstick colours. That’s it! Picking up matchsticks from the table, helps develop fine motor skills, pincer grasp and eye-hand coordination in your kiddo. Not only that, you can add sorting the matchsticks by colour and counting them. You can extend it to include simple addition and subtraction too.

 

You can find colour matchsticks in craft stores like Itsy Bitsy, etc,.

 

 

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