Fine Motor Fun!

Loads of Fun with Fine motor skills!

Promoting the use of fine motor skills is an important part of preparing young children to write, catch and throw a ball, type on a computer, open a door, and the list goes on. As young children develop the muscles in their hands, they develop the strength they need to complete fine motor processes that will play a valuable part in higher level learning.



Young children are still developing the muscles they need in their hands and fingers to hold a pencil correctly. Thus, young children will start off holding a pencil or crayon in a way that looks awkward or incorrect but given time and good opportunities to build fine motor strength and skills, most children will self-correct on their pencil grip when their fine motor control and strength gets to the point that they can manage the pencil with the correct grip.

Throughout the week we had many different activities and centers for the children to strengthen their fine motor skills.

Colored beads

The children were required to match the beads to the correct color. This activity helped them strengthen their "pincer grasp" fingers as they maneuvered  them while practicing color recognition.

Muka figured out a way to do a lot of them at once :) 

using the pincer grasp fingers (thumb & index together.)

Tracers are a good way to help children control their fingers. We had the children first follow the shape line with their pointer finger.

This activity was done on laminated sheets, so the children could self correct themselves with wiping it away. (Self -correcting is another important skill for the children to master. Helping them realize its ok to not get it right the first time, and build the confidence to try again, and again independently (without giving up)- and then seeing the success!)

We put out a big cardboard box that had a lot of holes in it. It was an invitation to insert the pipe-cleaners through the holes. It was challenging trying to get it to fit and get pushed through into the box.

At first a lot of them used there whole hand which was a lot harder as the pipe cleaner would fold. This was a great activity to encourage the writing fingers to do all the work.

Finger games.

After learning the names of our fingers through the song 'where is thumbkin' we focused on our pointer finger. With a figure 8 on a paper the children had to follow the 8 with their finger.

Different Ways to encourage pencil control.

One morning for art the children were greeted with objects on their paper instead of a blank sheet.

The challenge was to try to 'weave' with their crayon around the objects. It was interesting to see the different reactions.

The younger children drew circles around the object

The older ones were able to make to the end of the paper.

It required a lot of hand eye coordination and control of their hand.

Levi observing his friends work before trying it out.

Squiggly straws and foam circles.
They had to place a foam circle with a slit in it through the whole curvy straw which took a lot of muscles in their hand to maneuver.

Believe it or not pulling is a great pre-writing skill.

With different size ribbons we tied onto a box they had to pull it through and bring it back in through the inside of the box.

After cleanup time we have charts for them to fill in if they cleaned up.
We changed things up a bit and placed two big 'clean up hands' with pictures of each child in a different finger.
Placing stickers in side the square was another great fine motor building activity!

Beads 

Elizabeth focusing on placing little beads on spikes.

Pre-writing skills are worked on throughout our day in our everyday life .

Elizabeth opening up her lunchbox zipper ...

Life Skills

We Placed button down shirts for the children to practice buttoning which is very challenging!


First Levi A. found the hole and pocked his finger through it,

Trying to keep the hole 'open' and place the button took a lot of concentration and hard work

:) counting how many are buttoned

Taking it home
This week we made for the children a fun motor skill activity that they can take home and practice.
We had a circle time to learn how it can be used.

Max using a clothespin to open and place on the paper.

Levi learning how to sew through the holes.

Evi and Shua were really excited that they had velcro on their shoes like on their paper!

Devorah Leah practicing buttoning!

Taking care of our olive tree!

Learning the Story of the Megilla-- now that the stage was set! Lessons on what is truly important in life, and where our help comes from!

After living peacefully in our "Mordechai & Esther's Jewish Home" the stage was set to begin the Purim Story! (Megillah)

We created an additional center in our classroom:  King Achashverosh's palace.

In contrast to the Jewish home, this was more focused on dresses, glamour, jewels and mirrors.
There was definitely a contrasting atmosphere between the 2 centers. Which is what the Jewish people  would have experienced upon attending the Kings feast in his palace!  We wanted the children to feel the difference between the flashy showy palace and the Mitzvah filled home of Mordechai and Esther.

Eva experimenting with make up ;)

King Achshverosh picked Esther to be his new queen!

We discussed how uncomfortable this was for her, as she wanted to be in her own home doing mitzvah's!!  However, she knew this was Hashem's plan and EVEN in the palace Hashem will be watching over her!

This was a powerful practical lesson for our class and explored it for a couple days. Even when we feel sad or scared just like Esther must have felt when she first became Queen, Hashem is helping us and is with us -every step of the way!

Role playing the king and the queen

The king puppet helped us understand what King Achashverosh was like, he had a big feast in order to show off all his wealth. Now our class really understood after living in our "Jewish home" center, the difference of how Mordechai treated them and how the King was treating them at the feast.

It was so amazing to observe that even with all the glamour and bling that the palace brought out the children still felt at 'home' and comfortable in our Jewish home center.

We even did circle time in Mordechai and Esthers home. A great learning opportunity to make space for all, in a small area!

One morning Evi came in with a bag of ice and a lemon.
He said it was for his friends!
It is so rewarding for the child when taking their lead and interest.

We came up with an idea how to share - make lemonade!

Friends stopping by to see the action..

Evi was so sweet and offered all his friends lemonade before he tasted some himself!

We lightly touched on Haman and used it as a way to bring out a positive lesson.

In the story....Haman wanted everyone to bow down to him!

For the children to understand what "bowing down" meant, we talked about what Jewish people do when they daven. The only bowing down is to Hashem during prayer.

 

After learning about Haman and how he was quite mean, we asked what should they do??
Should we Cry?  listen to Haman?...

Mordechai took the children and learned torah, knowing that their faith in Hashem  is what would save them.

Friends

Traffic and working on patience;)

Jewish Superheroes-- teach a powerful lesson! The way we tell the Purim Story makes all the difference!

Jewish Holidays are a golden opportunity for us to instill life lessons in our students... and at the same time help the students realize that our Jewish history is not a bunch of stories that remain in the books (on the shelf!) they are stories that come to life- with relevant, living lessons!

We pride ourselves in taking a step back, visualizing the story through the eyes of a two, three or four year old...and only then- choosing how to tell the story, so that the lesson we want them to gain- is bright and clear!

We wanted the Jewish Heroes ESTHER & MORDECHAI to receive as much of the lime-light as possible (so the children would emulate and strive to be like them!)  All the good deeds they did and what their Jewish home might have looked like. We wanted the children to be empowered that they too do so many mitzvah's just like these two Jewish heroes and want to do more!!

Before introducing the palace with kings and queens... we wanted to ensure our students recognized WHO Mordechai and Esther were. (Characters that they could relate to!)

We spent this week focusing on:

ESTHER AND MORDECHAI'S JEWISH HOME.                                                  It was amazing to watch what unfolded this past week as we lay the foundations for the Purim story.

Our dramatic play center turned into "Mordechai & Esther's  Jewish home." We filled their home with items that might have been found if we went back in time and were invited by Mordechai and Esther themselves.Lots of Judaica, Shabbat supplies: candles, challah, flowers...

Placed pictures on one of the walls depicting the children doing mitzvah's! Through out the day we saw different children checking out their mitzvah pictures and talking about what they did.

A large mezuzah was placed on their 'door' Levi Lubin knew just what to do when he saw it ;)

 He gave it a BIG kiss.

Challah center

Esther lived so long ago but i'm sure had the same delicious smell coming from her home before Shabbos!
Levi A. and his sister Lia making challah.

Pictures of delicious challah and how to braid it helped the children create their own challahs.

Elizabeth found many siddurim- prayer books and helped organize them!

Time to go in the oven! Through-out the play, we constantly made the connection to Mordechai and Esther to help the children connect with the characters, and understand how they must have lived.

"Mmmm, what yummy challah's! Just like Esther would make" etc..

By the end of the week, we heard it in the children's conversations among each other--- the talk of feeling so special like them!

Stuffed stockings was another way to practice the technique of braiding challah.
Levi .L. "its so soft!"

Esther and Mordechai also gave Tzedaka! We placed a lot of coins and Tzedakah boxes around their home for the children to be able to give whenever they wanted.

Max giving Tzedakah before cooking a meal.

Evi was role playing Shabbos and singing the Kiddush!

Devorah Leah took out her challah from the oven for the occasion. :)

Beautiful to hear and see the children singing the Alef beis from the Siddur.

Mordechai and Esther come to life

At snack time we sing  their Mitzvah notes. This week, Mordechai and Esther got to sing them and the children felt so proud when they heard their name and how much Hashem is so proud of them!

We also took this opportunity to sort out any issues that might have occurred during the day! Our  Mordechai and Esther puppets helped role play how to work it out. (we asked the children, "What would Mordechai and Esther do in this situation?"

They joined us for circle time!

Muka helped Mordechai give tzedakah too!

Girls teaching Esther the 'girls in the army song' (talking about the special mitzvah's girls have)

Not only was this a foundation for telling the Purim story, we REALLY saw a change in the children role modeling good behavior from these two Jewish Heroes.

Levi and Aron sharing a siddur together .

It was quite catchy !

Drawing Mitzvah's that they do!

Aron "I shared my tzizis with a friend who forgot theirs"

Tzedakah sensory bin

Quarters, nickels, dimes and penny's hid in the rice table with funnels and tubes.

Eva knowing just what to do when she found a penny!- Placed it in the tzedakah box :)

Levi .A. putting them in and proudly wearing his new kippah!

Paint and cars fun!

Mixing the colors to see what color it will make while making different tracks.