Fill the Jack-o'-Lantern

from 14 months · 10-15 min · Fine motor

What you need

Draw a big pumpkin face on the outside of the tub with the pen: two triangle eyes and a zigzag smile.
Put the tub on the tray with the bowl of cereal and the spoon beside it.
Show them one spoonful going in, then let them scoop and tip, or drop handfuls in.
As the tub fills, point to the pumpkin face showing up.
Tip it all back into the bowl and fill it up again.

Scooping and tipping is the same movement as feeding themselves, and the face appearing as the tub fills gives every spoonful a reason.

Spoon control: Getting cereal from bowl to tub without tipping it on the way is practice for spoon feeding.
Full and empty: Watching the tub fill up and tipping it out shows them what full and empty look like.
Hand and eye together: Aiming the spoon at the opening asks the eyes to guide the hand.

Watch how they hold the spoon and whether they turn it to tip. Handfuls work just as well and still fill the pumpkin.

Dry cereal is fine if a little goes in a mouth, so it suits this age better than rice or beans. Keep it on a tray for an easy tidy up.

Easier: let them drop the cereal in by the handful and skip the spoon

Harder: draw a line halfway up the tub and see if they can stop when they reach it