Oral Motor Fun: Here are some oral motor strengthening activities for your children, either individually or in a group. It is important to strengthening oral motor musculature for so many daily skills; eating, drinking, speaking. There's the "suck, breath, swallow synchronization" that typically you hear about babies needing to master for nursing, but it also is used to coordinate talking while eating and reading outloud. Oral-breathing activities may also help to calm children.
Blow ZoomBall: You will need a string for the cups to travel along, plastic cups, and two chairs. Start by cutting a hole in the bottom of the cup and placing the string through it. Now tie each end of the string to a chair placed a distance apart.
- Starting the cup on one side, have your child stand behind it. Ready, Set, Blow!!
- Set up two and have races to the other side of string.
- Encourage children to use a sustained push of air, rather than huff and puffs.
Oral Motor Mini Golf: You will need a cotton ball for the golf ball, a straw instead of a golf club, and some cups with a large hole cut out on one side.
- Stand the cups upside down, around the room, setting up your golf course. Choose a Tee-spot to begin from and place your cotton ball on the floor here. With the straw in your mouth, blow air through the straw, moving and manuevering the cotton ball until you reach the hole!.
- You can play lying on your stomach on the floor, or on hands and knees, either way you will work on strengthening neck and upper extremity muscles in addition to breathing and oral motor work.
