Morning all!
Just a bit excited about today's post!
I've done a few Busy Bags in the past for other people and groups, but never really got around to playing with them more. Now Master J is a big 3 year old I'm finding these little bags of goodness to be really fantastic for entertaining him, while also being educational!
Right now we're all about colours, and so I thought I'd make some little colour related games for him.
This one has the added bonus of engaging their fine motor skills threading the beads too. We gave it a burl, and it got a toddler tick of approval!
It's super easy to do too! I've included the file in this post for you to download for free, to make your own little bead threading boats! The file has the 6 coloured boats that Master J has been playing with, and an additional 9 boats with numbers on them (1-9), for older kids who are learning to count!
Supplies Needed:
Access to a printer
Laminate Machine
Pipe Cleaners
Scissors
Hole Punch
Pony Beads
Steps:
1: Print out the file, you can download the filer HERE
2: Cut out the boats.
3: Laminate the squares, and cut them out of the laminate.
4: Place a hole in the side with the hole punch.
5: Loop the pipe cleaner through the hole, then twist to join both sides together. These can be as long or short as you like.
6: Grab the beads and play!
I hope you guys enjoyed this little busy bag! Let me know how your kiddoes go with it!
How creative!!! You are so right about the fine motor skills. This is becoming more of an issue for school age children as they lack what used to be common experiences with play that naturally developed fine motor skills and has been replaced by tablet, phone, or computer times. While joy sticks for computer game controllers may require some skills it isn't the fine motor skills that kids require later. I've seen materials for remedial skills like cutting with scissors being sold because kids aren't doing crafts at home anymore.
ReplyDeleteI've read a few articles about that recently. and it's such a shame it's happening. Fine motor skills and hand dexterity are so important for kids to have! Even just a few small activities a day is enough really. Mine range in age from 16 to 3 but they all really enjoy arts and crafts, so I guess I'm lucky there, we've never had to really worry about it too much, even with my asd gal, she's pretty handy with a pair of scissors too :)
Delete