Lamb 2 exercises

Lamb 2's occupational therapist is on maternity leave. Lamb 2 was able to graduate from OT when she had her baby rather than working with a sub. Before she had her baby she gave some advice and exercises for him to do at home. I do not have an early childhood degree and I either did not do these types of activities with my Lambs or I took for granted that these were activities that preschoolers should do. I decided to make a list here so other parents either do these types of activities with their preschoolers or if they are already doing these they realize they are educational!

Specific exercises for Lamb 2's weaknesses
*jump in place with opposite arms and legs
*fold paper (I am doing an entire workbook with Lamb 2 and 3 with this)
*mazes, especially ones with narrow lines
*army crawl
*color in complex shapes
*copy shapes like star or overlapping circles
*find the same and different shapes

Activities to improve fine motor coordination
*shuffle and deal cards (I recently played a game with a second grade boy that could not handle picking up the right number of cards from the deck when it was his turn. I was amazed because all my Lambs knew how to do that at about age 4. Playing basic card games with your children is really important!)
*trace a design with a pen
*make a chain of paper clips
*pick up small beans and put them in a cup
*pick up hooks and eyes and put them in a medicine bottle
*pick up coins and place them in a coin purse
*put clothes pins on the side of a cup
*screw and unscrew nuts and bolts
*pick up toothpicks with a tweezers
*fold, crumple, and tear paper or a tissue (Lamb 2 spent a lot of time at the beginning of VT doing this. I couldn't believe I was paying $70/hour for this! We worked on this at home when I found out he was doing this at VT. :))
*string beads or macaroni on a string
*lace shoes and tie them (I need to work on this with my Lambs. It has not been a priority since we homeschool.)
*stack coins
*pick up marbles and hold as many as you can in your hand
*play a game with small pegs or playing pieces
*bounce a small ball and catch it
*practice buttoning
*string beads or buttons
*sew with a needle and thread
*cut out coupons

To be continued tomorrow...