This jingle bell oral motor exercise and activity would make for a fun Christmas minute it to win it game with the family.
We're always on the lookout for different ways to provide oral motor sensory support for my kids, especially my oldest son who chews on literally everything.
But oral motor sensory races, such as this Christmas game for kids using jingle bells are also great for working on breathing control and self-regulation skills. By encouraging deep controlled breathing, it is hoped that the kids will learn to use the same type of breathing when they need to calm down or are overwhelmed.
Yet, this Christmas spin on a classic oral motor activity also provides a nice little bit of auditory sensory input too! It's such a multi-sensory activity!
This Jingle Bell Oral Motor Exercise is a Fun Christmas Game for Kids!
This activity is really simple and can be set up in mere seconds, making it a great Christmas game for the whole family! Here's what you'll need:
- Large jingle bells (preferably different colors for each participant)
Or, for another fun variation, make designs like zig zags or snowflakes with the tape and encourage your kids to blow their jingle bells along the tape designs.
A Christmas Themed Oral Motor Game Using Jingle Bells
At first, five year old K wanted to try blowing the jingle bells without the straws. However, he found it extremely challenging to get the jingle bell to move even just a few centimetres.
So he opted to use a color coordinating straw instead to send that jingle bell across the finish line. This is a great oral motor workout, especially when you compare it to our pokeball oral motor races or our snowball oral motor races, where the items are much lighter than a jingle bell.
Crawling along the floor while blowing the jingle bell is also a great heavy work idea for kids and it provides lots of proprioceptive sensory input while doing so.