Material: Cardboard

Mixed Clothespins

For this activity, you will need to use 4 different colored clothespins.

Use the markers or crayons to paint each edge of the cardboard in one color.

Mix the clothespins.

Instruct the child to order the clothespins by matching the edge color to the clothespin color. The child should be using a different finger for each clothespin color (i.e., thumb and index finger for a yellow clothespin, thumb and middle finger for a red clothespin, thumb and ring finger for a green clothespin, and thumb and pinky finger for green clothespin).

For grading place all mixed clothespins on the cardboard and ask the child to pick them up and re-attach it to the right edge.

Push Ins

Start by making the shoe box and the cardboard discs. Cut a narrow slit on one side of the shoe box top and a small circle on the other side. The narrow slit will be used to insert the discs and the small circle will be used to insert the clothespins.

On the cardboard, draw 10 or more circles, about 3 inches in size. Cut out the circles and attach a clothespin to each circle.

Have the child separate the clothespins from the discs and insert the items through the right opening on the shoe box.

You can also place stickers on the circles and matching ones on the clothespins. After the child inserted the items, ask him to take them out of the shoe box and match each circle with the corresponding clothespin. You can also color the circles and the clothespins in different colors, and ask the child to match the items by color.

Potato Counter

For this activity you could use different types of fruit and vegetables. If the child has difficulty completing the activity with potatoes, you can use a softer fruit like bananas.

Cover a strip of thick cardboard or card, and draw boxes like those shown in the picture.

Cut small potatoes into halves and quarters so that they can stand without rocking or tipping.

Place one potato wedge on every box and number each box.

Now your child can stick in the right number of toothpicks into each potato.

For grading: Use random numbers instead of numbers in a sequence.

Paper Rolls Building

Draw 2″ circles on the cardboard sheets. Cut them out, or let the child cut them if the cardboard is not too thick.

Instruct the child to cut 4 narrow slots on each circle, about 1/2″ deep, leaving about 1″ space between slots. Slots need to be as wide as the cardboard is.

Provide the child with different size paper rolls (i.e. toilet paper rolls, paper towels rolls, etc.).
Note: You can use one size roll and cut it into different sizes.

Instruct the child to cut 4 narrow slots on each edge of the roll, leaving about 1″ space between slots. Slots need to be as wide as the cardboard is.

Have the child color the paper rolls.

Let the child connect between the rolls to build structures and sculptures.