I have always encouraged
fine motor play in my children. Not only is it important for their development, but there are so many ways to offer an invitation to fine motor play!
A well-meaning friend purchased tennis balls for my senior dogs. Bless her heart, but my pooches are too old to do much fetching. As much as we love the dogs, truth be told, they are hounds and have always been prone to take it easy; to sleep in bed only waking for food, water, and a walk. As I type, both are snoozing on pillows at my feet. No fetch will be played willingly by these dogs!
My kids were delighted. Balls! In the house?! YAY!!
I acted fast. With a moment of my time and some very basic supplies, my kids were distracted from the idea of throwing balls and were enthralled with the idea of feeding the ball.
To make a feed me ball you will need
A tennis ball
A utility knife
2 peel and stick eyes or a black magic marker to draw eyes
A few pom poms or cotton balls
The first step is the trickiest. Use caution while using the utility knife to cut a slit in the tennis ball, this will become the mouth.
Next affix or draw the eyes. We went with what we had on hand and used small stick on eyes. The kids and I agreed that really big eyes would be lots of fun!
After the eyes have been added you can offer the pom poms or cotton balls along with the ball.
Play combined with fine motor skill development is ideal for kids of a variety of ages. Both of my kids have fun feeding things to the ball over the years. From cotton balls to barbie doll shoes. The fine motor aspects remain, but we have added in simple math, counting, and color sorting to the ways we use the feed me ball.
You might also enjoy these
7 Ways to Entertain a 3 Year Old.
