Christmas is a time to celebrate! If you’re caring for a child with a disability, you might be looking for motor skills activities to suit their needs and abilities. Christmas-themed kids crafts can be the perfect way to make the season even more exciting, so check out how these craft activities can bring the whole family together!
What are motor skills activities?
Motor skills activities are tasks that involve the performance of a specific muscle action or movement. Making pasta necklaces or squeezing Play-doh are common activities that develop kids’ motor skill coordination.
Craft activities for children with disabilities
A simple Christmas tree
Start the season by helping your child make and decorate a Christmas tree. You can make the tree from a small green branch mounted on modeling clay, and decorate the branch using creative items around the house.
Ribbons and bows work great for developing fine motor skills. You can also hand-craft mini decorations using glitter and paper. Try sprinkling some icing sugar over the tree once it’s finished to give the illusion of snow!
Whirligig
Also known as pinwheels, a whirligig is a spinning toy that’s easily crafted using cardboard, scissors, and string. You can decorate it any way you like, and then as you spin it, the beautiful colors make a wonderful and mesmerizing pattern. To add the Christmas theme, you can paint it white, green, and red with a silvery star at the center.
This is one of the best motor skill activities for children of all ages, since the project requires simple but coordinated hand movements to spin the whirligig. The spinning colors also help your child with eye movement.
Painting
Enhancing hand-eye coordination, painting is an excellent motor skills activity that every child loves regardless of their age. You can also paint on almost any object, such as a Christmas bauble or a piece of cardboard cut into a star. Christmas-themed coloring books also work well. If you notice that your child really enjoys it, ask if your daycare offers painting lessons.
Nativity scene
With items such as modeling clay and cardboard, your child can enjoy making baby Jesus, Mary, and Joseph in the stable to reflect the meaning of Christmas. Modeling clay is a fantastic way of strengthening finger muscles, and the detail of a nativity scene requires great hand-eye coordination to achieve.
Numbers and alphabet cuttings
This activity lets your kid paint numbers and alphabets in Christmas colors, cut them, and arrange them in the right order. This will help your child’s motor skills and will be suitable for children with a learning disability or autism.
Santa Claus
Your kid can enjoy making an image of Santa using an egg carton or any other material that is easily folded to the desired shape. If you’re looking for toddler Christmas activities or if your child’s disability doesn’t let them fold the material, you can do it for them, and ask them to try and paint the image.
The idea here is to have a craft activity that your kid enjoys without too much strain. If the activity is very strenuous, it may take away the fun and the Christmas mood.
Leaves and flowers activities
Green leaves and red roses scattered onto sticky cardboard will give you a good Christmas-themed activity. Arranging the leaves and flowers is a useful motor skill, and it also enhances your child’s ability to think independently and creatively as they make the patterns.
For more information
Craft activities for children with disabilities can be fun for everyone. Caring for a disabled child requires a combined effort between you and any other caregiver in your child’s life, so it’s good to share these ideas with other adults. Contact Integrity, Inc. today at (501) 406-0442 for more information on our special needs daycare services and how we can work with you to provide the best care available.
