Summer's Moving....Are Your Little Ones Fingers???

Are you savoring each and every moment of summer?  Are you enjoying a slower pace?  Is your family taking advantage of the great opportunities in the area?  Oh, there's so much fun...and learning out there!!! 

As a teacher, I just want to encourage you...in the midst of the bliss of summer...to throw in a little prep work for the upcoming school year...in a fun way, of course!  If your child is headed to Kindergarten, or even to Transitional Kindergarten, there are some creative ways to get your child ready for what's ahead.

Developing essential fine motor skills can be done in cool ways, like playing with playdoh...mashing, rolling, twisting...creative exploration!!!  Baking bread or making rice krispie treats work the same muscles.  Yummy!  Stringing beads is great...making necklaces and bracelets...accessorizing with a purpose!  Do some activities that involve pinching...objects, not people...smile...even just using that pincher grip to pick up snacks like Cheerios or goldfish.  Kids love to use tweezers to grasp items.  If your child has the game Operation, that's a challenge that comes with lots of buzzing and giggles.

Learning to hold scissors properly and practice cutting will be beneficial.  Buy Fiskars scissors.  They are the best.  Believe it or not, cutting playdoh is a good way to start and adds a little textured multisensory approach.  You might want to have a little conversation on what is appropriate to cut and what is not, whether you venture "out of the box" or not.

Have fun with sidewalk chalk!  It's art....It's outside....It's great development!!

Introduce the use of a gluestick.  Elmer's is the best.  Teach your child how to open the gluestick, to twist the knob just enough to raise the glue just a bit...so that you don't get globs, to screw it back down when finished, and how to close the lid until it clicks.

So get those fingers moving and developing!!  You'll be glad you did...and enjoy the process!!