During the week that you were feeling under the weather, we decided to stay indoors a bit more to play. Since we were both getting a little stir crazy, I decided to put together a simple tray for you to have fun with. This is a great activity for practicing your fine motor skills. Of course, you surprised me once more in the way that you played with the Bottle Array provided! Here's what I gathered around the house for you to play with:
~ Different bottles (with different sized openings) ~ water beads ~
black beans ~ almonds ~ flat crystals ~ bowls ~ a tray
black beans ~ almonds ~ flat crystals ~ bowls ~ a tray
(You could use any items you are comfortable with. My son does not place things in his mouth, so I felt he could handle the small materials.
Of course, I was always by his side while he was playing, just in case.)
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| I predicted that you would simply drop the items in the bottles. |
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| Then, you took it upon yourself to practice transferring them from one bottle to another! |
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| I noticed that you mostly played with the almonds and flat crystals, since they were a new material for you! |
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| You figured out that the crystals would not fit into the travel sized bottle. |
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| You had a lot of fun using multiple bottles at once. |
We also compared sounds of the items by making a little music. When we shook a bottle filled with water beads, then a bottle filled with almonds, we could hear a difference. There was also a change in the sounds when we filled the plastic bottle compare to the small glass bottle. I can't wait to try this again with new materials and different bottles to see what you do next! You can always use a little practice with your fine motor skills.
Other Fine Motor Posts:
Fine Motor Practice with RocksColoring Sand with Natural Dyes
Life Skills Painting
Grandfather and Grandson Stepping Stones
Fine Motor from All Year Round Summer Carnival:
Making a Mini Sandpit ~ (SunnyDayTodayMama)
Homemade Stickers ~ (All Things Beautiful)
Summer Tot Trays (Mama of Many Blessings)
Rainbow Week Crafts ~ (Sunny Sweet Life)
Thank you so much for stopping by! If you enjoyed this activity, please join us on Facebook. You can even explore our boards on Pinterest if you are looking for more inspiration for play with natural elements, learning, and nurturing little global citizens of the world.








Great idea to mix up the textures. My kid loves almonds so he would probably try to taste the other options- but like you said, adult supervision is key to any activity! Super tray! I love Montessori-type trays for kids! The transfer of items from bottles is great and I could see using some little tongs, too!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Tricia! Yep, he hadn't sampled almonds yet, so I though he would be alright playing with them. Now, if there were Cheerios on the tray - forget it! ;) Tongs would be perfect, too!
DeleteLove the pic's. What fun-jaime from frogs and snails and puppy dog tails
ReplyDeleteThanks, Jamie!
DeleteI love these posts. Your son is going to treasure them when he gets old enough to read them. Such tenderness and love in your descriptions.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the mention (homemade stickers.)
Please come and link up to my Summer Learning and Fun with Pinterest...
http://homeschooljournal-bergblog.blogspot.com/2012/07/summer-learning-and-fun-week-3-oreo.html
That is so nice of you to say, Phyllis! I appreciate it!
DeleteThis looks so fun. I definitely want to try this out.
ReplyDeleteOh, if you do, let me know how the little one does with it, :)
DeleteWhat a great activity and learning opportunity for your son! I second the tongs suggestion, they are useful for all sorts of things too! Thank you so much for linking to our mini sandpit. :)
ReplyDeleteThank you! Yes, I'll have to start helping him learn how to use those. :)
DeleteLOVE this idea! He looks like he had such a great time! Thanks for sharing at The Sunday Showcase!
ReplyDeleteThis is great. I bet my buddies would love it. I'd have to find a substitute for the almonds, though. They are my favourite snack!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for linking up to Summer Learning and Fun Carnival. I love this idea!!
ReplyDeleteThis looks fun!
ReplyDelete