My posts have been very wordy and heavy lately, so I thought I’d break it up a bit with an activity post. A while back I mentioned these fine motor activities, and I wanted to show one of my own adaptations here. I’m all about saving money, so instead of buying the cool ice cube tray, I used an empty Ferrero Rocher container I had on hand. You know, those delicious hazelnut chocolates. Their container is just the right size for medium sized pom-poms. Go ahead and buy yourself some. Do it for the children. If you’re morally opposed to self-indulgence, you could also use an egg carton, ice cube tray, or mini muffin tin. Just try to match the container as closely to your pom-pom size as possible.
So I put the empty container, along with tweezers and medium pom-poms in my sensory table. (You could just as easily do this at a regular table, but the sensory bin kept the strays from rolling away.) The children really work their fine motor coordination and strength, using that all-important pincer grasp, as they move the pom-poms back and forth. As you can see above, some color sorting also took place, which ties in with preschool math objectives. Try this activity, and you’ll be surprised how focused and fixated these children become with such simple supplies!
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