Day 8 of 25 Days of Christmas Play
This Christmas Tree Sensory Play activity was fun for the senses, cutting, patterning, sorting, and even pre-handwriting!
Big Sister showed Little Guy how to cut shapes from foam sheets. We had these in our crafting bin just waiting for some fun Christmas play…
Each color was a different shape so they could be sorted and used in patterns on the tree.
While the Big Kids worked on the cutting and sorting, the Babies had a fun time fighting playing with some coasters 😉
I stuck the tree shape in the water and when the foam sheets are wet, they stick really well to a white board.
Everyone was so excited when they realized the shapes would stick and had a blast decorating our little tree.
We started out with the tray of water on the table and did some patterns on the tree, putting the colors or shapes one at a time on the Christmas Tree.
I wanted them to use the easel white board to promote wrist extension (bending the wrist back). This is so important in controlled use of those little fingers when they write, cut, tie their shoes…any fine motor dexterity task.
If a child has a flexed wrist (bent forward), they don’t have the control to manage skills using the small muscles of the hand. Think about holding a pencil. If the wrist is bent forward, it is so much harder to write with smooth and controlled pencil strokes. A slightly extended wrist is much more efficient in any fine motor task.
Working on a vertical plane (like the easel) is perfect for promoting an extended wrist!
The Babies just had sooooo much fun with this!
After a bit, we decided to put the whole water tray on the floor…
Oh yeah, that was fun!
They had so much fun with this! The mess really was not bad, with the small amount of water that was in the pan. Even still, the point of our Christmas Play Series is to have fun with your little ones, enjoy a moment of play, and slow down during this hectic, crazy month. If you’re too busy worrying about the potential mess in any play activity, it’s not worth it…put it away and try something else. The kids will sense your stress level and that affects them!
One important thing to keep in mind when doing a (fun) messy play activity… is the sensory inputs, educational aspects, and unique experiences you’re exposing your kiddos to. Not to mention the bonding experience and LAUGHS that will without a doubt result!
Don’t Stress the Mess!
And, at least with this play activity, you can mop up the floor a bit afterwords and combine some cleaning into it 🙂
Look at all those happy little piggy toes!!
I think we are missing the swimming pool days of summer 😉
Have a Fun Day!
More Christmas Play activities you may be interested in:
1 thought on “Christmas Tree Sensory play”
That looks like tons of fun! Hi back from the bloghop! Following you back 🙂
Comments are closed.