Five Fun Oral Motor Blowing Activities

When my daughter was born, she had a hard time latching on and sucking. Even when we switched to a bottle, a lot of it came out of the sides of her mouth, and she was loosing weight. After being evaluated by a speech therapist, I was told that she had low tone in her mouth. Through Beckman oral motor exercises, her tone has improved over time. With her tone improving, we have seen improvement in her eating and speech. Now that she is older, we continue to do Beckman exercises along with oral motor activities. These activities feel more like play than work. Her brother joins her in doing the activities to develop muscles in his mouth for speech. It is quite a workout since we have seventy two muscles in our mouth that we use to speak and eat.

These are my kid’s top five favorite oral motor blowing activities that they do at home and at therapy.

1.       Bubble Mountain- Get a mixing bowl and fill it half way with water. Add a few drops of blue Dawn and give your child a straw. Then, tell them to blow. They will continue to blow until bubbles fill the bowl, and create a bubble mountain. I highly recommend doing this outside or with a towel under the bowl.

 

2.       Straw rockets- Remove half of the paper that covers a straw. Have your child blow on the straw from the opposite side as the paper. The paper will soar like a rocket.

 

3.       Pom Pom Ball Race- Have children pick out their favorite color Pom Pom ball and a straw. Line the colored Pom Pom balls up across a small kid table. Have them blow through their straws to move their Pom Pom’s across the table. The first one to reach the other end of the table wins. You can make this activity easier with smaller Pom Pom balls. The larger the ball, the harder it is to blow.


4.       Feather Floor Maze- Create a maze on the floor with tape (straight lines to make it easy and curves to make it challenging). Have child blow a feather through the maze staying in between the lines.

 

5.       Straw Blown Art- Have child choose three colors of paint to put on their paper. Add some water to dilute the paint. Put dabs of paint on the paper. Have child blow air through a straw onto the dab of paint to create a picture.

 

At our house, I have seen many benefits from doing oral motor activities with my children. I believe that it has helped them with feeding and speech. The best part about these activities is that they really enjoy them.