The peapod squad and I were having a rough morning. Whining. Fussing. Getting into trouble. I grabbed a pack of pipe cleaners and a bowl of uncooked ditalini pasta. They sat quietly at the kitchen table stringing the pasta noodles on their pipe cleaners for almost an hour. It was AMAZING. I had time to photograph some things I’m listing on Ebay, loaded the dishwasher, reviewed the lesson plans for tomorrow. All in peace. Absolutely no fighting. Ahh…beautiful. Oh, and the added perk was that they were working on fine motor skills. I’ve noticed in our preschool lessons that they have a hard time with the activities that require this kind of dexterity. They cannot write their names or do connect-the-dots type of things yet. Maybe more ditalini crafts will help!
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
I have never even heard of ditalini pasta, but it’s definitely going on my grocery list!
Ah peace… and they look like they are loving it too!
Loads more nice and easy activities like this that might help with fine motor control… eye droppers with coloured water, plastic tweezers with pom poms to pick up and move about, rice/sand/water to pour and spoon from container to container…..
awesome!
another lesson for fine motor is transferring small things from left to right (early reading help)using small tongs or even blunt tweezers.
i like using mini marshmallows, or tiny pom poms found out the craft store.
also transfering water left to right is fun too using a small baster or medicine dropper. this skill has the added challenge of squeezing to “suck” the water up and squeezing to “release” it.
cutting is a good pre writing activity too. save the coupon pages or comic strips from the paper and have them cut along the lines. or draw lines on a paper for them. email me your address i will send you the COOLEST training scissors that will help you teach them how to cut properly.
oh one more…instead of using a pencil or crayon to write with try having them trace letters using their fingers in rice or cornmeal spread out on a tray. if you are feeling super adventurous and don’t mind a mess try shave cream spread out on the table.
sounds like y’all are having a great time and the squad is learning lots! VERY FUN!!
ps if you want me to shut up about tips let me know…sometimes i can’t help myself. but if i know you hate it i will shush!