Distribute balls
Objective: Promote eye-hand coordination
Material: Large wooden balls, scoop scissors*, ice cube mold*, basket
Preparation: The large wooden balls, from a marble run for example, are placed in the basket. The number of balls should correspond to the number of compartments in the ice cube mold. The full basket is placed on the table together with the scoop and the ice cube mold.
Execution: The child grabs a ball from the basket with the scoop scissors and places it in a free compartment of the ice cube mold. This is repeated until all the balls are in the ice cube mold. Then all are placed back into the basket by hand. For older children, 2.5 years and older, you can also color-code the compartments so that the balls must be placed in the matching colored compartment.
Caterpillar stacking
Objective: Promote eye-hand coordination
Material: Baby Einstein balancing cal*, basket
Preparation: All parts of the caterpillar except the purple one are placed in the basket and the basket is placed next to the purple part on the tray.
Execution: The child takes one part of the caterpillar after the other and tries to stack them on top of each other. The last part to go on top is the head.
When the caterpillar is finished being stacked, all the parts except the purple one are put back into the basket and both are placed on the tray.
Reusable Stickers
Objective: Promote eye-hand coordination, pincer grasp, creativity and independent play
Material: Melissa and Doug Puffy Sticker*
Preparation: The stickers are placed on the tray along with the double-sided savannah and jungle print.
Execution: The child sticks the stickers on the savannah or jungle scene and, depending on his or her age, thinks up his or her own story to go with it.
Since the stickers are removable, the child can move the stickers during the game.