The smell of peppermint automatically makes me think of the holidays. We use glitter all year long for various crafts because kids love it! In this fun activity, we will turn sweet little striped peppermints into glitter to decorate some cute name tags for the holidays! This Christmas craft will thrill the person that receives the gift and they’ll smell wonderful too! This activity lets kids use their big AND little muscles all at once!
The perfect Peppermint Glitter Christmas Craft for Coordination!
WHAT YOU’LL NEED: Peppermints, storage bag, red construction paper, black sharpie marker, scissors, glue
WHAT TO DO: Let the kids have some fine motor fun using their Super Fingers to unwrap enough peppermints to fill a storage bag halfway. Next, it’s time to turn those peppermints into small pieces and dust that resembles glitter. Have your children use their strength to pound the bag on a hard surface, stomp on the bag using their feet and body weight, or use a soup can (or other heavy item) to roll and crush the candies until broken into small pieces and/or powder. Next, allow the children to cut red construction paper into 2 inch strips. Write the names of your gift recipients onto the tags using black sharpie marker. Trace the names in glue. Finally, use those Super Fingers one more time to sprinkle the “peppermint glitter” onto the name tags and gently shake off excess. Allow to dry and then attach to gifts!
HOW TO CHANGE IT UP:
-We did the peppermints two ways! First, we used our Super Fingers to place the larger fragments onto the glue lines forming the letters. Then, we used the tinier peppermint bits and powder to sprinkle the letters with glitter. Your choice!
-Simplify the activity by unwrapping and gluing whole mini peppermints to form each letter of a name. Forget the crushing! Or simply let your very little ones glue whole peppermints onto name tags as decoration around each name.
-You can prepare as many of the steps above as needed to make the activity faster and/or easier. There are many fine motor steps involved in this activity (unwrapping, crushing, scissor use, writing or copying skills, squeezing and tracing with glue, and pinch glittering) Change as much as needed or keep them all!
-Candy Canes could also be substituted (although they are much harder to unwrap).
SKILL AREAS ADDRESSED: Bilateral coordination, coordination, endurance, fine motor skills, finger isolation, grasp, in hand manipulation, proprioception, sensory integration, strength, visual motor integration
Want to take a closer look at the skills kids are using in this activity? Check out our Clinical Closeup page, where we break down the skills listed below in terms everyone can understand.
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