Fine Motor

Sports Themed My Obstacle Course Idea #3

Enchanted Learning Website – Sports Theme

I have mentioned this website before (click here for previous Enchanted Learning post) because I love how easy they make it to be thematic while building academic skills. It is a subscription site with some free materials but I have found it to be worth the fee for what I do with Andrew and My Obstacle Course.

My intention is to provide you with some alternatives for what would typically be worksheet, pencil/paper activities. If your child is into that, than by all means go for it! I have just found that with Andrew, the more engaged he is, the more willing he is to put time and energy into building skills in all areas.
I will often cut the pages apart to create crawl and matching stations or combine them with Scrabble letters to get him more involved with actually making words.

Based on the activity sheets that they have on the page I’ve linked to above (there are lots!), these are some ways I would incorporate them into a sports themed My Obstacle Course:

Matching pictures with words from the “Sports Word Wheel” or the “Match Sports Words with Pictures” pages (I would cut them apart and combine with clothespins)
Combining syllables to make sports words (combine with crawl and match station)
Filling in missing letters to form sports words (I’d use the pictures and combine them with Scrabble letters)
Unscrambling letters to form sports words (I’d use the pictures and combine them with Scrabble letters)
Using the sports question page, I would cut apart the words, set them out and use it as a questioning station where I ask him the question and have him choose the correct word.
ABC order page, I would cut apart the words and have him actually put them in ABC order. If this was a challenge, I would include a written out alphabet to use as a reference.
Compound words – I’d either cut them apart or use this sheet as a sample and write out the word parts on small index cards or Post-It notes so he can combine them to form the words.
There are also a ton of anagram activity pages, which use the letters from one word to create another word. I would use Scrabble letters with something like this and would only do a few anagrams at a time as a station, starting with some smaller, easier words to introduce this to him.
I would use the “Sports Alphabet Code” page as is.
I would cut out the words at the top of the Venn Diagram page but would keep the bottom section as is and have him sort the words into the correct section.

Note: I do not have any affiliation with Enchanted Learning. I discovered their site while teaching 3rd grade, loved using it with my students for research purposes and found it to be extremely helpful when working with Andrew at home.

Engage, Encourage and Empower!!

Gone Fishin!

Andrew was always taken with the fishing game sold in stores, the one where the fish go around in a circle while opening and closing their mouths while you try to get the end of the fishing line in their mouths. He got one and was extremely frustrated. I tried it and got extremely frustrated. The mouths close so quickly and with the fish moving around, I’m not sure how he could be successful with this. I decided to make my own fishing game, adding a bit of a My Obstacle Course twist on it (of course!).

Make Your Own Fishing Rod

I know they sell fishing rods with magnets on the end of the line, but I wanted to see if I could make my own. I went to Michael’s and bought some small dowel rods, red string (red is the easiest color to see), corks, sturdy needles (to go through the cork),Â circle magnets that would fit on the corks and glue. I glued the magnet to the narrow end of the cork and let it sit overnight to dry. Then I used the needle to attach the cork to the string and wound the other end of the string around the dowel (towards the end of it, without being too close to where it could fall off).

Note: This is one of those things that would be awesome to purchase and make with a group of other people since the materials were all sold in packs.

What’s Biting?

The rod was complete and now I needed something to fish. I had some fish calendar cutouts and attached some paper clips to them. All I had to do was think about what I wanted to work on with Andrew and write that on the cutout. Below you will see just some of the possibilities for things to put on the fish.

Number Recognition

P1010075 — My Obstacle Course Station Activity: Fishing for numbers (to build number recognition skills)

Shape Recognition

P1010080 — My Obstacle Course Station Activity: Fishing for shapes

Word Recognition or Vowel Sound Identification

P1010083 — My Obstacle Course Station Activity: Fishing for words (This particular station is working on the difference between long and short vowels words.)

Addition – Finding the Sum

P1010147 — My Obstacle Course Station Activity: Fishing for sums.

During the station, he would use the fishing rod to “catch” the correct fish. He had a ball with it and was able to work on steadying his hand, lowering the cork down to the correct fish and “catching” it on the paper clip. So fun, much more motivating and no batteries required!!

Engage, Encourage and Empower!

Sand Writing

No beach? No problem! I shared in an earlier post about creating aÂ Sand BinÂ and how that can be used to hide items to increase sensory tolerance and build hand muscles through sand play. This bin can also be used to build handwriting skills by having your child do some sand writing.

One of the things I learned last year when Andrew attended a handwriting camp was the importance of providing opportunities for children to build handwriting skills in:

large ways (ex. writing really big on a white board)
medium ways (ex. sand or salt writing)
small ways (ex. pencil/paper).

Side note: At Michael’s this morning, I noticed that in addition to regular decorative sand, they had small containers of sand in a variety of colors (in the discount/$1 racks at the front of the store), probably to make those sand in the bottle crafts, but for a few dollars, this sand could be poured onto a rimmed cookie sheet for an easy to assemble writing station. How fun!!

My Obstacle Course Station Activity: Sand Writing

What to include at this station:

Play sand in a bin or rimmed tray
Towel underneath to catch any stray sand
I provide a spray bottle with water so that Andrew can get the sand wet (sand is great to get wet because it makes it easier to write in and dries for future uses!)
Pouch with letters for them to choose and write
Dice to roll and write
Flash cards or cutouts with shapes or words to practice drawing or writing
Tools to help:Â wooden spoon to flip around and use the end like a pencil if your child has sensory issues and doesn’t like the feel of sand on their hands; something with a flat edge to smooth the sand before writing the next letter, number, shape or word

At the station, they practice writing shapes, numbers, letters or words in the sand. This seems and is super simple but it has really allowed me to see if he is forming things like his letters and numbers correctly.

Sand writing utilizes all learning styles (visual, auditory, kinesthetic):

the child is seeing what they are drawing or writing (this is done through the letters they choose)
hearing what they are drawing or writing (saying it out loud while they are doing it, even adding some dialogue such as, “A square has four sides made of four straight lines. First line – stop. Go down for second line – stop. Go across for the third, bottom line – stop. Go up for the fourth and last line – stop.)
actually making the shapes, numbers, letters or words.

Here is a variation of sand writing using salt in a foil pan -Â Salt Writing. Note: Do not get the salt wet!

Engage, Encourage and Empower!

Different Shades of Blue

In keeping with the summer, beach themed My Obstacle Courses, I’m including a station to use the primary colors to make different shades of blue, like water. This is something that only takes a few minutes to set up but is so fun for children to get to play around with. An activity like this also goes along nicely with building some pretend skills, like pretending to be a scientist experimenting or a magician who is making “magic potions.”

My Obstacle Course Station Activity: Different Shades of Blue

I usually set up a station activity like this near a sink to make it easier to access water for set up and clean up. A rimmed cookie sheet is a perfect “tray” to place below the tools to help catch any stray water or color. I’m all about ease and containing messes :). Â I used some clear plastic cups in this particular station but have used ceramic ramekins in past stations and find that those are really helpful if you have children who tend to knock things over, not because they want to, but because they don’t have the hand control. The ramekins are low and heavier than plastic so they don’t tip as easily). I am also using a white ice-cube tray to help the colors stand out even more.

P1040703 — Rimmed cookie sheet, clear plastic cups with water and an ice cube tray.

P1040706 — Additional tools of food coloring (red, yellow and blue - the primary colors) andÂ droppers.

I love includingÂ droppers with something like this because it also helps to build fine motor skills! (Click here for a past post on droppers.)

P1040707 — Each cup has a different color and it's own dropper.

This is where you get to benefit from my experience. I began thinking that I would simply have him use the droppers to fill each section (like shown in the picture below where I had started in the far left corner of the tray) but when I tried it (which I always do before I pass them on to you or try them with him!) it was taking a really long time. I shifted my plan and decided to fill a cup with blue water (also shown below) and fill half of the ice-cube tray with the blue water.

Ahhhhh….much better! Now, I add the colored water to each blue section to make different shades of blue.

P1040720 — The colored water in the droppers to show the difference.

This was fun for me and is always a huge hit with Andrew! Have fun!!

Engage, Encourage and Empower!

Dinosaur/Dragon Type Water Squirters

I found these dinosaur/dragon type water squirters at Walgreens in the “seasonal” aisle. They are basically water guns without the pointy gun aspect, which I really like!

P1040135 — Dinosaur/dragon type water squirters.

I picked them up because they are great for water fun on hot days but also help build hand strength through squeezing to squirt the water out. If you look closely, you can see that the part they will squeeze to squirt the water is quite long, requiring all of the fingers to squeeze down, which builds hand muscles.

As a My Obstacle Course station activity, I would fill up the squirter with water…

and provide a purpose either by squirting water into a sand bin or filling a cup or container to a certain point. I recommend first showing them the hole where the water will come out so they are not surprised and can practice aiming. This will also be helpful to not get water squirted around your house!

P1040134 — Squirting the water into a sand pail.

If you have a child who is already familiar with water guns for squirting other people, you may wish to keep this as an outdoor activity, perhaps incorporating it into an outdoor My Obstacle Course.

I have to admit that I am one of those moms who is not crazy about children playing with toy guns so this toy will allow him to play and build his hand muscles in the same way!

Engage, Encourage and Empower!

Sensory Sand Bin

Iâ€™ve done previous posts on using sensory bins with dried beans and fake snow and think that a perfect summer sensory bin is a sand bin. This is something that I would do in a low, wide plastic bin with a lid, so it can be stored away while not in use. I would also place it on a beach towel to contain the sand.

This may be something that your child already does all of the time but in the past it is not something that has been a preferred activity for Andrew. There are so many motor skills to work on, such as scooping, pouring, raking and sifting.

My Obstacle Course Station Activity: Sensory Sand Bin

Hide some sand safe objects in the sand and the child uses their hands, fingers or tools to dig and find the objects. You can include a sheet of paper with a list of the hidden objects to help give purpose while also building literacy/vocabulary skills. Other objects that could be hidden are letters, numbers, blocks, cars, little toy animals or items that could be sorted by color or shape.

P1040390 — Wooden letters spelling out his name

P1040395 — Digging in the sand to find letters.

P1040394 — Using theÂ sand sifter and finding the letter "n"!

This type of activity is another example of the importance of reintroducing something that a child may not have been into before. I have done sand bins with Andrew before and as I said above, he was not into it. Knowing how this goes but also wanting to give him another shot at experiencing this, I make sure that the station activities are easy to set up and keep my expectations in check, not planning on him spending hours playing in the sand as I did as a child.

P1040426 — Fingers and hands in the sand!

P1040436 — Look at that! One hand in the sand, the other one grasping the shovel.

I included the sand bin in our last My Obstacle Course and he was totally into it! I hid some letters that spelled out the word “summer” and he worked with his hands and with some tools that I provided to dig out the letters. He was so excited as he found each letter. I even found him smoothing the sand with his hands and squeezing his sand filled hand, allowing the sand to sift through his fingers. His hand muscles are clearly getting stronger, as I noticed him able to grasp and actually dig down into the sand. This is huge for us!!

I look forward to providing more of these opportunities for him while also making sure to give it a purpose (spelling words, finding hidden objects, etc.) until he decides he is ready to just “play in the sand” (if and when this will happen).

Engage, Encourage and Empower!

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