Tub Scoop and Pour

What you need

• ice cream tub
• rolled oats
• spoon
• bowl

How to do it

1. Half fill a large ice cream tub with rolled oats and set it on a towel on the floor.
2. Give your toddler a spoon and a small bowl and show them scooping oats from the tub into the bowl.
3. Let them scoop, pour and tip the oats back into the tub in any order they like.
4. Top the tub up with more oats if it starts running low.

Why it matters

Scooping with a spoon and tipping it into a bowl without spilling too much is the same wrist control a tap or a watering can will need later. The tub once held ice cream and now holds oats, one more job before it goes in the recycling.

What they're learning

Hand-eye coordination

Guiding a full spoon from tub to bowl without spilling ties sight to careful hand movement.

Focus & persistence

Scooping and pouring again and again keeps them on the same small task.

Cause and effect

Tipping the spoon and watching oats fall is a clear, repeatable result.

What to look for

Watch for them slowing the pour down when the bowl is close to full, rather than tipping the whole spoon in fast.

A tip

Stay close the whole time the oats are out, keep them on a towel, and sweep up once play is done.

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