Baby Oil and Cotton Swabs for Writing

Here is a fun, simple activity – painting, drawing and writing with baby oil.  

Materials:  baby oil, small cup, cotton swabs, different types of paper and dotted shape cards from Alphabet, Number and Shape Cards –  https://www.yourtherapysource.com/alphacards.html

Purpose:  To encourage prewriting skills, handwriting skills and drawing.  Promotes visual motor skills.

Activity:  Just dip your cotton swab in the baby oil and start writing or drawing.  The cotton swab with the baby oil moves fluidly across the paper making it excellent practice for cursive writing.  It smells wonderful and is also a very calming activity.  

We tried using the baby oil paint on various mediums such as construction paper, cardstock, crepe paper and tissue paper.  The card stock had to best end result for pretty artwork.  The crepe paper strips added some bilateral coordination to the activity.  Marking the dotted shape cards added visual motor control to the task.  We did use paint and a cotton swab to paint the dots.

The baby oil pictures fade somewhat as they dry so this activity is more about the process than the end result. 

Tip:  Cut the cotton swab in half to encourage an appropriate grasp.