When I started at my second school back in 2010, I shared a classroom with an occupational therapist who worked at our school a few days a week. It was then that my interest in OT first began and I began to learn so much. Including how much my voice carries and how I really needed to learn how to teach quieter! ;) I was so fortunate to have worked so closely with two amazing occupational therapists during my 4 years in the district. I hadn't realized how many skills fall under the umbrella of OT and have since realized it may not be the same program in many schools across the country. Our OT's went way beyond the typical fine motor and handwriting skills that they are so often associated with. The work they did in sensory regulation and behavior within the school setting was amazing. My current student's needs are less academic and more social, emotional and behavioral. They're also much younger than the students I've worked with recently so I've had to change my approach to teaching. I need to have engaging, multi-sensory and purposeful activities to keep these little ones paying attention! I knew I wanted some great fine motor activities, but I also wanted them to be aligned to tasks they would need to do in their daily lives. Think zippers, buttons, shoelaces, etc...
Let's Cut to the Chase.....
Here is my how-to on making your very own (& incredibly cheap!!) fine motor board.
Materials: ($5)
- piece of wood (I used a 2' x 2' piece of plywood that was 1/2" thick, purchased at Menards for $5)
- sandpaper (optional based on the wood you've chosen)
- paint (again, optional, but it sure makes it look nice!!)
- drill
- GLUE (super glue, hot glue, gorilla glue, all the glue!)
- fine motor objects (This was definitely the most fun part of planning the project. I went to the Dollar Tree to purchase most of my items and then scoured my house for random objects that would work well. I also looked online at therapeutic websites for examples of their fine motor boards to get ideas. There are so many options but I knew I wanted to keep the cost down, so I mostly went with what I had. See below for an itemized list of my choices.)
Purchased from the Dollar Tree: ($9)
- night light
- 3 outlet wall adapter
- large weekly pill container
- strainer
- dog leash
- dog collar
- coin purse
- crazy straws
- large carabiner
Purchased from Five Below: ($7)
- extendable hand ($2)
- working light switch with light (100% worth the $5!!!)
Menards: ($1)
- 2 screw eyes (roughly 2" long, used to hang the lock and carabiner) ($1)
From my own collection:
- towel rack
- towel
- pinwheel
- magnetic letters
- metal lock w/ key
- pipe cleaners
- contact case
- empty spice container
- snack size plastic container
- small wallet w/ zipper
- clothespins, binder clips and plastic clip from a hanger
- flashcards
- large calculator
- zipper
- yo-yo
- retractable tape measure
- key on a keyring
Total cost: $22!!
Steps:
1. Plan it out! I didn't really use too much of a rhyme or reason, I just wanted to fit everything together nicely.
2. Sand and paint your wood piece. (I chose to do both to make it extra safe and splinter-free for my little ones.)
3. Start to drill and glue! Luckily, most pieces were able to be glued. I used my drill for the screw eyes and to make 3 holes for the 3 outlet wall adapter. I also drilled holes in the top for the pinwheel and crazy straws.
Things To Consider:
- I had difficulty with gluing some of the plastic pieces onto the painted wood... until someone recommended Gorilla Glue. I don't know how I've lived this long without it.
Skills Covered:
I couldn't believe how many skills could be covered when I first decided to make this board, but I kept getting more and more ideas!
- fine motor (obviously!!)
- turn taking
- following directions
- /wh/ questions
- counting money and coins
- calculator skills
- measuring
- shapes
- size
- colors
- numbers
- adjectives
- letter names
- letter sounds
- matching
Can't believe you can incorporate all of these skills into one activity? Click below to watch how I use the board with my students!
