Believe it or not I actually had a life before Mess For Less. Today I am going to be sharing a fine motor activity we did last year BB (before blog). The best thing about this activity is it will only cost you $1-2 depending on what supplies you already have on hand.
Supplies you will need:
- Cheese shaker
- Toothpicks (I like the blunt tipped ones as the kids are less likely to get poked)
You can find all of the supplies in the dollar store. The cheese shaker is just like a sugar dispenser except it has many holes on the top lid.
Give your child a cup of toothpicks and an empty cheese shaker and have them insert the toothpicks into the holes. I was proud that the twins were able to take turns. This is great for multiple kids to work on at once since the shaker has lots of holes.
My youngest was 1 ½ at the time and she worked hard to insert the toothpicks. This was great practice for her.
The cheese shaker is glass so I recommend doing this activity on a rug or on a soft surface on the ground.
We have played with our toothpicks and cheese shakers a few times since the summer but as I am writing this I think it would be great to try some longer pasta like spaghetti or linguine that has been broken to fit into the shaker.
[…] Mess for Less- This cheap (buy materials at the dollar store) activity idea has kids pushing toothpicks into salt shakers. […]