"Straw" Sort and Drop

I'm going to admit that this next activity is really more of a "keep the kiddo busy" kind of deal, but in all reality, these activities are also very educational as well.  Again, this activity doesn't call for much and it can be a fun, yet time consuming activity for the kiddos.  I hope everyone enjoys!

While playing, you kiddo can learn:

• Patience
• Eye-hand coordination
• Fine motor skills
• Sorting - based on colors, sizes
• Visual discrimination - distinguishing differences between objects
• Math
• Size differentiation

You will need:

• A clean grated cheese container; or small pop bottle; or cups of different sizes
• Straws, pipe cleaners (chenille stems), chop sticks, unsharpened pencils, old markers - anything long and rather thin

This activity actually doesn't involve any handy work on your behalf.  All you have to do really is collect the items that you need.  I used a grated cheese container and straws because those were the items I had handy around the house.  Be creative and look around and see what you can find!

Here's how it works.  Have your kiddo take the long, thin item of your choice and stick it into the small holes.  That's it!  The fun actually is letting your kiddo see how many "objects" they can fit into the holes.  For instance, observe and ask these questions (based on using the straws and grated cheese container):

• How many straws fit into the smaller holes compared to the bigger hole?
• Can you put all of the red straws into the big hole?
• How many straws do you have all together?

Honestly, this activity is all yours to play around with!  Have fun and let me know what other objects you've used that have worked for you!

"Lots of Lids" Size & Sort

Have you ever wondered what you could possibly do with all those left over containers.  Of course you can recycle them which is always a great thing, but before recycling, you can give them to your little one for a great educational experience.  This activity is so simple that it takes little effort to put together.

For this activity, the only items you will need are a variety of plastic containers with their corresponding lids.  So easy!



While playing with the lids and containers, children will develop:

• Fine motor skills through manipulating the containers and lids
• Eye-hand coordination
• Size differentiation - small, medium, large
• Sorting
• Shapes - cylinders, cubes, ovals, circles (this all depends on what kind of containers you have)

To play, all you need to do is lay out the lids and containers side by side and let your youngster explore and investigate the different sizes of containers.  If your child is a little younger, feel free to give them a little push and show them that the lids go on top of the containers.  I bet they'll enjoy doing this activity and it might keep them busy for a some time so you might be able to get some stuff done as well!  :-)

Have fun!