We found a new pack of beautiful ponytail holders in Maddy’s room the other day. They were hiding in a big box of hair accessories and jewelry from her Fancy Nancy Salon Tea Party Birthday Extravaganza this past winter.
Instead of putting them in our hair, where they belong, we found a new home for them: our toes!
Who knew how difficult these could be for little fingers?
Surprise! We found another fun and sneaky way to work on fine motor skills. . .
- Pony Tail Holder Piggies: I put them on Owen’s toes first, and he giggled. Cora wanted in on the fun, so she picked her color–and I’m always trying to work on colors with her–and I put some on her toes, too.
Maddy had never used these before, so I taught her how to lock one over the other, and she decorated each of her toes. I did the same with Owen and Cora, and after a lot of practice, they got it as well.
We walked around with funny feet for most of the night, and the next day we did it again. No one ever said learning has to always be serious and boring!
Everyday things, like learning how to put a scrunchie or ponytail holder in someone’s hair (or a doll’s hair, or on your toes) is a fantastic way of teaching our little ones how to get their brains, eyes, and hands to work together to complete a simple task. And when everything starts to work in sync, writing letters and numbers, tying shoes, and cutting will be a little bit easier!
Christy
Great idea. Love those fancy toes.
Lenetta @ Nettacow
I'm trying SO HARD to keep my Google Reader to a minimum but it's blogs like yours that make me want to add, add, add! I linked to your blog on my weekly roundup here – thanks for the awesome ideas!
ResourcefulMommy
Now that I'm done giggling hysterically over the toes with ponytail holders (I love the multi-colored toenails on M, by the way!), I have another fun thing you guys can do with those!
I remember from my years of dance (stop laughing) practicing picking up such items with my toes to learn balance and coordination. See who can pick them up with their toes. Then see who can do it without holding on to anything. Next, can they pick them up without holding on AND lift their foot high enough to place them in their hands? Remove all sharp objects from the surrounding area before trying this…
🙂
laylablue
soooo pleased to have found your blog…something for me to aspire to. mine is a bit sparse, but i will keep at it!
you have great ideas, so i've added you to my favorites in the spirit of "work smarter, not harder" a classic comment from one of my professors…
Jessica
just found your blog and i ADORE it!!!!!!!!!!!!
it's bookmarking now!