File Organizer Fine-Motor Activity for Individuals with Developmental disabilities

I love activities that are versatile and free! I made this activity out of a file organizer that I found at work and detergent/dishwasher soap plastic bottles. This video demonstrates how I use heavy duty scissors to cut up plastic bottle handles to create small shapes that can be attached or removed from the file organizer or other similar objects. (I apologize that I haven’t thought up a good name for these objects, yet….)

There are many benefits to this activity and here are just a few:
1) The plastic is vibrant and colorful and can be used for color matching or sorting on the file organizer levels.
2) The file organizer creates a vertical plane activity that promotes visual attention, reaching and upright posture.
3) The plastic pieces can be cut into smaller or larger sizes. Use larger or smaller plastic bottles to control your size options.
4) Some individuals will be best at removing the shapes. That’s easier than attaching them! Choose your options according to the individual's skill level.
5) The file organizer can be rotated to explore how the individual is most successful in attaching or removing the shapes.
6) When plastic gets lost, simply cut up more bottles! No expensive pieces to replace!
7) The individuals need to stabilize with one hand while attaching or removing the pieces. For some people that is a skill that needs to be worked on!
8) The file organizer may be placed on top of a box so that the client is reaching and working on an upright posture.
9) Movement can be incorporated into the activity by setting up a box of plastic shapes across the room or on the floor so that the individual needs to walk across the room or move high and low to retrieve materials.
10) It feels good to slide the plastic pieces across the file organizer. Some individuals will focus on the sensory aspects as they have fun touching, sliding and pulling the materials.

Please be sure that you keep small objects away from children or adults with developmental disabilities who may put them in their mouth, creating a choking hazard. By the way, parents may create this activity for their typically developing preschool age children as they work on color matching/sorting and manipulation skills.

Learn about activity adaptations on my website and blog:
http://www.RecyclingOT.com
http://www.RecyclingOT.blogspot.com
http://www.FromFlappingtoFunction.com