Tuesday 19 April 2016

Mess free picture meal play

Play food is great fun and a way of repeating an everyday task as a play activity. Our play and cut fruit are constantly in use with our little girl but the boys aren't really interested unless they are 'doing' something.  As the boys have autism they are the ones who need a little extra encouragement learning to use their bodies.

This easy mess free activity is great for developing fine motor skills and thinking about food without getting messy if your kids are sensory adverse. You will need:
  • Paper or plastic plate (some kids might find it difficult to switch the activity so be careful if you use the plastic plates you have for dinner as they might expect to be play the game again too)
  • Food pictures for sticking or cutting up from magazines, photos or print-outs to stick and pens
  • Glue stick 
If your kiddie is at the point of using scissors then you can try cutting food out of either magazines or print outs together. Easigrip scissors can help some kids develop a scissor action and won't stay shut so can be useful for those with emerging motor skills. Either way kids will need to use both hands in coordination for either cutting or glueing as they will need to hold the paper or plate still and this helps bilateral motor skills develop.
Easigrip scissors help with motor skills

If you place the cut out food items around the table you will encourage your child to stretch across their midline too which can be another area of difficulty for some kids with emerging motor skills.

Once you've got what you need get sticking and create dinner or lunch. We went for fish and chips (which were fired potato slices) with some bread rolls which was his was related to the 'bread & fishes' story we heard at the church playgroup.  Jane said she was sticking 'toetatoes'. It's been requested that we also add some 'gween peas'.  So we'll be adding some felt tip pen dots I think.  'Dotting' is one of the first ways kids tend to make marks and some peas is a great way to get started.

What will you make?






Links

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#ToddlerApprovedTuesday

Monkey and Mouse


Diary of an imperfect mum

You Baby Me Mummy
LarabeeUK

16 comments:

  1. Aw, this is a neat activity, we will have to try this out! #ToddlerApprovedTuesday

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  2. All the fun without the mess

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  3. That sounds like a fun activity without the mess - love the dinner that was created with the "gween peas" and "toetatoes" Thanks for linking up with #ftmob :-)

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    1. Soo cute, later we also had some
      Banalama (banana) :-)

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  4. Great mess free idea. My little ones LOVE cutting and sticking and would love this idea. Thanks for linking up with #ToddlerApprovedTuesday

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  5. Like the ideas for crossing the midline and those scissors look great - wish we'd had those but I'll recommend them for our school nursery! TY for linking up to #FamilyFun 🎉

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    1. They are quite good and come in all sorts of sizes (lengths) too.

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  6. Fab ideas not only to make lovely crafts but to develop important hand eye coordination & their imaginations! #familyfun x

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    1. Yep, my kiddies need help with all of that! I can't see crafty things without spotting potentials motor skills or something benefits first.

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  7. A great idea for healthy eating and fine motor skills, I'm sure my boys would love this. Especially choosing the food, 'choosing' things is quite important here for some reason! Thanks so much for liking up to #HowtoSunday :) x

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  8. Lovely idea for developing fine motor skills and having fun along the way :) #LetsLearn

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  9. We have done something similar in the past, but this reminded me we should look to do it again now they're a little older and we can have different conversations about it x
    #letslearn

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  10. Such a great idea! Lots to talk about and lots of fun too! Thanks for joining in with #letslearn I hope to see you this week 😊

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