More Fine Motor Activities

Fine Motor Activities

Fine Motor Skills Things to remember: Upright working surfaces promote fine motor skills. Examples of these are: vertical chalkboards; easels for painting; flannel boards; lite bright; magnet boards (or fridge); windows and mirrors; white boards, etc. Children can also make sticker pictures; do rubber ink­stamping; use reuseable stickers to make pictures; complete puzzles with thick knobs; use magna­doodle and etch­a­ sketch as well. The benefits for these include: having the child's wrist positioned to develop good thumb movements; they help develop good fine motor muscles; the child is using the arm and shoulder muscles.

Fine Motor Activities Moulding and rolling play dough into balls ­ using the palms of the hands facing each other and with fingers curled slightly towards the palm.

Rolling play dough into tiny balls (peas) using only the finger tips.

Using pegs or toothpicks to make designs in play dough.

Cutting play dough with a plastic knife or with a pizza wheel

by holding the implement in a diagonal volar grasp.

Tearing newspaper into strips and then crumpling them into balls. Use to stuff scarecrow or other art creation.

Scrunching up 1 sheet of newspaper in one hand. This is a super strength builder.

Using a plant sprayer to spray plants, (indoors, outdoors) to spray snow (mix food colouring with water so that the snow can be painted), or melt "monsters". (Draw monster pictures with markers and the colours will run when sprayed.)

Primary Picking up objects using large tweezers such as those found in the "Bedbugs" game. This can be adapted by picking up Cheerios, small cubes, small marshmallows, pennies, etc., in counting games.

Shaking dice by cupping the hands together, forming an empty air space between the palms.

Using small­sized screwdrivers like those found in an erector set.

Lacing and sewing activities such as stringing beads, Cheerios,

macaroni, etc.

Using eye droppers to "pick up" coloured water for colour mixing or to make artistic designs on paper.

Rolling small balls out of tissue paper, then gluing the balls onto construction paper to form pictures or designs.

Turning over cards, coins, checkers, or buttons, without bringing them to the edge of the table.

Making pictures using stickers or self­sticking paper reinforcements.

Playing games with the "puppet fingers" ­the thumb, index, and middle fingers. At circle time have each child's puppet fingers tell about what happened over the weekend, or use them in songs and finger plays.

Place a variety of forms (eg. blocks, felt, paper, string, yarn, cereal, cotton) on outlines Match shapes, colour, or pictures to a page and paste them within the outlines Primary Self­Care Skills Buttoning Lacing

Tying Fastening Snaps Zipping Carrying Using a screwdriver Locking and unlocking a door Winding a clock Opening and closing jars Rolling out dough or other simple cooking activities Washing plastic dishes Primary Sweeping the floor Dressing Scissor Activities When scissors are held correctly, and when they fit a child's hand well, cutting activities will exercise the very same muscles which are needed to manipulate a pencil in a mature tripod grasp. The correct scissor position is with the thumb and middle finger in the handles of the scissors, the index finger on the outside of the handle to stabilize, with fingers four and five curled into the palm.

Cutting junk mail, particularly the kind of paper used in magazine subscription cards.

Making fringe on the edge of a piece of construction paper.

Cutting play dough or clay with scissors.

Cutting straws or shredded paper.

Cutting Use a thick black line to guide cutting the following: A fringe from a piece of paper Cut off corners of a piece of paper Cut along curved lines Cut lines with a variety of angles Primary Cut figures with curves and angles Sensory Activities The following activities ought to be done frequently to increase postural muscle strength and endurance. These activities also strengthen the child's awareness of his/her hands.

Wheelbarrow walking, crab walking Clapping games (loud/quiet, on knees together, etc.)

Catching (clapping) bubbles between hands Pulling off pieces of thera­putty with individual fingers and thumb Drawing in a tactile medium such as wet sand, salt, rice, or "goop".

Make "goop" by adding water to cornstarch until you have a mixture similar in consistency to toothpaste. The "drag" of this mixture provides feedback to the muscle and joint receptors, thus facilitating visual motor control.

Picking out small objects like pegs, beads, coins, etc., from a tray of salt, sand, rice, or putty. Try it with eyes closed too. This helps develop sensory awareness in the hands.

Midline Crossing Establishment of hand dominance is still developing at this point. The following activities will facilitate midline crossing: Encourage reaching across the body for materials with each hand. It may be necessary to engage the other hand in an activity to prevent switching hands at midline.

Primary Refrain specifically from discouraging a child from using the left hand for any activity. Allow for the natural development of hand dominance by presenting activities at midline, and allowing the child to choose freely.

Start making the child aware of the left and right sides of his body through spontaneous comments like, "kick the ball with your right leg." Play imitation posture games like "Simon Says" with across the body movements.

When painting at easel, encourage the child to paint a

continuous line across the entire paper­ also from diagonal to diagonal.

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I also use a Busy Finger Box in the classroom (you could easily find most things at home and school) 1. Pegs ­ You need pegs of different sizes, clothes pegs, small bulldog clips, stationery clips etc. Get the children to use one hand only at a time. I usually get them to peg about 10 pegs of different sizes onto the sides of a gift bag. They might put them on with their left hand and take them off with their right.

They can also try squeezing the pegs between the first finger and thumb (on each hand) then the middle finger and thumb and so on.

2. Elastic bands ­ Elastic gymnastics! ­ Start by putting 2 elastic bands (the same size) around the thumb, first and middle fingers, ask the child to open and close the fingers. Then add another 2 elastic bands and so on. The more you have on, the harder it is to move your fingers. These exercises help to develop the muscles which make the web space when writing.

3. Beads ­ Get beads of different sizes and thread. Ask the children to thread some beads onto their string. The smaller the hole obviously the harder it is to thread. Develops hand/eye coordination.

4. Ball bearings and tweezers ­ Put the ball bearings in one little box and ask the child to try and pick one ball bearing up at a time with the tweezers and place in a second small box. If this is too tricky try using Hama beads and tweezers.

5. Floam / Playdough ­ These products are great for squeezing and rolling which provides necessary sensory feedback and helps to develop hand strength. Ask the children to squeeze the dough and roll it with the palm of their hand.

6. Doodle board ­ The Doodleboard is just a way of children practising handwriting patterns or letters without having to commit them to paper.

Provide some patterns and shapes to copy.

7. Gummed Shapes ­ Give the children a sheet of plain paper and ask them to make patterns or pictures with the gummed shapes. Just picking up on shape at a time, licking it and then sticking it down all help to develop hand/eye coordination and the pincer grip.

8. Hama Beads ­ Hama beads are good for pincer grip and hand/eye coordination. The children have patterned sheets to copy and peg boards to put them on.

9. Lacing cards ­ Also good for hand/eye coordination. Just give each child one card to lace.

10. Bean bags ­ Give a child 4­5 bean bags and place a container about 3 feet

infront of them. Ask the child to try and get as many beanbags in the container as possible. (Hand/eye coordination) 11. Chalk and blackboard ­ If you can, try and wedge the blackboard between two tables and provide the child with a piece of chalk in each hand. Ask them to draw the same pattern with both hands at the same time on both sides of the board. This helps develop bilateral movement.

Allow the children to draw patterns, shapes and letter shapes on the blackboard. The chalk gives sensory feedback and sound simultaneously.

12. Stencils ­ Children can use the stencils to make a picture. Helps develop pencil control and special awareness among other things.

13. Feathers ­ Ask the children to try and balance a feather on different parts of their body. This helps to develop balance and coordination.

14. Handhugger pens ­ Hand hugger pens are the triangular shaped pens. These help the children to establish a better pencil grip.

15. Tissue paper strips ­ Place the child's palm (at the wrist) on the end of a strip of tissue paper. Ask them to only use their middle finger to get the paper to scrunch up under their hand.

Repeat, but this time place the side of the child's hand on one end of the tissue strip and ask them to only use their thumb to scrunch up the paper and bring it under their hand.

These activities really help to develop the hand arch, web space and muscle tone of the hand.

16. Stickers ­ Children love stickers. Just peeling them off provides an opportunity to develop fine motor skills and hand/eye coordination.

17. Peg boards ­ These can be peg boards where the child has to place pegs in the holes, maybe copying patterns.

They can be the boards with plastic pegs already on where they have to stretch elastic bands between them to make patterns.

Now that you have assessed your children in relation to their gross and fine motor dexterity, you can set up your Dough Gym. What is Dough Gym? 

Dough Gym is a gym for children where you work out with dough – Simple!

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Dough Gym is a specific daily intervention - If it is going to have impact it has to be regular and consistent.

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Dough Gym is directly linked to assessment and attainment.

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Dough Gym is exclusive – You need to make the children who need this intervention feel special and chosen for all of the right reasons, not just because they are failing. I usually work with a maximum of 8 children, not a whole group.

It is not impossible to do Dough Gym with a whole class, but it is a feat of organisation and you need an inordinate amount of dough! If your children are all jumping up and down on the carpet with a lump of dough in their hand, this isn't Dough Gym. What it is is a guarantee of a grumpy cleaner at the end of the day!

Dough Gym is usually done with one group of children while the others are doing a completely unrelated task or it can be done as part of a whole class session where one group works out in the Dough Gym and the other children do dexterity related exercises.

This is where 'Funky Fingers' comes in - but more about that tomorrow. 

Dough Gym is done to music – I have found that this is key to its success. Children are highly engaged by music and the beat is crucial when it comes to performing the Dough Gym moves. Choose your music carefully. Something that is popular and current is far more likely to get high levels of engagement than working out to ‘Jesus’ hands were kind hands’!

What do I need?

1. Space – If you are working with up to 8 children who are going to be practicing a series of gross motor movements then make sure you have enough space to stop them from knocking each other out!

2. Membership Cards - Every Gym member needs a membership card that they can keep in their drawer and show to the Dough Gym leader (you!) every time they work out!

These are an optional extra. Because I first used this intervention to target children who felt they 'couldn't do' something, I wanted them to feel special. Giving them 'exclusive' membership to the Dough Gym worked a treat.

The cards were really simple, computer generated and laminated sheets about the size of a credit card with the child's photo on it.

3. Certificate – Dough Gym is an intervention. Children wouldn’t stay on it indefinitely so I always gave them a certificate when they had completed their turn (often this was around a half term) Again, an optional extra. These are less relevant if you are doing whole class sessions like Funky Fingers.

4. Labelling/Posters – As this is a Dough Gym it is important to brand it as such with lots of fitness labels posters and information. It is good to have a mix between commercially produced and child created versions.

If you are not turning part of our space into a designated Dough Gym area, then there is no need to do this. If you have the space then 'dressing' the area often adds to the level of engagement.

5. Dough – Might seem like a bit of an obvious one, but every child needs to have a piece of dough that corresponds to the areas of development that you are working on.

The Friars Primary

As a general rule of thumb, when you are working with gross motor dexterity need a piece of dough as big as the child's head! If you make it in a pan, it is about a pan full each. If you are working on mid range development then a nice big ball and if you are working on hand and finger dexterity then smaller pieces of stiffer dough (or malleable material) that will give a higher level of resistance.

The Friars Primary

6. Music – Something current that the children will know that has got a good steady beat to it.

Your Dough Gym session will last the length of the piece of music. Around three to four minutes is about enough.

7. Work Out Routine – Dough Gym has a series of moves each that supports a different area of development from shoulder pivot to pincer grip. Over time the children become very familiar with the names of each move and are able to change them on command. Never the less your workout routine should match the needs of the children in the session

How does a session work? 

Dough Gym needs to take place at the beginning or end of a session so that you are not pulling children out of Continuous Provision or away from areas of interest and exploration.

I always prefer to do mine at the beginning of the day. As you want Dough Gym to carry a bit of prestige and have the ‘envyability factor’ it is better if it is done in your main space and that children aren’t taken off to the 'Sunshine Room' to do it!

The Friars Primary

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The Dough Gym children present you with their Dough Gym cards and then take up their places, STANDING at the designated Dough Gym space. As I said on Monday, it is important that the children stand as part of this initiative is to develop their balance, posture, proprioception, hand/eye coordination and bilateral movement which is less effective when you sit down.

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Children’s backs need to be straight and their legs shoulder width apart. The children will find it very tempting to bend forward thus using their back rather than their shoulders and arms to support the dough. I always tell mine to squeeze their bum cheeks as this tightens the ‘core’ and helps prevent bending.

Remember: When doing a session of Dough Gym you will be swapping between hand and finger exercises and palm, arm and shoulder workouts. The children won't constantly have their hands in the dough. 

When the music starts, begin by warming up the hands and fingers before you get onto some serious squeezing.

I have come up with tonnes of Dough Gym exercises over the years, but they are really easy to make up when you know the areas that you are targeting.

For hand warm ups you can do simple things like: Jazz Hands - In time to the music, stretch your arms out straight and repeatedly 'flex' your Jazz Hands!

Sharks - Bend your elbows and put your flat palms onto your tummy. Stick up your thumb so it is nice and straight (like a sharks fin). Keep your fingers tightly together and then bend your knuckles, DIP and PIP joints to make your fingers move like a fishes tail. Swim your hands separately out to the side, up above your head and then back down again. Keep your fins straight and your tails tight!

1,2,3,4,5,5,5 - Count to five on alternate hands starting with the thumb. Every time you shout out a number you extend your arm until it is straight and lift up the correct number of fingers. When you get to five, repeat the number three times, really stretching out your fingers and your palm.

Easy really! Just think about the muscles that you are working and how you want them to move.

Once you have done a couple of warm up exercises then you can get stuck into your dough. 

Use the dough for resistance work. Anything from squashing it with a flat palm and a straight arm to pinching small bits out of it. The large ball of dough is also useful for

developing arm muscles and pivots by lifting as well as hand arches and finger pivots by squeezing.

If you are working upper body, then you want lots of pushing, lifting, rotating and squeezing

Halton Lodge Primary

You can use exercises like: Around the World – children hold their complete piece of dough with both hands. With arms outstretched and with no bend in their elbow they take their dough in a complete circle as if it was a moon going around the Earth.

If you are working elbow and wrist pivots then you need lots of bending and flexing with exercises like: Milk the cow – This can be done with completely straight arms or by bending at the elbow. With straight arms the children stretch their arms out in front of them and make a fist. They move their arms up and down alternately squeezing their fists as they do so.

Lasso – Children start with their arms out to the side at shoulder height (like a scarecrow) and then bend at the elbow. They then make a fist, as if they are holding the lasso. Whilst maintaining the bend in the elbow and a fist they rotate their wrists either alternately or at the same time ending with a complete arm extension out in front of them as if they are throwing the lasso.

Swim – The children begin with their elbows bent, palms down, thumbs touching each other and the backs of their hands under their chin. Keeping their thumbs together they push their hands out in front of them until their arms are fully extended before bringing their hand back under their chin to start again (like breast stroke).

In between all of these exercises you would be returning to the dough to do more pushing, rolling, lifting squeezing etc. 

The session should be fast paced and hard work but most of all fun. You want to keep those children coming back for more.

The Friars Primary

The role of the Dough Gym leader is quite like that of a slightly crazed aerobics instructor. Once the children become familiar with a few basic moves then you will be able to sequence them just by calling out the name of the move when you want the children to change. As the children become more proficient, you add more moves and create a more complex and challenging work out.

After about three and a half minutes, it is all over - until the next time!

Experience tells me that if you assess well and create your exercises to match the needs you have identified, then you will see some brilliant results, especially with the children who struggle with manual dexterity. But, that is easy for me to say. Now you need to have a go and see for yourselves...

Have fun Dough Gyming!

Alistair Even though it is called 'Dough Gym', it is about much more than the Dough.

Before we get onto palm grips and pencils, we need to consider the other essential elements that children need to have to enable them to be successful mark makers and writers. These are the things that children who find the early stages mark making easy, learn quickly.

Alongside the development of their muscles, children also need to develop their sense of proprioception and balance.

Proprioception is the brain using all sorts of information from different parts of the body to help it to move effectively within its given space. An essential part of this movement is being able to maintain balance whilst still and in motion.

Large physical movements of the arms and upper body shift the centre of balance and also continually challenge the child’s sense of proprioception sometimes resulting in a child falling over or tripping over their own feet.

Thorpedene Primary School

Children need lots of practise at moving around to help this development. One of the most valuable things you can do during Dough Gym to help with this is give them plenty of space.

Saint Andrew's Primary School Another is to take away the chairs. Children do not need to sit down when they are at the malleable materials table. In fact it can be more detrimental to their development if they do.

During a session of Dough Gym you might use some large gross motor arm movements, this will impact on balance and proprioception as well as working the upper body muscles.

Whilst you are working out, children will also be developing hand/eye coordination and their low load control.

Low load control (simply) is your shoulders ability to support your arm and hand as you write.

When you come to writ something you don't slap your hand down like a piece of meat and then drag it along the page. As you write your hand should be gliding (swan like!). It is your shoulder and upper arm that are supporting you in achieving this.

Moseley Primary School Children need to do lots of shoulder rotating and dough lifting exercises to become really proficient at this.

Once you have identified that you need to develop children’s low load control and their sense of balance and proprioception then it really helps if outside of the Dough Gym sessions, they have access to fixed or permanent structures in our environment to support this movement as well as enhancements and activities to support it.

The activities that you plan should involve the use of the shoulder pivot on both horizontal and vertical surfaces. Encourage the children to reach and stretch as well as use the full circular motion of their shoulder joint in lots of areas of your environment indoor and out.

Basic Principle of Dough Gym:

'Work their bendy bits biggest to smallest!'

How children use their body to aid their early mark making and then writing is by using a sequence of muscle movements. Which muscles they use depend on which stage of development they are at.

Most children follow the same sequence of development, so once you are aware of it, you can create an appropriate environment to support and extend their stage of development.

It is all about the pivot.

Penguin Pre-School Where your children 'pivot' from will let you know where they are up to in their physical mark making development. There is an intrinsic link between pivot and grip that we will explore more later. ('Pivot and Grip' sounds like a new ITV drama about a pair of undercover pole dancing detectives.

A bit like Rosemary and Thyme, but with an edge!)

Most mark makers start here...

STAGE ONE - SHOULDER PIVOT Pivot: Shoulder Grip: Palm or Palmer or Palmer Supinate (it's all the same thing really!)

During the early stages of development (babies), when children are learning to support their head, reach, grasp, and walk. They are using groups of muscles in their pelvis, back, shoulders, arms and neck. It is these upper body muscle groups that children use in the very emergent stages of mark making.

Children will have already developed a grasp that allows them to hold something tight without dropping it. This grasp is formed by wrapping the fingers around the object and making a fist with the object held in the middle. This is known as a ‘palmer supinate grasp’, (‘palmer’ from the use of the palm, ‘supinate’ meaning turning the palm upwards and ‘grasp’ meaning grip) and is the grip that children most commonly employ in early mark making.

The Arches Primary School At this stage in their development, the muscles of their upper body that are the most well developed are the neck, chest and back. It is these muscles that have the most strength, so it is these muscles that are used to help the hand to make those first emergent marks.

Often at this stage the child will have a fairly stiff wrist and a straight elbow with most of the movement coming from the shoulder.

The type of mark that a child at this stage of development can make will be at the maximum range, so they are likely to be long and straight or large and circular as their range of movement is restricted to the strongest muscle group they have available.

As part of your assessment for Dough Gym you are looking for children who are pivoting from the shoulder with a palmer supinate grasp.

For these children Dough Gym is about large gross motor movements, consolidating that range of movement and moving onto the next pivot (bendy bit).

STAGE TWO - ELBOW PIVOT Pivot: Elbow (emergent or advanced) Grip: Palm At this stage in development the shoulder becomes more of a support and the elbow start to do most of the work.

There are usually two noticeable stages in the elbow pivot. The first is the ‘emergent’ stage where the elbow bends allowing for a greater range of movement, but the shoulder is still the main ‘power’ in moving the arm backwards and forwards. This looks like a sawing motion where the arm tends to move in straight lines across the body or from front to back.

When a child becomes more proficient in their elbow pivot then they begin to use the muscles in their upper and lower arm to swing their arm in and out from their body in a circular action. This is an 'advanced' elbow pivot (think stirring in a pot or creating a figure eight). This significantly increases the range of movement.

Often when the elbow pivot is developing, the wrist stays quite stiff and the grip is still palmer supinate.

Dough Gym for these children is about really employing the elbow in its full range of movement as well as continuing with shoulder exercises and strengthening the wrist and hand.

STAGE THREE - WRIST PIVOT Pivot: Wrist Grip: Usually Palm, but probably about to change, so keep a look out!

As the pivot moves to the wrist, the elbow often tucks into the side of the body and the shoulder movement becomes minimal. Low load control is definitely in play.

By the time that children reach the wrist pivot stage in their lower arms, upper arms and shoulders are all now well developed and their overall movement and balance tends to be far more fluid than it was when they first started out on this journey of development.

The wrist pivot stage is the one that children tend to stick with for the least amount of time before their pivot shifts again.

Often with a wrist pivot comes a change in a child’s grip from palmer supinate to digital pronate. (digit meaning finger and pronate meaning to grasp with the palm turned down).

It usually looks like a version of this.

When a child adopts a digital pronate grip they bend their wrist to nearly 45 degrees, grip their mark making implement with three fingers and use their first finger to manipulate the end of it.

This is a clear sign that their stage of fine motor manipulation in moving forward and also an indicator that we need to be looking out for and encouraging he next stage of development both in pivot and grip.

Dough Gym for these children had lots of much smaller movements that build strength in the wrists as well encourage rotation.

The journey through the pivots doesn't stop here, it keeps on moving across the hands, knuckles and fingers. But we will have a look at that in more depth tomorrow when we look at fine motor development.

Hopefully you will be beginning to see how and why Dough Gym is so closely linked to physical development and is dependent on accurate and regular assessment. Not just slapping and poking!

Outside of Dough Gym sessions, it is worth looking again at your Malleable Materials area. It isn't just a 'dough table', because it should contain a range of materials that have been put there because their malleability is linked to your assessment of children's development.

You can take away the chairs tomorrow - seriously they don't need them!

You can ask yourself the question 'If I had to give my Malleable Materials area a gender, what gender would I give it?'

How many children are passing it by because of the way that the area is dressed rather than stopping by because of enhancements that are linked to their interests?

Who are the children who often struggle with gross motor dexterity and development? Is it those same children who pop into your dough area to make a cup cake or mould a flower, or are they haring round outside on a scooter at ninety miles an hour? I wonder why?!

Tomorrow we will have a look at the fine motor aspect of Dough Gym and really get a grip! (Do you see what I did there?)

Alistair It has been a busy old time here at ABC headquarters what with conferences, consultancy and book deadlines! I am also really chuffed to say that I have been shortlisted for not one, but three Nursery World Awards! This is very exciting news and I am keeping everything crossed that I might actually win one!

I have also very much enjoyed trying out some new dough recipes with my gorgeous neice Mabel -who is a very willing, able and chatty helper! We had such fun making this one, I thought I would share it. It is really quick and easy.

Squeeze and Snap Dough

It has been a busy old time here at ABC headquarters what with conferences, consultancy and book deadlines! I am also really chuffed to say that I have been shortlisted for not one, but three Nursery World Awards! This is very exciting news and I am keeping everything crossed that I might actually win one!

I have also very much enjoyed trying out some new dough recipes with my gorgeous neice Mabel -who is a very willing, able and chatty helper! We had such fun making this one, I thought I would share it. It is really quick and easy.

(It is called 'Squeeze and Snap' because you can squeeze it and snap it!)

What you need: 1 cup of cornflour 2 tablespoons of oil (to start with) 2 tablespoons of shampoo or washing up liquid (to start with)

What to do:

Put one cup of cornflour into a bowl

Add the oil and have a little stir (it will go lumpy - don't worry!)

Add the shampoo or washing up liquid (we used strawberry shampoo - it smelled delicious!)

This is where this dough can appear a bit tricky. You have to get your hands in and work it for a while before it comes together. If it feels too dry then add more shampoo/washing up liquid.

If you want a different texture then add some warm water (slowly) until you get a lovely doughy consistency.

It should feel like a very smooth and silky dough when you squeeze it.

The unique thing about this dough is that you can 'snap' it and then squash it back together!

Although it always does basically the same thing, this dough can be different everytime you make it depending on the quantities of liquid that you use. It is good fun to experiment (if a little messy!)

You could of course also add colour, or texture - whatever you fancy.

Have a go - you will love it.

Whilst sorting through these photographs before I send them off to the publisher, I thought I would do a quick post to see if you had discovered this stuff.

It is called Tapioca Pearls or Bubble Tea. It is basically like giant tapioca. You boil the contents of the packet in a pan and they swell up to make these large tapioca balls.

On the packet it suggests that you can eat them hot or cold and add them to milky tea, soup, coffee or jelly. None of those options fill me with the desire to try them out! (amendment to post - Sandra found the following link regarding Tapioca Pearls saying that they had ingredients that may cause cancer http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/05/bubble-teatapioca-pearls-may-cause-cancer-study-claims_n_1856152.html#slide=more225946. Through some further research I have found other articles that say that the Tapioca Pearls are perfectly safe and the original report is unfounded. It is just good to be aware)

They are great to look at and touch when they are uncooked and hard an then again when they have been cooked when they are soft, squidgy and slippery.

Not only are they something different for the children to handle to encourage talk and language development, they are perfect for your malleable materials area as they will 'roll' under children's palms, allowing them to use large arm movements. They can also be used to develop pincer grip.

Have a go at using match sticks to stick into them when they are cooked to join several together and create a bit of small scale, fine motor construction.

They come in various flavours and colours. Beware, they get very sticky and slimy when they are cold. Some children (and staff) will love the texture. Others might not be as keen!

Of course they are small and round and a perfect size for popping in your mouth or up your nose, so younger children should be supervised whilst using them.

Amy left me a comment on this blog post that I thought it was worth adding to the main post.

These are super simple to make yourself. Just buy tapioca starch/flour (I got some for 55p from a Chinese supermarket) Add boiling water to the flour until them combine to make a dough. Roll the dough into little balls/pearls. Leave the pearls to dry out a bit for 2-3 hours and then boil them for 15 mins or so. If you make them yourself you can make loads! Add different coloured food colouring and then you have a great sorting activity too!

Thanks Amy Enjoy having a play Alistair

At the moment I am working on the finishing touches of 'Ready to Write' which is a book all about how children develop physically and cognitively on their journey to becoming a 'writer'.

At different stages of development, children need to experience materials of different malleability.

During the early stages of development, 'classic' dough alone doesn't offer enough malleability and dexterity to develop essential muscles.

As children become more proficient in their fine motor development then 'classic' dough doesn' t offer enough resistance for the further development of their palm arches and finger joints.

Although there are a million things that you can add to generic dough to make it a different colour, give it a different smell or change it's texture, but this doesn't change its malleability. It is still just dough, it is just that it has been pimped!

This pimped dough is great for providing a range of sensory experiences, but when it comes to malleable materials that will have impact on gross and fine motor dexterity, you have to differentiate!

I am always on the look out for new dough recipes, especially ones that will give a bit of resistance and provide some challenge.

Marshmallow dough is one of those 'tough' doughs that is also an interesting dough to make with children.

What You Need

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4 well packed cups of marshmallows (use the mixed bag if you want pink dough. Use only white and a couple of drops of food colouring if you want a different colour) 4 cups of cornflour

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2 tablespoons of water

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few drops of glycerine (optional)

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Adding glycerine to any dough will give it a smooth texture and a bit of a sheen. You can buy it in smal bottles in the supermarket, usually next to the food colouring.

What to do  

Put the marshmallow and the water into a pan Stir over a medium heat until the marshmallows have melted

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If you are adding food colouring or glycerine add them now Add the cornflour slowly, stirring continuously



When all of the flour is mixed in, turn out of the pan and knead.

The dough will not be sticky it should be smooth and quite dense. (extra bit of info...)

If the dough still appears sticky then add more flour and keep stirring. If you turn it out too early then you will end up welded to your work surface like Sylvia did! (Thanks for the photo Sylvia. I am sure it was nothing to do with the wine!)

The cooler the dough gets the harder it became to work, eventually ending up more like a putty. I really liked it.

I tried it out on my Niece and Nephew who found it quite tough going after a while, but stuck with it.

I am sure it was nothing at all to do with the left over ingredients!

Happy Squidging Alistair

With mark making a big focus it is important that the whole team are aware of where the children are developmentally and what appropriate next steps should look like.

All children have a short, fun, daily physical intervention which is aimed at consolidating their stage of development and moving them forward.

Fine motor/hand eye development

How many nuts can you screw on in a minute?

Some fine motor challenges then become part of the continuous provision

The fine motor focus is then carried on into the adult led activities. There was a great deal of interest in the 'Transformers' film and that interest had been used as the focus for some activity planning.

Still developing your fine motor skills here. If you are one of the children who is really motivated by 'Transformers' then this activity is 'sold' to you as a 'Transformers' activity. If not then the activity is flexible enough to engage you through another route.

Simple deconstruction then led to more complex electronics...

Using a battery to power a motor to make a propeller turn...

Discovering, then being able to explain why two batteries make

your bulb shine brighter

than one.

'Transformers' was also used to target specific children for writing development. A Transformers box was created for interest and then filled with provision aimed at specific development. The use of the contents of the box was modelled by an adult with a writing focus during CP

Then a baby bird fell out of it's nest in the outdoor area and the planning focus shifted. Because this is objective led planning NOT activity led, the teaching stays the same it is only the focus that changes.

An urgent message was sent to the Head who contacted the RSPB and their response was reported back to the children. (Leave it alone!)

The Friars have had a deconstructed role play area for a while now. One of their ongoing issues is the development of children's talk. Although it was being used for other role play, a number of children had started 'hairdresser' role play so the team had introduced a 'hairdresser' enhancement box.

Great if you haven't had time to do your hair before you get to work!

It was really lovely to share in the engagement of the children and to see the progress that the team have

made in ensuring that they are planning for attainment and challenge across the setting.

Next Steps? Well, pretty much for Emma and the team to keep doing what they are doing and now expand those principles into all areas of provision. How do you ensure that you have got differentiation and challenge in your sand, water, workshop or painting area so that children get the opportunity not only to try new skills but to extend the ones that they have already acquired?

So, that is what we are working on next. I will of course keep you posted on how we get on...

Alistair