Shape Sorting Sensory Invitation to Play

Happy Fine Motor Friday! It’s good for toddlers and preschoolers to do a variety of fine motor activities. Having different activities help work different fine motor muscles and hand coordination which is necessary for handwriting. Fine Motor Fridays is all about giving you a bunch of ideas to do with your little ones! Be sure to check out activities from our co-hosts at the end of this post!

This week I am sharing another invitation to play, similar to last week’s Play Dough Invitation with Ants. Invitations to play are an easy way to provide your children with something different to play with independently so you can get something done around the house like laundry or making lunch. Since Caden has recently started going to preschool a couple of mornings a week, I have time to get these set up for him to enjoy when he gets home.

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This week I set up this simple Shape Sorting Sensory Invitation to Play! It incorporates early math skills such as identifying shapes and sorting, fine motor skills and tactile sensory input. Once discovered on the table, Caden started playing with it right away! This activity was so simple to set up! Here are the supplies you’ll need to put together an invitation for your kids!

Supplies:

Bin
Black Beans
Shape Buttons
Fine Motor Tools
Large Tweezers
Small Muffin Tin

Set Up:

Fill bin with black bins and shape buttons.
Arrange bin, muffin tin and fine motor tools on activity table.
Invite children to play.

How to Play:

Children will most likely come up with ways to play with the bin, tools and muffin tin on their own. But here are some ideas you can suggest:

Place a different shaped button in each section of the muffin tin and invite the children to sort the buttons into the tin. They can use their fingers or fine motor tools to grab and sort the buttons!
Use two ice cube trays and make a game of filling the ice cube sections with shape buttons! The first player to fill their tray wins!
Use the fine motor tools to fill the muffin tin with beans!

I did not give Caden any directions on how to play! He was having lots of fun using the fine motor tools to grab the beans and buttons and put them in the muffin tin. Even though he wasn’t playing as I had originally intended, he was still working on fine motor skills, gaining tactile sensory input and being exposed to the shapes which sparked a discussion about different shapes!

As you can see he had a great time making a mess! Thankfully we have a new activity table (bought at a thrift store!) which helped keep all the beans contained, so it wasn’t too much trouble to clean up!