"Piecemeal" Scarecrow

This seasonal activity was inspired by the Handwriting Without Tears Program - Mat Man activity.

A local occupational therapist was explaining how she uses the Handwriting Without Tears program to build a person (Mat Man), letters, or numbers. Putting pieces together in a certain order to form a person, letter or number allows the child to create the object first- using mainly their visual perception skills. Later the children can build and strengthen their fine motor skills by tracing around the figure.

In this activity, we mainly worked on using visual perception skills- since the pieces were pre-cut. Using a glue stick requires bilateral coordination, holding the paper with one hand and applying glue with the other. If children have not reached this skill level yet, you can hold the piece while they apply the glue. You could easily add another fine motor component by having children trace around the scarecrow.

You will need:
5 colors of construction paper- one of each color
a large piece of paper 18" x 12"
glue
scissors
yellow tissue paper
stick or thin dowel
scarecrow pieces template (optional)

Print out the template and cut out your scarecrow pieces. You don't have to use the template and can cut your pieces without it. The idea is that your pieces will form a scarecrow/person. We included 3 pieces for upper body, 3 pieces for lower body, hands, shoes, neck, head and hat.
This activity helps children see the components of a person so when they are drawing later they may add more body parts to their person.

Work with your child or a group of children and start building the scarecrow. You may also consider tracing the pieces onto the large sheet to show where they go- much like a puzzle to make the activity easier, if necessary.
Name the shapes and/or body parts, gluing them down on the large sheet of paper. Have children draw a face onto the head and glue on yellow tissue paper clippings for hay. Glue a stick for the scarecrow to give him support and hold him above the "ground".

I'm the farmer's scarecrow
    I scare away the birds,
I keep the farmer's corn safe
Without any words.