My kids love pom-poms and I had leftover coffee cans so I just put the two together. My  two-year-old is learning his colors so I started to make this up for him. I took the Lid of the coffee can and poked some holes in the top. I made them a little bit smaller than the pom-poms.  Then, I outlined the holes with colored markers to match the colors of the pom-poms. Now my toddler can match the colors and poke the pom-poms through the holes.

Since the holes are a little smaller and it takes him a little bit to getting to the pom-poms in.  After he was done putting the pom-poms in, he saw that when I took off the lid they reappeared again. He was so excited! And so was I because  that gave me the idea that I could use this activity for my kindergartner who is learning addition. I could turn this into a math sheet machine!

So, I made some flashcards for her with simple addition problems on them. She put the different colored pom-poms into the can according to what the problem was on the card. When she opened the can she would have the answer to her addition problem! This gave her a way to check her answers so she would have fun putting the problems to memory even if she knew or didn’t know what the answer was.

I love this because there are just so many different applications and it helps strengthen fingers for writing and drawing. The best part is when you get to open the can and dump all the Pom-poms out. It’s like a learning party!

So recycling and math meet in a multi age level activity. So much fun! What do you think? Would your child like this activity?

Make sure you check out our Christian Preschool Curriculum!

The post Preschool Activities: Colors and Math with Pom Poms! first appeared on True Aim.

• A tray of some sort
• Pipecleaners (I used green)
• Three(or more) colours of beads. Keep in mind the age of the child: the younger the child, the bigger the beads must be.

For teaching symmetry

Add beads on the one side of the tree and ask your child to match it on the other side. You can use a small mirror to show your child how it should look when done.

For teaching patterning

Start a pattern on the one side of the tree and let your child continue the pattern on the other side:

Let your child choose her own colour beads and decorate the tree to her liking. She will develop her fine motor skills while having fun decorating:

PS: Always supervise an activity with small parts like beads.

A fun fine motor Christmas activity with lots of learning opportunity for your child!

Here are more Christmas themed activities you might want to see:

Christmas Tree Activities
Christmas Ornaments for Kids
Kid-made Christmas Cards

The post Christmas Tree Beading first appeared on True Aim.

For this activity you will need:

• Brown, green and orange felt
• Orange pompoms of different sizes
• A glue gun or fabric glue
• Tweezers

How to make it: 

Cut orange felt “pumpkins’ that match the size of the pompoms. Glue it down randomly onto the felt ‘pumpkin patch’. Add stems.

Cut a strip of green grass and glue down too. Easy!

How to play

Let your child use tweezers(or pegs) to place the pompom ‘pumpkins’ on the right spot, thus matching the size of the pompom to the size of the cut pumpkin.

Extend this activity to counting the pumpkins, and even do simple math equations! For example, add 2 pumpkins, ask your child how many pumpkins are left. Or add all the pumpkins and take some away, asking how many pumpkins are left etc.

Place this activity in a small container or bag and use it as a busy bag activity while traveling!

You might like to see these fun fine motor activities too:

40 Fine Motor Activities
Rainbow Words
Fine Motor Play with Recyclables

The post Pumpkin Patch Size Match first appeared on True Aim.