Sunday, September 28, 2008

Sorting Toothpicks


IMG_9169 (Large), originally uploaded by omamom16.

The idea for this activity has been on my mind for a while, so I was glad to finally pull it together this weekend. To complete the activity, O turns the dial on the side of the toothpick dispenser. Either a red or blue toothpick comes out, and she puts it in the appropriate toothpick holder. She LOVED this activity, and she did it at least 3 times in a row. I planned on also having yellow toothpicks, but I used tempera paint to paint the top of the yellow toothpick holder, and it immediately peeled right off. Another annoying thing is that the toothpicks are not uniform in size. Some go in easily, you have to put forth a little effort to get some of them in the holes, and others won't fit at all. I guess I should have tried each toothpick before introducing the work to O :( This will replace the plastic ice cube color sorting work on O's Montessori shelf. That work was too easy for her, and she was totally uninterested in it.

5 comments:

  1. Melissa,
    First of all I LOVE reading your blog and I have already crafted some of these items for my 1 year old. Thanks for writing and sharing your experiences.
    I was thinking maybe a large yellow sticker would work and just poke holes through it. I don't think it would look as neat as the painted toothpick holders, but it may be a solution.
    Have a great day!!!

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  2. Do you have a link to your ice cube tray sorting activity? My oldest is in M school and it would be fun to do some things at home with my 2 y.o. Thanks!

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  3. This looks like fun! Where did you get the materials for this activity?

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  4. Thanks, ladies!
    dreaming mama- That's a good idea, but I remembered this morning that hidden somewhere in the bottom of my guest room closet I have lots of acrylic art paint (from my pre-O painting days), and I'm sure I have yellow. Now I just have to make the decision to go in there and dig around for it. Bleh!

    Karen- I'll upload a picture of the ice cube color sorting to my flickr account. You can click on one of my blog images to get to my flickr account.

    Amy- The clear acrylic toothpick dispenser came from Wal-Mart. The glass toothpick dispensers came from Fred's (similar to Dollar General), and the colored toothpicks (which were the most difficult thing to find) came from the grocery store.

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  5. Great toddler idea! I'll be posting a link to it on my blog soon!

    havingfunathomeblog.blogspot.com

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