Little Learners Weekly Inspiration: Fun and Easy Fine Motor Activities for 1-2 yrs old Toddlers

Hey guys, parents and mammas 😋

I have so many materials and photos I would love to share with you, talking about early education and how I started with my now five and a half yrs old son our learning journey. I'd like to think I was that mom who cared and made time for my child in order to help him grow smart and develop his cognitive skills and not just that.

Reading a few books (Montessori ones and other methodologies), I understood that Fine Motor Skills is a good option to start with, trying to develop in small children. So I did! We actually did a lot of these and many of them were DIY. I spent quite some time crafting and putting together all sort of activities and I'm glad I did. Because it paid off all the efforts and time spending on preparing these fun and easy activities.
And today I found this folder with some photos I have taken back then and I'll gladly share them with you today, in case you need some inspiration.
Let's start with....

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DIY Turtle: Transfer Activity

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As you can see, I designed a Turtle craft out of paper rolls and gave my son some items I had at hand so he can put them into the small "alveoles".
I didnt have another grasp item other than the one you see in the photo and I found it was a bit too hard for my little baby to use. But he tried. And afterwards, he decided is best to use his own finger to transfer the items into their place.

This way we practiced Pincer Grasp, the ability to grab a small object using the thumb and the index finger or the middle finger.

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Caps and foam circles

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Another activity we did when my son was 1 yr and a half was to try puting/introducing the foam circles into the caps and then taking them out as well.
It's just an easy colorful activity where kids work on their fine motor skills, dexterity and patience.

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At times I helped him by keeping steady the cap (see the third photo below). I helped him by fixing the cap so that it wouldn't slide off the table because Caleb didn't realize that if he doesn't hold the cap with his other hand, it would move around on the table and it's much harder to remove the circle from there.
He didnt need my help all the time, it happened just with a few caps. He did good and just so you know, it wasnt easy to take out those circles because if talking about dimensions, the cap and the circle were 1-1 and you need a bit of patience and determiantion (for a 1-2 yrs old) to take them out. But this little one practiced and he was happy at the end with the result.

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DIY Carrots

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This exercise right here doesn't need a long description and actually there are some wooden toys that do exactly what we have done here. But I thought this really doesn't worth buying because is just a few times use.

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With this one, it's mostly about placing the carrots in those little spaces. Little ones need to use their fingers to grasp the carrots and then gently put them in their place, carefully and with patience.
Maybe you think that grasping is normal but for little ones, it's something they learn to do and they need to practice to have better dexterity. For them it's both fun and a learning opportunity.

I used a piece of cardboard to craft these sweet little carrots. In 15 min the activity was done.

You could draw the white cardboard with a brown colored crayon to say it's the ground where we plant the carrots. Or you don't need to cut the items in a carrot shape. Just do whatever you like. Or maybe you don't need to craft anything and you can use something you already have at home.

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Save the Popsicles

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This is another easy and fun activity you could try with your little one at home and doesnt require a lot of things, you only need glue tape and colored wooden popsicles.

I glued these popsicles to the table, which I fixed with glue tape. Kids only need to have enough patience and practice fine motor skills to "save" them and then play with them freely.
At times, my 1.5 yr old got frustrated for not being easy but ofc, he didnt give up. Funny thing is that these little human beings are sometimes so persistent with something, you can't make them change their mind. If they want something, they'll get it!

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Pom Pom Rescue

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This is just the easiest one you can try at home and you'll have a good few minutes for yourself. With this one, my kid would have gone nuts in order to take out all the pom poms trapped in there.

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You need a kitchen whisk and pom poms; and the learning activity for today is ready to be done.
If your little child can concentrate a few minutes on a task, that's a win situation. In this situation, it doesn't matter if they don't take out all the pom poms. It matters if they focus on the task and try their best to solve the problem. This activity is also a problem solving activity, developing their cognitive skills.

In fact, all these activities put their little brains at work because they are so small and so new to this world, everything they experience and make with their hands it's a learning journey.

So what do you say, mammas?
I hope you can use some of these ideas with your little children at home. You can adapt these to your child's needs and age and maybe you can come up with something extra to make the task even more difficult. Or if you're a teacher in preschool maybe you can use it there!

Caleb was around one and a half yr old in all these pictures; I started working with him at the age of 1yr and 3-4mo and since then, I could only observe a huge progress in his development and I'm truly happy that I had the time, focus and joy to make with him all these learning activities that helped him grow beautifully.

Take care,

missdeli 💓

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