Baking Cup Parachute Drop

Ages:: Preschoolers (3 to 5), School age (6+)
Play time:: 15 to 20 minutes
Setup:: 5 minutes
Where:: Table

Why it helps

This activity helps your child work on using both hands together. It turns simple kitchen items into a fun flying toy. They will practice threading and taping, which builds the tiny muscles in their fingers. These muscles are used for zipping up coats and holding pencils later on. Plus, dropping the parachutes encourages them to stand tall and watch how things move!

Steps

Help your child use a hole puncher to make four holes around the edge of a paper baking cup.
Cut four pieces of yarn, each about six inches long.
Show your child how to thread one piece of yarn through a hole and tie a simple knot.
Repeat this for all four holes until the cup has four strings hanging down.
Gather the ends of the yarn and use masking tape to stick them onto a pom-pom.
Hold the parachute high and let it go to watch it float to the ground!

Safety tip: Small pom-poms can be a choking hazard. Please keep them out of the reach of younger siblings and supervise your child closely.

Make it easier

Tie the knots yourself and let your child do the hole punching and threading.
Wrap a small piece of tape around each yarn end to make a stiff tip that slides through the holes.
Use a coffee filter instead of a baking cup, since the bigger edge makes the holes easier to reach.

Make it harder

Make two parachutes with different weights, like one pom-pom and three, and guess which lands first.
Let your child tie all four knots on their own.
Drop the parachute from a standing spot onto a target, like a bowl or a tape X on the floor.

What to watch for

Notice how your child holds the yarn tip while threading. A short grip close to the end usually gives more control.
Watch whether your child holds the baking cup still with the helper hand while the other hand threads.
If the hole punch is hard to squeeze with one hand, let your child press it against the table with both palms.

Where this helps in daily life

Threading yarn and tying knots are early steps toward tying shoelaces, and they use the same two-handed skills as stringing beads and tying a bow on a gift.

These activities are for home practice and don't replace the guidance of a licensed therapist.