Literacy and Learning

Item: Scissors- with lift-assist- Recommended for children ages 3+  Always use adult supervision.  Lift assist is an additional lever that can be flipped town to help the scissors spring back open for children with weak fine motor muscles.  

Why this item is important: These muscles are crucial for holding a pencil or crayons and gripping and manipulating objects.

What this item teaches: The opening and closing motion of cutting with scissors helps children develop the small muscles in their hands otherwise known as fine motor skills. 

How to Use this item:  

• Teach our child first and foremost that scissors can be dangerous and should only be used when seated and when an adult says they can use them.

• Teach them to carry scissors safely by holding the scissors with the blades together and pointing downward, wrapping their fingers and hand around the blades until they are seated. 

• Teach your child to place their thumb in the upper hole/space and their pointer and middle finger in the bottom hole/space. Putting a mark or sticker on their thumbnail can help remind them to keep their thumb on top. 

• Teach them how scissors work- When they spread their hands apart, the blades open, when they bring their thumb and fingers back together the blades close.  

• Help your young child to practice using the open/shut motion by cutting various items like play-doh, scrap paper (this is a good way to get rid of junk mail and have your child help cut up old bills)

• Make sure your child knows what they are allowed to cut- ex. Clothing, hair, skin, animals, furniture, and other items should NEVER be cut. Or scissors only are for cutting what you are given.  (Idea: Create a cutting box of approved materials)

• Holding the paper with their other hand (or with your help at first) helps to stabilize the paper and makes cutting easier. 

• Scissor skills begin with snipping or chopping.  Kids may begin to tear the paper to help cut across a large page.  Allow them to start by making small cuts to understand how scissors work and strengthen their muscles. Use small pieces of paper to start so they can feel the success of cutting across the paper then move to larger pieces of paper then eventually by drawing dotted lines, then zig-zag lines. 

Ways to make this item more fun:

• Add different textures and types of materials to cut such as:

  • Play-doh

  • Cardstock

  • Construction paper

  • Straws (then have them lace the straws on yarn or string tipped with masking tape)

  • Dry spaghetti (you can have them place beads, cut straws, or other materials standing up in a ball of play-doh 

  • Yarn, ribbon,  string, fabric, or other textiles

  • Create a cutting box of random materials, both easy and hard to cut, that allows the child to explore, practice, and to know they are allowed to cut anything in the box.  Added activity- they can glue the bits and pieces of the materials to further practice their fine motor skills. 

Additional Resources: https://www.pre-kpages.com/tips-for-teaching-scissor-cutting-skills/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDtupoBsp6o

https://teaching2and3yearolds.com/10-awesome-activities-to-strengthen-preschool-scissor-skills/

Item:  Jumbo Tongs

Why this item is important: Tongs work the muscles of the fingers, hand, wrist, and even arm. They take eye-hand coordination to operate as well as. 

What this item teaches: Tongs are a great way to add a different skill or level of difficulty in other activities.  Try to complete everyday tasks like picking up items around the house with tongs instead of your hands! 

How to use this item:

• Pick up pom-poms and sort them by size and color.  Practice math skills by counting the number of each color, use comparison words like more, less, and equal. Play math games to practice addition and subtraction. Example: If I have three blue and you have two green how many do we have together? Use the tongs to choose and combine the pom poms to count and check your counting. 

• Pick up different types of items- round, square, hard, soft, large, small, etc.

• Use the tongs to help cook or eat food for something different than silverware.

• Tape recycled paper towels or toilet paper tubes to the side of the counter or table and use tongs to pick up and drop pom-poms to drop them in the tubes.  Place a bowl or basket underneath or use the tongs to pick them back up again!

Ways to make this item more fun:

• Use kitchen tongs (be careful of sharp edges) to pick up and sort different items or to help serve the family dinner!

• Try picking up tiny items and large items and talk about how the experiences were different and what you needed to do differently to make it work.

• Try doing everyday tasks like getting dressed or eating and laugh about how different it is to use tongs instead of your hands.

• Try different size tools similar to the provided tongs like large kitchen tongs, tweezers, clothespins, and chopsticks.

• Make your own tongs using pencils, markers,  tongue depressors or popsicle sticks and rubber band them together. See how different materials work better or worse for different tasks.

• Use ice cube trays to sort small items by color, size, shape, or other attributes.

• Use bowls, paper plates, or other containers like old butter tubs to sort items too!

Additional Resources: http://mamaot.com/ways-to-play-with-tongs/

https://www.kiddycharts.com/activities/five-activities-using-kitchen-tongs-to-promote-fine-motor-skills/

http://mamaot.com/ways-to-play-with-tongs/

https://www.learning4kids.net/2014/12/02/introducing-play-dough-babies-toddlers/

Item: Construction and drawing paper

Why this item is important:  It’s important for your child to develop strong fine motor skills at a young age. Holding and manipulating writing tools is one of the best ways to improve a child’s fine motor skills and help them to be successful with writing later. 

What this item teaches: Drawing creates immediate visual feedback that changes depending on the tool your child uses and how he or she uses it. Cutting and tearing paper are great ways to build up the fine motor, or small muscles of the fingers and hands. Paper can be used for writing, drawing, and sharing ideas. 

How to use this item:

• Encourage your child to draw.  Being creative helps to build confidence and expression of one’s self. 

• Do not guess what your child drew- ask them to tell you about their drawing. If you guess you may cause them to agree with your interpretation instead of what they really drew. This is also practicing storytelling,  expressive, and receptive language skills. 

• Point to parts and pieces and ask them to tell you more or what each part is (ex. Arm, eye, hair, a circle, etc) Talk about the shapes that you see. 

• Making vertical, horizontal, curved, diagonal and round shapes are all the parts of letters that children will eventually learn to make. 

• Give your child a mirror and have them draw themselves. 

• Tearing, ripping, crumpling, and cutting paper are great ways to build up skills. 

Ways to make this item more fun:

• A child’s drawing is their form of writing.  Pictures can tell stories too!

• Older infants should be given drawing tools too!  Making marks on paper is their drawing.  They learn cause and effect by seeing the marks left from the crayon or marker or writing tool.

  • You do not have to use traditional writing materials with babies and children. Their fingers playing in baby food on a high chair tray is a great way to allow for little ones to safely create, draw, and explore textures. 

• Writing and drawing on a vertical surface is a great way for children to practice their skills in other ways.  Drawing on a fence, outdoor wall, window, or bathtub wall with paintbrushes and water, spray bottles, or washcloths are some examples. 

• Drawing on recycled papers like newspapers, magazines, or junk mail are all great ways to reuse and repurpose materials at home.  Different textures allow for added sensory experiences. 

• Check out the link to Zero to Three below to learn about the stages of writing. 

• Though coloring books are sometimes said to negatively impact children’s creativity, there are benefits such as learning to color within predetermined shapes (requiring advanced fine motor control skills) and developing eye-hand coordination. 

• Read about the stages of pencil grip development below. 

Additional Resources:

https://www.kiwifamilies.co.nz/why-drawing-important

https://www.firstfiveyears.org.au/early-learning/the-importance-of-drawing-to-writing

https://www.zerotothree.org/resources/305-learning-to-write-and-draw

https://www.momjunction.com/articles/amazing-advantages-coloring-pages-childs-development_0086656/

https://www.ot-mom-learning-activities.com/pencil-grasp-development.html

Item: Dry Erase boards, Marker, and Eraser

Why this item is important:  Dry Erase boards all for children to experience writing on a smooth, easy to write surface.  Adding different textures allows for sensory development. Parents and caregivers can spend time drawing and writing together comfortably sitting together with the dry erase board on their lap. 

What this item teaches:  Whiteboards or dry erase boards are another tool for children to draw, write, and express themselves.  They inspire fine motor skills, creativity, counting, and other creative play. 

How to use this item: 

• Write, draw, play games like tic-tac-toe and hangman for older kids

• Use as a flat base for using play-doh or other sensory play materials for easy clean up

• Adults can draw half of a picture and have their child make a mirror image of the other half

• Make or remove marks to practice counting

• Make many small pictures and have your child circle them into small groups to match the desired number (ex circle one group of 3 stars, 2 squares)

• Draw pictures and erase parts of it, have your child guess what is missing

• Make circles and have your child place a certain number of small items like pom-poms or buttons inside of them.  Trade roles and have your child check your counting skills too.

Ways to make the item more fun:

• Use different colors of markers

• You can remove permanent markers from dry erase boards by tracing over the marks with dry erase markers (or by using hand sanitizer on a tissue).  Have your child practice tracing over your marks with their dry erase markers to make them magically disappear. 

• Make your own dry erase board by using plastic sheet protectors, laminate tile, mirrors, or glass.  Laminated papers are erasable too!

• School-age children may be more willing to practice writing spelling words if they can write on a large mirror or window for something different and fun!

Additional Resources:

https://teaching2and3yearolds.com/dry-erase-board-activities-with-preschoolers/

https://www.fantasticfunandlearning.com/teacher-tested-tips-using-dry-erase-markers-kids.html

https://www.teachwithoutlimits.com/whiteboard-games/

https://tinkerlab.com/wonderful-whiteboarding/

Item: Bubbles

Why this item is important: There are many ways that bubbles are essential to the development of young children.  The skills include fine motor, gross motor, speech/oral-muscular development,eye-hand coordination, sensory experiences, and many more skills.  Bubbles are not only fun but they are educational too! 

What this item teaches: 

• Fine motor skills- pinching the tiny bubble wand, holding the bubble solution, balance- keeping it steady, preventing or stopping spills (cause and effect), poking bubbles (hand-eye coordination), and much more. 

• Visual processing skills- Tracking bubbles as they float and popping them is important learning for little ones. 

• Sensory processing- Bubbles are wet, sticky, soapy, float, splash, and spill. There are many things to learn from bubbles.

• Oral motor skills. Blowing bubbles is a hard skill to learn.  Kids have to connect theri hand, mouth, tongue, adn eyes all at the same time to be successful in blowing just one bubble!

• Gross Motor skills- Using an arm sweeping motion or holding bubble wands and running can both produce bubbles.  Chasing bubbles in the wind also requires physical activity!

Ways to make this item more fun:

• Make your own bubble solution.  See below for recipes

• Add food coloring to bubbles and blow the colored bubbles against white paper. Make bubble art

• Play Bubble Simon Says- Challenge kids to use different ways to pop the bubbles such as pop them with your nose, elbow, knee, pop three bubbles, use your head, stand on one leg, tippy toes, etc. 

• Use different spatial awareness terms- behind, under, in front of, etc. 

• Make up different sequences for popping bubble- Pop one with your nose and one with your toe then clap on between your hands.

• Practice taking turns with who blows the bubbles and who pops the. 

• Make a large batch of dish soap bubbles and fill up a repurposed detergent container for a refill station

• Tie or velcro large bubble tubes to a post or tree trunk to reduce spilling. 

• Make your own bubble wands- test out different items from around the house and see how well they work.  Examples are coat hangers, colanders/strainers, rubber bands, milk cap rings, paper towel tubes, old CDs or DVDs, and much more. 

Additional Resources: http://mamaot.com/11-benefits-of-playing-with-bubbles/

https://www.thesprucecrafts.com/make-your-own-bubble-blowing-mixture-1244214

https://www.sdcdm.org/blog/2018/11/sensory-play-12-squishy-crunchy-noisy-and-tasty-activities

Item: Finger Puppets and Squishies

Why this item is important: Using one finger at a time is called muscle isolation.  When you practice using just one finger at a time you are building the muscles of the whole hand.  By changing which finger you focus on, you are isolating and strengthening different muscles in the hand, wrist, and arm. 

What this item teaches: Not only do finger puppets and small toys build fine motor skills, but they also encourage creativity, imagination, and language skills.  Pretending to speak in different voices or to be different animals is great practice for pretending and using one’s imagination. 

How to use this item:

• Making funny noises and voices is a great way to bond with your child through play.  Being silly encourages imaginative play and builds your relationship with each other.  

• Talk about animal noises- play games- which nose goes with which animal? 

• Talk about where animals live, what they eat, how many legs they have, etc.  (science)

Ways to make this item more fun:

• Make your own animal puppets out of drawing or cut-outs on paper pages or paper pieces

• Make animal masks out of paper plates and glue or tape them to wooden sticks.

• Tell animal jokes

• Sing songs like Old MacDonald or B-I-N-G-O

• Use puppets to give kids an opportunity to express their feelings through play.  This is especially helpful if a child is having strong feelings.  Sometimes they are more willing to speak through their toys than their own voices. 

• Make habitats for your animal to live in like a farm or an ocean.  Talk about what else would live there or what it would be like for humans to live there. 

Additional Resources:

https://childcare.extension.org/using-puppets-in-child-care/

https://www.lilypondcountrydayschool.com/benefits-puppet-play-theater-preschoolers/

https://www.openschoolbag.com.sg/blog/benefits-of-puppet-play/

Item: Sidewalk Chalk

Why this item is important:  Sidewalk chalk is a large piece of chalk that is harder to hold, break, and manipulate.  Using different textures, locations such as brink walls and driveways allow for exploration of a child’s environment and demonstrates cause and effect.  

What this Item teaches: By offering different types of vertical and horizontal places to draw, children are encouraged to use their whole body, changing hands (called crossing midline when large wall drawing spaces require kids to switch hands and cross the centerline of the body) stimulates both sides of the brain. 

How to use this item: 

• Allow your child to draw on different surfaces such as rocks, outdoor walls, bricks, and driveways or sidewalks. 

• Drawing on texture or 3-dimensional surfaces, your child can challenge their brain and body. 

• Create a hopscotch or obstacle course outside with chalk (or inside with tape) by making places to hop, tip-toe, giant step, side-step, and follow directional arrows to encourage physical activity, direction following skills, and more. 

• Have your child draw or write with chalk then offer them a bucket or bowl of water and a rag to scrub the chalk away.  This deep muscle stimulation allows for different muscles to be used and allows for multiple sensory experiences. 

Ways to make this item more fun: 

• Make your own chalk – See recipe below in the additional resources

• Allow kids to crush chalk with a rolling pin or small mallet/hammer. Glue or paint with the chalk dust.

• Mix chalk dust with water to make chalk paint

• Draw on paper with chalk and rub/blend with a sponge or tissue

• Draw with chalk the paint over the chalk with water and observe how the colors change as they are wet and as they dry. 

Additional Resources:

https://www.wikihow.com/Make-Homemade-Chalk

https://happytoddlerclub.com/how-to-make-sidewalk-chalk-paint/

https://teaching2and3yearolds.com/favorite-chalk-activities-build-skills/

https://handsonaswegrow.com/chalk/

https://teaching2and3yearolds.com/favorite-chalk-activities-build-skills/

Items found around the house can be excellent sources of play and learning.

Check out these great learning through play sheets provided by Lorain County Community Action Agency.

Click here to learn more about LCCAA Early Head Start Program and other resources.