Pop Arty

Product Description

Sensory 4

Skills

• Children can practice focusing their visual attention on the beads and crafts they create.
• Identify similarities and differences by categorizing the beads in piles of different sizes or by texture.
• Tactile discrimination skills can be used by presenting the beads that are smooth, bumpy, etc. for a child to identify and play with.

Play Ideas

• Depending on the child’s sensory need, the child could be asked to only use the beads that have a certain texture.
• Allow children to put their hands in the beads to feel the different textures. Play with them as you would play with dried beans and rice or sand.
• Children who are blind can be encouraged to find beads that are smooth, bumpy, etc. through touch.

Adaptation Ideas

• For children who are tactilely defensive, present only the smooth beads. Introduce other textures as the child becomes more comfortable.
• Only colors the child is comfortable with could be used.

Cognitive 4

Skills

• Children can be encouraged to use matching skills to follow the patterns created by others. This can help children experience and practice the pre-math skills of order and prediction.
• Understanding similarities and differences can be the focus of play when children sort beads by color, size, and shape.
• Sequential thought skills are used to methodically choose, pick up and connect beads. 

Play Ideas

• Ask a child to sort the beads by color, shape or texture. Helpful hint: Use a muffin tin to help a child organize and sort.
• Have children make necklaces for a tea party – real or imagined.
• Make one continuous bead chain and see how far it can be laid out in the house. Does it stretch beyond one room? Does it turn the corner? Does it stretch down the stairs?

Adaptation Ideas

• Have a pattern of each type of jewelry to illustrate the concept of putting the beads together.
• Present pictures of a ring, bracelet and necklace to help children understand what can be made. This helps children who have difficulty with cognitive processing and remembering/recalling objects.
• Provide sequential pictures of each step in creating a necklace or bracelet. 

Physical 2

Skills

• Enhance fine motor skills by using a pincer grasp to pick up and connect the beads.
• Children use coordinated movements with their eyes, hands, arms and fingers when reaching for beads to create designs.
• Children are encouraged to use two hands and work at midline when they make a piece of jewelry. 

Play Ideas

• Connect a string of beads together and ask the child to take them apart.
• Children can be encouraged to pick up a certain item to practice reaching skills and motor skills.
• Put the beads in play dough and have the child pick the beads out of it to develop additional fine motor skills and strength.

Adaptation Ideas

• Put beads in a container with a large opening or in the top of a shirt box or cookie sheet that has a lip to prevent beads from rolling out of reach.
• Use only the larger sized beads for children who have limited fine motor skills.
• A caregiver can hold a bead in place while the child connects the other bead.