Here is another idea one of my OT’s had. They had already introduced the benefits of tearing paper but now they wanted to show why crumpling paper was beneficial.
Besides making really cute craft projects, crumpling paper also works on:
- Hand and Finger Strength – grade it to make it harder or easier by using different weight paper i.e. card stock vs tissue paper vs plain printing paper
- In Hand Manipulation Skills – have the kiddo use one hand to try crumpling the paper (if they master their dominant hand have them try it in their non-dominant hand)
- Bilateral Coordination – have them use two hands together to crumple the paper and you can grade it by going from large paper to smaller paper
- Visual Motor – turn it into a mini basketball game by taking old paper/newspaper and crumpling it and then trying to toss it into a recycle bin or other bucket
How else have you used crumpling paper?