Popsicle puzzle

Hi guys, thanks for dropping by,

Today, I'm sharing a super easy toddler activity that you can prepare in 5 minutes using wooden sticks, glue, and a printer.

Cartoon Popsicle Puzzle

Everyone loves a good puzzle, the thrill of finding the right fitting pieces and the sense of satisfaction when you look at the end result... an odd feeling of completion

Toddlers are exactly the same! However, sometimes, they may feel pushed by parents or carers (nursery, childminders) to start and finish a puzzle and may reject the game altogether. I know it for a fact as it is what happened with my son.

This easy puzzle is a bit different so it may attract your child by its simplicity while still achieving the fine motor skills you are expecting him to learn while playing with a normal puzzle.

Material

I purchased a big bag of Jumbo popsicles so if you have been following me recently, you probably have them too so no need to spend extras. if you haven't, here is a reminder of the ones I chose, along with the cheap glue I bought:



Method

1. Find a nice image from Google image or else to print out. It's best to choose a landscape type of picture as opposed to portrait so it's longer than it's wider. NB: Bear in mind the copyrights!
2. Copy paste it on a power point slide so you can guesstimate the size of it
3. Print it out on a quality paper, so when you glue it on the wooden sticks it doesn't tear the paper
4. Prepare as many wooden sticks as required on a line
5. Sellotape them together on one side to keep them in place
6. Paste the other side with glue, making sure that there's no glue between wooden sticks otherwise they will be stuck to one another
7. Place your image carefully on the wooden sticks and wait for it to dry
8. Optional: You can draw lines or patterns on the rest of the sticks to help with correct placing
9. Remove the Sellotape from the back
10. Separate the wooden sticks by carefully cutting between them using a scalpel-type sharp blade
11. Optional: You can write the numbers at the top of the sticks

What your toddler will learn

• Recognise the image pattern
• Learn how to associate colours
• Learn numbers
• Fine motor skills by adjusting the sticks next to one another

Let me know if you do it and how your toddler received it. It would be interesting to know everyone's reaction.

See you Soon,

Toddler fine motor skills popsicle activities

Hi and thanks for visiting my blog.

Today, I would like to share with you an activity for >2yo toddlers. You may have seen my previous post on cartoons popsicles.
So naturally, having purchased a big bag of wooden sticks, I'm looking for more amazing activities to do with my son that are using those.
For this activity however, I purchased the Jumbo sized wooden sticks because I thought that it would be easier to handle for my son.

Note: that the previous article could also be based on these Jumbos.

Toddler fine motor skills popsicle activity


I'm happy to report this is also made from only 2 things: wooden sticks and velcros!!

If you purchased the Jumbos sticks from the previous post, then you only need to buy one thing, the velcros - if you don't already have at home!
That's how good this activity is!
If you purchased the thin wooden sticks, then I would recommend buying the Jumbos ones simply because the smallest velcros I could find are the perfect size for the Jumbos and would be too big for the Thins (I tried cutting the velcros in 2 and sticking them to the Thins but the velcro grip is a bit flimsy and does not work as well).

Material



What your toddler can learn

1. He can learn the colours of the wooden sticks
2. He can explore the two different textures of a velcro
3. He can observe and work out how to use a velcro
4. He can learn to build shapes
5. He can learn to name shapes
6. He can associate shapes to single-coloured wooden sticks
7. He can learn to be quiet at a restaurant while playing with this unconventional and educational home-made toy ;)

Method

The only thing there's to do is stick the velcro on the sticks! :)

Now, because you can do pretty much anything, you can actually stick the velcros anywhere you want.
I did mine the simplest way you can:

• A soft velcro on one end and a grip velcro on the opposite end but same facing side. 
• A soft velcro on one end and a grip velcro on the opposite en but reverse side.

My original plan was to stick them all on one facing side but it turned out I couldn't close the triangle, ah ah!

But if you have older kids, you can try sticking velcro on the half-length to make more complicated shapes.

I tested these yesterday afternoon when we went to a pizzeria:

I took a box of his favourite toys, including the godforsaken Woody and BuzzLight, and our Velcroed Popsicles!
To my delight, he played with them more than any other toy that I had brought for him. Result!

I showed him how the velcro textures were different on each side of the sticks and how they stick together, and how - of course - they make weird noise when you try to separate them.

He was mesmerized by the magic glue, but then his 2 and 1/2 yo spirit took over and the shapes became weapons to dismantle while making big gestures and funny faces.

I loved watching him play with this oh-so-simple toy and it gave me the confidence that I can find, and easily make, educational and fun activities for him.

What do you do to keep your LO busy when out at a restaurant?

Easy Cartoon Popsicles for toddlers made up of only 2 things

Thank you for dropping by and visiting my creations blog.

Today, I'm going to start a new label called Toddlers Craft!
As my boy is now approaching the evil age of 2 years and 1/2, I need to start thinking about fun activities for him to do that are educational as well as interesting.

Unfortunately my boy is not exactly the crafty type of person like his mum is, he absolutely hates anything messy so there hasn't been any chance of painting, drawing, water playing yet.

He's not too much into his toys, as expected for his age and despite rotating them, but he absolutely loves TV stuff. OK, my own fault for introducing him to Toy Story, Monsters Inc, Noddy and Peter Rabbit. But let's admit it, we can't survive without TV, if only to tame his hyperactivity!

In my rare moments of free time, I like to browse Pinterest for anything exciting including crafty things to do with Nuno. That's when I found a lot of crafts made of wooden sticks!

Usually, I absolutely hate wooden things because it makes my teeth grind! I know, weird! Some people have this with Styrofoam.

Cartoon Popsicles Made with Only 2 things

Material



Method

1. Wooden popsicles

I purchased my wooden sticks from Amazon, you have the choice between normal size ones (ice cream style) or the Jumbo ones (like at the doctor's), natural colour or rainbow coloured. I bought both sizes but used the smaller ones for this activity. And of course I chose mine rainbow - obviously ;):

2. Print outs of your toddler favourite cartoons
My boy is in love with Disney and CBBies characters!!

I copied-pasted images from Google Image onto PowerPoint because it was easier to guesstimate how big they were going to turn out. I then printed them out on thick drawing paper and loosely cut around them.

=> I then glued them onto the popsicles with a bit of PVA craft glue.

Et Voila:

My boy absolutely loves them. When I first showed them to him, his eyes sparkled with recognition. It was a special moment!

See you Soon,