CreateableLearningConcepts.com Blog

Drawing with a Crayon Is Using Fine Motor Skills

Several people have asked me, “How do you get children involved in fine motor activities?” Fine motor activities are important since they assist with developing skills needed for reading and writing.  We do know that most boys tend to prefer large motor play over fine motor play.  To encourage getting the children involved in fine motor development I suggest to teachers to use a variety of different mediums such as paint, finger paints, markers, chalk, and crayons for children to use.  Continue reading →

Child Waving Hands Above His Head

For some children, they are not sure “where” their hands may be.  This will cause difficulty for the child when they use their hands in play and teacher selected activities.  For all children, typical or children with special needs, it is a good idea to get their hands ready to engage in activities! 

The following bullets may give you some simple ideas on how to get hands ready.  Continue reading →

Happy New Year 2011 from Createable Learning Concepts!

Randy and I wish everyone a Happy New Year. People like you have helped make 2010 a successful year for us, and we hope that 2011 brings you all the best year ever! Happy New Year! And if any of you has a question that you would like to see me write an article on, just let me know! Again, HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

The question that is most often asked by teachers/parents is, “At what age do children demonstrate a dominant hand?” Children have until the age of eight to demonstrate hand dominance. Young children tend to use both hands equally as often, but by the time the child reaches between the ages of 3 to 4, one hand is typically used more often to perform most activities. The hand that is predominantly used is the hand that is able to perform the activities at a quicker pace and with smoother coordination.

Letting the child choose the dominant hand

One should not force a child to use any particular hand; allow the child to use either hand, and let the child make the selection that is most natural for him/her. There are some children, albeit very few, that are truly ambidextrous by the time they reach kindergarten. Continue reading →

Randy and I were asked if we would write an activity guide that could be used with our Cuttables and Traceables products. We decided to draw upon the advice and assistance of a wonderful teacher, Lori Berry, who has her Master’s Degree in Education, specializing in Early Childhood Special Education with Validation in Early Education of the Handicapped. We wrote the books with her assistance. The books speak about the development of cutting and tracing, how to use the books, and then they list activities based on different themes. The guide also lists books for each theme, integrating literacy and the activities. Finally, we looked at the content standards across the states and identified areas we believed the activities covered.
You can click on the link or picture below and go to our website at www.CreateableLearningConcepts.com and read about this product or any of our other products.

Activity Guides

Cuttables Activity Guide

Activity guides contain 40 to 44 different theme-related activities to create using Cuttables and Traceables.

Working as a therapist in a school setting I have noticed that some children, whether they are special needs or not, look perplexed when asked “let’s draw a picture” or “would you like to draw a picture?”. They look back with a smile and gesture and/or say with a smile, “Yes,” but then state they do not know what to draw, or they draw the picture of the potato head person. Teachers and parents have also verbalized that they have observed the same. Today it seems that children are provided with items/activities that they do not know how to use to stimulate their imagination. Our products have been designed not only to assist with fine and visual motor skills but to assist with developing creativity.

One of our new products was designed to assist with developing the skill of how to build a picture. It is a fun dice game for 1 or 2. Each individual has a playing board and Continue reading →

Welcome to Createable Learning Concepts’ blog to discuss the tools, toys and games for special needs children, autistic children, and anyone who needs rehabilitation or therapy to develop or restore their fine motor skills. Createable Learning Concepts has developed tools, which kids see as toys, to specifically assist in the development of fine motor skills through drawing, tracing and cutting.