Tactile Benefits... Adding Glitter to Therapy!

29/3/2015

Adding some sparkle or bling in therapy sessions can provide great tactile benefits! A little bit of preparation and patience as the glue dries and you are ready for some great glitter resources!

All you need to make these resources are a packet of glitter glue pens, a marker, cardstock {this is thicker than ordinary paper} and scissors.

The glitter forms a raised surface with a "bumpy" texture. Encourage your child to "feel" with their fingers along the dried glitter. This provides your child with tactile information in addition to just visual information. Tactile feedback can help with learning letters, shapes, names, etc.

You could also spread the glitter out so your child can then colour over the glitter. This is excellent for those kids who have difficulty "colouring" in the lines or colouring the entire surface area they need to colour. Kids love colouring over the bumpy surface of the glitter.

Here are some of the ways I add glitter to therapy sessions and sometimes my own kids benefit too!

1. Alphabet glitter - Use these cards to learn the alphabet, sort into letter families, spell your child's name, learn correct letter formation, etc. If you have used or heard of "sand paper letters", then these glitter letters can be used in the same way for a fraction of the cost. You can make these whatever size you want and do capital letters too!

2. Glitter Shapes - Use glitter glue to outline shapes or to colour in the entire surface of the shape. Imagine colouring within these shapes and "hitting" the raised boundary. Your child will have a better understanding of where to stop colouring. Your child can also trace around the raised border to learn how many sides these shapes have as well as the names of the shapes.

3. Glitter Names - Your child will love learning the letters of their name in glitter! Trace over, write over, spell...do it again with their eyes shut! Teach left to right direction of letters and letter formation too.

4. Glitter Colouring - Do you have child who avoids colouring? Have you tried glitter colouring? Draw simple pictures {small is good} and fill with glitter glue. Spread out the glitter so that is quite thin and wait for it to dry. Don't these Easter eggs look pretty? Your kids will be happy to colour in these eggs and then the pictures may be used in a treasure hunt.

My Mr reluctant-colourer was happy to colour these, after which Miss 8 hid them in the garden for him to find. Lots of fun and bit of pencil control in there too, win-win-win, I say!

I don't usually let the kids I see for OT use the glitter glue pens as I generally see kids in school. I can't be sure there is somewhere for art to dry and that we won't make a huge mess!

So this next activity is something I would do at home.

5. Glitter drawing - Encourage your child to draw a simple picture with a marker. Then give them the glitter glue to trace over their drawing. Squeezing the glitter glue is a great way to encourage a pincer grasp and work some intrinsic hand muscles.

Has this inspired you to get out the glitter glue? I promise that it is isn't too messy and it doesn't actually take much time to organise. Your kids will love the effort that you have put in!

Have you used glitter to make resources for therapy, home or school?