Monday 16 May 2016

Spring Tree kiddie craft activity using motor skills

Spring Tree

This is a lovely activity that develops motor skills and promotes understanding on what's happening in nature at this time of year.

Just like in 'All the trees are dead', Anthony expects all the plants to be doing what they should be doing now that it's approaching summer.  And like some other autistic people he doesn't like the sensation of rain.  He's been telling all the plants to hurry up and grow so they won't need as much water and it will rain less.

And yesterday, our daughter Jane said, "It's snowing flowers," as the blossom poured into the gardens and streets.  We stood under a blossom tree in the park so I could shake the branches and we could catch the 'snow flowers'.  This activity reinforced the changing of the seasons and to talk through the kids experiences. 

We got the following out of the craft box:
  • A drawing or cut out of a 'naked' tree
  • Glues sticks
  • Things for sticking; we could choose from different sorts of leaves, feathers and tissue paper or polystyrene that can be used as blossom

By placing the bowls around the table, you'll be encouraging your kids to cross their midline when doing the activity.  Gluing and sticking is also a great practice for bilateral motor skills as you need to use both hands together, eg. holding the paper and gluing, or holding the glue stick and pulling the top off.  Afterwards Jane and I crumbled some polystyrene packing blocks to make  her 'snow flowers' too.

What would you put on your tree?

Links
Our blog - All the trees are dead - autism, facts and absolutes
Our blog - Help kids decide what to wear craft activity

External
We did this lovely Spring Tree craft activity at Me Too & Co - Play sessions, a local organisation that supports children with additional needs and their families.

17 comments:

  1. That's a lovely little activity, and a lovely way of describing the blossom too. #FTMOB

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I know it's so cute. I think my eldest may have said something similar. Thanks for stopping by.

      Delete
  2. "Snow flowers" is such a beautiful way of describing the blossom and this looks like a wonderful craft activity. Thank you for linking up to #ftmob :-)

    ReplyDelete
  3. This is great, I love that you put out the items across the table to encourage reaching across the midline and the finished product looks fab! Thanks for linking up to #HowtoSunday :) x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's such a simple thing that works a skill. Often people will naturally put boxes on the right and in reaching distance... but that is ideal if you need to encourage the activity to start with! Thanks for #howtosunday

      Delete
  4. Jane is spot on with her snow flowers description, such a beautiful way to see it too! A lovely Spring activity I bet the tree will look wonderful cut out and displayed on a window. TY for linking up to #FamilyFun 🎉

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cutting it out is such a fab idea. Might try that next time... it might stay up for a while before David pulls it down again... the cheeky monkey!

      Delete
  5. I bet my daughter would love this activity, she's a big fan of glueing and sticking! x #TheList

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, my little girl is more a gluing and sticking fan than the boys.

      Delete
  6. Wow! it's a lovely idea to keep kids entertained and develop their motor skills as well. I would definitely give this a try for my kids, they would love this too. #TheList

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hope you have fun. Thanks for stopping by.

      Delete
  7. Aw my boys call them snow flowers too! So sweet! #ftmob

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah, it is really cute... standing under the tree and catching them was lots of fun too. Thanks for commenting.

      Delete
  8. Aw my boys call them snow flowers too! So sweet! #ftmob

    ReplyDelete
  9. Such a brilliant activity! My little ones love crafts of any kind and that's definitely something they'd love to reproduce. #ftmob

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hope they enjoy it. Thanks for stopping by.

      Delete

I read all your comments and appreciate you sharing your thoughts with me and our readers. I welcome any feedback on my posts and you can always contact me directly. Thank you.

Have a look at our most recent posts:

Follow
@rainbowsaretoo facebook.com/rainbowsaretoobeautiful Ann H on Google + rainbowsaretoo pinterest rainbowsaretoobeautiful bloglovin Instagram rainbowsaretoobeautiful