Fine Motor Activity with Straws
Have a bunch of straws lying around the house? Or what about pipe cleaners from your craft bin? Try this fun and simple fine motor activity with straws. I bought a whole box of straws and figured that I’d be able to come up with a bunch of toddler activities to use them.
It’s super simple and it will occupy your toddler while you get a chance to make dinner.
So I was searching Pinterest, have you been over there? If you are, you can follow me on Pinterest as well. I saw a lot of activities that used cardboard boxes and they would cut holes into them for you to place the straws or pipe cleaners into them. You could also do the same with plastic containers as well.
I also saw someone using a colander and loved that idea since it didn’t require me to cut anything. So low and behold, guess what I used? My small colander that I use for my utensils in my dish rack. Boo yah!
Instead of the colander you could use:
- cardboard box
- Pringles
chip container - plastic container ie. yogurt, fruit, sour cream or margarine
chip containerTo place in the holes of the container you could use:
- straws
- pipe cleaners
- coffee stirrers
- pick up stix
- pasta
I cut the straws into smaller pieces for another activity and then my little one grabbed all of them. After she placed the pipe cleaners into the colander, she used the small pieces of straws and stuck it through the end of the pipe cleaners
. I didn’t even think of that but it did stretch out the activity even more.
My son, M2, came along to see what we were doing and joined in the fun as well. He also enjoyed threading the pieces of straws through the pipe cleaner as well.
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Recommended Fine Motor Toys
Try one of these other fine motor toys for more fine motor skills practice with your toddler. There are so many more activities you can try.
Counting Dinosaur Matching Toys with Sorting Bowls Montessori Preschool Educational Activities Learning Color Sorting Fine Motor Skills Sensory Toys Birthday Gift for 3 4 5 Year Old Boys GirlsLearning Resources Helping Hands Fine Motor Tool Set Toy – 4 Pieces, Ages 3+ Fine Motor and Sensory Play Toys, Toddler Tweezers, Sensory Bin ToysMelissa & Doug Primary Lacing Beads – Educational Toy With 30 Wooden Beads and 2 Laces – Beads For Toddlers, Fine Motor Skills Lacing Toys For Toddlers And Kids Ages 3+, 8inx8inx2in, MultiDINORUN Toddler Toys Montessori Toys for 1 2 3 Year Old, Color Matching Fine Motor Toys for Toddlers 1-3, Sensory Toys, Wooden Educational Toys for 1 Year OldLearning Resources Spike The Fine Motor Hedgehog – Toddler Learning Toys, Fine Motor and Sensory Toys for Kids Ages 18+ Months, Montessori ToysAigybobo Montessori Toys for 1,2,3 Years Old, Toddlers Wooden Sorting and Stacking Toys, Preschool Fine Motor Skill Toy, Ideal Gift for Baby Boys Girls
For the next time, I’d purchase fatter straws, these straws were really skinny and I had originally intended to use them for a lacing activity but the straws were too small for the laces that I had on hand.
If you need other ideas for toddler activities, try some of these educational quiet bins from How Wee Learn. Each of these activities are super easy to set up and they provided my daughter with hours of quiet entertainment.
You can also see my other list of toddler activities.