Table Time Activity: Shaving Cream Drawing
Skill Check
This activity targets fine motor skills, tacting colors and body parts and exploring tactile play.
Growing My Skills
Smooth out shaving cream.
Discuss who is in family.
Draw a circle and add eyes, build on with other body parts and details.
Add family members, pets, etc.
Floortime Play Activity: “Family Finger” Finger Play
Skill Check
The goal of this activity is to spend time together and engage in a song together. You can even change the lyrics of the song to anyone/anything they want to increase imagination! Lots of silliness is key while singing songs with your child!
Growing My Skills
First prepare materials (cut out/color faces) and wrap around your fingers or your child’s fingers. If these materials are not available, just use your fingers during the song!
Tape pictures of your own family on each finger to support family member identification and sing the song with your family’s pictures!
Relaxation Time Activity: Me and My Family Tree
Skill Check
The goal of this activity is to spend time together, slow down, and strengthen listening and focusing skills. It also allows children to think about who is in their family and how they are all connected.
Growing My Skills
What does your child like about this story?
Who is in your child’s family?
What do they like to do with their family members?
Creative Time Activity: Family Tree Craft
Skill Check
This is an activity to help visualize how family members are related. Starting with the immediate family (siblings, parents, pets) leads to a nice conversation about who your child lives with. Expanding it to include grandparents, cousins, etc allows your child to see that you have parents and how they are connected to more family members. It also supports fine motor control as they can cut, paste, and write.
Growing My Skills
Gather your materials.
Print out photos of family members.
Tape or glue your child’s photo in the middle of the page.
Ask them to find photos of mom, dad, siblings, etc and tape/glue them nearby.
Ask them to find photos of specific family members and glue or tape them on the page too.
You can write names near the photos.
With your child find a place to hang up your family tree so they can look at it regularly.
Movement Time Activity: Playground Games with Family
Skill Check
The goal of this week is to get the whole family to work on movement or playground games!
Growing My Skills
Work on listening to directions, strengthening, spatial awareness, and getting some sensory input during any of the following games.
Ring Around the Rosie: switch directions and go fast or slow motion to work on grading of movement and listening to directions.
Simon Says: take turns being the “Simon” and work on listening to directions, moving our bodies, and coming up with ideas.
Balloon Play: hit it back and forward, watch it fall and use good timing to catch with both hands, or play “keep it up.”
Tug of War: use a bedsheet or beach towel and work on holding it tight with two hands to pull the other side.
Mealtime Activity: Making a Family Portrait Out of Food
Skill Check
The goal of this activity is to explore new or non preferred foods without the expectation of eating.
Growing My Skills
How to make a family portrait:
Wash hands.
Gather materials listed above on an accessible surface.
Prepare a face with crackers, pancakes, waffles, or flat piece of food.
Use raisins or chocolate chips or blueberries to make the eyes/ears/mouth/nose.
Give the face a body, arms, and legs.
Optional: use extra ingredients (ex: pasta, bacon, sun butter, or peanut butter) to make hair.
Examples: Making Faces From Food or The Best After School Healthy.
Language Time Activity: Family Portraits
Skill Check
The goal of this week is to build vocabulary related to the family. Work on identifying family members in pictures, and then work towards labeling (e.g. brother, sister, aunt, pet dog). Discuss defining characteristics of each family member. For example, “Sara is the oldest sister with red hair, she likes to play soccer”. Use the craft activities below to help facilitate descriptive language.
Growing My Skills
Make a picture of your house, talk about everyone who lives in your house.
Popsicle Family Craft: Make a portrait of your family using different size popsicle sticks (can cut them), decorate them to look like your family.
Family Tree Craft: draw each member of your family on the tree.
Playdoh Family: Make portraits of your family out of playdoh, have people guess who it is.
