Tongs - Page 3 of 6

Confetti Rainmakers

Steps:

Invite your child to select several colors of construction paper. Their first job is to use the hole puncher to create a big pile of ‘rain’ or confetti. Encourage them to use both hands to stabilize the paper and squeeze the puncher with strength (great for hand intrinsic muscles!).
Place the paper cup next to the confetti pile. Challenge your child to use the tongs to pick up each tiny piece of confetti and drop it into the cup. This requires slow, careful pincer control and focus!
When the cup is full, encourage your child to stand up and hold the cup high above their head. Then, they can gently tilt it to make the colorful ‘confetti rain’ fall down, providing visual and proprioceptive input before repeating the scooping process.

Safety Tip:
Ensure the hole puncher is used correctly and supervise closely to prevent pieces of confetti from being placed in the mouth, nose, or ears.

Honey Jar

The purpose of this activity is to promote fine motor and visual motor skills.

Preparation:

Step 1: Place pom poms on the table (or on the black of a Lego for an increased challenge).
Step 2: Have your child use the tongs to pick up the pom poms and place them into the jar.
Step 3: To increase the challenge, have your child:

Only pick up the yellow pompoms (to address sorting).
Fill the jar up to a line that you draw in.

Catch-a-Bug

This catch-a-bug activity provides the child with a fun chance to address fine motor skills.

Preparation:
Step 1: Lace yarn through a basket.
Step 2: Place toy bugs (i.e. figurines, erasers, etc.) on yarn.
Step 3: Have the child manipulate the tongs to retrieve the bugs.

For this activity, you can use any type of basket/container.

Treasure Hunt Sensory Bin

This sensory bin activity provides the child with a fun chance to build trust with messy textures through play.

Preparation:

Step 1: Pour sensory bin fillers (cornmeal was used in this photo but you can also use sand, beans, and rice).

Step 2: Hide gems/coins in the sand.

Step 3: Provide tongs for your child to use to retrieve the treasure & place in a separate bowl/treasure box. For an increased challenge, have the child close their eyes and search for the treasure with their hands.

Cooking French Fries

Step 1: Draw straight lines across yellow/orange/brown construction paper. Use markers that draw thicker, darker lines.

Step 2: Fold paper in half, so that the marked lines are visible.

Step 3: Cut along the folded part (down the middle of the page).

Step 4: Cut along the marked lines.

Step 5: Place “french fries” in a container.

Step 6: Add shredded paper for an added effect.

Step 7: Toss with tongs.

Step 8: Enjoy!

Tips:

Warm-up with hand strengthening activities, such as playing with PlayDoh or slime.
Using appropriate-sized scissors and snipping along thicker paper (such as construction paper or card stock) is a good place to start. Once they have reached that skill, we can progress to more challenging tasks, such as cutting along a 6-inch line.
If needed, assist the child’s hand in stabilizing the paper.
Explore adaptive scissors, as needed.