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Messy is Marvelous and
Essential for Development!
by Marianne Gibbs, EdD, OTR/L
While mess making is not high on the priority list of most adults, children thrive and develop from hands-on, messy activities! Holiday time is the perfect time to be "messy". Making cookie dough, play dough, or pulling out pumpkin goo are just a few activities that engage children's hands and hearts in fun and the development process. Provide a wide-variety of kitchen tools such as rolling pins, spoons, mixing bowls, pizza cutters, and measuring cups to build many skills involved with pencil grasp and handwriting. Look at some of the skills developed during marvelous, messy activities: ~Hand strength (mixing, scooping) ~Eye-hand coordination (pouring, placing,
measuring)
~Forearm rotation (pouring)
~Palmar arch (pizza cutter)
~Bilateral coordination (spoon with mixing bowl)
~Sensory awareness (touch, sight, smell)
~Self-confidence
~Love of creating a special project
 So don't avoid messy experiences with young children at school and home - Embrace and initiate them! Prepare yourself and the environment appropriately, so that you may interact with your children in a stress-free way. Create lots of marvelous mess-making memories this holiday season while building essential hand skills and confident hearts in your young children!
Have Fun and Mess it up...Write Out of the Box!
Marianne |
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Teacher Feature |
Pumpkin Funny Face
It's not to late to find pumpkins and here's a great idea: hammering golf tees into a pumpkin!
What could be more fun than using a child-friendly hammer to "decorate" or make a face on a pumpkin with golf tees? Holding a golf tee encourages a tripod grasp. Hammering develops arm and upper body strength plus eye- hand coordination. Using two hands, one to stabilize and the other for movement, encourages bilateral hand use- a skill used when holding paper and cutting. Standing encourages good posture and balance. Your children will think they are just having fun. Make sure you have a sign up list ready, everyone will want to do this!
(p.s.- some of my children used a plier to pull out the golf tees other children needed the teacher to pull them out.)
Safety first- goggles are a must- flying golf tees can happen. A safety zone is necessary- it's a one person center. Cover the activity area with plastic for easy clean-up and monitor children closely.
Diane Skidmore, Early Childhood Educator
Wildwood Christian Academy
Magnolia, TX
******************************************** Congratulations to Diane for submitting her idea and receiving a coupon for an extra special discount in our online store!Do you have a terrific fine motor activity that you would like to share with other teachers? Send a description and a jpeg picture (if possible) of your activity to mgibbs@writeoutofthebox.com and we will send you a coupon just for taking the time to submit your idea. |
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Playdough for Fall |
Both of the following recipes were contributed by one of our biggest fans. A huge thanks to Heidi for sharing her ideas with us. Visit the Art Tools section of our online store for terrific tools like the dough roller, cutting tools and dough extruders. We hope you will enjoy these fun fall recipes.
Pumpkin Pie Playdough 5 1/2 cups flour 8 teaspoons cream of tartar 1 1/2 ounces pumpkin pie spice 2 cups salt 3/4 cups oil 4 cups water orange food coloring (2 parts yellow to 1 part red or orange gel coloring)
- Mix all ingredients together in a heavy bottomed sauce pan.
- Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until dough forms. The mixture becomes very thick so a big wooden spoon works well for stirring.
- When a ball begins to form, transfer dough to a floured surface. Knead the dough until it is smooth.
- When dough is cool store in an air tight container.
Apple Pie Play Dough Recipe
3 cups flour2 tablespoons oil3 cups water1 1/2 cups salt2 tablespoons cream of tartara few tablespoons each of ground cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves- Whisk all ingredients together in a large heavy bottomed sauce pan.
- Stir constantly over medium heat. The mixture will be soupy for several minutes and then suddenly it will stick together and form a rough ball.
- When it thickens and sticks together, remove the pan from the heat and continue stirring.
- Turn the hot ball onto a floured surface, and began kneading as it cools.
- Sprinkle the spices onto the dough and continue kneading.
- Store in a large zip-lock bag or other air tight container.
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Just a Few
Seats Left!
Full Day Workshop on Fine Motor Development and More!
ESC Region 4 (Houston)
11/18/2010
8:30-3:30
$35.00 (Includes gift of Complete Box!)
Contact Marianne right away for more details at 281-492-2936. |
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Featured Products
Special Purchase -
while they last!
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