Large, Fine and Sensory Work Packaged As Playtime Works!

NOTE: The Next Session of Preschool Playtime begins Wednesday, February 15th! Please check out this Preschool Playtime Video OR The YouTube Version of The Video OR call 508-898-2688 for more information.

Preschool Playtime: Weather Theme (February 1, 2012)
Meets Wednesday Mornings from 9:15-10AM

Each session of Preschool Playtime has a fun theme which distracts the children enough to not realize all the hard work they are accomplishing with their large muscle, fine motor, and sensory work. Today, our theme was Weather!

After meeting and playing a weather game involving today’s weather and moving laminated weather images around on a velcro weather chart (fine motor)…I played my recorder and we all paraded down to the gym!

I challenged the children to use their large muscles to keep their balance while climbing over the rainbow bridge to find “puddles” (hula-hoops) from the rain. Leaning over on a bolster on the ground, the children used their back muscles to keep their head and back straight while they threw “raindrops” (beanbags, heavy balls) into the puddles. The children also worked on hand-eye coordination as they aimed raindrops into the puddles.

Next, we used a large parachute for the children to hide underneath like an umbrella. We watched balloons bounce on top like raindrops. (Sensory) We also made “wind” by working as a team to lift the parachute up and down.

Transitioning rooms is an excellent time for more work! But it can still be fun!!! I set out scooter boards and had the children lay on their belly on the boards. They used their arms to move the scooter board across the floor and down the hall. This heavy work activity helped the children regulate their arousal level, and was great upper body work as well.

Next stop, the indoor sandbox! Here, the children explored various textures by mixing wet and dry sand. We explored how it felt to touch the textures and dig with our hands. We talked about how sand felt on our fingers. (Sensory)

After we cleaned our hands, we headed to the Sensory Room, which is a darkened room with soft lights and sounds. Here, the children worked to calm their bodies by using their oral motor skills. Each child blew through a straw pointed at different objects I had set out (rocks, feathers, etc). They worked hard and discovered which items blew away and which items remained still.

Once their bodies were ready to work, we headed to the Fine Motor Room. We all sat at the table and explored new textures (rice, cut grain, feathers, beads) while making a rain stick. The children did a lot of fine motor work by pouring the rice and grain into the tubes, using the glue stick on the outside of the tubes, and pinching the feathers and beads to glue on as decorations. The rain sticks came out beautiful!

With our new rain sticks we learned to make the rain loud and quiet by controlling the movement of our hand and wrist.

Each child got to take home their rain stick and velcro weather chart so they can continue the fun at home themselves!

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