Welcome to Photo Friday, a place where I share photos of therapeutic tools and ideas that can help boost your child’s development. Please give me feedback on my ideas — I love hearing how they go over with other kids!

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For preschoolers and Kindergarteners who need to work on cutting and fine motor skills, try this simple reindeer craft. Since the body and head are oval-shaped, they serve as a nice transition from learning to cut straight lines to learning to cut circles (since two of the sides are relatively flat). You can pre-cut the antlers if you know your student will struggle so much with them that it will cause extreme frustration. You can also draw a small circle on white paper for the child to color first (coloring smaller shapes requires more fine motor precision), then cut, then glue on as a nose. They can even cut out or draw on a face if they want.

Ask questions about all the different body parts needed (yes, even a neck!), ask about what the body parts are for (be prepared for some funny answers), and then you can even sing the “Mat Man” song from Handwriting Without Tears after each set of body parts has been glued on with the glue stick. Just replace the name “Mat Man” with “Rudolph” and you’re good to go! I also did this with the Santa fine motor craft from last week and it served as a great bridge to review what the students had learned previously (Mat Man) and apply it to a new context (different character). If you’re not sure what the Mat Man song is, it’s a great tool for teaching body awareness and spatial orientation necessary for pre-writing skills. Check it out by clicking here.

Have fun creating reindeer crafts!

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