Bucks IU gets creative to develop students’ fine motor skills

With a $10,000 grant, the Bucks IU Occupational Therapy (OT) Team set out to support the development of fine motor skills in students through teacher in-service trainings, classroom kits of toys/manipulative for students, and family fun nights to engage student’s families. In-service trainings and classroom kits were completed and huge hits. All the Bucks IU early childhood program classes received five kits of items and instructions to be used on various activities, as well as some school age classes, for a total of approximately 300 kits being distributed.

Fire and a pandemic
The program, training, and kits were so well received, that a second set of classroom kits were begun. Sadly, they were all lost due to a facility fire. Then the pandemic set in and in-person teaching ended. This put an end to the program, and family fun nights, originally planned.

We won’t be stopped
The Bucks IU OT Team didn’t give up, though. They developed new kits and instructions to be used at home by students – in total, 125 at-home kits were distributed to Bucks IU preschool and kindergarten students, and 25 kits were done for school aged students. Distribution was another operational hurdle they managed with all the kits getting delivered!

Moving forward
Fine motor skill teacher in-service will be offered in early 2021. Each session will be supported with activity kits specially designed to help students further develop their fine motor skills in the focus area. About 100 more kits each will be made for classrooms and use by students at home to accommodate the various learning structures (100% virtual, hybrid, and in-person) of the Bucks County school districts county-wide. Learning opportunities for families will also offered in 2021 for hands-on learning they can use in support of their children’s fine motor skill development.