Yesterday, I was looking for a quick fine motor activity to do with the girls that would not take much time and not require a big cleanup. I remembered a fine motor activity I had seen on Sugar and Spice that involved play dough, pasta and cheerios. Doesn’t that sound yummy? Okay, so you don’t eat the pasta or the play dough, but you can eat the cereal when you are done. I didn’t have cheerios (what kind of mom am I?) but I did have fruit loops and they worked just as well. My kids were so proud of how high they made their fruit loop towers. For more fun ideas check out 18 Fine Motor Activities for Preschoolers.
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You will need:
- Plastic cups (we used cleaned apple sauce cups)
- Play dough
- Linguine
- Fruit Loops
I gave each girl a ball of play dough and stuck a piece of uncooked linguine in it. I then filled some cups with fruit loops (we were out of cheerios and you’ll see why fruit loops may be more fun). My girls think fruit loops are the biggest treats since they rarely have them, so I decided to make their day.
Have your child try and put each loop onto the piece of pasta. This requires a great deal of concentration and careful fine motor work. I was so excited that even B, who is a little weaker on the fine motor side, did this with no trouble.
When they were done they were so excited to see the tower of rainbow colors they had made. See, if you deprive your kid of fruit loops, you just get a beige tower. The other plus to using fruit loops is this turned into a color identification activity as B went down her fruit loop tower and named each color. A (middle name should be Not to be Outdone) did the same thing. They were so proud of themselves. I did this activity around snack time so when they were done I just had them eat the fruit loops for snack. Lazy parenting at it’s best!
Looking for another fine motor activity? Check out:
What an adorable idea, my kiddos would love that!!!
Crafts that don't take much clean up are my idea of awesome! This is great! New follower from Monday Mingle Blog hop.
Thanks for the follow. What amazing ideas you have for activities. I will be sure to keep checking in my kids will love the new activities.
What a fabulous idea! I'm definitely going to try this with my brood!
what an awesome idea 🙂
http://www.reesemilania.blogspot.com
Followed you back!
I love your blog design 🙂
And what a great idea!
Hi thanks for following me from the Blog Hop!! How adorable! This is a wonderful idea and I'm going to tell a few relatives with younger children, I know they will enjoy this idea!!
Thanks for following me from the blog hop! I love your blog! I only have a fur baby but when I have kids I would love to do these activities. I plan on visiting your blog often, feel free to stop by mine.
Brittany
You, Me & Remy
Kim, thank you for stopping by!
Love this! 🙂 definatly putting it on our todo list this week
Love the idea!
Hi! Stopping by from MBC. Great blog!
Have a nice day!
What a great idea! My daughter could use this to help her with her FMS too! Thanks for stopping by today!
Wendy
Around My Family Table
Cute blog! Following you back!
How to Mommy, thanks so much for following back!
Sara, thanks! I do hope you'll be back!
Woven Moments, Thanks for stopping by! Let me know how it goes.
Reese, Thanks so much!
17 sirens, thanks for the follow!
Erin, thanks for sharing!
Brittany, thanks so much for the visit.
Jessi, it's so easy, I think you will love it.
Veronica, thanks!
Wendy, thanks for dropping in!
Southern Fried Bride, thanks so much for visiting!
What a simple, wonderful fine motor skill activity! New follower from the Fun Tuesday Hop!
That's a neat activity! Found you from MBC!
following you back – LOVE your creative ideas – so very doable with stuff we have around the house. Glad to have found your blog. :0)
I love this idea, thank you! I'm a special ed teacher and we work on a lot of fine motor activities. I'm happy to see a fun activity 🙂
That is awesome! I am following you back!
momma-money.blogspot.com
What a fun idea:) I will be honest… fruit loops are my favourite too.:) Thanks for the following. I'm following you back.:)
Had I thought of this when my boys were young, they would have eaten more than they stacked!
Thanks for visiting me at A sEason for All Things. I'm your newest follower. ~ Ellen
What a neat idea. My kids also think fruit loops are a treat as I rarely buy them I will have to try this. I'm following you back from http://www.mama-press.com
LOL, brilliant! And I love the fact its also a teaching aid, nothing like a treat to get the kids focused :0) You have such original idea. Love it!
Our side of the mountain, Thanks so much for the follow back!
This is a great idea!! i love that they can practice fine motor, play with their food and then snack…SUPER FUN! I also love the shaving cream art. I had never heard of that and I am definately going to give it a try.
Following you back.
– jenny at dapperhouse
Suzanne, Following you back and I love those cereal box letters!
RJ, thanks! I love activities we can do with stuff we already have.
Autumn thank you! I hope you find some of the ideas helpful.
Mommy-money, thanks for checking in!
sstone, who doesn't like fruit loops? 🙂
Ellen, so glad you could stop by. This would probably have been a costly activity for you. 🙂
Tracy, thanks for stopping by Mess For Less!
MsXpat, they were SO focused too! Thanks for coming by.
Jenny, thanks, it's a full service activity. Glad you came by!
Adorable! I miss having my girls this age and doing these things with them. This is a super activity!
Thanks for stopping in today and leaving a back to school comment. I often thought of having the girls hold a sign for the year of school they were in when I took their early photo but never did it! lol
Have a super week! xoxo SusieQTpies
I came here and I got stock. I love this site. Following you back.
What a cute little activity! I'll have to try that with my son… 🙂
So cute!! Loved the hanging socks idea 🙂
I can't believe we also felt it in New York, us east coasters are so not used to these kind of things, so it was scary.
Coming by to return the love and follow back 🙂
hello there, thanks for visiting and being a new follower.
i like your blog, neat and informative :). i'll try some of your tips, my son has ASD and he need a lot of activities to develop his fine motor skills.
This is a really cute and fun activity. Thanks for the idea!
Susie, thanks for coming by and for your thoughtful comment.
Nekky, thanks for coming by. Glad you liked it.
Lindsey, thanks for coming by!
Karina, sounds scary for sure. Thanks for coming by.
Michelle, I am so glad the activities will help your son.
Gladys, Thanks so much for following!
A terrific idea, well done, and love the photos of the artists. Thank you for following along at Katherines Corner. I look forward to more visits to your blog too. Hugs
Katherine, thanks so much for the kind words!
I'm your newest follower! Your blog is super cute! Please check out my newest post:
http://www.romanianprincess.com/2011/08/video-music-awards-2011.html
And don't forget to follow back!
http://www.romanianprincess.com
XoXo Nicole Mariana
What a great idea! Not sure many of them would make it on the noodle at my house though before they were all eaten 🙂 I'm a new follower. Thanks for the sweet comment on my blog.
That is a great idea!I don't think we have coloured hoops in England but cheerios would work fine.My little one would love to do this!Thanks for sharing
Ooh! I love this one! I have two other little ones coming over tomorrow for a play date with my girls and this will be a perfect activity for all of them to do together!
Thanks for visiting my site yesterday and for letting me know about yours!
Nicole, I am following you as well.
Dianne, that would happen if I were making it too.
Jess, cheerios would be perfect too!
Jennifer, yes, this would be a fun playdate activity.
Vicky, thanks so much for the comment on our blog! Your blog is adorable! This is totally something my Nathan would LOVE! I'm now a follower on both here and FB! Thanks again!
Pam from http://www.overthebigmoon.com
Pam, thanks so much for all your kind words.
Hello there. WOW – so many comments on this post. I'm popping by from Adventures At Home, London UK.
Love the idea of the fruit loop stacks. We've made edible snack-necklaces before (with one end of elastic attached to the floor with masking tape to stop the 'beads' falling off the end. We've used mini pretzels, Hula Hoops, apple rings – that kind of thing.
Will try the spaghetti trick now – my two kiddos will love it I'm sure.
Julia, you sound like my kind of woman. 🙂
Thanks for this. I used it tonight in my parent/child signing class to reinforce the signs for "cereal" and "more." The mom there loved it. She's looking forward to using it again with her little girl (she has Downs and spent the activity eating her fruit loops instead of stacking them). 🙂
Wow, I really like this one! Thanks to Athena from Columbia Basin Signing Academy for introducing us to your site. We'll definitely be visiting here again soon!
Your little girls are darling! and you are certainly good at keeping them busy! Thanks for stopping by and following. Have a blessed week!
This is totally awesome! Love this idea 🙂 Thanks for sharing!
Amazingly simple activity – genius. Love it!