Microwavable Crisp Rice Star Pops

Our first cooking project added to the blog...and we use the term "cooking" very loosely!


Difficulty Level:  Easy
Approximate Time to Allot: 15 minutes (half of an OT session)


Ingredients:

• crisp rice cereal
• mini marshmallows
• butter
• colored sprinkles
• microwave safe bowl
• measuring cups
• paper plates
• star cookie cutters
• popsicle sticks
• paper plate
• mixing spoon
• permanent marker

Step 1:

Measure 1/2 cup of mini marshmallows and
1 tablespoon of butter into the microwave safe bowl.

Step 2:

Microwave on high in 30 second increments,
until the marshmallows and butter have fully melted.
Be sure to check the temperature of the bowl so that your kiddos don't get burned!!

**SKILL ALERT!!** Using the microwave is a great way to practice safety awareness with cooking skills, it is always a good reminder that when cooking, things can get hot. 

Step 3:

Mix melted marshmallows and butter together, until it
becomes a stringy, sticky mix.

Step 4:

Measure 1 cup of crisp rice cereal...

Step 5:

...and stir them into the marshmallow/butter mixture.

**SKILL ALERT!!** Having the student use one hand to stir and the other hand to hold the bowl is a great way to work on bilateral coordination.

You will know that you are done stirring when it begins to form a ball around the spoon!

Step 6:

Pack the crisp rice/marshmallow/butter mixture into the star cookie cutter.
The tighter it is packed, the better it will be!

**SKILL ALERT!!**As the student is pouring the mixture into the star they are practicing their spatial awareness skills and bilateral coordination!!

Step 7:

Add colored sprinkles, cuing the kids to sprinkle "lightly!"
We did red and blue for Memorial Day!

**SKILL ALERT!!**Using sprinkles is a great way to practice hand eye coordination as the students attempt to put the sprinkles on only half of the star.

Step 8:

When you are finished with the sprinkles, carefully push the
star out of the cookie cutter.


**SKILL ALERT!!**  This is a great way to practice pressure regulation, as well as body awareness skills, as it can be very difficult to gently push the star out of the cookie cutter.  If they push too hard, it will break, and if they don't push hard enough, it won't come out!

Step 9:

Gently add a popsicle stick into the bottom of the star and allow it to sit for 30-45 minutes to cool and harden!

Enjoy!!!

**Tell us what you think by commenting below!

Memorial Day Star Man

Difficulty Level: Easy

Approximate Time to Allot: 30 minutes (1 OT session)

What you will need:

• red and blue foam
• googly eyes
• beads, large and small
• glue (hot glue and a glue stick)
• clothes pins
• pipe cleaners
• permanent marker
• star patterns (one larger than the other)
• flag printout
• scissors

Step 1:

Trace each of the star patterns to different colored foam sheets.

**SKILL ALERT!!** Tracing is a great way to practice fine motor and bilateral coordination skills, as the student holds the pattern with one hand, they need to move their marker carefully around the outline of the pattern with the other.

Step 2:

Next, cut out each of the stars, encouraging the kids to stay along the lines and maneuver their scissors with their "helper-hand" as their dominant hand makes the snips.

We used foam for stability, and because of the resistance level that it provides when cutting, however, other materials can be used based on the students cutting abilities: construction paper, card stock, tag board, etc.

 Step 3:

While the scissors are out, have the student cut out the flag printout.  We just found a free clipart flag on Google Images and sized it using the photocopier. Be sure to leave a small tag of paper to attach the flag to the "flag pole," so that your star man can hold it!

  It would add even more to the activity for the kids to create their own flag...but for us that would be another whole session!

Step 4:

To complete this project, we used 1 2/3 white pipe cleaners and 1/3 of a black pipe cleaner:
**1 white one cut in half (one half for each leg)
**1 white one cut in thirds (one third for each arm)
**1 black one cut in thirds (one third for the flag pole)

This is great practice for measuring and cutting!  We cut an example piece so that the students needed to  line up the ends and think about where they should cut :)

Step 5: 

Once the pipe cleaners are cut, it is time to bead them!  We had mini pony beads, star beads and foam beads available for the kids, so that they could choose their own colors and styles.  Although the idea was to choose Memorial Day colors, some of the students added their own creative flare!

Step 6:

Due to the hot glue attachments, this is where you may need to take over.  We had the kids arrange their limbs how they wanted them, and then we added the hot glue dots for them.

Step 7:

The red heart can then be placed on top of the blue heart, and it's almost done!

Step 8:

Finally, add the finishing touches and bend the limbs.

Step 9:

Attach the clothespin to the back of the star, so that the kids can wear it on their shirts/pants, and then write their names on the clothespin...and we're done!!!

**SKILL ALERT!!**  By writing their name on their clothespin, not only are the students practicing letter formations, they are also getting great practice on visual spatial awareness skills, as well as fine motor precision and motor planning.

**Tell us what you think by commenting below!

Mother's Day Handprint Plaque

Difficulty Level:  Easy (some adult assistance is necessary)
Approximate Time to Allot: 45-55 minutes (2 OT sessions)

What you will need:

• 10 popsicle sticks
• paint & paint brush
• Mother's Day poem & a copy with empty lines for student's to copy
• foam paper (for handprint)
• card stock (for background)
• fabric pieces
• heart template
• pipe cleaner (for the hanger)
• craft glue, hot glue & a glue stick
• a permanent marker

Step 1:

Have the student paint 10 popsicle sticks (one side only).

 Step 2:

Next, the student is asked to copy a few lines of the poem from the original, onto the pre-printed poem.  Depending on the skill level of the student, different numbers of lines were omitted.  This particular student copied every third line.  The other lines were covered for the student so that they were able to keep their place as they were copying.  This activity could easily be graded to increase or decrease the difficulty level, depending on the students abilities.

**SKILL ALERT!**  This activity is great practice for visual motor integration and spatial awareness, as well as many functional classroom skills, such as: pencil grip, letter formation, word spacing, and line placement of letters.

 Step 3:

Have the student trace their own hand onto a piece of foam, using a pencil.  This step could be increased in difficulty by having the student trace their dominant hand, or decreased in difficulty by helping the student trace their non-dominant hand with hand-over-hand guidance.

 Step 4:

If the lines are hard to see, the student can retrace the pencil marks with a black permanent marker to make the lines more visible and easier to cut.

**SKILL ALERT!** This is a great activity (along with step 3) to promote fine motor precision and control.

 Step 5:

Cut out the foam handprint, encouraging the student to keep their scissors on the line, and to use their dominant hand to snip and their non-dominant "helper hand" to guide the foam through their scissors (...remember to use kid friendly words!!)

Cutting on foam is great practice for inexperienced cutters as is provides resistance to the scissors, and does not rip as easily as paper!!

 Step 6:

Ask the student to trace the heart template (that was pre-made) onto the backside of small fabric squares of the students choice.  

**SKILL ALERT!**  This is a great activity to practice pressure regulation because the fabric moves easily under the marker.  The non-dominant hand needs to be pressing firmly to hold the template to the fabric, and the dominant hand needs to lightly press on the marker so that it outlines the template without moving the fabric (also great for bilateral coordination practice!!). 

 Step 7:

Cut out each of the fabric hearts, very carefully!

Step 8:

Hot glue the ends of each popsicle stick to the card stock background, overlapping as necessary.  Adult assistance will be necessary during this part of the activity to avoid burns!

Have the student lay out the popsicle sticks to determine where the hot glue will go, so that they are helping with the gluing process.

 Step 9:

Have the student apply glue to the back of the poem.....

...and craft glue on the backside (the side with the lines) of the hand print.  

Then secure both the hand print and the poem to the card stock inside of the newly created frame.

 Step 10:

Ask the student to bend a pipe cleaner in half...
this step can be very difficult for many students as they try to determine where the middle is and how to bend the pipe cleaner there!

Next, place two hot glue dots on the back of the picture frame, and adhere the pipe cleaner.
This step must be completed by an adult.

TADA, the Finished Product:

Hot glue the fabric hearts to the corners (or where ever the student would like to display them), and you have a completed Mother's Day Project!

PS--This project was also adapted for some students who live with a guardian other than their mother
....just by changing the last line of the poem!

Thanks for visiting!  Have a great day :) Erin & Tiffany


**Tell us what you think by commenting below!!

Water Bottle Birdfeeder

***Please excuse our inexperience as we begin our first attempt at sharing our creative genius.  As we share, we will also outline the functional skills that the students practice as they create these fun and motivating projects.***


Difficulty Level:  Medium (adult assistance is necessary)
Approximate Time to Allot:  30-40 minutes (1-2 OT sessions)


Here we go!....

What you will need:

• an empty water bottle
• 2 plastic plates
• paint (we chose green, like a stem)
• a paint brush
• twine
• foam paper
• decorations (we chose foam shapes)
• hot glue
• a permanent marker
• kids scissors 
• adult scissors
• something sharp and pointy (we chose a nail)

Step 1:
This step should be completed by an adult for obvious safety reasons!

Cut off the bottom of the water bottle....

then cut off the top....

last, cut a small notch to act as the "door" for the bird food.

Step 2:

Line up the water bottle in the center of the plastic plate.  Using a permanent marker, make 2 dots, one on each side of the inside of the water bottle.  (repeat this step with the other plate)

**SKILL ALERT!!**  As the students find the center of the plate, they are practicing their visual spatial awareness skills!!

You will end up with 2 dots on the plate, like this.

Step 3:

Paint the water bottle.  Have the student place one hand in the bottle and the other can be used for painting to avoid some of the mess :)

**SKILL ALERT!** By using both hands together to paint the bottle, the student will improve their bilateral coordination, fine motor, visual motor and visual perceptual skills without even realizing it!

Step 4:

Using something pointy (such as a nail), push holes into the plates (remember that you need to do this to 2 plates!)  

Depending on the skill level of the student and how pointy the object is, this step could also be completed by the adult to avoid any injuries.

**SKILL ALERT!!** The student will increase their grasp strength as well as their ability to modulate the amount of pressure that they are putting on the pointy object to make a hole in the plate.

Step 5:

Measure a piece of twine, approximately 3 1/2 feet long.

Once the twine is cut, feed each end through one of the holes one of the plates, starting from the bottom, pushing it up through to the top.  This will serve as the bottom of the birdhouse.

**SKILL ALERT!** Lots of visual perceptual and visual motor skills practiced here, as well as fine motor coordination and control!! YAY!

Step 6:

Thread the twine through the painted bottle, so that both ends of the string come out of the top evenly.  

Have the students plan how to make the ends of the string line up!

Step 7:

Have each student decorate the top of their birdhouse in their own way, on the bottom of the second plate.  Use hot glue (adult assistance may be required) to adhere the decorations to the plate, in order to ensure that they will last through the elements outside.

This plate will later be added to the top of the birdhouse.

Step 8:

Create a pattern for the flower petals that the students can trace onto foam pieces, and later cut out.

**SKILL ALERT!** Students will practice their spatial awareness skills as they visually organize the space available on their foam to create the maximum amount of petals.  They are also working on their functional pencil grip and cutting skills, which their teachers will love!

Step 9:

Have the students plan where they want their petals to be attached (on the underside of the top plate).  Attach them with hot glue (adult assistance as necessary).

Last, thread the twine through the holes in the top plate, and tie a knot at the top!!  (see below) 

Here is our "Water Bottle Birdfeeder" (tada!):

Here is the view of the top of the birdfeeder, looking down at the decorations that the students chose to personalize their creation.

This is the side view....

...and the top slides up to make it easy to fill with birdseed!

We had so much fun making this today!  We hope that you enjoy our first blog post!!
:)  Erin and Tiffany


**Tell us what you think by commenting below!