It is apple season(although we eat apples right throughout the year) and a good theme for learning! Use recyclables with pompoms to make this fun fine motor apple tree activity your toddler and preschooler will love!
Our Fine Motor Play with Recyclables activity is such a hit, so I made this apple tree one and, you guessed it, a success! It develops fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination and color recognition too!
What you need:
- a flat box(like a beer box)
- cardboard roll
- paper
- marker
- green, red and yellow paints
- glue
- green, red and yellow pompoms
Glue the paper to the box(one can paint the box white if you do not wish to use paper). Then draw a tree shape on the paper. Make holes for the pompom apples. These holes can differ in size if you have a variety of sizes of pompoms. Paint around the holes to “color code” the holes.
Finish painting the tree and make a hole for the cardboard roll “tree stump”.
I placed our tree on our spool table that has a hole in the middle. The hole has a glass which I filled with cotton wool to help the tree stand firm. I just covered up the glass with a piece of felt to make it more pretty.
Ready to play! The child can simply pick up a pompom and find the corresponding color to push it through, or, one can play with a color dice to decide which color to go for. Older kids might like to be timed to see how quickly they can get all the pompom apples through the holes.
Fun fine motor practice with a DIY fine motor apple tree toy!
Also see this Apple Tree Busy Box and Apple Tree Quiet Book page, perfect for fine motor practice.
Leave a Reply