This term after the usual ‘getting to know you’ we have been concentrating on improving our fine motor skills through a variety of fun activities especially creative ones. Good gross and fine motor skills are needed to access reading and writing. We have looked at books by some of our favourite authors and illustrators, Julia Donaldson, Axel Scheffler, Lynley Dodd, Jill Murphy etc. In each book we have looked at, we have concentrated on the use of detail and colour. Starting with the primary colours we have created our own pictures. Taking a line for a walk involved drawing a continuous black line and filling in the places where it crossed with a primary colour.

Progressing on from that we decided to make a rainbow display. The main part being a group picture, made from torn paper, in the correct colours, surrounded by our own versions made using the primary colours and mixing them on the table in an arc, before taking a print. Lovely and messy! To add to the fun we also made a large wall painting. During the term we have been practising our cutting skills and have made various pictures with the cut pieces of paper. Writing patterns in gloop or with fingerpaints is so much more fun than a worksheet! Other activities to help improve our fine motor skills have included cooking where we have used knives and other tools to prepare the ingredients. Although we have made a lot of mess we have enjoyed getting ready for reading and writing.