Pom Pom busy activity, Sorting colours and sizes!

Pom Pom busy activity, Sorting colours and sizes!

Pom Pom busy activity, Sorting colours and sizes!

Give my 3yo a plastic toy and he will play with it for a few minutes before putting it aside. However, give him an activity which takes a little brain power and the chance to indulge in some schematic behaviour and he will be fascinated for hours! This Pom pom activity was a huge hit!

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What we used.

A messy play tray – ours is just a big planting tray which we picked up from our local garden centre – it works perfectly. You can get some great messy play trays on amazon too though.

Multi colour plastic bowls – we got ours from Asda for £1! you can find them in many £ stores too.

Multi colour measuring spoons – we also picked these up from Asda for £1!

Pom Poms – same colours as the bowls but various shapes and sizes

Plastic tweezers – ours were from a toy doctor kit but you can buy a pack of jumbo easy grip tweezers on Amazon.

*please note this post contains Amazon affiliate links. This means that if you purchase through the link provided I will receive a small commission: this however is at no extra cost to you and helps me keep this page up and running. 

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Why is this activity so great?

Uses Fine motor skills: using the tweezers can be really challenging for young children!

Problem solving: which is the fastest way to sort them? which spoon is the best to use? which size spoon best fits the different spoons?

A fun way to learn colours

Encourages ability to match items based on a quality as opposed to what they are.

Learn to match colours regardless of shade.

Learn about size and mass in containers, what fits and what doesn’t? can you fit more big pom poms into the bowl or more small ones? encourages use of descriptive words related to size; ‘biggest, smallest, tiny, huge etc’

Great for children who demonstrate schematic behaviour such as containing and positioning.
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Ted spent over an hour playing with this activity, we had loads of fun chatting about colours, shapes and what was the best method for sorting the colours. After he spent a while sorting the colours he then began lining up the pom poms in size order, an educational bonus that I hadn’t even thought of! Then, when he became bored of this, he fetched some of his construction toys and spent absolutely ages filling and emptying containers!

Why not give it a try?

*remember to always supervise your children during activities and ensure they are old enough to participate. Small items pose a choking risk*

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DIY 5 minute craft: shape stamps

DIY 5 minute craft: shape stamps

5 Minute crafts: Shape stamps

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These cute little stamps are super easy to make and are a fun way to help teach your little one shapes and colours!

We had so much fun doing this activity, my 3yo has mastered colours so he just picked out his two favourites, but you could use various colours to best suit your child’s learning.
These stamps are great because they make painting that little bit more exciting, they’re educational and they’re free, most of us have a spare bit of cardboard lying around somewhere!

You could even try stamps of other designs too. I’m going to make some numeral stamps to help teach Ted 1-10 and he’s requested some Dinosaur stamps too!

What you need to make your own

A piece of thick cardboard, a piece of old box will do!
Scissors
Double sided tape
A pen or pencil
Paint
Paintbrushes
Paper

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Step 1 Cut out squares for the base of your stamps

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Step 2 – Cut out your desired shapes

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Step 3 – Use the Double sided sticky tape to attach the shapes to your stamp bases

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Step 4 – Paint the shape and then turn and print onto a piece of paper, make sure you press down hard! why don’t you see what you can make with your shape stamps? how about an awesome shape rocket?!