Tag: Sorting

Pom Pom Drop + More Pom Pom Fun

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Pom Pom Fun (8)

After recent fun playing with pom poms to develop fine motor skills, Veronika enjoyed a few variations on pom pom play today.

First up was a classic: a pom pom chute! I had a mix of empty toilet paper rolls and empty paper towel rolls, so taped these to the wall almost in a maze.

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Some of them were straight up and down and others I taped at an angle so she could experiment with the different ways this made the pom poms fall.

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Some were high, and some were low…

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…and all were a delight to watch a pom pom disappear and then fall through.

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For variation, we also tried pushing through cotton balls. These were fun because we could stuff a few into the tube before they all fell out the bottom, almost like puffy snowflakes.

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As she played with the pom poms, Veronika frequently named the color of the one she was holding, so I thought it might be time to see if she could sort!

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We played two variations on this. First, I gave her one size pom pom, but in all different colors. She named each color as she moved them into bins I had set out, although she didn’t always place like with like.

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Next, I gave her all one color (only blue) but in three sizes: big, medium, and small. I used a big deep voice when placing a big pom pom in a bin, and a tiny high voice for the small ones.

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I didn’t expect her to ace this, but the concept is coming along, little by little!

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As the day went on, I simplified the game so it qualified more as toddler busy play, leaving just one chute and a container at the bottom. I might leave this taped to the wall for several days, so she can return to it at her leisure.

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Paper Clip Challenge

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Travis and I took the day off from tracing, but I challenged him with this activity that hones fine motor skills and sorting skills – two great things to work on in the summer before kindergarten!

First, I cut construction paper into squares using four different colors. Each color corresponded with a colored paper clip.

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The goal was to gather all the paper slips of one color, and affix them together with the corresponding paper clip.

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He was an avid participant, combing through the pile of papers to make sure he didn’t miss a single one.

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When it came time to clip on the paper clip, I realized he’d never used one before! I showed him how the end with two loops will naturally slip over a stack of paper, one loop in front, one behind, and hold them together. This was like magic to my 5 year old!

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Needless to say, he eagerly began searching for the next color. “You have all the green,” I said, pointing toward the green paper clip. “Nope, missed one!” His eyes are better than mine!

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At the end, he had four neat stacks.. .and loved the task so much that he wanted to play with the paper and clips for some time after.

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Printable Story Cards

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Following on the heels of great exploration with our Koala Storytime kit, we used templates from the company’s blog for even more fun making up stories.

Simply print the story card templates, and cut out along the dotted lines. If you want to get a little fancier, print on heavy paper and in color.

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At storytime, I told Travis we’d be doing something a little different; instead of reading a book, we’d write our own story!

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Have someone in the family select a few cards from the top of the pile, and begin the narrative. (Alternately, you can arrange all of the cards face up and take turns selecting what comes next).

“Once upon a time…” Travis began. He loved it so much that we made up three stories before turning to regular books.

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He’s still getting the hang of narrative (“There was a balloon and jeep who wouldn’t share their milk…”) but the basic ideas are setting in!

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These cards also make great flashcards for word recognition. For variation, they are also useful for sorting.

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Try sorting them into piles like ‘things with wheels,’ or things that are a certain color, or any other category that your preschooler comes up with. What else can you do with these story cards? Share ideas in the comments!

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Fall Sensory Jars

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This easy project works on several skills: sorting, fine motor skills, plus a little bit of science when it comes to what will sink and what will float. But never mind all that – kids won’t even notice they’re learning; they’ll just love the process and seeing all the pretty fall-colored things in their final creation!

To start, gather any fall-themed or fall-colored bits that will fit in your water bottle. I had hoped to use foam shapes in the shapes of leaves, pumpkins etc., but wasn’t able to find any at the store. Instead, we had an assortment of little wooden craft leaves, paper leaves, and buttons and pom poms in autumnal colors. Bits of fall-hued ribbon would work well to!

To start, encourage your tot to sort the items by kind (or by color, if you prefer).

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Travis was impatient with that step because he couldn’t wait to get his hands on the water bottle. Pour a little water from the top, leaving it mostly full, and begin adding your items.

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Here is where we had fun guessing what would sink and what would float. Buttons made a quick descent to the bottom, whereas our pom poms and wooden leaves stayed near the top.

The narrow opening of the bottle also posed an interesting puzzle for Travis to work out. How could he fold our leaves so they fit inside?

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Once the jars are filled, use a hot glue gun (grown-up step) to seal on the caps. Now your child can watch the items swirl back and forth!

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Pom Pom Play

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I sometimes forget that the best games for a toddler might involve the simplest things. This game, which I’ve pulled out twice in the past week, is a huge hit and easy for us moms and dads to set up.

Save your next paper towel tube roll and tape it to a door or cabinet. Present your little one with a bag full of large pom poms and let them go to town!

Travis started out dropping the pom poms down the chute, as I expected, and that was fun in and of itself. But his two favorite variations on the game were trying to fill the tube from the bottom up:

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And, stuffing multiple pom poms down the tube at once, while crying out, “So many!” We’d squish them and then see how long it took for the clogged pompoms to get squeezed all the way down the tube so we could start pulling them from the bottom.

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For slightly more intellectual play, I later presented Travis with mini pom poms in a muffin tin. Much to my surprise, he asked for tongs to move them from cup to cup, but when this became frustrating he had no problem using his fingers or a spoon. He clearly had some imaginative game going in his head, because he told me the pom poms were “still warm” and then “perfect temp” and that we had a to wait a few minutes, so I know he was imitating the way he plays with toy food (and also mimicking the things I say at dinner time, haha).

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My favorite moment, though, was when he spied a blue in the green bin – and made sure to place it back with the other blue ones! When we had fun dumping all the pom poms out, (which of course we did multiple times), he would sort them back into the tins by color.

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At long last, the concept of sorting!