Pasta & Play Dough & Perlers {Oh My!}

 

 

"Oh I don't know what to do!"

Since declaring that he no longer takes naps, Heath has discovered that he now has a couple extra hours in the afternoon to fill. Even though he has been accumulating toys for over three years now, he still declares that he has nothing to do. It is at this time that his loving mother begins the daily listing of potential activities that he will hopefully deem novel enough to peak his interest. This is also the time that it comes in very handy to often occasionally clean the living room by stashing anything and everything away so at the very least you can't see it. Today I came across a wonderful nugget.

"Well maybe I would like to do my beads."

We have a winner!



These are not the same perler beads you made into picture frame after picture frame as a kid. Nope. These babies are bigger and better for little hands. The age recommendation is 4 and up, but I have faith in my child and his ability to not mistake them for food. They look nothing like a chocolate chip granola bar.

They provide  wonderful fine motor practice and I am so glad that they developed a larger size.  He thinks he is making a fish. I know he is developing muscles he will one day use to write legibly and even dress himself.

But... this is not where the fine motor work ended for the day. Oh no! This was just the tip of the fine motor iceberg!

While Heath was working on his fish, I quickly got together an extension activity. All I did was stick some lemonade play dough onto the container lid with three pieces of linguine. I then started each pattern by saying each color out loud as I put it on. That was the only invitation Heath needed to begin his second fine motor activity of the afternoon!



Heath then took the lead {the best!} and created his next activity. A thinner layer of play dough was required and I loved watching his little fingers get stronger as he smooshed {yes that is a real word now} the ball of play dough down before putting each perler bead in one at a time. Taking them out again also required some work!

 
The next fine motor activity was my favorite! Each bead that had been smooshed in the play dough still had that play dough in the center once it was removed. Heath took the linguine and pushed the play dough out of each bead one at time. So much concentration. I never see him sit that still for that long!

The play dough fun of smooshing and pushing and squeezing took us all the way to the early evening and he didn't even ask to watch Frozen until after five!

-J