Scooping Rice
Developing fine motor skills takes lots of practice for young children. In this fine motor skills activity, your child will use hand-eye coordination to transfer rice from a bowl to an ice cube tray.
Learning Area(s): Physical Development
MATERIALS
- Uncooked rice in a bowl
- Empty ice cube tray
- Two small spoons (teaspoon sized)
- Cookie sheet with edges
LET'S PLAY
Set up the activity by laying out a bowl of uncooked rice on a cookie sheet (so the rice does not spill everywhere). Next, set out two spoons and an ice cube tray on the cookie sheet.
Show your child how to use your spoon to scoop rice and transfer it from the bowl into a section of the ice cube tray. Invite your child to scoop and transfer rice from the bowl into all of the sections of the ice cube tray. Remind her to work carefully to transfer steadily.
As your child transfers rice from the bowl into the ice cube tray, you can encourage her to pretend that she is cooking or baking. She can stir the rice in the bowl, pretend to add other imaginary ingredients, and offer pretend bites of food to taste it (without really putting rice into anyone’s mouth).
TIPS
- You will need to closely supervise your child during this activity so she does not eat or throw the rice.
- You can add math to this activity by encouraging your child to count the number of compartments in the ice cube tray or count each spoonful as she transfers rice into the tray. However, keep the activity playful rather than doing too much “quizzing.”
- Your child will most likely spill rice during this activity, and that’s part of the learning process. You can show your child how to sweep up spilled rice with a small dustpan and brush and encourage her to help you with this clean-up task.
