Although most children develop the ability to focus visually and to make fine discriminations in visual images as they grow, some children will take longer to develop these skills and may need some additional help, or additional practice. Good visual perception is an important skill, especially for school success.

Children need good visual perception to discriminate well, copy text accurately, develop visual memory of things observed, develop good eye-hand coordination and integrate visual information while using other senses in order to perform tasks like recognizing the source of a sound, etc.

This activity accessed these pertinent skills. Using plastic candy canes and snowflake ornaments, your little ones weaved items into a plastic garland, which targeted their ability to perceive spatial relations.

Doing so enhanced their visual memory and figure ground distinction. Visual memory was acquired, because, when placing each item into the garland, they were encouraged to recall and apply the spatial orientation of the item in correlation to the garland. Visual figure ground distinction was accessed because your little one focused on important impressions (e.g. the blue of the snowflake, the green of the candy cane) amidst many (e.g. the winding of the garland around the pole).