My Obstacle Course: Engage, Encourage and Empower

A fun, structured, systematic way to work on your child's strengths and weaknesses at home!

Archives for December 2010

Clothesline Clipping- Ornaments

As a child I always loved playing with a little clothesline that I would tie between trees while hanging my little doll clothes on it.  When I taught kindergarten, I used a clothesline as a station center but instead of hanging clothes on it, the children used it to work on building fine motor skills of pinching open clothespins, placing pieces to be clipped in the right place and making patterns or matching items together.  They loved it and would have the cutest, serious expressions on their faces while they were working and concentrating so hard on completing this task.

Clothesline Clipping Not Always As Easy As It Looks

I decided to use it in My Obstacle Course with Andrew and got to see firsthand how challenging this is for little fingers and all that goes into taking an item and clipping it onto the line.  Adults make it look so easy!  So many things have to be done at the same time, in the right place so that the item actually stays where it belongs.  For someone with motor planning and fine motor issues, this was going to be a perfect opportunity to practice.

Make Your Own Clothesline Clipping Station:

  • clothesline (we got ours at Lowe’s)- you can cut it down to the length you have room for in your space or do what I do which is to just tie one end to the chair and then clip the other end like it is tied, allowing the remainder of the clothesline to sit on seat of the chair.
  • clothespins that you need to pinch
  • two chairs to attach each end of the clothesline to

My Obstacle Course station idea:  Clothesline Clipping Patterns

I had been wanting to work on patterns with my son and found a package with large ornament pieces, with 6 of a kind (you could also make your own with construction paper or wrapping paper, they would just be a little more flimsy).  These could be used on the floor to make patterns but they were also sturdy enough to be used in the same way but on the clothesline.  Combining two skills, one that he struggled with (fine motor planning) and one that he enjoyed doing (patterns) has been key in getting his to work on more challenging things.

Note:  Keep this in mind when you are trying to build skills your child is struggling with.  Is there a way to mix it in with something they do enjoy?

My Obstacle Course station idea: Clothesline Clipping Ornament patterns

It doesn’t take much to make an activity that your child may remember into their adult years like I did.  Once you have the materials, it takes about 2 minutes to set up – piece of cake!!

Engage, Encourage and Empower!!

Energetic Children Part 2

The My Obstacle Course station ideas I gave yesterday included toys and tools that we have accumulated through the years as holiday and birthday gifts as well as some things that we purchased for him to work on his motor skills. Today I will focus more on things that I have around my house and are fairly common things in the houses of young children.

Go On A Treasure Hunt In Your Own Home And You Might Be Surprised At What You Can Use!!

I encourage you to be creative, go out to the garage or climb deep into the depths of the closets throughout your house and you just might be surprised at what you find that could be incorporated into a fun My Obstacle Course for your child.  I found collapsible tunnels (which I’ve posted about), an unused nap mat, a bean bag toss game, balls that weren’t played with and even had an idea while climbing the stairs during my hunt!

Nap mat

Nap mat turned into surface for rolling

I got the idea to include this regular nap mat after a gymnastics session. I realized that while he certainly didn’t use it for napping purposes, it would be a fabulous My Obstacle Course station. It could be used as a place to work on hot dog rolls, forward or backward rolls. I have also put it against a wall so he could do a supported head stand, handstand or wheel-barrow walk up (walking feet up the wall while hands are on the mat and arms are straight).  If you don’t have one of these, get creative- think folded blankets, patio furniture cushions.

Use the Stairs

Using the stairs for a "Climb and Match" activity.
Climbing!
Matching! Now back down the stairs for the next one to match.
  • “Climb and Sort” or “Climb and Match”-The stairs are great for matching or sorting activities because you can place the items or cards to be sorted at the bottom and the containers to be sorted into can be at the top. Since he can only take one item or card up at a time, this has been a good energy buster for us!
  • If you want something with no preparation required, set a timer and see how many times they can climb up and down (one foot on each step if they can) before the timer runs out.

Balls

A ball for tossing or kicking while spelling or counting.

Lightly pass or kick a ball back and forth as you say the ABC’s, spell spelling words, count forwards or backwards. You can say them together or take turns so that everyone has to pay close attention!

Bean Bag or Rolled Sock Toss

Empty bin and some of my rolled up socks
Tossing the rolled up socks into the bin!

Place a container (box, bin or pail) a few feet away from where your child will be standing. Have them toss the bean bags or rolled socks (hey, you don’t have to go out and buy things to work on these skills 🙂 !) into the container. This works on motor planning and the motor skill of tossing in the same motion that one would use while bowling.

Engage, encourage and empower your child at home and have a bit of fun with them while you’re at it!!

Energetic Children?

The next two posts are specifically for all of you out there with children who are really active and need to be moving around (like my child!).  One of the things about My Obstacle Course that has made such a huge difference for us is the fact that the activity stations are not long, drawn out, “sit here for an hour” things.  They are quick, to the point and then move on, which is why the activities I show you are also quick and easy to make!

Holy Cow!  Where Is All Of This Energy Coming From And Where Can I Get Some?

Andrew is very active and is known to run in place kicking his bottom (which probably also explains why he’s all muscle and no fat – must try this myself!) so when I would try to get him to sit and work with me at the counter or table  – miserable failure!  By using the obstacle course structure with numbered stations set around the room, we were literally moving from thing to thing but in a structured and systematic way.  Since it was an adventure, engaging with me became much more appealing, especially since there was very little if any that required him to sit on a chair.  There were stations I set up around the kitchen table and actually removed the chairs so he could focus on the activity and not on falling off of or squirming around the seat.  Having been a teacher, I know there is a time and place for working on this skill, but my main goal as his mom was to find a way to engage with him.

School’s Out!  Now What?!?!?!?!?

I’m writing this now because for the next few weeks these active children will be at home with us and instead of fighting the energy, I encourage you to set up your own Obstacle Course and use some of these activities to put that energy to use in a strategic and purposeful way.  If you have an active child, you probably already have toys that can be incorporated into stations that can help burn some energy while also building academic skills.  Here are some things I have used in My Obstacle Courses and how have I have used them.

Mini-trampoline

Mini-Trampoline

The mini-trampoline has been quite a life-saver for us.  It allows Andrew to be bouncing and getting sensory feedback while keeping his body in one location.  I began including it as My Obstacle Course stations to work on his counting by counting as he jumped.  We have counted by ones, fives and tens.  The next thing we will try is counting by twos!

We also use the mini-trampoline to help work on all of the motor planning involved with jumping jacks.  Getting the feet out and hands up together and then hands by his side with feet together has been quite a challenge but it’s a fascinating process to watch because it is clearly a brain planning issue.  This is something I do with him so he gets the visual cues for imitation.  When we begin this activity, we only do one half of the body (top or bottom) at a time.  We jump together, focused only on moving feet out and in.  Then we only do our arms – down by our sides and then up over our heads.  After practicing those motions, both parts are put together and if he is not successful, no worries, we just try again another day!

Sit and Spin

Sit and Spin (ours is the kind that does not have any lights or sounds- specifically because that's what he "stims" on)
My Obstacle Course Station Idea: Spin and Count

I have said this before and will say it again, spinning is Andrew’s thing!  Just look at his face in the picture above, anything to do with spinning brings him joy and is obviously something that his body needs.  When searching around for things to include in My Obstacle Course, I saw the sit and spin in our closet and thought that this toy would be a great way to combine spinning with counting and following directions.  Sometimes we count by ones and he has to spin one direction a certain number of times and the other way a certain number of times.  Other times we count by fives or tens to a given number and then we count backwards when going the other direction.

Balance Board

Balance Board with handles - this one has a ridge so that balls can roll as you balance
My Obstacle Course Station Idea: Balance and roll a ball a given number of times.

We got this as a gift one year but didn’t use it very much.  I decided to use it as a station activity to build not only his balance but also motor planning because he had to balance and move so that the ball would go around the ridge a certain number of times.  It became much more fun once it had a purpose and he has since become quite skilled at getting the ball to go around quickly while not having it fly out of the track!

Carpet runner

Carpet runner used for "Crawl and Match"
My Obstacle Course Station Idea: Crawl and Match

In my post about tunnels I wrote about my desire to increase the crawling Andrew was doing.  Getting both sides of his body moving together meant getting both sides of his brain working together, creating connections.  I scatter the collapsible tunnels I have throughout My Obstacle Courses but also wanted a way to get more continual crawling.

I found this remnant carpet runner at Lowes and thought it would make a great location for crawling.  Now, Andrew isn’t just going to crawl because I have a fancy carpet runner on the floor.  Like most things with him (and he’s not unlike most people I know), he needed to see the purpose in doing this.  Explaining to him that crawling would help his brain make connections wasn’t going to do anything and I knew I needed something clever.

I decided to incorporate a sorting or matching activity with the carpet runner, calling it “Crawl and Match” or “Crawl and Sort” and he would start at one end, grab an item or card to sort or match after crawling down to the other end.  It was something that we both had to do at first and at times I would crawl almost on top of him but it worked and he was very excited about seeing what sort of thing he would be doing – matching up word parts, sorting addition equations by their sum, sorting words into rhyming families, etc.  If you have little ones, it could be as easy as sorting items by shape, color or function.

See, even I have forgotten that I am supposed to be writing about crawling on the carpet runner instead of the activities that are part of the station (I will definitely do a post soon on all of the variations I have come up with for these two games!).  Funny how your mind focuses on things it finds interesting and fun – guess the apple didn’t fall too far from the tree here in this house!!  The same thing happens with Andrew and while he’s focused on what he likes (words, clues, numbers) the crawling just becomes part of the activity at this station.

Engage, Encourage and Empower!

Hammer Away!

My Obstacle Course Station Idea: Golf Tee Hammering (note the directions written out- it's not me telling you what to do, it's the paper!)

I love this activity and have used it with my kindergarten students as well as with my son.  So easy and so fun!

What You Need For A Hammering Station:

a sturdy piece of foam, like the kind found protecting electronics while in the box - be on the lookout while people are opening gifts next week!!
some golf tees
a toy hammer

These three things, put together, help build fine motor skills as well as motor planning.

Make sure the foam is thicker than the tee so that the surface underneath does not get ruined.
Start by pushing the tee in just a bit.
Your child uses the hammer to strike the tee.

If they have difficulty with this, help them by placing your hand over theirs (called “hand over hand”) and striking the tee together.

They keep hammering until the tee is almost all the way down.
All of the tees are hammered in!
Another fine motor building activity- pulling them out!!

Handwriting Helpers

My Obstacle Course Station: "Finding What's Different"- using a triangular crayon to build fine motor skill of circling

Need To Help Your Child build Fine Motor Skills?  You’re Not Alone!

One thing that has come up over and over again when working with other parents is a desire to build fine motor skills with their children.  Since I also have a child who has difficulties with fine motor skills, handwriting in particular  (he didn’t start writing letters until he was 6 and we are still working on legibility), I have searched for and tried lots of things to help him.  Some of them worked great for him others not so much.  As with most things, finding something that will work for your child is a bit of trial and error but when you do find something that works, it is worth it!

Personal Note:  I was in a bit of denial about Andrew’s fine motor skill weakness, since he could spin a dime with no problem, and just thought he was just a child who wasn’t too interested in drawing or writing.  It wasn’t until he became school-age and he wasn’t even close to being able to write letters or numbers that we could see it was a weakness in several issues like planning and applying pressure.  I thought about the motor planning involved in doing something like handwriting that I realized he needed help practicing at home as well with an Occupational Therapist.  Looking back, this all makes sense considering he has issues in another developmental area that requires lots of planning and very particular fine motor skills- speech!

Handwriting Helpers:  Tools To Help With Finger Placement

One major issue that Andrew has with handwriting is finger placement.  You may have seen these crayons and markers in the arts and crafts aisle of your local department store and thought that making them triangular in shape was just the new craze.  I think that the crayon and marker manufacturing companies are realizing the increased need for building fine motor skills that don’t involve pushing a button, toggle or touch screen.  The shape of these crayons and markers actually help place your child’s fingers in the proper position with each of the first three fingers (thumb, pointer and middle fingers) getting their own side.

Triangular Crayon
Proper finger placement is easy with this shape- each finger gets a side.
Using the Triangular Crayon to write
Triangular Marker by Crayola

Auditory and Visual Cues Learned From Andrew’s Handwriting Camp OT: Andrew attended a “Handwriting Camp” this past summer and the Occupational Therapist teaching it divided the fingers into “go” fingers (thumb, pointer finger and middle finger) which are allowed to touch the tool and “stop” fingers (the fourth finger and the pinkie) which don’t touch the writing tool.  She even put a green and red marker dot on their fingers so they would have a visual cue!  Awesome!

Get A Grip On It!

There are pencil grips that you can place on the pencil that helps position the fingers.

Pencil Grip
Grip positioner on pencil
Writing with fingers placed in grip

Click here to access an Amazon.com link for these grips.

This next pencil grip tool, the Writing C.L.A.W., is the tool that helps Andrew with his writing.

Finger tip pencil grip called the Writing C.L.A.W.
Where your fingers go in this pencil grip
Grip on pencil
Fingers in grip- you may have to help them get their fingers in the right spot but once in, they can only be in the correct writing position.
Writing with fingers in pencil grip

Click here to go to the Writing C.L.A.W. website.

Note:  I do not have any associations with these companies, I am just sharing what I have found useful and would recommend to help other people like me.

This post is only focused on some of the tools I have found.  There are so many more activities and items to help with fine motor skills so check back often to see what I have found and used in my home with my child!!

Snowy Sensory Bin

I have posted before on how much I love using sensory bins as activity stations in My Obstacle Courses (probably as much as Andrew loves having them!) and showed how to make a Sensory Bean Bin.  This Snowy Sensory Bin is perfect for a winter themed Obstacle Course and you can see it in action by watching the YouTube video clip at the bottom of this post.

My Obstacle Course station idea: Snowy Sensory Bin

Mini-Ornaments- Not Just For Trees Anymore!

When I made my first snowy sensory bin, I found a bunch of mini-ornaments for miniature trees and knew they would be perfect for this hide and seek type activity.  (Since the ornaments come in packages with more than one, which is all you will need for this particular activity, you could get together with some friends or other caregivers and put together snowy sensory bin kits, splitting the cost!)

Packages of mini-ornaments

How to make your own Snowy Sensory Bin:

Once again, I used a storage bin that had a lid for easy storage.  The lid also serves to hold the items once found, reducing the amount of “snow” that ends up on the table or floor.  (Place a towel, sheet or a garbage bag underneath for even easier clean up!)

I found some fluffy fake snow at the store (Be careful not to buy the sheets of fake snow-like the kind used for winter village scenes. You want the fluffy snow that your child can dig through) and poured it into the bin.

This "snow" works well because you can dig in it.
The fluffy "snow" up close.

I gathered up my mini-ornaments and some toys that I associate with winter.

Here are the mini-ornaments and some toys I chose to hide in the snow.

Here is a great opportunity to add in some literacy:  print or write out the names of the items on a sheet of paper, leaving space so when found, the item can go next to its name.  Example:

  • Bell
  • Snowman
  • Colored Light
  • Gift (or present)
  • Train
  • Gingerbread Man
  • Bow
  • Sled
  • Ornament
  • Log (for a log cabin)

Using a list along with the objects helps you to know if your child understands what the word means or what the item is.  They don’t need to be able to speak to show you they know!

An extension of this is to print or write out clues for the item so your child has to think about which item goes with the clue.

Clues

Once that is done, hide the items in the snow and it is ready for your child.

Place the items in the "snow" and then bury them so they are not visible.
Items hidden and the bin is ready!

Here it is in action:

For those with sensory issues: Provide a glove or sock for your child to put over their hands so they can still dig in without having to touch the material or provide wooden spoons or sand shovels (something with a long handle) so they can use a tool to dig instead of their hands.  This is still giving them the opportunity to build motor skills by holding the handles, pushing the tool down into the snow and moving it around to find the items.

Pretend play- this is a great opportunity to engage in some pretend play skill building by talking about how cold the snow is and maybe how it snowed a lot and buried some things the people in the town need.  “Can we help the people find their things?  You bet!!”