Cup Stack and Sort

Cups are a very easy activity for children to play with.  They are very versatile and can be used for many different activities.  In this post, I'm going to show you what my kiddos and I did with these cups that I found at the dollar store.

What you will need is very simple: CUPS.  I found these multicolored hard plastic "tumblers" at my local dollar store probably two years back.  If you can't find these specific cups, multicolored thinner plastic cups that you find in the napkin aisle at a local grocery store will work as well.

In this activity, we learned:

• Precision and how to place the cups inside one another and side by side
• Colors
• Sorting
• Stacking
• Counting
• How to use eye-hand coordination
• Cause & effect
• New language - we talked about how high we could build the towers, how to put cups in a line

Here are some of the things that we did with the cups:

First, we placed cups one inside the other.  We talked about how the cups fit together and made a big tower.  This also took some strength as the cups became stuck at times, but my kiddos' persistence won that battle.

Next, we stacked them and made even bigger towers.  Here we counted how many were on the bottom, second row, top, etc.  We then had fun knocking them down!

Then, we placed them in "piles" according to their colors.  Actually, my son did this on his own and I helped him by reinforcing what he had done and kept encouraging him to make those piles by placing the cups according to their color.  

Finally, we practiced putting cups into a line.  Although they weren't placed by colors, we still learned about coordination and also the beginning and the end of the line.

We had a lot of fun with this activity.  My kiddos sat for almost 20 minutes with the cups.  I can only say that doesn't happen that often with toddlers!  

Pincher Pickup

The pincer grasp is a fine motor skill that children learn during their first year.  Normally it is used to pick up something small, but eventually kiddos need to graduate into a more defined pincer grasp that requires more concentration and muscle coordination.  This activity will do such so!

This activity requires only 2 things ~ clothespins and cotton balls/pom poms.  

You can go to the dollar store to get both or even Wal-mart.  I also picked up some tweezers that you could also use if you decide not to use the clothespins.




Other than the development of the pincer grasp, children will also learn:

• Eye/hand coordination
• Cause & effect
• Patience
• Fine motor skills
• If using colored poms, learn colors
• Counting and numbers

First, you need to allow your kiddo how to use the clothespin and explore how it works.  Do not skip this step if your child has never used one before.  I gave this to my kiddos and they had no clue how it worked.  They tried to pinch it several times and they also took it apart many times as well.  I also pointed out that the pinch could be an "Ouchy".  This helps them to understand that they shouldn't try to pinch each other or their own fingers if at all possible.

Once they've explored how to use it, you can then introduce them to the pom poms and how to pick them up.

As mentioned before, my kiddos didn't have any clue how to use these.  I showed them several times how to pinch and grasp the poms, and they only cared about the poms and playing with them.  They kept picking and gathering them and then placing them elsewhere in the room.  We will obviously be revisiting this activity in the future because we definitely need more practice.

But since they couldn't quite grasp how to pinch the top of the clothespin, my son decided to try to pick up the poms with his own technique!  :-)

My son using the opposite end of the clothespin to pick up the poms.