Welcome back to Jackson Jade Therapy's Discovery Center blog and the fourth instalment of our "Summer of Fun" series! This week, we shared a fresh batch of activities on our social media that are perfect for keeping children entertained while also helping them develop crucial everyday skills. Our featured activities—Watermelon Skewers, American Flag Finger Painting, and S’mores Dip—are sure to be a hit with kids and parents alike celebrating Independence Day. Let's jump in and see what fun awaits!
Activity Overview: Creating Watermelon Skewers involves cutting watermelon into fun shapes and threading them onto skewers with other fruits and treats. In our example we also used blueberries and marshmallows. This activity is not only refreshing and healthy but also a fantastic way for kids to practice their fine motor skills.
Child's Perspective: Making watermelon skewers is like building tasty, fruity towers! Cutting the watermelon into different shapes and then sliding them onto the sticks is so much fun. Plus, you get to eat your creations at the end!
Skills Reinforced:
Fine Motor Skills: Cutting the watermelon improves hand strength, dexterity, and precision.
Sensory Processing Skills: Handling the watermelon involves tactile, auditory, and visual senses.
Executive Function: Planning the skewer design, organizing the pieces, and following the steps in order enhance cognitive skills.
Oral Motor Skills: Eating the watermelon helps with chewing and swallowing.
Visual Motor Skills: Arranging the shapes on the skewer improves visual perception.
Language Skills:
Colors - teaches color recognition.
Repetitions - reinforces language through repeated activities.
Following Directions - improves understanding and execution of instructions.
Activity Overview: American Flag Finger Painting is a creative activity where children use their fingers to paint the American flag. This activity allows for artistic expression and sensory exploration.
Child's Perspective: Finger painting the American flag is like making a patriotic masterpiece with your hands! Dipping your fingers in paint and creating stars and stripes is so messy and fun. You get to feel the paint and see the colors mix right under your fingertips.
Skills Reinforced:
Sensory Processing Skills: Engages tactile, visual, and auditory senses.
Fine Motor Skills: Finger painting improves finger dexterity, precision, and hand-eye coordination.
Executive Functioning: Sorting and organizing the colors and patterns of the flag enhances cognitive skills.
Visual Motor Skills: Creating the flag design enhances visual awareness and perception.
Language Skills:
Colors - teaches color recognition and differentiation
Following Directions - enhances understanding and execution of instructions.
Counting - incorporates counting stars and stripes for added learning.
Activity Overview: Making S’mores Dip involves layering chocolate, marshmallows, and graham crackers in a dish and then baking it until gooey. This delicious treat is fun to make and even more fun to eat! We took a patriotic spin on this activity and used glitter and organic food coloring to create an American flag!
Child's Perspective: Making s’mores dip is like creating a melty, chocolatey treasure! Mixing the ingredients and watching them turn into a gooey delight in the oven is so exciting. And the best part? Digging in with graham crackers and enjoying the sweet, sticky goodness!
Skills Reinforced:
Fine Motor Skills: Hand-eye coordination, hand strength, dexterity, and bilateral coordination are improved through cutting, breaking, grasping, and pinching the ingredients.
Life Skills: Making and sharing the dip encourages communication and cooperation, and trying new flavors expands the palate.
Sensory Skills: Handling and eating the s’mores dip involves tactile, oral, and visual senses.
Executive Functioning: Planning the layers, following the recipe, sequencing the steps, and organizing the ingredients enhance cognitive skills.
Language Skills:
Colors - identifying and talking about different colors.
Repetition - reinforcing language through repeated actions.
Following Directions - enhancing understanding and execution
We hope you enjoyed this week’s activities in our "Summer of Fun" series! Each of these delightful projects—Watermelon Skewers, American Flag Finger Painting, and S’mores Dip—not only provide endless fun but also help children develop important motor, executive function, and sensory processing skills. Stay tuned for more exciting activities that keep the summer fun and educational! And don’t forget to tag us on your creations so we can follow the fun!
Here are the links to products we used in this week's activities!
Finger paint
Paper plates
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