The exercise of 'blowing' encourages children to practice deep breathing which has calming effects on the body. It is also an oral-motor activity. It helps children learn how to round their lips into an "O" shape and control their breathing to blow. This activity helps strengthen children's lip, cheek and jaw muscles to prepare for speech development.

The action of blowing does not come naturally to all children. Some children with language delays actually can’t blow bubbles. The action of blowing positions and strengthens the tongue and lips, which later on facilitate the emission of sounds. Alternatively, blowing will also help your child to round their lips (facilitates sounds w/o/oo).

Additionally, the task of keeping the pom-poms on track (along the marked lines) helps develop hand-eye coordination!

This can be a fun birthday activity and it is good to use whether you're working on sensory needs, speech, etc.

Steps:

1.  Paste different color tape on the floor to form different lines (straight, curved, zig-zag)

2. Use pom poms in corresponding colors to the tape

3. Have your child blow the pom poms down the line with a straw