As an Occupational Therapist working in an Elementary School, I find it important to find fun ways to engage my students while addressing skills they need for functional independence. As we prepared for the end of year school events like Unified Sports Field Day, School Wide Field Day, Spirit Assemblies and more, my students were wanting to be a part of the cheering squad!
We spent multiple sessions working to perfect our projects while addressing many of our fine motor skills. Students worked on their ability to use both hands together to remove the caps from markers, learned how to hold a pencil, worked to use their pincher fingers and even learned to put things on their hands so that they were ready to cheer on all of our friends at the upcoming events.
This project was easy to adapt depending on the level the students were at in their development of fine motor and visual motor skills. Some students scribbled while working on holding a marker with a static grasp pattern, while others fatigued quickly in the coloring and worked on using their pincer grasp to peel off start stickers to add to their hands, and some worked on filling the entire space and then writing a cheer on the back!
OT Lesson: Spirit Fingers
Foam Finger Craft for Field Day (or School Event)
Activity: Go Team Go!
Book: Go Dog Go!
Setting: OT classroom – Small Group or Individual Session
Grade Level: Preschool to 3rd Graders
Materials:
OT Skills Addressed:
- Fine Motor Coodination
- Bilateral Coordiantion
- Visual-Motor Integration
- Hand Strength/Grasp Development
- Attention/Sequencing
- Motor Planning
Objectives:
- Students will improve their fine motor skills to address pincer grasps by peeling stickers and sticking them on the foam fingers
- Students will work on bilateral coordiantion skills for removing and replacing marker caps
- Students will practice visual motor integration skills to color within the boundaries
- Develop hand strength and endurance skills to color the large fields of the foam hands
- Students will enhance visual attention to complete an activity at the table top level while expressing their creativity for this themed activity!
Procedure:
- Introduction – Explain to students about the event coming up, provided a completed foam finger and read Go Dog Go to help students learn to cheer for their teammates!
- Complete the craft actvity (15-20 minutes) – have students color the foam finger, decorate with stickers and practicing writing their name on the back
- Practice putting the foam finger on and Cheering Go Dog Go!
- Ecnourage studetns to bring their foam fingers out to field day to cheer on peers to reinforce positive relationships
Grading the activity:
Easy:
- use thicker markers instead of the skinny markers
- provide hand over hand assistance and fading prompts
- reduce decorative choices
- use foam stickers vs. paper stickers
- use dot paint vs. markers
- use visual sequence board to help complete steps for the project
Difficult:
- have students cut out and create their own embelishments for decoration
- encourage detailed designs/patterns
- add letters that requires spacing and alignmnet
- follow multi-step directions
Students share their finished projects and cheer on their friends during field day and end of year celebrations!
About the Author:
Jennifer Dupre, MS, OTR/L
My name is Jen Dupre, I have been an Occupational Therapist for almost 20 years in pediatrics and 15 years providing OT services to students in schools! I have experience working with students ages 3-21 years of age in the school setting working on various skill sets that are individualized to each student. As an occupational therapist, I work in many classrooms and wear many hats to support students within the academic setting.
S&S Worldwide has been a place where I can go to order all of my therapy needs from fine motor activities to sensory tools. S&S Worldwide has many options for my students that help them achieve success in the academic setting.
