Fall is my favorite time of the year. The cooler air and the crisp smell, the pretty colors of the changing leaves. LOVE IT!! Fall is also time for football games, soccer, fall baseball tournaments, and the beginning of basketball conditioning!
This visual motor activity will have your child thinking about all of these fun fall sports as she tries to complete the sports balls that we have started for her. A great visual challenge for sure!
Pair this activity with one of these awesome preschool sports books for a well-rounded sports themed lesson! Or, study sports history with movies with these ideas!
What is visual closure?
Visual closure refers to the ability to recognize and identify an object or shape based on incomplete or partial visual information. It is a cognitive and visual skill that allows individuals to perceive and understand whole objects or patterns even when they are presented with only fragmented or partially visible parts. Visual closure plays a vital role in everyday activities such as reading, writing, and identifying objects or symbols.
When individuals have strong visual closure skills, they can quickly and accurately fill in missing details or mentally complete shapes, letters, or words based on their previous knowledge and experiences. This helps in processing visual information, enhancing reading comprehension, and promoting visual problem-solving. For example, when reading, individuals can recognize words even if some letters are partially obscured or missing.
Visual closure is an essential skill for children as they learn to recognize and interpret visual stimuli. Activities that promote visual closure, such as puzzles, matching games, and exercises involving incomplete drawings or shapes, can aid in developing this skill and strengthening overall visual perception abilities.
This drawing activity is a great way to practice, along with our What’s Missing Drawing freebie!
What You’ll Need:
-Crayons or markers
What to do:
Start this activity by asking your child if they can figure out what sport each ball belongs to.
Then, go back through each ball and see if they can identify which details are missing.
Set them loose with the crayons and markers to fill in the missing details!
How to change it up:
-If filling in the details of each ball is too difficult for your child to do on her own right now, do it for her! Just ask her to tell you what to draw. Or…draw in dotted lines to complete each ball and have her trace them.
-Find a picture of each ball on the internet or in a book. Better yet, if you have each of these balls somewhere in your garage, bring them inside so she has a model to copy.
-Still too difficult? After you talk about each of the balls, the sports they belong to, and what aspects they are missing, let your child color them in completely. Use red for the baseball, orange for the basketball, brown for the football and black for the soccer ball. Encourage her to stay in the lines as best as she can!
Skill areas addressed:
Visual motor integration, fine motor skills, grasp, cognitive skills, visual perceptual skills, prewriting skills