Building Cognitive Skills
with Fourth of July Fun Pages
© Lynn Moore
Jul 2, 2006
Children with fragile medical conditions such as hydrocephalus and cytomeglia virus may not tolerate outside activities in the heat. Here is a way to celebrate indoors.
Often, when we think of the Fourth of July, we think of outside activities. Not all children with special needs can tolerate large crowds (Asberger syndrome) or hot weather (hydrocephalus or CMV). This holiday, consider making "fun pages" to build cognitive skills, fine motor skills, and a wonderful art project. In fact, why not make it a book?
What You Will Need
- Heavy construction paper: read, white, and blue
- Child-sized scissors
- A ruler
- A black marker
- Glue
- Large, star-shaped stickers
- A stapler
What You Will Do
- 1. Ask your child to help you count out seven sheets of white paper
- 1. On the first sheet, print My Flag Book in pencil with large letters
- 3. Let your child trace over the title.
- 4. Put large dots on the next five pages. (One dot on the first page. Two dots on the second page, etc.)
- 5. Have your child put one sticker on each dot.
- 6 .Label the pages: One star Two stars etc.
- 7. Use the ruler to draw lines on one sheet of red paper. The lines should be about 1 inch apart.
- 8. Have your child cut on the lines. (Kids need a lot of practice cutting with scissors to build the muscle control they need for writing, buttoning buttons, etc. If it is not a dangerous situation, let your child cut on his own or with minimal hand-over-hand assistance.)
- 9. Have your child glue the red stripes on the last page of white. Cut a blue rectangle to glue on the page. Let your child put several star stickers on the blue.
- 10. Put the pages in order and staple. Your book is finished.
How to Use the Finished Project
- Read the book to your child.
- Let your child read the book to you.
- Encourage your child to read his book to family members, neighbors, and even the family dog!
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Special Needs Parenting is owned by Lynn Moore. Permission to republish Building Cognitive Skills in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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