Wow, what a week! It was a busy one with appointments, our activities and a special day, but we made it and we made it fun!
Day 1 - Heart (fine motor skills) Activity Bags
I took ziplock baggies and put different acivities in each one. I showed the girls how to complete them and left them out on the table all week. It was so nice to have! If we had a time were I needed to prepare a meal or get ready for something, they could pull a Baggie out of their choice and have fun! At the same time, they were working on their fine motor skills. I call that a Win-Win-Win situation!
Hearts and clothespins - I liked this one the most. Both girls could complete it without trouble, but it wasn't too easy.
Heart lacing cards - my girls don't go crazy over lacing cards, but they go crazy over ribbons and strings. They could complete this one, but it was mostly about playing with the strings and ribbons. : )
Paper clips and bulldog clips on paper hearts - this one was hard, but they both sought it out regularly. FL's hands are stronger, but she had a really hard time with the bull dog clips, which surprised me. C has one hand that isn't 100%, but she had no trouble. Here she is demonstrating that you have to hold your mouth juuuuuust right! ; )
FL did eventually conquer the activity each time she did it - No worries!
Marbles and Cookie Cutters - One at a time, they placed a marble in a cookie cutter. I have to give my friend, Kerry, credit for this one! This was probably both girls' favorite. Marbles went everywhere all of the time, but this was fun and just as challenging to put all of the marbles back in the bag!
This was just great! I wish I could find something like this that they could do independently each week. They liked having a choice and being able to pick up and complete it all by themselves. Got any ideas?
Day 2 - Valentine's Day Cards
SPOILER ALERT! We don't have it all together and haven't sent out our cards yet. Please forgive us!
I've always thought this card was cute and a great way to capture the little stage of hands and feet that grow way too fast. It is somewhat messy ( or could be if someone takes off running!), so I did a lot of prep work.
My floors look so clean here it just makes me want to laugh!
It was not easy with one adult when everyone is covered in paint, but we did it and it was fun! It physically wore me out and the girls were a little sad that it didn't last longer. If we do something like this again I will have another adult and a place where they can paint freely with their hands and feet. : )
FL did fine, even with her dislike of all things slimey!
Good job! No pics of C doing this activity (she enjoyed putting her feet it paint, though!). Helping the girls required all of my attention.
I kept one child busy with sensory bottles while I painted with the other.
The one above is not so great - I recommend using a little paint and making two to three stamps with a foot. Practice first! We used washable paint which takes the stress of messing anything up away.
Here's one of the better ones and the final result! Won't this be wonderful to look back on in a few years?!
Day 3 - Valentine Heart Scissor Activity
This one was pretty simple, cut long strips of paper and a large paper heart...
Let the girls practice with scissors and cut, cut, cut! We need lots of practice here! This is challenging for my girls for many reasons.
I did some hand over hand with the scissors and put the glue on myself. They stuck the pieces on that they liked best.
I thought they came out really cute!
Really, though, the girls' favorite part is clean up!
It works the gross and fine motor skills, right?! : )
Day 4 - Baking a Cake for Our Valentine
So fun - enough said! : )
Day 5 - Tape Art Hearts and Stickers
In this activity, you put painter's tape on paper in the shape of a heart and paint over it with an object you wouldn't normal use, like a hair comb. I didn't have painters tape or extra combs, so we used masking tape, brushes and hands. : ). I put the heart on and let them add their own pieces of tape as well.
The girls looked like little monks in their oversized shirts, sitting criss-cross on the rug! FL is posing, saying, "Oooommmmmmmm....."
C was not all about the monk thing. She was ready to paint! I'm glad we saved this activity because it is too cold to take the girls out and some of us have caught a cold!
We started off with brushes....
But abandoned them for our hands!
With a little encouragement, FL tried using her hands, but went back to the brush. New things are really hard for her and this was big progress!
Didn't they turn out cute?! I'll do this again, but only with painters tape. The masking tape once pressed down on just wouldn't come off without a fight!
It was a week with a lot of love and a lot of fun! Thanks for reading! Happy Valentine's Day!
Oh all that looked like so much Fun!
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