Gross Motor Skill : Stacking Game + Knock Down Cup

Using the Beans Shaker Cups we made in the previous post, we did a few more fun activities.

Materials :

• Beans Shaker Cups
• Tennis Ball / Bean Bag

Steps for Stacking Game :
1. Stacking the beans shaker cups. This is not difficult but it the cups are on a table and the child have to reach to place the top few cups it's actually quite a challenge.

2. Try different ways to stack them.

3. You can every make it into a memory game for the older kids by stacking differently and get them to stack according to what you had done!

Steps for Knock Down Cup :
1. Stack cups into a triangle shape. E.g. from bottom to top (3:2:1).

2. Get toddler to roll a ball or throw a bean bag to knock them down.

3. It's not that easy to knock all of them down at 1 go actually. :P

Love it when a last min activity produces more activities.

Now I'm tempted to do a few more special shakers with my little one. :D

Items I may try next : Pom poms, sequins, straws (cut up), uncooked pasta?

Fine Motor Skill : Beans Sorting for Plastic Cup Shaker

I needed some time to clean up the house, finding some leftover party cups I decide to let my little one do a little activity, this also acts as a quiet time activity.

We did a few more actives with this Beans shaker. Details in the next post.

*If you have a toddler that still puts small objects in his/her mouth, do change the beans to edible stuffs like cereals?

Materials :

• 6 Plastic Cups
• 6 Different types of Beans
• Paper
• Scotch Tape

Steps :
1. Place handfuls of different type of beans into a small container. Just some beans will do as too many beans may put the kid off and he/she may not want to complete the task.

2. Demonstrate how to sort the beans.

3. Leave kid to sort the beans. Or if you are free you can have a mini "competition" to see who sorts faster? :D

4. After sorting, make a cover for the cup using paper and scotch tapes.

Looks a little like a caterpillar. :P

All beans sorted and cups covered !

Not very nicely done but the beans looks very cute in the cups no? haha

Take note! Doing this project will make your house really noisy for the next week days.. :P

Fine Motor Skill : Pipe Cleaner Fishing Game

Recently joined a Facebook group where mothers shared ideas of activities for toddlers.

A mummy shared this activity and I thought it's very easy and would be fun for my little one.

Only 2-3 materials needed and it's very simple to put them together! :D

Materials : 

• Pipe Cleaners
• Clear container (Bottle/Jar)
• Straw (optional)

Steps : 

1. Twill pipe cleaners into cute "fishes".

2. Make a little hook on one end of the pipe cleaners. You can put it through a straw and it would be easier to hold. :)

3. Place the fishes in container and get your little one to hook them out.

Have fun!

Fine Motor Skill : Packing Toys and Using Chopsticks

Previous post I blogged about the new toys that I made for my little one.

This post is just some of the things you can do with them to practice their fine motor skills.

Packing Toys :

Materials :

• Small Objects
• Zip Lock Pouches

Steps :

1. Putting small objects into small zip lock pouches.

I made 14 small packs of toys for her and she has to keep whatever she takes out.

She also learn to sort the items by picking out the correct items to put into each pouch.

Using Chopsticks: Toddler's level

Materials :

• Small Objects
• Kid's Chopstick
• Bowl/Plates/Bags

Steps :

1. Mix up different objects and let him/her pick it up using chopsticks.

Have been teaching her how to use chopsticks for a while.

She is practising with the small toys and managed to do quite well so far.

She enjoys it and there's no stress that she would drop the food/waste food/dirty the place. :)

Do you have any special item that you use to train your child's chopstick holding skills? Share them with me? :)

Gross Motor Skills : Skipping Rope Play for Toddler

My little one have yet to learn how to skip using the skipping rope yet but she loves to play with it..

So I created a couple of little games to play with her using just a skipping rope. :)

Materials:

• Skipping Rope

Walking on Rope

Steps:

1. Put rope on the floor and straighten it as much as possible.

2. Demonstrate how to "walk on the rope".

She likes it but I personally find that my rope is a bit too hard so if possible get shipping rope that is softer. like the olden days rope type of skipping rope instead of those newer harder plastic rope type.

Jumping in and out (forward and backward jumps)

Steps:

1. Put rope on the floor and make it into a circle.

2. Demonstrate how to jump in (forward jump) and jump out (backward jump).

I like this but would recommend new "jumpers" to play on the mat instead in case they fall. :D

Hope you like my short little post. :)

Fine Motor Skill : Threading Practice

This "project" is inspired by a mummy in a mummies group.

Materials:

• Paper / Coloured paper
• Hole Puncher
• Stickers (tapes or recycle picture from magazines/used books)
• Shoelace
• (optional) Laminate machine & Laminate pouch

Steps:

1. Cut out the "base" shapes.

2. Stick stickers or glue any pictures on.

3. Laminate it to make it more durable. If you do not have the machine you can use thicker quality paper or you can also stick paper to a recycle tissue box.

4. Using hole puncher, punch holes all around the "base" shapes.

*Do not leave toddler alone with shoelace, supervise each play session and keep shoelace away from child whenever it's not in use*

My little one loves it.

She have had 2 sessions with it and it's quite fun seeing her tugging at the long shoelace.

I like that it's easy to make and doesn't cost much.

Short entry today.. can't wait to start on my next project/activity. :)

Gross Motor Skill : Climbing Up and Down

Okay I actually did this with my cutie pie approximately 4+ months back, in late Nov 2014.
Regret that I haven been doing much of this with her recently but she does gets her twice weekly stairs climbing when we pass by her usual stairs climbing place...

Toddler's Age : Approximate 24 months old (2 years old)

Material:

• A few stools/chairs of different heights.
• A little toy for child to hold (optional, to increase difficulty)

Steps:

1. Arrange the stools/chairs in a row, in random order, or a "hill shape"if you like.

2. Show toddler how you would complete the whole sequence (walk on the stools) and encourage him/her to try.

3. During his/her first walk/climb, hold his/her hand, after gaining confidence he/she will not want you to hold his/her hands anymore. (You may want to do it on a mat but I find that the stools are not that stable when placed on the mat and kids being kids may feel that since there's a mat it's okay to fall and will not be that serious in completing the activity properly)

4. After playing a few rounds you can change the order of the stools to make it more interesting.

5. When he/she is confident and is able to complete the activity, you may consider adding a little game to it at the end. Eg. Kids bowling or throwing a ball. He/she will need to hold on to the ball while climbing up and down the stools, then followed by attempting to knock down the pins with the ball in his/her hand.

This is especially good for rainy days or days you don't want to bring your little one out to the playground!

Playgrounds are good for their gross motor skills as they need to climb up to get to the slides and sometimes they need to crawl through tunnel too! However the playground usually have many older kids that play really rough (kids playing catching, or even playing badminton right in front of the slides!) and sometimes it's either too hot (11-3pm) or too wet (anyone else feels that it's raining the whole year round?), or maybe you are simply afraid that your kid may come into contact with some virus from another child who is unwell? (yes coughing kids, kids with runny nose, even kids with fever cooling patch still on their forehead spotted at the playground. -.-), or maybe the mosquitoes are keeping you away (dengue)? 

Alright, that's all for now, hope you enjoyed my gross/fine motor series so far. :)

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! :)

Gross Motor Skill : Scooping Foam Alphabets/Balls (Water Play)

Gross motor skill is as important as fine motor skill, this time I decide to do something simple for my little one to train her little arms.

For this activity, there's not much to prepare and set up is kind of effortless, however as it involves water, parent/guardian need to provide 100% attention.

Toddler's Age : Approximate 27 months old. (Probably suitable from 18months?)

Materials:

• Fishing Net ($2 from Daiso)
• Foam Alphabets n Numbers / Bath Toys / Balls / Sponge
• Tub/Pail
• Water

Steps:

1. Wash Tub, "Fishes" and Fishing Net

2. Fill Tub/Pail with some water.

(In order not to waste water I actually let her play this fishing game after she have taken a bathe and the water used is actually from her tub time! PS I don't give her tub time everyday.)

3. Put the "fishes" in, hand the net to child

4. Name items you want him/her to scoop.

Example: A yellow ball, or a pink alphabet, or a lego piece, or alphabet X.

I don't think LO have ever seen a fishing net but once she lay her hands on it she automatically knew what to do with it. I am impressed and at the same time felt somewhat lacking? I called out colours or alphabets and she took them out correctly and really quickly too!

*Increase difficulty by increasing quantity of toys and also try putting more toys varieties.

To make it more interesting, I would give different instructions instead of asking for the items directly.  Like asking for a particular alphabet, then maybe next ask for any item of a particular colour, follow by just name of a toy (e.g. a ball, a lego), or any alphabet in a particular colour, or even name a shape! She needs to look at the items and pick up the one that fits what I describe/request.

Do you have any gross motor skill activity to recommend? :)

Fine Motor Skill : Alphabets Wooden Peg Level 1

I am always looking out for things that helps my little one develop her gross and fine motor skills.

Inspired by this post, I decide to do something simple for my little one to train her little fingers and work on her fine motor skills.

Toddler's Age : Approximate 27 months old.

Materials:

• A5 Paper
• Printer
• Wooden Pegs (1 pack of 28 Big ones, $2 from Daiso)
• Pen/Marker to write on the Pegs
• Laminate Pouch and Laminator (optional*)

Steps:

1. Print out all 26 Alphabets on a piece of A5 paper.

( I choose A5 as it's easier for my toddler to handle.)

2. Laminate the A5 paper.

(Optional, but good to have as the paper will not tear that easily so you can reuse it many times!)

3. Write each of the 26 Alphabets on both sides of the Wooden Peg and you're done! :D

It's her first time seeing wooden pegs and touching them so she was naturally really excited! I had to quickly show her how I pegged 1 peg on so she can start "playing".

She fumbled for her 1st wooden peg as she couldn't really press on the tiny peg and I help by showing her how the peg works again.

For the 2nd peg she wanted to give up and ask me to put it in for her. I refuse and told her she can do it. She tried again a few times and managed to put it in.

By the 3rd peg she is able to do it with me as the "assistant" holding on to the laminated paper for her to peg it.

By the 5th peg she could hold the paper and put the peg in herself.

After the first few pegs she decide to peg random alphabets instead following the list. Eg. she choose letter S to peg on letter S and I just let her be, as long as she complete the task properly it doesn't really matter which pegs she decide to peg first..

Finally done with the whole set of 26 alphabets! She got distracted a few times but managed to complete it with me monitoring/encouraging her.

This is fun for my toddler and yes she can regconise most of the alphabets, even with my ugly handwriting! She did mistake my L for 7 and U for N though. Would probably let her play a few more times before I give her the Level 2 wooden pegs. :D