Fine Motor Fish Craft

One of the main reasons occupational therapists love using crafts during therapy is because they promote fine motor and visual motor skills through a fun and motivating activity. Crafts are also an especially fun way to work on your child’s scissor skills. Today, one of our occupational therapists shows you how your children can make a fish craft, using just a few materials.

Materials:

  • Construction paper
  • Glue 
  • Scissors
  • Markers
  • Tissue paper

While your child is making this craft, they will be working on skills like: following multi-step directions, cutting, functional grasp, bilateral coordination, and pinching. 

Tips for Scissor Skills:

When doing crafts that require cutting with your children, it is important to consider that scissor skills develop in phases. Depending on where your child is with their scissor skills, you can have them do more or less of the cutting during this craft project. 

  • If they are unable to coordinate opening and closing scissors yet, have them tear the strips of tissue paper into squares to promote pre-scissor skills like bilateral coordination. 
  • If you child can snip, but not follow a straight line yet, have them snip the strips of tissue paper into squares.
  • If your child is working on cutting across paper or on a straight line, have them cut the strips of tissue paper, then the squares. 
  • Finally, if your child is working on mastering their scissors skills, have them cut out all of the parts for the fish and the tissue paper squares. 

You can read more about scissor skill development here: https://www.theottoolbox.com/steps-of-scissor-skill-development/

To introduce this fun summer craft to your child, click the video link below:

 

For more summertime craft ideas, follow our social media platforms for more fun ideas to work on therapy goals this summer!

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