5. Flashlight fort games A flashlight is one of my favorite toys to give as a present for a preschooler. I giggle when I buy an industrial flashlight in the hardware department, only to wrap it in Elmo wrapping paper for a four-year old’s birthday party. Usually within the month, the child’s mother tells me the flashlight was the favorite gift! Again, the K.I.S.S. philosophy! Back to the game. Make a fort in the house using sheets or beach towels. Drape the linen of choice over a table or several chairs and take flashlights into your secret fort. Use the light beam to draw letters, numbers or shapes on the fort walls. Spell words or learn your phone number and address. Take turns drawing with the light and have the child guess the drawing. Take a break and generate laughter by playing flashlight tag with the lights.
7. Fast naming game Collect ten items around the room and put them in a line on the floor. March, clap, jump or bounce while sitting on an exercise ball to a consistent beat. While moving, kids name each item in order on the floor. Change the order. Add clapping to the syllables. If your child messes up the name or beat, just keep going. Repeat the activity without correcting your child. The brain is an instrument that usually will self correct when given the opportunity.
9. Playdo games You can use store bought, but I like to make homemade Kool-Aid playdo and let the kids pick their flavor. It smells good and we keep it in the fridge so it’s nice and cold to “wake up” fingers and hands and improve body awareness. Although the Kool-Aid playdo smells delicious, the strong salty taste is less desirable. Keep one playdo as is but then give others texture by adding sand and rice for new feelings to explore. It also adds resistance for your hands which will improve fine motor strength and dexterity. You can also add items such as coins, plastic animals and pegs and have the child find the hidden toys. Increase the challenge by blindfolding your child with a bandana while he searches for the missing treasures. This activity improves fine motor skills for writing, cutting, buttoning and opening containers. WARNING: items placed in the playdo can be a choking hazard and sand is not a good thing to eat.
6. Volcano Fill a bucket with soap and water. For blowing bubbles, a straw will do, but I prefer using a long, clear tube from Home Depot that I get in several widths. Wash them first in the dishwasher. Let kids pick their tube of choice and have fun blowing through the tube to make the bubbles rise. Long, deep breaths are needed for optimal results. Before long, the volcano will erupt over the side. Everyone can take those bubbles in the palm of their hands to blow them into the air. (This is messy so you may want to do this outside or on a patio.) See how many times you can blow the bubbles in the air between two people. Breath control and deep breathing techniques are important calming strategies for test taking or calming a child down at bedtime.
8. Multi-tasking ball games Use a ball to kick, bounce or throw back and forth. When you get the ball, say an item in a sequence, such as the alphabet, numbers from one to 50, months of the year, days of the week or colors of the rainbow. If you master that activity, have one person count while another says the alphabet. Switch positions and do it again. It is important to do the activity to a beat. The goal is be successful with multi-tasking. You can add activities to challenge balance and coordination to further stimulate brain development. Don’t get frustrated because is meant to be a brain teasing activity.
10. Shaving cream fun
Get a cheap can of shaving cream. Find a mirror or bathtub wall that needs cleaning. Have your child sit in front of it, and you sit behind your child. Squirt the shaving cream onto wall choice. Use your finger to draw a shape, number, or letter on your child’s back and then have the child draw what he feels on the back. The child must draw and identify the choice shape, letter or number. Switch places and you draw in the shaving cream. Points are tallied by correctly identifying the drawing. This improves fine motor and visual motor skills. At the end of the game, use a paper towel or small rag in each hand and move across the surface: up, down and right to left (reading direction) to clean up. Do figure eights or play race cars, but the arm must move against the resistance as it cleans up the shaving cream to improve arm strength while learning spatial relations and following directions. Amy Perry is a wife and mother of three, energetic boys in Clearwater, FL. She owns Foundations Therapy, a pediatric occupational, physical, and speech-language therapy clinic in Countryside. At the clinic, she works as a pediatric occupational therapist specializing in Sensory Processing Disorder. Her hobbies are park hopping with the family, swimming in the pool, and finding hidden treasures at garage sales.
GoodLiving /Volume II, Issue 3
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