13 Oral Motor Activities
1. Take a piece of plexus glass, cut it into a square foot. Draw a face on it with Cheese Spread that comes in a can (i.e., from Nabisco). Hold it up to the child’s face, about an inch from the mouth. Have the child use his tongue to lick off the cheese spread. You can also use thick chocolate syrup, strawberry, or caramel.
***You can also do a language lesson and have them tell you what body parts they want you to draw on the plexus glass. Or you can do shapes, objects, etc. Use Fruit O?s (Fruit Loops, Cheerios, Apple Jacks, etc.) or chocolate chips as the eyes, hair, etc.
2. Take a regular or mini pretzel, hold it an inch or so from their mouth and have the child practice pushing their tongue through the grooves, making sure that the pretzel stays far enough away from their mouth so they really have to work on protruding their tongue. You can also use peanut butter or marshmallow fluff, spreading it over the holes (this gives them a better target to hit).
3. Take a straw, put marshmallow fluff on it (or the Nabisco cheese spread from the aerosol can), and have the child lick the tiny spots off that you put on.
***Try to keep the straw at least an inch away from their mouth, so that they are forced to use their tongues instead of their lips.
4. Put cheese spread or Marshmallow Fluff around the middle of a 4 oz. plastic cup. have the child hold the cup as to not get their fingers in the Fluff, stressing protruding of the tongue.
5. Put marshmallow Fluff on a tongue depressor. Add a chocolate chip on the end (or a small gummy bear, nonpareil, or other small yummy object). Place the tongue depressor 1 - 1 1/2? away from the child’s mouth to lick or push the object off the tongue depressor.
6. Take a regular or sugar ice cream cone. Smear the sides of it with chocolate or strawberry syrup. Have the child lick it off, stressing that they are NOT to use their lips, feeling the different textures of the grooves.
7. Cut a large marshmallow in half. Put the sticky side of the marshmallow on the upper or lower lip. (You can also use extra Fluff to keep the marshmallow to stick on the lips/chin). Use the tongue to push off the marshmallow.
8. Take some room temperature Apple Sauce. Put about 4oz. into a plastic cup. Use straws of various lengths and widths. Starts with the regular clear straws and demonstrate how you can suck up the applesauce through the straw. Gradually shift to thinner straws, and if they really catch on fast have them use a silly straw with all the curves. Have the students race to see who can empty their cup first.
9. Mix rice crispies with Marshmallow Fluff. Put it directly on the lower lip. Direct the child to lick it off. You can also put the mixture on the tip of a straw and hold it below their tongue or above it.
10. Take a piece of cooked spaghetti, or a piece of Twizzlers Pull-A-Part, or any stringy candy and dip it in warm water to get it wet. Demonstrate to the students how to ?slurp? it up like in the movie ?Lady and the Tramp?, without touching the food item with your hands. You may have to start out with smaller strands of food at first if the child does not get good lip closure or has poor breath control.
11. A good resistance exercise: Put some jelly Fruit O?s or Fruit Loops on a 12? piece of fish line. Direct the child to close their lips to feel the texture and also taste it. Alternate activity: Put ten Fruit Loops on the fish line. Show the students how you can push individual pieces of cereal across the fish line to the other side (about 8?). ***When you do this activity, hold the string approximately an inch or some from the mouth, telling the child to sit back against the back of his chair.
12. Take a frozen Q-tip with Fruit Juice on it. Place it at the back bottom of the tongue and have the child try to depress their tongue and also say the sound at the same time. Good exercise to say the /ch/ sound.
13. Take one of the candy filled straws (pixie sticks), open one end, and sprinkle some of the sugar at the very base of the tongue. Direct the child to try to taste it, having them depress the tongue (taste the sugar spot?).