Corks
My son like many kindergarteners has been focusing a lot on writing this year and while they hone their letter formation they are also working on spelling and punctuation. It’s a lot to coordinate. If the physical task of writing is using up all their concentration the more complex ones just add to the possible frustration . The best thing parents can do is to find ways to build those fine motor skills. This task was NOT easy for my son. What I did with this was to balance it with an element he loves ( math) in order for him to do all 4 corks instead of giving up with the first. Don’t be afraid to make something hard just decide what your goal is. That said had there been a complete refusal I would have adapted it using larger objects.
- Gather your materials. You will need some wine corks or rectangular blocks and many elastic bands.
- Wrap the bands around the corks. Wrap a different number of bands around each. Make some tight and other looser.
- Invite your child to make a prediction about how many rubber bands are on each cork. No need to write it down but if you want to add some writing into the activity by all means grab some paper and a pencil with an eraser.
- Start unwrapping. A lot of things come easy to my son so challenges are not always welcomed. I reminded him not to give up that we needed to find out how many were on these little corks. After getting them off count.
- Repeat with the other corks.
This one was wrapped very tightly and he got frustrated initially but oh wait for it… I got a smile out of him too. I slipped in a little chat about how over coming challenges is way more fun that doing a task that is easy to start with. 
Other ways to easily build your child’s fine motor skills are to play with play dough, beading or lacing , sewing and needle arts, playing with stickers, and our favorite Lego. Check out more ideas from all over the web on our Fine Motor Pinterest Board.
We are super excited about Christmas but even I can get overloaded with Christmas crafts sometimes. This snowflake is a nice easy winter craft that appeals equally to toddlers as it does to older kids and even adults. I love using corks as painting tools because they are easy for all ages to grab and even though most of us would stamp them using the end they can be rolled in paint too! My daughter liked this but got a wee bit frustrated with the sticky glitter glue. I will tape the snowflake down on the table with painter’s tape next time to help alleviate that.
- Gather your materials. You will need some blue construction paper, scissor, white paint, silver glitter paint or glitter glue and a paper plate.
- Start by folding your paper in 4.
Then cut into a snowflake. 
Open.
- Put paint and glitter into the plate and add corks ( real corks work better for a circle print) .
- Invite your artist and create.
Most kids will stamp the corks down but do not correct them if they roll the cork, there is no wrong way to do this. 
- Let dry and add to your kid art museum ( aka your fridge) , wall or window!
It’s getting to that time of the year when our time outside is limited by bad weather ( we still go out, just don’t stay out as long) and I am looking for new and frugal ways to engage my kids on long days . This idea came from nothing other than staring at my supplies and thinking ” I wonder if this will work?” and it did. Using corks and buttons to build with is fun but add in some Velcro dots and it’s even more fun. After playing I realized how multi-sensory this activity really is with the texture of the Velcro both soft and spiky, the sound of it pulling apart, the hard buttons and the softer corks. Did I mention we had a blast with them too?
- Gather your materials. You will need a board or shoe box lid, some self adhesive Velcro dots, big craft buttons and corks.
- Start by putting Velcro dots on the shoe box lid, I only gave her hook dots. I like using a lid like this so that any corks that fall don’t roll too far away and create frustration. Peeling the stickers off and placing them on the lid is fantastic for fine motor development.
- Press them on well.
- While she did that I put them on buttons and corks. I put one hook and one loop dot on each cork and some buttons got one of each , some just got loop dots.
Ideally try to give it 24 hours before playing after putting the dots on. If your child is insistent as mine was ( what 2 year old wouldn’t be?) you can give them only a few and then return to the rest after 24 hours when the adhesive is at it’s strongest. In my experience none of the dots came off the buttons at all even right after popping it on. The natural corks didn’t fare as well, they stuck fine but when we went to reposition a handful came off. - Play ( now or later) .
- Don’t they look like something out of a Dr. Seuss book?
- She loved the buttons !
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