Tongs Colour Sort
What you need
- a pair of kitchen tongs and a bowl
- an egg box or a muffin tray
- big pom-poms in a few colours
How to do it
- Tip the pom-poms into the bowl and set the egg box beside it.
- Show them how to open and squeeze the tongs, like a crocodile's mouth, to grab one.
- Let them move each pom-pom into a cup of the egg box, one colour to a cup.
- Count how many are in each cup. Which colour has the most?
Why it matters
Tongs need a squeeze to grab and a gentle release to drop, a fiddly pair of moves that a hungry crocodile makes fun.
What they're learning
- Squeeze and release
- Open, grab, let go.
- Sorting by colour
- One colour to a cup.
- Counting a cup
- Which colour has most?
What to look for
Notice them squeezing gently so a pom-pom doesn't ping away.
A tip
Use big pom-poms only, too big to fit through a toilet roll tube, and count them back into the bag when you finish.
Make it easier or harder
Easier: use scrunched balls of paper, which are easier to grab
Harder: call out a number and a colour, like three blues, for them to fill a cup with
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Fine motor activities · Toddler activities with a bowl · Toddler activities with a tray · Toddler activities with a cardboard box