| Valentine’s Day is the perfect time to have fun and get creative with your kids while working on some important functional skills! Crafting Valentine’s Day boxes is not only an exciting activity for families to do together but also a fantastic way for your child to develop and practice a variety of skills. Here’s how you can make this Valentine’s tradition even more meaningful: Executive Functioning: Before starting, your child will need to decide which container to use (like a shoebox or tissue box) and gather supplies like stickers, markers, tissue paper, glitter, glue, and paints. This process encourages decision-making, planning, and organizational skills as your child organizes materials and plans out how they want to decorate their box. Fine Motor Skills From peeling stickers to opening glue and marker caps, the crafting process is a fun way to work on strengthening hand muscles and improving fine motor skills. As your child manipulates different materials, they’ll also be improving their hand-eye coordination and dexterity. Every twist of a cap or pinch of a sticker is a step forward in building those important hand skills! Visual Motor Skills & Bilateral Coordination: Cutting out heart shapes for the box is a great opportunity to strengthen visual motor coordination, where the eyes and hands work together. Using both hands to cut, glue, and arrange hearts on the box strengthens bilateral coordination—essential for so many daily tasks! The added step of gluing or placing items with both hands help your child practice this coordination while having fun. Handwriting: Don’t forget to make Valentine’s cards! This is a great way for your child to practice their handwriting skills—working on letter formation, sizing, spacing, and applying appropriate pressure with a pencil or pen. Plus, they’ll get to make a special card for someone they care about, which makes it even more rewarding! Play & Imagination: The best part of this whole process? The joy and creativity your child will have brought their unique Valentine’s box design to life! Through crafting, kids get to use their imagination and creativity, all while developing functional skills that will help them in other areas of life. So, grab your supplies, let the crafting begin, and enjoy the process! It’s not just about the finished product, but the valuable skills your child is building along the way. Happy Valentine’s Day crafting! For more information visit our https://fyzicalomaha.com/pediatric-therapy/ |
| Megan Jacobi, OTD, OTR/L Pediatric Occupational Therapist FYZICAL Pediatrics Follow us at https://www.facebook.com/fyzicalpediatrictherapy and https://www.instagram.com/fyzicalpediatrics/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR2t4ZhKqK_eoaKtxyG2nRacD1iRPVQFpSQVzp4FYuZLfj8SYtbx6wgCOnY_aem_g0vkdzTCikmPiZ7A4OXmPQ |