Preliminary Exercises

Children are shown how to use basters to transfer liquid similar to pouring exercises. These activities develop three finger grip which can later be used for writing, while providing a fun way for students to work with water. Extensions of this activity include the One Drop Work, and working with liquid measuring.

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Introductions to new and continuing students involves learning how to carry the various materials and child sized furniture in the learning environment.

Students use three finger grip to squeeze clothes pin onto an edge of a basket, metal cup, or string. This exercise helps develop concept of open/close, and also strengthens hand eye coordination. This activity indirectly helps prepare the child for holding a pencil, and writing exercises. An extension to this activity is connecting fabric leaves or pieces of cloth to a string or firm edge of basket.

Puzzles are a great introductory exercise that allow students to match shapes and contour using their sense of sight and touch. The pincer grip is introduced with Knobbed Puzzles to refine a child's control of movement, hand eye coordination, and sense of independence. This preliminary activity is a prerequisite for matching, transferring, comparing, and carrying exercises throughout the other areas of the classroom. The Sensorial Knobbed Cylinders will become a familiar extension to this activity as the child becomes more connected to the environment.

The child learns concepts in circumference by matching the lids to jars, lessons in open/close with zippers, buttons, and velcro. Concentration develops as the child sorts various items that have different functions for their use. This lesson prepares children for dressing frames, opening lunch containers with independence, and getting dressed. i.e. putting on a coat, and zipping without help from adult.

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Pouring work is another familiar exercise that prepares students for advanced activities later in their learning path.

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Sitting in a chair with careful movements eliminates the chance of falling as the child pulls the chair out with enough room to sit down first, slide legs under the table, and finally scoot closer to table with balance and coordination. *note: It's important that the child can reach their feet to the floor when sitting in the chair in order to scoot closer to the table independently.

Sorting Work is the precursor to establishing order by grouping physical objects based on their likeness to one another.

Sponge Squeezing introduces water transferring with the ability to fill up an empty bowl by squeezing the water (three times) for each transfer, before absorbing more water into the sponge. The child recognizes that the bowl of full water becomes empty, and the empty one becomes full. It is important to concentrate on slower movements, waiting for that last drip as the child holds the sponge over the bowl before squeezing it. Also point out concepts using minimal vocabulary like, "this is full" and, "this is empty.

Using spoons to transfer establishes balance, control, and focus as students begin with simple transfering activities, and moving on to more complicated tasks.

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