I bought a pair of plastic tongs for under $1 at a Party America and put them on a tray with 1 basket of counting bears and another empty basket. Still enamored with the teddy bears, Sweet Pea was ready to bring this tray to her table as soon as she saw it.
I very briefly showed her how to transfer each bear from one basket to the other using the tongs. She had lots of trouble at first and often used her hands to help steady the bear, but really stuck with it. She liked this activity quite a bit. She wanted to try it several different times during the week and got better each time. I was actually amazed at how well she was eventually able to use the tongs.
Notes from the Trenches: If I could do it over, I would not use teddy bears to start teaching the use of tongs. I think cotton balls would be a much better first transfer activity. The teddy bears were really hard for her to pick up. Although, maybe she wouldn’t have been so persistant if it had been just cotton balls.
Rating: 3 Stars (Fun, Easy, Independent eventually after some initial help on my part)
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I just bought tongs to use with my dd this week. Thanks for the tip about the cotton balls. We’ll be sure to start with those first.
The tongs have been a big hit around here. Let me know how the cotton balls work out!
Hi,
I love your ideas and will definitely try them!
[…] she quickly grew bored. She only handled them for about 30 seconds before asking to play with the counting teddies […]