Monday, October 10, 2011

Pinch, Pinch a Rainbow

I was looking at paint samples over the weekend and all of those pretty colors got my wheels turning!  I stopped by the dollar store and picked up a $1 pizza pan and some clothespins.  A hot glue gun and 15 minutes later, I had a colorful rainbow wheel to use with my preschool students!


Besides the fact that I love COLOR, my primary purpose was actually to get my kiddos practicing their 3-finger grasp with clothespins.  Pinching the clothespin strengthens fingers and helps to develop a 3-finger grasp that's important for writing skills. 

This was such a simple game to make and the children loved it! They worked together to match the colors and clip all of the clothespins.  There could be lots of other variations on this game too---besides colors, you could match letters, numbers or sight words.  Whatever the theme, just keep pinchin'!!

Jen Dermody, OTR/L 


2 comments:

  1. I love the idea of using a pizza pan! I know what I'll be picking up the next time I'm at the dollar store. I often do a similar activity with the alphabet written on a piece of cardboard, and then the students have to match the alphabet or match uppercase to lowercase.
    ~Abby
    http://pediatricotblog.blogspot.com

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  2. Hi there. I was thinking you could also use metal canning jar lids (flat part only) for individuals needing less "content." You could still fit at least 6 clips on the "fun size" (a Halloween candy reference - haha) lids. :)

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