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Home / Early Learning / Fine Motor Fun with Toothpicks and Straws

Fine Motor Fun with Toothpicks and Straws

Shared by Mary Catherine 4 Comments

Fine Motor Fun with Toothpicks and Straws

These fine motor activities were totally inspired by Little Hurricane, a two-year old I babysit after preschool..  Recently, I’ve noticed that he’s fascinated by straws — pulling straws out of drinks (usually mine), then putting them back in again.  I wanted to encourage Little Hurricane’s interest, but in a way that saved my drinks!

Table of Contents

  • Materials for the Fine Motor Activity
  • Fine Motor Fun
  • Done-for-You Preschool Resources

Materials for the Fine Motor Activity

To start off, I gathered all of the materials we needed, which wasn’t much! You can use whatever you have on hand. Here’s what we used (I may get commissions for purchases made through links in this post):

  • Styrofoam coffee cups
  • Toothpicks
  • Washi tape

Fine Motor Fun

Little Hurricane and I sat on the floor and used the tape to decorate the cup.  Little Hurricane especially loved adding tape to the bottom of the cup.

fine motor skills, fine motor activities, toddler fine motor

Once his cup was done, it was on to the fine motor fun!  I showed Little Hurricane how to put  a toothpick into the hole in the coffee cup’s top.  He was so very focused on picking up the toothpicks and placing them in the cup.  He spent a lot of time on this task, and he also enjoyed shaking the cup after each toothpick.

After some time, I taped the cup to my sliding glass door (at his level).  I think Little Hurricane enjoyed this fine motor game even more once it was at eye-level.  Plus, it required more body movement — walking over to the toothpicks, bending down to pick them up, standing back  up and walking over to the cup.  He kept this up until every single toothpick was picked up!

fine motor activities, fine motor skills, fine motor with toddlers

At this point, Snoopy and Engineer came in to see what we were up to.  When they saw what we were doing, they requested cups of their own.  I set the big boys up with styrofoam coffee cups, washi tape, and toothpicks and let them develop their own creations.   They were very inventive and made “spiky cups” to use as ships.  Don’t worry — I kept a close watch on their play with the “spiky cups” to ensure no holes were poked into people!

fine motor skills, fine motor activities, fine motor with toddlers

While the big boys were creating, Little Hurricane dumped the toothpicks out and started all over again.  I decided to make another fine motor activity for him while he played.  I again decorated a styrofoam coffee cup with washi tape, but I made some changes to the cup’s top this time.  I used scissors to poke additional holes in the top (about 7 or 8).  A hole punch would have been better, but I’d left mine at school.  Once the holes were made, I placed straws in each one and set the cup on a table nearby.  Little Hurricane had a blast pulling all the straws out, then putting them all back in again!

fine motor skills, fine motor activities, toddler fine motor

It’s been almost a week since we made these impromptu fine motor activities, and they’re still going strong.  Little Hurricane took his toothpick game home, but we still have the straw-filled cups here.  Even Determined Diva got in on the straw fun!

fine motor activities, fine motor skills, fine motor with toddlers

Shared at Tuesday Tots, Mom’s Library, Tot School Tuesday, What I Learned Wednesday, It’s Playtime!, The Kids Co-Op, The Sunday Showcase, Link & Learn, Tender Moments with Toddlers and Preschoolers

Done-for-You Preschool Resources

Planning meaningful lessons for students week after week while balancing other teaching responsibilities and a personal life can be a daunting task. That’s where Preschool Teacher 101 comes in to save you time!

Click the image below to learn about some great lesson plans teaching children all about emotions.

Emotions preschool lesson plans resource cover.
Emotions Lesson Plans

Join The Pack from Preschool Teacher 101 today for exclusive access to our content. We have a variety of membership options to suit your needs.

Filed Under: Early Learning

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  1. Jennifer says

    April 15, 2013 at 5:04 pm

    Visiting from Tuesday Tots. My Family-Focused Monday hop is live now and I would love to see one of your awesome posts linked up @ http://www.mondaykidcorner.blogspot.com.

    Have a wonderful week.

    Reply
    • MaryC says

      April 16, 2013 at 1:47 pm

      Thanks for stopping by, Jennifer! 🙂 I’ll have to stop by and check it out shortly. Hope your week is going well.

      Reply
  2. Angela @ Teaching Mama says

    April 18, 2013 at 8:28 am

    What a fun, easy way to keep the little ones busy! My boys would love it and will have to try. I would love if you linked up on my linkup today. Thanks!

    Reply
    • MaryC says

      April 18, 2013 at 2:03 pm

      Thanks for the invite, Angela! I’ll have to stop by in just a bit. 🙂 Yes, this activity has gotten a TON of play since we made those cups. In fact, more have been requested. Let me know how your boys like it.

      Reply
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My name is Mary Catherine, and I love to share meaningful {and fun} learning activities for kiddos! Feel free to browse and stay awhile!

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