Touch Fabrics
AGE
2.5 years approx.MATERIALS
Each touch fabric is about 10cm by 10 cm. There are 6 identical pairs of different fabrics.Some fabrics may include: linen velvet, tweed, ribbed corduroy, cotton flannel.
DIRECT AIM
To help awaken and refine the child’s tactile sense.INDIRECT AIM
To aid the child’s fine motor by cultivating a lightness of touch.To prepare the child for writing.
Concentration
Discrimination and judgement
PRESENTATION 1
Individual exercise done at a table.- The child should wash his fingers or sensitise his fingers first.
- Place the Touch Fabrics from one set on the table feeling each one as you take them out of the box.
- Feel the fabrics between your fingers and thumb, rubbing them gently together as you do so.
- Make a pile of the 6 different cloths on the left hand side of the mat.
- On the right hand side of the mat, place the remaining cloths in a random arrangement.
- With your eyes averted or closed, select one cloth from the left-hand pile and bring it to the centre of the mat.
- Keep feeling the cloths on the right hand side until you find the one that matches the cloth from the left-hand side.
- Show great satisfaction when the correct piece of fabric has been located. Say, “these fabrics feel the same”.
- Isolate the matched pair at the centre of the far edge of the mat. Repeat the matching process.
- Once the matching process has been completed, show the child how to feel all the pairs again to verify the match.
- Separate the cloths into their piles again and invite the child to have a turn.
PRESENTATION 2
The child repeats the exercise but wears a blindfold.PRESENTATION 3
If the child is interested, give a three period lesson on the various cloths in the fabric box.Use only three fabrics at a time.
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