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Mrs. Craig from Camden AR is requesting supplies through DonorsChoose, the most trusted classroom funding site for teachers.

Build a Muscle

My students need materials, like putty, squishy balls and beads, to develop their fine motor muscles at school and at home.

  • $554 goal

Hooray! This project is fully funded

Hooray! This project is fully funded

My Students

Our day starts with 16 eager to learn Kindergarten students entering the classroom. My students are very diverse learners and have very different learning styles. Our school is in a rural area, with 63% of students on free or reduced lunches. Students may not come with all of the tools they need from home, or the rich experiences, but my desire is to give them every opportunity possible to maximize their learning. My students are very enthusiastic about learning. I want them to have the developmentally appropriate materials needed to develop fine motor muscles that are essential to reading and writing.

My Project

Every year I have Kindergarten students that come to me with very weak fine motor muscles. Fine motor skills refer to small muscle movements in the hands, fingers, and face and tongue. These muscles are responsible for coloring, painting, handwriting, cutting a straight line, and manipulating small objects with one's hand. My goal is to provide students with materials through the use of fine motor bins, fine motor take home tubs, and fine motor centers that can be used to strengthen these muscles.

These tubs will include supplies such as play dough, scissors, snap building sticks, counting links, small manipulatives, and hand exercise tools that will be used to strengthen these muscles.

The fine motor take home tubs will include materials, activities, and instructions needed to choose an activity to use at home that will be additional practice in strengthening these muscles. It will benefit parents to have these resources at home and instructions that accompany the activities in order to be able to help their child build muscle strength. Parents often ask what activities can they do with their child to help this weakness in fine motor muscles. The fine motor bins will be set up in a way that students can manage them on their own as they enter the classroom. The bins and take home kits will include cutting, tracing, and muscle strengthening exercise activities. The materials I have chosen will aide in organization of the supplies, as well as supplies that are simple to use and require little to no adult assistance. With these resources, I can now provide both parents and students with what they need to extend the learning opportunity at home.

Mrs. Craig
Grades PreK-2

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Where Your Donation Goes

Where your donation goes
Materials Cost Quantity Total
Fittdeals 8 Piece Classroom Square Storage Baskets for Pencils, Markers, Crayons, Great Teacher Resources and Storage • Amazon Business $18.49 2 $36.98
Sterilite 20758004 Small 5 Drawer Unit, White Frame with Clear Drawers, 4-Pack • Amazon Business $33.42 1 $33.42
Sterilite® 18942206 Medium Showoffs Storage Container, See Through/green • Amazon Business $13.98 2 $27.96
Popular Playthings Playstix (150 pieces) • Amazon Business $24.48 1 $24.48
Counting Links (set of 1000) • Amazon Business $22.99 1 $22.99
Fun Express Mini Eraser Assortment Novelty (2-Pack of 500) • Amazon Business $20.31 1 $20.31
Stencils Kit for kids-7 Plastic stencils set for kids, Letter Stencil, Alphabet Stencils-Number Stencils, Spirograph for Flower Stencils, Stencils Shapes for children and toddlers+set of pencils(GIFT) • Amazon Business $9.95 2 $19.90
US Toy Mini Spiders (2-Pack) • Amazon Business $9.91 2 $19.82
Hand Exerciser Finger Strengtheners & Squishy Ball - Finger Exerciser & Grip Strengthening for Guitar, Rock Climbing, Arthritis- Squeeze Mesh Squishy Ball Stress Relief and Blood Circulation (Blue) • Amazon Business $16.99 1 $16.99
Master Lock 120Q Solid Brass Body Padlock, 3/4-Inch Wide Body, 7/16-Inch Shackle Diameter, 4-Pack • Amazon Business $7.51 2 $15.02
Therapy Putty by Vive (3-oz each) - For Finger, Hand & Grip Strength Exercises - Extra Soft, Soft, Medium & Firm Resistance - Theraputty for Occupational & Physical Therapy, Thinking & Stress • Amazon Business $14.99 1 $14.99
Hand Extension Exerciser and Finger Stengthener by FingerMagic. Squeeze Ball at Center Improves Grip for Athletes, Musicians, Physical Therapy, Rehabilitation & Stress Relief. (FingerMagic+ light) • Amazon Business $14.99 1 $14.99
Spelly Straws Reusable Drinking Straws for Kids - Safe BPA Free Plastic Build Your Own Straws and Connectors Kit with 44 Letters and 4 Straw Bases - Fun Colored Educational Kids Toys or Party Favors • Amazon Business $12.99 1 $12.99
Carykon Dough Extruders Set Assorted Designs, Set of 10, 5 Patterns - Random Colors • Amazon Business $12.92 1 $12.92
Rimobul Assorted Designs Dough Extruders Set - Set of 10 - Assorted Colors • Amazon Business $12.65 1 $12.65
1InTheoffice Pencil Box, Translucent Clear (4 Pack) • Amazon Business $11.99 1 $11.99
SiCoHome Paper Punch,Scrapbooking Punches 10 Pieces,Cute Multi-pattern Hand Press Shapes,Kid Cut DIY Handmade Hole Puncher for Festival Papers and Greeting Card • Amazon Business $11.94 1 $11.94
Joyce Chen 30-0090, Quick Sticks, 2-Pair, Red • Amazon Business $5.50 2 $11.00
Petsport Catnip Jungle Balls 2 Pack • Amazon Business $5.27 2 $10.54
Fun Express - Mini Vinyl Frogs (1-Pack of 72) • Amazon Business $9.60 1 $9.60
HOMEE Safe Paper Edging Scissors for Kids 6PK • Amazon Business $7.99 1 $7.99
Goodlucky 600 Pcs Letter Beads with 1 Pair of Tweezers 1 White and 1 Black Cord White Alphabet Beads Mixed Color Alphabet "A-z" Cube Beads for Jewelry Making for Kids DIY Bracelets Necklaces • Amazon Business $7.99 1 $7.99
Pop Beads 12 & 25mm 113 Grams/Pkg-Pearl Multi • Amazon Business $7.55 1 $7.55
The Hillman Group 591518 Small Machine Screws with Nuts Assortment, 195-Pack • Amazon Business $6.49 1 $6.49
Blumenthal Lansing Company Favorite Findings 4-Ounce Big Bag of Buttons, Multi • Amazon Business $5.96 1 $5.96
Norpro Nylon Baster • Amazon Business $3.95 1 $3.95

Materials cost

$401.41

Vendor shipping charges

 FREE

Sales tax

 $33.12

3rd party payment processing fee

$6.02

Fulfillment labor & materials

$30.00

Total project cost

$470.55

Suggested donation to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms

$83.04

Total project goal

$553.59

How we calculate what's needed

Total project goal

 $553.59

4 Donors

-$359.38

Donations toward project cost

-$312.97

Donations to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms

-$46.41

match offer

-$185.39

Match offer toward project cost

-$157.58

Match offer to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms

-$27.81

Excluded support for DonorsChoose

-$8.82

Still needed View calculationHide calculation

 $0.00

Our team works hard to negotiate the best pricing and selections available.

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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Mrs. Craig and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.

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