Bubble Literacy and Fine Motor Activity

This was a super fun activity for Little Sweets.  I put soapy water into a tub.  Then we put colored water into a spray bottle.  Little Sweets sprayed the water into the tube and colored the bubbles and the water. (Using the spray bottle helps with fine motor skills.)  Then I placed objects in the water and Little Sweets found them.  We started with toys then I started putting letters in the water.  I put letters that would make words in the "at" family.  Little Sweets pulled out the letter, told me what is was, put it front of the letters "at", and then read me the word.  She really enjoyed this activity. 

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Fun Frugal Fine Motor Activities

Fun Frugal Fine Motor Activities

36 Months

Lacing Straws onto Pipe Cleaners

 I love pipe cleaners.  You can use them for so many different activities.  This week I cut up straws and Little Sweets matched the color of the straw with the pipe cleaner and put the straw on the pipe cleaner.

We also did a patterning activity with the straws and pipe cleaners. 

Chopsticks and  Pom Poms

Little Sweets used chopsticks we got at a local Chinese restaurant to pick up pom poms.  (They were children's chopsticks)

Tongs and Pom Poms

Little Sweets used tongs to pick up pom poms.  She counted them and put them in numbered muffin tins.  Great activity for math too.

Lacing Links onto Plastic Straws

I got this idea from this blog.  I found all these items from the dollar tree.  It was simple to make and Little Sweets loved the activity. Little Sweets put little plastic flowers on the straws.  I found the flowers in the toy department at the dollar tree.  You could also use plastic rings, beads, or rubber bands if you can't find the flowers. 

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Foam Letters and Contact Paper

Foam Letters and Contact Paper

I found a tub of foam letters in my old teaching stuff and thought I might put it to good use. So I brought out the letters and encouraged little sweets to put the letters on the sticky side of some contact paper. Her interest didn’t last too long. She put a few letters on the contact paper and then got bored. She decided it was more fun to poke out the middles of the letters and hand them to daddy. Well at least the activity wasn’t a complete failure. She was working on her fine motor skills as she poked out the middle of the foam letters. : )

Colored Noodle Necklaces

Making Patterns with Noodle Necklaces
Today as I was rummaging through my old teaching materials I found a box of rigatoni noodles. When I taught kindergarten I used the noodles to teach about patterns. We colored the rigatoni noodles ourselves and then made pattern necklaces out them. This is a fun project you can do at home with your child. You will need rigatoni noodles, Ziploc bags, yarn, and food coloring. Place the noodles in the Ziploc bag and put a few drops of food coloring in the bag. Then shake the bag. Place the noodles on a paper towel until they are dry. Let the child pick out the noodles they want to put on their necklace. Practice making different patterns with the noodles. Help your child make a pattern for their necklace. Encourage your child to put the noodles on the yarn themselves; this will help improve fine motor skills. When they are finished putting their noodles on the yarn, tie a knot in the yarn and let them wear their necklace.

This is also a fun activity to teach colors. Little Sweets is obviously too young to understand patterns, but I was able to talk to her about the different colors. She also loves to wear necklaces which is why I decided to do the activity in the first place.

Necklace Making Turns into a Sensory Activity
As you will soon find out I have become an extremely frugal person. I love to come up with new activities with materials we already have. So instead of throwing out the Ziploc bags that still contained some food coloring, I put water in them. Little Sweets loved it. We talked about the color of the water in the bag, then we poured the water into a bowl and played in it. We mixed the different colored water together and talked about the new colors that were made. Little Sweets had a ball. Eventually she figured out she could drink the water and ended up pouring it all over herself. What started out as an activity about colors turned into a fun sensory activity. We made a huge mess all over the floor and all over Little Sweets, but it was worth it. If you do this activity be prepared to clean up a big mess and don't wear nice clothes while doing it. Little sweets ended up wearing only her diaper by the time we were done playing in the water.