Friday, February 22, 2013

Play Dough Echidnas - Fine Motor Practice

Squeak has low muscle tone so finds most fine motor activities tiring and a bit tricky. Cutting with scissors and holding a pencil in particular are things she tries to avoid, so finding activities that interest her and build these skills is high on our list at the moment.
Both of the girls have a new interest in echidnas since our Australian Animal Silhouette Game a few weeks ago, so this activity builds on that and adds in some scissor and pincer skill building as well.

WE USED:
* play dough
* drinking straws
* scissors
* googly eyes (optional)

I always put out a selection of different types of scissors during craft and activity time and encourage Squeak to try out different pairs. They all use slightly different actions depending on the style of scissor and it's all good practice to build up her hand muscles.

First the girls shaped their play dough into an echidna body shape. We looked at all the different body parts and talked about the echidnas long snout (or beak). The girls also added some googly eyes.


Then they cut their straws into shorter lengths to make spines for their echidnas.

Not only are the shaping and cutting skills great for fine motor strength but the pushing action is a good workout as well. The girls cut their straws whatever length they liked and then added them to their play dough echidnas.


Two little play dough echidnas, great job girls :)

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