Childhood Visual Motor Skills

The Three Hoods

Healthier & Brainier Babies

Infant Thinking Examples of Thought

Learning from the sidelines- children without roots but with talents and no time

Designer Babies Are On The Way

Parents as Teachers

PARENTS AND CHILDREN NEED VISUAL MOTOR SKILLS

An e story of activities related to visual motor learning in children 0-6 years of age.

Visual-Motor Activities come in all kinds of categories. Here are a few. The names are listed on the following pages. You will learn to do each one.

Gross Motor Activities

  1. Angels in the Snow
  2. Arm Rotations at Chalkboard
  3. Ball Bouncing
  4. Ball Juggle
  5. Ball on String from Body
  6. Ball Toss Over Shoulder
  7. Bimanual Lines
  8. Bunt Ball
  9. Catcho
  10. Harmon Lines
  11. Jump Ball Games
  12. Harmon Cross Pattern Walk
  13. Circles

Visualization

  1. Auditory Span
  2. Battleship
  3. Child in Mirror
  4. Coding at Chalkboard
  5. I went to Jerusalem
  6. Listen and move
  7. Parquetry Phase 2
  8. Shapes Behind Back
  9. 3-D Tic-Tac-Toe

Eye-Hand Activities

  1. Buzz Button
  2. Chose a Line
  3. Egg Carton Toss
  4. Foot Parquetry
  5. Parquetry Phase I
  6. Pat-a-cake
  7. Penny Drop
  8. Straw Piercing
  9. Continuous Motion, Eye-hand
  10. Templates, Geometric Forms
  11. Scissor Activities

Ball On Back

Purpose: To develop smooth ocular pursuit ability under minimal postural demands.

Apparatus: Ball on string from ceiling

Method:

  1. Have child lie on the floor face upward.
  2. Suspend a ball on a string about 2 feet above the child's face and slowly rotate the ball while he follows it with his eyes.
  3. Start with small circles and gradually increase the size of the circle.
  4. Alternate clockwise and counter-clockwise rotations.
  5. Child should not move his head.
  6. If possible, change distance of ball from eyes by slowly raising and lowering the ball while it swings.
  7. Have child point at the ball and feel that his arm is leading the ball.

Aspects to be emphasized:

  1. Smooth following of the ball with eyes.
  2. Recognized the feeling in the arm of leading the ball, even though not in contact with it.

Ball on String Pursuits

Purpose: To develop smooth ocular pursuit ability under varying postural demands

Apparatus: Ball on string, balance board, 2 dowels or yardsticks

Method:

  1. Have child stand on balance board (also walk about)
  2. Suspend ball on string 4-6 feet in front of the child.
  3. Swing ball back and forth in front of child, also diagonally, to and fro, and in circles. Also raise and lower the ball while it is swinging.
  4. Follow the movement of the ball. Try to see detail on ball and maintain awareness of the rest of the room.
  5. Holding dowel in each hand, attempt to touch the bottom of the ball gently varying positions right, left, center or swing with alternate hands. Start dowel movement from floor.
  6. Step off balance board and move about the room without losing fixation on the ball, even if you must look over your shoulder or walk backwards.

Aspects to be Emphasized:

  1. Able to maintain constant visual fixation on moving ball while on balance board or moving about the room.
  2. Able to tap gently and accurately the ball with either hand at varying locations on its trajectory.
  3. Able to see detail on the ball while maintaining peripheral awareness of the room and its contents.

Rotations: Kinesthetic-Visual

Purpose: To develop the feeling in arm movement of leading the eye movement

Apparatus: Balance board, small target – like a pencil eraser.

Method:

  1. Have child stand on a balance board with feet spread and with good posture.
  2. Move target in slow circles from a few inches in diameter to about 3 feet in diameter at just beyond arm's length from child. Make circles at all angles: flat in front of child, toward and away from him. Direct child to watch the target and follow the rotational movement.
  3. Have child point his finger at the target with his arm, rather than following it. Be sure to use each hand. Switch from time to time. Hold arms straight out.
  4. Watch the eye for jerky movements, hesitancy, and cutting corners on the circle. Watch finger for accuracy of pointing at the target.
  5. If the rotation is irregular in one particular area, go back and forth over the area without doing a complete rotation. Spend equal time doing rotations to the right and the left with each eye.
  6. HEAD MUST BE FIXED - NO HEAD MOVEMENT.
  7. Repeat this activity at various distances from the child.

Aspects to be Emphasized:

  1. The development of the feeling that the arm is "leading " the eye. This must be stressed to the child during the activity.
  2. Smooth eye movements and accurate finger pointing.
  3. Good balance on the balance board.
  4. Awareness of rest of the room and stability of the visual background.

Rotations – Near Area

Purpose: To learn the skill of smooth, easy, accurate movement of each eye in following an object.

Apparatus: Target, a bright colored pencil eraser, or picture on end of stick.

Method: Cover left eye, follow object with right eye. Then cover right eye and follow with left. Work in a place where neither parent nor child faces a light or window and the child faces a blank wall. Hold target about 16" from fact of child. Instruct child to look directly at target and follow exactly. Stand with good posture on balance board. Always use both clockwise and counter-clockwise patterns.

  1. Move target in small circles (1" in diameter) and then larger circles (up to 2 feet in diameter). Speed should be small circles about 1 rotations in 2 seconds, large circles about 1 rotation in 4 seconds.
  2. Spiral: start with a 3" circle and gradually increase to 2 feet in diameter.
  3. Figure "8" movements, 4"-5" from top to bottom of figure, same speed.
  4. Figure "8" movements: same size and speed, but with "8" on its side.
  5. Erratic movements – no set pattern – do not go beyond area set off your nose and brow. Same speed.
  6. After 1 through 5 are mastered, vary distance of target in front of child from 6" to 2-3 feet from child's face.

Aspects to be Emphasized:

  1. Watch for small, jerky movements of the eye, or loss of fixation.
  2. Point out corner cutting or momentary stops and jerkiness to child.
  3. Effort must be made to correct such movements and to become aware of his ocular movement control.
  4. Maintain easy balance on balance board

Pie Tin Rotations

Purpose: To help develop freedom in eye, hand, and arm movement patterns and to increase the accuracy of ocular pursuit and ability.

Apparatus: Round and square pie tins or cake pans and various size and weight balls, such as beads, ping-pong ball, golf ball, glass marbles, or ball-bearings.

Method:

  1. Place a marble in a pie tin. Holding the pan between both hands, roll the marble around in the pan. Keep looking at the marble. Follow it accurately with your eyes.
  2. Reverse the direction of the marble every 5 rotations. Also vary the speed of the marble. Se how fast it can be rolled and not spilled out, an dhow slowly it can be rolled without cutting corners across the pan.
  3. Hold the pan in various positions, that it, to the right, left, closer, further, higher, lower, etc. Continue to control movement of the ball or marble while maintaining ocular fixation on it in these various positions.
  4. Try to use various size and weight balls and marbles. Feel the difference in controlling their movements as you change from one to another.
  5. Now rotate the pie time in a circle with your arms while rolling the marble (or ball) in it with your hands as in previous steps. Keep your eye on the marble. Try rotating the pie tin in vertical circles, horizontal, circles, etc.
  6. Use various shape pans when available, such as a square cake pan. Be sure to hold a square pan two ways: a) by opposite corners for a square feeling and b) by opposite corners for an oblique or diamond feeling. Try moving pan in a square pattern (or diamond pattern) while rolling marble around its edge.
  7. As ability increases, repeat this activity on the balance board.

Aspects to be Emphasized:

  1. To be aware of rotations of wrists.
  2. To be aware of the differences of rotation control when pan is held at various positions.
  3. To accurately follow rotation of ball/marble.

Memory

Purpose: To develop visual recall.

Apparatus: A standard deck of cards, an "Old Maid" deck or the commercial game "Memory", at least two players.

Method:

  1. Start with 6 unmatched pairs from the deck of cards. Shuffle well and arrange face down in 3 rows of 4 cards each.
  2. The first player turns up any two cards. If the cards match, he removes them and turns up another two cards.
  3. If the cards do not match, he turns them face down after all other players have seen them.
  4. A player continues to turn cards as long as he makes a match. The play moves to the next player when the exposed pair does not match.
  5. The player collecting the most matched pairs is the winner.
  6. As performance improves, increase the number of cards used until eventually the whole deck is in use.

Aspects to be Emphasized

  1. Ability to recall accurately the position of previously turned cards.
  2. When cards are turned up, do not identify them verbally as we wish to emphasize the visual memory.

 

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