Straw Construction

Supplies: Plastic straws, Washi Tape, Child Safety Scissors

Skills: Spatial Awareness, Problem Solving, Fine Motor, Shape Recognition, and Size Comparison

Present your child with the supplies and encourage them to build and construct with straws and tape. You can create a specific challenge, for example, saying that they have to include squares and triangles or build a strong enough structure to support a ball. Base the challenge on your child’s age and skill level.

Building with straws is an excellent STEM activity children of any age can participate in and enjoy.

LEGO Challenge

Supplies: LEGO Challenge Cards, LEGO or Duplo Blocks

Skills: Spatial Awareness, Problem Solving, Literacy, Following Directions, Fine Motor, Shape Recognition, and Size Comparison.

Print the LEGO challenge cards and provide your child with the appropriate-sized LEGO bricks or DUPLO blocks for their age. Children under three or who still put objects in their mouths should not use traditional LEGO blocks. 

Children of all ages enjoy LEGOS and creating. If your child is not interested in using the challenge cards, simply allow them to build and create independently.

Pom-Pom Sorting

Supplies: Colored Pom-Poms, Colored Cups, Large Tweezers

Skills: Fine Motor, Color recognition, Classification, Counting

Pom-pom sorting is a fun, inexpensive way to entertain younger children. The easiest way is to provide them with the tools to sort by color. But your little one can also create patterns, sort by size, count, and more!

They can sort with their hands or give them a pair of large, plastic tweezers or a clothespin to further promote their fine motor skills. The same muscles they use to open and close the tweezers are the ones they need to strengthen and use for writing. 

The larger the pom-pom, the easier it is to pick up, so consider using smaller pom-poms to create more of a challenge. 

Pipe Cleaner Constellations

Supplies: Constellation Cards, Pipe Cleaners, Beads with Holes

Skills: Fine Motor, Spatial Reasoning, Following Directions, Literacy, Counting, Science

Pipe cleaner constellations are the perfect activity if your little one loves to build and enjoy learning about the stars and outer space. Print the constellation cards and supply your child with pipe cleaners and beads. 

Water Color Flowers

Supplies: White Coffee Filters, Eye Droppers, Liquid Water Colors, Pipe Cleaners, Plastic Tray or Placemat 

Skills: Fine Motor, Color Recognition, Science, Artistic Expression

Little artists will enjoy making these beautiful watercolor flowers. All you need for this activity is some plain coffee filters, liquid watercolors, and plastic eyedroppers. Encourage your child to overlap the colors to see how they mix, change, and spread. Only a tiny amount of color is needed as it will spread quite far.

Use pipe cleaners to twist them into a flower shape and create a stem. You can keep them in a small vase or gift them to a grandparent or teacher!