Fine Motor Skills – Straw and Pasta

The other day, I was looking for a quick activity that would be fun for Isabelle. She gets bored with her toys after awhile, and constantly looking for her brothers. The #cerradoboys were out for their haircut bonding😜.

Since I constantly looking for new activities using materials in our home.I grabbed few sticks of pasta and a handful of straws. We only have the paper straws right now, so I cut them down to fit into her tiny hands. 

When I set out the materials, Isabelle was immediately interested in them. She wasn’t quite sure what to do with them, though, until I showed her how to put a straw in the pasta.

It took a lot of concentration, but she did it!

It was a lot of fun for her, and so easy to put together. I know we’ll do it again soon.

Enjoy watching!

  

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Have an inspiring, positive homeschooling ahead! Stay blessed!

Learning through play – Numbers and Clothespin

  I know you know that I love free printables! But sometimes, an impromptu activity comes to mind that I don’t want to take the time to look in the pinterest and print it.

      
 Inigo loves numbers but needs lots of practice in recognition and improving fine motor skills creating this DIY clip card using markers, cardboard  and clothespins we had was a great alternative!           

 While doing this activity he is not only learning the math skills but also building up the strength in his fine motor skills which is essential for writing soon.

   
 

Learning through play – Cereal Box Activity..

This activity require little prep, do not require a lot of fancy supplies or even a lot of printables. Oh, the creativity begins! Keeping toddlers busy yet having fun, all you need is an empty cereal box and markers.
  

This is also quick to set up and simple to teach the objective and let your child explore to expand their learning. 

   
    
    
    

 Activities that teach do not have to cost a lot of money, or take a lot of time to prepare. I believe   you can do so much at home simply!

   
 

Pre – Writing Skills – Tweezers Fun

Tweezers and Paint Tray.

Now here’s a fun activity that uses materials readily available in our house.

Take a clean paint tray or ice cube tray, a pair of tweezers, buttons, pompoms colored cotton balls or macaroni pasta.

Since we only have uncooked and uncolored pasta. I just ask Angelo to try to transfer the small pasta using tweezers.
However, for more challenging task, you can ask your toddler to sort items into the tray slots by color, size, or quantity.

The goal of this activity is to teach the toddler to hold the tweezers using the proper pincer grip (thumb on one side, and the pointer and middle fingers on the other).

Pre – Writing Skills – Pasta Necklace

This was a really great project for us because lately I have been looking for good activities to keep Angelo occupied in preparation this school year. He will be kindergarten (in just a few more months! I’m so excited!!)

There’s always something fun to do when you are indoors on a Saturday activities.

And one of it is making a pasta necklace, with supplies you might already have in your kitchen cupboard.

We made this activity when he was two years old. But he didn’t pay much attention.

Today was a good start to practice his fine motor skills. I did not realize how much Angelo would enjoy making these pasta necklaces! He was excited about every step, and loved wearing his necklace around the house for the rest of the day.

Materials:
uncooked pasta such as ziti, penne, or macaroni.
Shoe lace or yarn

To make your own pasta necklace let your child thread the beads through, And kept on stringing. Angelo enjoyed it long enough to make two necklaces.
How sweet! One for daddy A and me. We are short of shoelace so nothing for Tita Keke!

Pre – Writing Skills – Water Painting

We’re starting to work many more pre-writing toddler appropriate activities into our mornings. I really enjoy watching Angelo as he started to learn the strokes.

Angelo has a little thing for water, so I knew he’d get a kick out of this activity, too. Plus paint with water is a great activity to help toddler with motor skills.

I set out a little dish with just a little water to fill the bottom of it.

Handed Angelo a few paintbrushes and showed him how to trace his name.

And oh boy! Painting with water was a blast!

Clean-up was a snap. The brush and the little dish got a quick rinse in the sink.

This happened to be a neat, mess-free day.

Pre – Writing Skills – Easel Writing

Do you know that there are a few shapes that need to be mastered in order to write. I don’t know if they have to be mastered in order to be able to write, but it may help with neat handwriting and cause less frustration. Some of these shapes include vertical lines , horizontal lines , circles and etc.

I knew our easel will play a big role in preparing the little tot to write.My aim is to help him to write without switching hands and strengthening his arms.

Chalk help create drag so it’s an easy way to help strengthen his hand and pincer grasp.

Materials :

Easel or A3 paper taped on the wall

Chalk or pencil

Preparation:

Draw dots to be connected on the easel. We started with vertical which Angelo find it easy. As he get more proficient we tried horizontal,zigzag and curves or slopes. maybe next week we’ll try shapes.

Here’s the sample of our pre-writing activities

Learning through play – Let’s write,Let’s draw and Let’s play!

Our kids are learning in every way: Their imaginations are richer than ever, vocabulary and descriptive language are expanding, and early math and writing skills are beginning to emerge.

Here are a few of our activities to nurture little A’s creativity, challenge his new skills but still laughing while as he learn!

though little A is much familiar with the alphabet still we are working on the beginning sounds and allowing him to analayze the direction.

With this activity I am giving him the chance to understand the direction first before answering the worksheet. A simple problem solving yet practising his writing skills

Be the patron behind the next Picasso!

Whether paints, chalk, and an easel make an excellent at-home art studio; or stock up on crayons, colored pencils, markers, and activity pads for an art kit that can go anywhere.

Either option will have kiddos happily exploring their creative sides while they build fine motor skills and pre-writing skills.

What I love about this activity is that it introduces kids to the concept of art as a powerful way to express emotions..

A Fun Way to Learn How To Tie A Shoe

It is important to help our child develop their fine motor skills at an early age to give them the best possible start in life. This early learning shoe activity will help encourage them in these new skills and they will have so much fun in the process.

A Fun Way to Learn How To Tie A Shoe

Summer activity – It’s playtime..It’s playdough

Fact: If you are living in UAE then expect that it is stinkin’ hot outside during Ramadan days. Always bring your umbrella,wear sunblock lotion and bring your medicines if you have migraine.

Other fact: As per UAE Law during the month of holy ramadan working hours is only 6 hours luckily our company is following this rule. I’m home as early as 4.30 pm. Yipeeee!!

Other related fact: To make your toddler busy let him do his own stuff. Little A had a great time playing the playdough before knocking down to bed. On the other hand, I like it when a simple play can offer a lots of opportunities to stretch little A’s imagination. You’ll be amazed at how playdough turn ordinary moments into quality time!

butterfly using halaan shell