a fine motor tree

 

To color match, or not to color match, that is the question. The tiny little hair clips really work those pincer muscles. When we set this out, we often find those little clips everywhere, including hair! 

diy color sorting gift set

I whipped up this adorable color sorting set for a dear little back in January. It can be used in a number of ways and packs a pretty punch.

I found these sweet wood tags at Michael's for $1.99 for a set of 10. I purchased two packs to make the color set worthwhile. After rifling through my fabric stash for happy fabrics I picked out four prints and matched my paints to them.

To paint the shapes, set out some wax paper, grab a brush, and give each side a coat or two, allowing dry time between coats. Takes less than half an hour to dry. I aimed for a color wash so used very little paint.

The sorting mat was made by cutting rectangles from each piece of fabric that measured about 3"X6" each. Use a sewing machine to stitch each piece of fabric together in a row, iron each seam flat as you go. Place finished patchwork right-side up and lay a neutral piece of fabric over the top, pin and trim. Bring to sewing machine and stitch around three sides. Turn right-side out and iron flat. Fold in the edges of the open side and iron flat. Put the whole shebang back into the sewing machine and give it a all a zig-zag stitch around to add a bit of decorative flair.

To make the bag, I used this project. Use a piece of fabric that is about 12"X8". If you want the bag to have the happy bit of patchwork on it, fold the fabric in half before stitching into a bag and randomly stitch fabric scraps into a happy pattern.

For presentation, roll your mat up, pop it into the bag along with the wood shapes and give it away! Enjoy! I hope this inspires you.

bubble gum, bubble gum in a dish!

As a part of our artist study of Wayne Thiebaud I created a bubblegum machine matching board. The printout came from Paper and the Pea. I printed it out thinking we would use our Dot Markers on it or perhaps practice one-to-one correspondence using stickers but then I spied my markers and laminator and inspiration struck.

We have had our magnetic pompoms for a few years and use them for all sorts of projects. I pulled out matching colors (surprisingly we had no purple) and set this up to see what the kiddos would do.

Individually they will put the pompoms onto the machine every-which-way. Some of the children will color match, some of them will not. Sometimes the gumballs end up in the play kitchen. As a group we sit down and select three gumballs each and place them on their matching gumball. There are all sorts of ways to play!

fine motor tree fun

The lovely Za gifted me this whimsical tree last year thinking I could surely use it for something (and it was in MY colors). I had wanted this tree but could not justify purchasing it because I had no idea what I would do with it. Skip forward a month or two when the tree arrived and I happened across a pack of mini hair clips from the Dollar Tree. Serendipity struck!

The clips matched the colors on the tree perfectly and all I had to do was pop the whole shebang onto one of my favorite trays (a plate really) and let the kiddos explore.

Mastering the tiny clips was not an easy task for my littles. It took a little practice to strengthen up those pincer fingers so that they could open the clips long enough to clip to the tree.

Matching the clips to the colors was an added bonus for the kiddos that needed a push to attempt something a little harder. It's a given that we big people can do something like this but the littles are still learning about the world around them. To try this at home without the fancy store bought tree you can use small sticks and branches from outside. Pop the branch into a vase and add hair clips or perhaps use small sticks that the kiddos paint up first. Once dry pile the sticks onto a tray with hair clips in a small dish alongside and see what magic may happen. Don't have access to sticks? Try pipecleaners!  Have older kiddos that can use more of a challenge? Have them wrap the pipecleaners with embroidery floss or yarn. There all sorts of ways you can incorporate this activity at home. Have fun and share what you come up with!