Image Source: Decor to Adore
When developing curriculum, daycare providers must include age-appropriate activities for young children that develop fine motor skills. This Mother’s Day craft activity will support an fine arts unit as well as promote visual motor coordination, bilateral coordination, and hand strength. The decorative soaps are a great gift for kids to give their parents for Mother’s Day.
Fine motor skills are actions that involve the small movement of hands, wrists, feet, fingers, toes, tongue, and lips. In contrast with gross motor skills which involve larger muscles of the arms, legs and feet, fine motor skills focus on small muscle movements in coordination with the eye. Some important fine motor concepts and skills that preschool age children learn to master are bilateral coordination, visual motor coordination, grasp, hand use, manipulation skills, pincer grasp, wrist rotation, pre-writing grasp, hand strength, and tactile awareness.
Children learn fine motor skills through practice. Activities which involve writing, drawing, cutting, stringing, and buttoning are great examples of activities that promote the development of fine motor skills. The decorated soaps activity includes the preparation instructions, procedure, and materials list for this activity. It also provides age-appropriate learning objectives and a sample of the simple supporting verbal cues necessary to encourage participation and support learning.
Decorative Soaps
For each child you will need:
- A square bar of soap
- Felt, lace, and fabric
- Ribbon, Buttons, Sequins, beads (embellishments of your choice)
- Straight pins with flat heads
- Rickrack
- Silk flowers
- Glue
- Glue dots
Activity Preparation
- Cover the craft table with butcher paper or newspaper.
- Place all of the materials on the table
Decorative Soap Activity Procedures
- Invite the children over and let them know that they can decorate soaps to give to mom for mother’s Day.
- Encourage the children to select the felt, lace or other material to wrap around the soap and help the cut the material to fit.
- Help the children wrap the material around the soap and then secure the material to the back of the soap for them with the straight pins with the flat heads.
- Next, turn the soap right side up. Children can decorate the tops and sides of the soap with the flowers, ribbon, sequins, rickrack or any other embellishments.
- Help children attach the decorations glue and glue dots.
Fine Motor Learning Objectives
Objective 1: To provide the opportunity for increased visual-motor coordination by using scissors to cut straight lines.
Verbal Cue A: Can you cut the fabric that will go around your soap?
Verbal Cue B: I like how you are cutting the fabric using your scissors.
Objective 2: To provide the opportunity to increase bilateral coordination, hand strength and visual-motor coordination and pincher grasp by wrapping the fabric and other embellishments around the soap.
Verbal Cue A: Let’s string wrap the fabric around the soap.
Verbal Cue B: I like how you wrapping the lace around the soap!
Objective 3: The child will practice spontaneity in materials usage.
Verbal Cue A: Which color ribbon you like to choose?
Verbal Cue B: I like how the sequins you have choosen.
Children in your child day care center will create a unique gift for mom while enhancing their fine motor skills.
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