Introducing our new series “Five Fun Activities with…”! Offering activity ideas for parents, caregivers, educators and therapists. Our first installment is Five Fun Activities with Colored Spots! The colored spots are one of my favorite pieces of equipment that are both inexpensive and extremely versatile. One of the top picks in our Pediatric PT Toolbox and a must have for children to enjoy as they grow!
Enjoy our Five Fun Activities with…Colored Spots!
1. Color Matching
Using our favorite animal beanbags, Abe matches each turtle to the corresponding colored spot.
Can use any objects around the house, encouraging child to engage with their environment and think outside the box!
You can also use the colored spots to address color and shape recognition, seen in the photo above! These shape bean bags are a great tool!
2. Around the World
Arranging the colored spots in a semi-circle, allow the child to travel from spot to spot throwing bean bag to target. We use these colored bins as our basket for this activity as they double as storage once we are done!
3. Color Walks
Allow child to walk from spot to spot, increasing the distance between the spots to increase the challenge. As child walks along you can have them squat down to pick up bean bag animals or other objects. Encourage them to use their imagination, seen above Abe “rescues” his animals lost at sea!
Add obstacles, like a large ramp to address motor planning, strength and balance!
4. Color Jumps
Begin with jumping forward with colored spots in a line, you can advance to side to side jumps, backwards jumps and sequencing open close jumps and even hop scotch!
Change up orientation of spots to challenge jumping skills!
5. Floor Skating
With child barefoot, use colored spots as “floor skates” encouraging child to grip with toes to move skates forward. Great activity to build arch support and intrinsic muscles of foot. Learn more in our Flat Feet Treatment post here!
We hope you enjoyed our Five Fun Activities with Colored Spots! We would love to hear from you! What activities do you use the colored spots for?
For more fun with colored spots check out our Dinosaur PT Activity of the Week: Soccer Bowling!
Learn more about Dinosaur Physical Therapy!
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I’m an OT in the school system and bring my dots from school to school because I’m always using them! Yesterday I did a variation of the Color Jumps activity you have above with a pre-schooler who loves that proprioceptive input…but to make it more fun and exciting (and to add an auditory and tactile element with bare feet) I laid a long sheet of bubble wrap over the dots! It was a hit.
Great idea! Thank you for sharing!