Egg Carton

I had a follower request an egg carton activity a few weeks ago.  I had to wait until I finished off a carton of eggs, but I finally have an activity for you.  I have also pinned a bunch more, so you may get sick of hearing about egg carton activities before I'm done.

This activity is via This Pin

Materials:

1. Egg carton
2. Lysol wipes (to clean egg carton just in case there are any left over yuck germs)
3. 12 Easter eggs 
4. Small toys that fit inside eggs (once again we used our sorting bears)

I began by filling all the eggs with one bear and closing them up. I then placed one egg per slot in the egg carton.  Tink was all about opening the eggs, and dumping the bears.  She enjoyed dumping them in the egg carton, and filling an Easter egg with multiple bears.  

Caleb finally joined in the fun.  He personally loved cracking the eggs and then trying to close them back up. He told me he wanted to "play this all day".  Notice the concentration faces :). 

My kids loved this one 

Going Fishing

I am actually surprised that it has taken me this long to try this pin.  I am pretty sure that I saw it my very first week on Pinterest, and thought to myself...."Hey that is a great idea".  Well, I guess it was lost in my world of pins because I had completely forgotten about it until yesterday.

Little man loves to fish, so I thought this would be the perfect stuck inside the house activity.  Thankfully my mother in law had the items I needed laying around the house, because my improve materials were not working out.

Materials needed:

• paper clips
• yarn or string
• Magnet letters or any lightweight toys that are magnetic. 
• A large bowl

I placed all of our magnetic letters in a large bowl.  We used to have the entire alphabet, but over time we have lost most of them.  I made 4 "fishing poles" for the kids, sat down with them, and then demonstrated how to play.  Little man enjoyed fishing for letters and stating what letter he found.  Tink loved picking up the letter, placing it on the paper clip, and then slinging it across the room.  

Even though his face screams miserable he really did have a lot of fun.

He eventually started trying to fish for other objects.  His trains were a big hit, and to my surprise the paper clip could actually lift them.

This is an activity that does not make a huge mess, and can be left out for a while.  It is still out today, and my kids have ventured to play with it on and off. 

All in all I would say they loved it.  

Fine Motor Skills

Little Man is a boy who loves fine motor activities, and he has since he was tiny.  He was the baby that would sit for an hour by himself figuring out all the elements of a toy.  He has always loved detail, and figuring out how things work.  This has carried through into his love for puzzles, and other fine motor activities.

When I saw this activity on Pinterest I immediately thought it would be a hit with little man.  I knew it was too advanced for Tink, but I wanted to try it none the less.

The materials:

• kix cereal (I also put a few cheerios in because I knew they would be easier to pick up)
• tweezers
• 2 cups or bowls 

I filled one cup with the cereal mixture, told little man that I had an activity for him, and I showed him how to pinch the tweezers together.  This activity ended up being a little too advanced for his skills. He was able to pick up a few pieces of cereal with the tweezers correctly, but he mostly found other ways to pick the cereal up.

The two handed approach was a big hit. Hold the tweezers in right hand, pick up cereal with left hand, touch cereal to the tweezers, and then eat it. 

Stacking the cheerios on the tweezers was another big hit.  

All throughout this activity I was showing him how to pinch the tweezers, but every time he would get it he would revert back to his other methods.

Tink eventually ran over to see what we were doing, and the activity was turned into a dumping and pouring activity which eventually became snack time.  

I would say that in terms of fine motor skill improvement this activity was a flop for us. Little Man told me he did not like it and did not want to do it again ;). 

**Please ignore the fact that my children look as though they have not been bathed in a week, have snotty noses, and refuse to wear pants or matching clothes.  Also please excuse the poor quality of photos. I tried a new way to upload and it failed miserably.**