Mommy Summer School

We have been having a very crafty week, doing different activities with a picnic theme. Both of our boys have weak fine motor skills, so we have been doing a lot of cutting and coloring lately.

First, we wove placemats. Matt did his by himself, cutting out the strips and weaving them. I did supply the small cut-out shapes, upon his request. I did an example alongside his version, so he could see what to do next. Nolan glued the little hearts and stars on the sample - in the meantime, he was cutting freehand from a supply of construction paper. Nolan isn't quite ready to cut on a line yet, so we just give him a pair of scissors and let him cut paper into bits.

Next, we made picnic baskets. Matt cut his out by himself, and I stapled on the handle. I'm working on the short vowel sounds with Matt right now, so he cut out an apple, egg, insect, olive, and umbrella- almost entirely by himself! I cut out the umbrella's handle, since that was a little more difficult for him, but he cut out the triangle portion of the shape. His ability to cut on a line has really improved, and cutting on a line is an important pre-writing skill.

I cut Nolan's shapes out for him while he cut more "shapes" out of construction paper. Both boys colored their picnic baskets and enjoyed pretending to go on a picnic. I'm not sure what our project will be tomorrow, but it might include gluing little tiny seeds on a paper watermelon (more fine motor skill work)!