Children have a fascination with unusual and different things. Anything that is not that expensive toy you agonised over for hours before choosing for them… Have you ever noticed? You put some toys out for playtime and they’ll find the one thing in the room that they are not meant to touch. Normally it’s something that belongs to you and you don’t want them to fiddle with and break it.
When coming up with this very popular My Busy Bots bag, my aim was to use objects that children don’t normally have in their everyday world, items that would interest and fascinate them because they were different. I also had to keep in mind that it needed a developmental element and a busy activity that would be able to be used for different age groups.
Looking around my kitchen, I found a few things that gave some inspiration. A pair of pincers and my baking tray! Excellent! The way a child manipulates and uses pincers is a great intro to holding a pencil in the correct way or strengthening their muscles to help them perfect their pencil grip.
The activity includes brightly coloured pompoms and silicone cupcake holders which not only are different textures for children to investigate but a great way of colour sorting. If your child is younger they can begin by sorting the pompoms with their hands. Then, over time, once their little hand muscles have developed a bit more, they will use their fingers and the final step would be using the pincers. Initially they may find this a bit tricky, but that is the point! It will help them to really strengthen their fine motor skills. Making similar activities they do in the future much easier.
Colour sorting, counting and number recognition along with fine motor fun, all wrapped up in a neat little bag! What more could you ask for to keep your little person busy!