Sweet Pea is 39 months old.
From: I found this excellent activity at The Adventures of Bear.
Material:
- Wax paper.
- Permanent marker.
- Eye dropper (We found ours at Micheals, but you could also use an old Children’s Tylenol bottle dropper.)
- Small bowl.
- Liquid water color or food coloring.
- A piece of blank paper.
- Smock (Optional.)
- Jelly roll pan (Optional, but good for containing spills.)
Procedure:
- Fill the small bowl with water and add a few drops of food coloring or liquid water color.
- Tear off a rectangle of wax paper and use the sharpie to draw several small circles (about the size of a pencil eraser) on it.
- Place the blank paper in the jelly roll pan and lay the wax paper on top of it. (The white paper helps make the drops of water more visible.)
- Present the materials to your tot and demonstrate how to squeeze the bulb of the eye dropper to suck up the colored water.
- Show your tot how to gently squeeze the dropper to put one drop of water in each circle on the wax paper.
- Let your tot try.
- After all of the circles have been filled with water, invite your tot to use the dropper to suck the drops back up one at a time and transfer the water back into the bowl.
Observations: Sweet Pea adored this activity and had a much easier time using the dropper than before. She eagerly filled in every circle and then sucked all of the drops back up.
This activity was easy to set up and kept Sweet Pea completely engaged. I know that younger tots wouldn’t be able to manipulate the eye dropper, but it is highly recommended for older tots.
Notes from the Trenches: This activity has the potential to be very messy, but I think the jelly roll pan helped keep things under control.
Rating: 4 Stars * (Fun, Easy, Independent, Frugal)
Carnivals: This post is linked at One Hook Wonder’s weekly Montessori Monday and Mommy Moment’s Montessori Moment. Visit these site for some other other great Montessori ideas.
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What an awesome fine motor skill activity! I have done some eye dropper lessons with my oldest, but this is totally different. Thanks for sharing!
One day we’ll be able to do this. We’re still working on our fine motor control, which Kayleigh lacks. LOL
What a great idea. I’m not sure my son could handle it yet, but I am going to keep it in mind. Thanks!
I love how you set up this work. We have not done this with wax paper, but I love the idea of using the dropper to put the water back!
Thanks for sharing and thanks for linking up on Monday’s Montessori Moment!
I love this, we will be using this idea tomorrow!
Oh… wow you have some great ideas on your site! Thank you… I have not seen most of these! Can’t wait to try some new things with my 3 and 4 yr olds. Wax paper tomorrow!
You can also fill the tiny suction cups on the back of a soap holer or any small suction cups. Th soap holders hold only one drop which takes control but is fun.
You may find using a bath mat (with suction cups on bottom) turned up alittle easier to keep water contained.
We did do the bath mat activity first (http://totschool.shannons.org/fun-with-an-eye-dropper/) and it was a big hit. This one does require a bit more fine motor control, but Sweet loved it too.
This one looks like a lot of fun! I’ve got my 3½ DD doing it right now, but we have big medicine droppers. They might be easier for little hands and our local pharmacies give them away for free!
[…] making water drops on wax paper, pipe cleaner threading (straws, pasta etc), Letter Matching Eggs, marshmellow and toothpick creations (but they’ll probably just eat all the marshmallows), spooning and pouring, (especially non-liquids like raisins or pompoms), Playing at the Sink(measuring cups, funnel, bubbles, float and sink), popsicle stick shapes, seasonal sensory bins, Penny Drop Game, interviewing a 3 yr old.. and my personal favorite: rainbow toast! […]
[…] making water drops on wax paper, pipe cleaner threading (straws, pasta etc), Letter Matching Eggs, marshmellow and toothpick creations (but they’ll probably just eat all the marshmallows), spooning and pouring, (especially non-liquids like raisins or pompoms), Playing at the Sink(measuring cups, funnel, bubbles, float and sink), popsicle stick shapes, seasonal sensory bins, Penny Drop Game, interviewing a 3 yr old.. and my personal favorite: rainbow toast! […]
[…] Read More About this Excellent Fine Motor / Hand Strengthening Activity on Tot School […]