Hey there!
I’ve grown accustomed to seeing terrible handwriting in all the classrooms since COVID. The other day I went to do a consult in a general ed first-grade classroom expecting “the usual.”
But this classroom was different. The work samples in the hallway were neat, with good spacing and letter formations.
In the classroom, I observed the children all started working at their desks with their Chromebooks. It was obvious that they were used to the activity.
It was a YouTube Channel called:
“Art for Kids”
…and the children were all drawing holiday pictures. I couldn’t believe how good they were! From reindeer to the Grinch, each picture was better than the next—all created by 6-year-olds!
I asked the teacher about it—I know there isn’t extra time in their day to do fun things like this. She agreed, but said, “We just do a few minutes each day. It has made a HUGE difference in their motor skills!”
Their visual perceptual skills, too!
Truthfully there are a lot of skills involved in copying a picture. Here are just a few:
- Executive functioning to follow directions
- Speech and Spatial Language processing
- Visual tracking/accommodation from the computer to the paper
- Visual motor skills to copy the shapes, lines, and forms that the artist demonstrates
- Fine motor skills to manipulate the pencil, marker, or crayon
- Visual perception skills (discrimination) to recognize the shapes and spatial orientation of the forms
- Visual perception skills (visual memory and visualization) to remember what the artist did and then plan it on your page
- Visual Perception (bilateral integration) to hold the paper while drawing
- Visual-Spatial Skills (Directionality to follow the left/right directions)
- Visual Closure to mentally fill in the rest of the picture
Isn’t this amazing? So this simple, calming, and FUN activity was helping her students with all of these skills. What a game-changer. I couldn’t believe that I’d never heard of it.
I am always looking for activities that target multiple skills at once—and this one hits the mark! I hope you’ll check it out.
Visual perceptual skills are often overlooked but they have a huge impact on our kiddos’ learning.
AND, for the first time ever, I’m offering a teacher’s version, so school OTs who want to educate staff can present on this important topic without doing the work—because I’ve done it for you.
Visual Perception Course
Our Visual Perception Course is pending AOTA approval and is coming soon.
Click here to check the status!