Fine Motor Practice with Rocks

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It's been a little while since we went outside and set up an Invitation to Play, so while you were in your crib pretending to nap, I gathered up a few items that would be ready when I finally sprang you out of bed!  I found some black aquarium rock from our Day and Night Sensory Bin, assorted rocks from outside, and a few condiment cups leftover from our Picnic Birthday Party. I poked a hole in each lid of the condiment cups, just big enough for the rocks to fit.  Once we finally went outside, I modeled what you could do with the rocks. Then, you took it from there!

*I am very lucky that you keep rocks out of your mouth. 

If you didn't we would probably try this with pom poms or something a bit bigger!



You spent several minutes (almost 30!) simple picking the rocks up and placing them into the different cups.

While you played, we talked about adding "more" rocks ~ cups that contained "a lot" and "a little bit" of rocks ~ rocks that were "inside the cup" and "outside" ~ and we looked at a cup that was "full."

You favored the black aquarium rocks for this activity ~ maybe because it had been a long time since you played with them.

You had a blast shaking them and making music once they were filled to different levels.

I tried to make the holes different sizes, so you were concentrating very hard to try to get this big rock into a smaller opening.  You figured out that it needed to go into another cup.

Once you tired of filling them, we also tried stacking the cups! 

When it got too hot outside, we brought the rocks in and you had fun opening and closing the lids, while pouring the rocks from cup to cup, while making a mess on the carpet! You ended up spending about an hour with this play activity.  This will definitely be one to revisit again.

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