Tuesday Toddler Activities: Snack Time Fine Motor Skills

Snack time can also be learning time when you make it into a practice session for fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination. I saw this particular idea on Pinterest here: Ways to Entertain a Toddler. It’s such a simple idea with things most people have in their cupboard. All it takes is a small cup filled with uncooked rice, some sticks of uncooked spaghetti and some Cheerios or other o-shaped cereal. Stick the spaghetti in the rice to hold it up, and let your little one go nuts.

Donovan absolutely loved this game. Each time he got a Cheerio on the spaghetti, he clapped and grinned. He talked to me about the Cheerios, showed me how he picked them up with just two fingers, explored how the rice in the cup held the spaghetti straight up, and, of course, munched on some Cheerios as well. He sat at the table and played for 30 minutes, making surprisingly little mess and never knocking over the cup.

When the novelty started to wear off, he began to pull the spaghetti out of the rice to see how the Cheerios would fall off. Then he tried to keep the Cheerios on the spaghetti while he picked it up so that he could eat them directly off the stick as they fell into his mouth. Once he was done, I just left the supplies on the table, and he continued to go back to it throughout the day to thread more Cheerios. He even wanted the game to come upstairs with us while I took a shower. I think this will be a regular activity for us now. Not only is it fun, decently nutritious, and mostly mess free, but Donovan gets to work on hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills at the same time!

For more toddler activities click here: Tuesday Toddler Activities.