Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Fine Motor Skill : Straws and pipe cleaners

Previously for fine motor skill I blogged about using Wooden Pegs, today's post will be on using Straws and Pipe Cleaners.



Toddler's Age : Approximate 27 months old. (suitable from 2yo)


Materials:
  • Pipe Cleaners 4mm
  • Small Straws 4mm
  • Bigger Straws 5mm
(All bought from Daiso, it's my shopping haven. :P)





Steps:

1. Show toddler the different materials and let him/her hold them. You can ask her to describe the item if she have never seen it before, e.g. the pipe cleaner might be something new so you can use it to brush against her skin to let her have a feel of it. It's soft, bendable and the ends may be sharp.

2. Start with showing him/her how to slot in a 4mm pipe cleaner into the 5mm straw and let him/her try it out.

3. Next you can let him/her try slotting the 4mm small straw into the 5mm bigger straw.

4. Lastly you can let him/her try slotting the 4mm pipe cleaner into the 4mm small straw.



4mm Pipe Cleaner into 5mm Straw


4mm Straw into 5mm Straw


4mm Pipe cleaners into 4mm Straw.


After she is done with all the above activity I realise the one that looks the simplest to me was actually not that easy. She have no issues with putting the pipe cleaners into straws of both sizes but when it comes to putting the smaller straw into the bigger straw she face some difficulty. Especially whenever she try to put the a sharp end of the smaller straw in first, she would struggle a little but she would persist and get it in.


Overall, this is quite fun for my little kiddo and when she accidentally bends the pipe cleaners she will pretend that it's a straw (cause it looks like those bendy straws?) and ask me to pretend using it to drink water.




After the above activity I gather a few bigger straws and get her to put in the smaller straws or the pipe cleaners with 1 hand but after 1 or 2 pieces she would use another hand to hold on to mine..


*Once she is bored and more skilled, I would most probably increases the difficulty by cutting the straw and pipe cleaners. Smaller pieces would require her to have more skill!


If you like this activity, click on the labels to see more activities!
I will try to update more soon! :)

No comments: