You will love this colour matching cotton tip push activity for toddlers. Encourage the development of those all important small muscles in your toddlers hands and fingers with this easy to set up fine motor skill Colour Matching Cotton Tip Push activity!
Colour Matching Cotton Tip Push
We love using resources that we have around the house – especially repurposing those that are otherwise headed for the recycling bin!
This is a fun and engaging way to give new life to one of those items that are common in almost every family home.
We have done a few interpretations of this toddler activity over the years but this is a solid favourite. I'm sure it will be with your family too!
Matching the coloured cotton tips and pushing the end into the corresponding hole, gives your toddler the opportunity to practise a range of important life skills all while having fun! It's also a great colour activity idea for toddlers.
If you're planning to focus on colour skills with your toddler you might like our list of favourite colour books for toddlers.
What you need to make your Colour Matching Cotton Tip Push activity
- Empty Egg Carton
- 12 x Cotton Tips
- Screw Driver
- 6 x Coloured Textas/marker pens
- Play Tray (optional)
- Bowl (optional)
The only reason why we used the play tray was to attempt (successfully) to give our little activity some boundaries. We have a saying that we recite when completing these activities ' please keep the play in the tray'. More often than not, it doesn't end up happening but never say never!
How to setup your Colour Matching Cotton Tip Push activity
Before playing, your egg carton will need a few minor modifications.
Carefully using your screwdriver, make a hole in the bottom of each of the wells of your egg carton. I simply pushed ours through and then gave it a little spin to widen the hole just a touch to suit the size of the shaft of the cotton tips.
Using your textas, colour the bottom face of the egg carton wells and the tips of your cotton tips. With our six colours, we used each colour twice to complete the 12 wells and tips.
Before presenting the activity to Miss 2, I put the colour
ed cotton tips into the little bowl before putting the bowl and egg carton into our play tray.
When Miss 2 asked what to do with the activity, I simply replied, “What do you think you could do with it?”
She picked up the first cotton tip, said the colour and then pushed it into matching colour hole with a big smile.
It didn't take long for Miss 2 to push each of the cotton tips into the coloured holes – she loved it!
Once she completed posting all the cotton tips, she then flipped it upside down and started pulling them out. This took me by surprise but quickly I removed the bowl from the tray and placed it on her left side. Miss 2 pulled the the cotton tips with her right hand, crossed her arm across her body to place them into the bowl.
It kept Miss 2 completely engaged for about 20 minutes. The entire time her mind was as active as her hands. Active play had her practising her recognising colours, pincher grip, hand eye coordination and crossing her midline.
This Colour Matching Cotton Tip Push activity is proof that your toddler doesn't need fancy specialised equipment or toys. Simply modifying resources you have around your home can provide your child with meaningful play opportunities that they will love!
If you enjoyed this colour cotton tip push toddler activity hen why not share a photo of your toddler doing the activity. Share on Instagram (follow @myboredtoddler and use #myboredtoddler ) or share in our Facebook group.
If you want to continue teaching your toddler about colours then you might like:
Colour activities for toddlers
About the Author:
Dani is a busy stay at home Mum of 3 and early childhood teacher in training who is passionate about play based learning throughout early childhood. For educational play ideas that you can do at home and parenting tips visit Play Inspired Mum Check her out on Instagram andFacebook