Toddler Tuesday ~ Pencil Grip Pipe Cleaners

I seriously love Pinterest.  Here is another great idea I found!  I’ve used this in my classroom and at home with my Little Man.  I handed him a handful of pipe cleaners (red and green to make it a little Christmasy and festive) and I showed him how to poke one through a hole in a strainer.  He thought it was neat and tried several more.  Then I tried encouraging him to use one pipe cleaner and poke it into two holes to make an arch.  He thought that was fun, but it was even more fun when one end popped out while he was trying to poke the other end in.

Lots of fun and super easy.  After he filled most of the holes, I had him turn it over and pull them out one by one from the inside of the bowl.  It added in a bit of problem-solving when it came to removing one that was an arch.  It’s so neat to watch the trial and error process of their thinking!

Do you see the tripod grip?  This is an excellent activity for encouraging proper pencil grip.  It is almost impossible to push a pipe cleaner through one of those tiny holes using any other grip.  The easiest, and therefore most natural, is the tripod grip.  I used this in my classroom with students who needed help holding their pencils.  This was a much more fun and practical activity than the old triangle grips you can add to a pencil.

After poking pipe cleaners for about 10 minutes, Little Man decided the pipe cleaners were even more fun if you were running over them with a car.  In an attempt to add some level of skill and organization, I made a “road” for him.  He helped sort the pipe cleaners to pick the color of the road and later I made a curvy path for him to maneuver.

Overall, this was a fun evening activity.  I’ll try giving it to him again tomorrow while I cook dinner and see how he handles it.

Question:  If your little ones are in preschool, what activities do you do at home to encourage skill-building?

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