Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Quick - I Need a Heart!

Okay.  You have kids who struggle drawing a heart.  Your goal as an OT in the school is participation.  How can they quickly learn this so they can make one when needed in classroom activities.  Stencils are fun, but here are three other ways:

1. Use two hands.  Put a crayon in each hand.  Have them start at a single point.  Now they draw lines simultaneously, moving their hands up, out away from each other and then travel along a diagonal towards each other.  Two handed heart drawing can be done by younger kids quite easily.  Their heart is symmetrical!




Hint...have them draw this on a vertical surface by taping the paper to the wall.

2.  Do they know their letters?  Have them practice a modified m (it sort of looks like what people draw as a simple image for birds in the air).  Have them draw a v.  Now tell them they can draw a heart.  Simply draw a m and attach a v under it (make sure you start the v at one end of the m and finish it at the other end.  Click here for a video demonstration.




3.  Finally, find an old paper tube and fold it in half...one end is a point.  Reverse the fold on the other end to make the top of the heart.  The student grasps the tube in a way that maintains a heart shape.  Dip the end in paint and stamp on paper.



2 comments:

Amy said...

I recently saw this toilet paper roll heart idea on pinterest. Such a great idea and so simple! Thanks for sharing the M+V idea...perfect! It always helpful to break down objects into simple ideas kids KNOW they can do!

Kathleen Fucci said...

This looks terrific! Thank you for the tip! We will try it in our classroom!


Love,
Mrs. Fucci