Education Category: General, Health
Ages:

Young kids love musical activities.
Here is a fun and useful group activity for younger kids to help fine-tune motor skills, improve writing skills and have fun.

Claim the last seat !
Use music and add rhytm to the game
Part of the game is the mad dash to claim the last seat in the room
but part of it is the excitement received from the music when it turns on and off. 
You can arrange 8 chairs when there are 9 kids, 7 for 8 kids ect.
When music starts everyone rushes to pick a seat, when music stops one kid will be standing.
You can repeat the game as many times as it is fun and proceed to use the chairs to a more quiet and attention building activity.

Creating Staions to Fine-Tune Motor Skills

Here you can create 8 activity stations

What You Need:

Paper
Marker
Scissors
Shoelace
Beads or o-shaped cereal
8-12 small blocks
Sheet of cardboard
Hole punch
Length of yarn with one end taped,  or shoelace
Puzzle
Crayons,  colored pencils,  or markers
Rice
Small cup

What You Do:

1.   Station 1: Cutting :
Draw several thick lines from one end of a paper to the other. 
Your child will use scissors to cut on the lines. 
If your child can already cut well in a line  try drawing some shapes for him to cut out.
2.   Station 2: Stringing beads:
Place a shoelace and some beads and have your child string the beads. 
You can also string cheerios or other O shaped cereal (or anything else that has a hole in the middle).
3.   Station 3: Tower building:
Place 8-12 small blocks at the station and have your child build a tower or make something (a bridge or house) out of the blocks and have your child copy the
structure.
4.   Station 4: Lacing:
Take a piece of cardboard and punch holes around the outside.  Have your child use a piece of yarn (with a piece of tape wrapped around its end) and 'lace' the board,  by bringing
the yarn down one hole and up through another hole.  Continue until all of the holes are laced.  (You can also use an old shoelace for this activity.)
5.   Station 5: Puzzling:
Place a puzzle at this station for your child to complete.
6.   Station 6: Copying:
Draw several shapes on a piece of paper and have your child copy the shapes using a crayon,  pencil,  or marker.
7.   Station 7: Tracing:
Draw several shapes or figures using a yellow marker.  Have your child trace the shapes or figures using a crayon or pencil.
8.   Station 8: Pinching:
Place some rice and a small cup at this station.  Your child should use his pincer grasp (thumb and pointer finger) to place one piece of rice at a time into the cup.  This may
seem like a random set of stations but each of these activities give your child a boost towards the muscle strength and coordination furthermore it is plain fun!

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