Tuesday, October 25, 2016

Pokeball Oral Motor Races

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I talk often about oral motor sensory ideas for kids, especially since my oldest is an oral motor sensory seeker. He is constantly seeking oral motor input, usually through chewing. To help him get the input he needs, I like to offer him a variety of activities. Beyond chewing on things, that is. One type of activity that we do a lot involves blowing through straws.

This oral motor sensory activity for kids is inspired by Pokemon, but teaches skills important for self-regulation, mainly how to breath deeply. My kids think these straw races are ridiculously fun, but the addition of pokeballs, really made them happy. After all, they are obsessed with Pokemon!

Oral motor sensory activity for kids inspired by Pokemon from And Next Comes L

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Fun Pokemon Inspired Oral Motor Sensory Activity for Kids

Here's what you'll need for doing pokeball oral motor races with your kids:

Pokeball activity for kids from And Next Comes L

Mark both the start line and the finish line with a piece of tape on the ground. Make sure you use tape that will not damage your flooring, especially if you have hardwood floors. Alternatively, you could create a design out of tape on the floor and challenge your kids to blow the pokeball along the lines of your design. Up to you! We decided to just do a start and finish line, much like we did with the snowball oral motor races (cute video included there too!).

Each child (or adult, if you're joining in) grabs a pokeball and a straw. The object of the game is to be the first person to blow your pokeball across the finish line! It works best if you army crawl along the floor.

Pokemon activity for kids: straw races from And Next Comes L

Encourage your kids to experiment with blowing gently, hard, or from different angles. Let them figure out which is best! They'll soon discover that big deep breaths result in the ball moving further. Those same deep breaths are helpful when trying to help your child self-regulate. See, totally teaching important self-regulation skills through this activity!