Grady is very into ducks these days. It was actually one of his first words. So it wasn’t surprising that he grabbed a bag of miniature ducks while we were making a run through Michael’s one day. “DUUXXSSSSS!!!” The bag of ducks were pastel colors and they were precious. But if I was going to buy anything, it needed to have a purpose. “DUUXXSSSSS!!!!!” We left the bag of pastel ducks and a tantrum ensued. I did some searching and found a bag of these colorful ducks. Grady would be just as happy with these and they were actually colors I could teach him.
The idea for ducks in a pond is simple. A little bin of water with two drops of blue food coloring. I found these white tubs from Michael’s the same day we saw the pastel ducks and grabbed them knowing I had an activity in mind. I used my Silhouette to label the bins with the matching colors of the ducks I ordered and got it all ready while he was napping. Then I gave him a slotted spoon and showed him how to scoop!
Grady isn’t ready to sort by color YET. I even got him started by showing him which ducks went in what bin but he ended up just scooping and placing them in any bucket and that’s okay! He was able to work his fine motor skills and hand/eye coordination just from scooping and transferring. I was also able to talk to him for a hot second about what the colors were but once I saw he was busy and not listening, I just left him for independent play.
This simple activity requires a variety of skills:
- self control (no splashing)
- hand/eye coordination
- fine motor (using hand grip and turning wrists)
- color sorting/matching
- vocabulary (talking about the colors/numbers/objects)
- counting (4 in each bucket)
- imaginative play
Hopefully this will give you an after nap activity to keep your little one busy for a minute!