Strengthening your child’s fine motor skills is so important, and this happens through repeated experience working those muscles. Slot Drop or also known as ‘Posting’ is another great activity to help strengthen their finger and hand muscles. They will specifically be working on that pincer grasp-great preparation for holding a pencil!
Materials
- Empty canister (I used an empty Gerber Lil' Crunchies can and an empty corn starch can that I cleaned out)
- Scissor or box cutter to cut an opening in the lid
- Popsicle sticks or bottle lids (I used both. I saved lids from plastic water bottles, Gatorade bottles, and milk/juice lids)
- Optional: pictures, construction paper, contact paper or clear packing tape to decorate the outside of the canister
Directions
- Cut an opening that is slightly larger than the object (popsicle stick or bottle lid) that baby will be dropping into the can.
- Optional step: Decorate the outside of the cannister with construction paper and/or pictures. Seal with contact paper or clear packing tape so that baby doesn’t rip or peel it off. This makes the toy more aesthetically pleasing.
- Show baby how to drop the different objects into the can.
- Offer the bottle lid or popsicle stick to baby for them to try. This takes practice and hand-eye coordination.
- Once all the objects have been dropped into the can, show baby how you can turn the can upside down and shake the objects back out.
Riley's experience
Riley found the popsicle drop to be much easier than the bottle lid drop. She quickly figured out how to fit the popsicle sticks into the slot and loved to shake the full container. She is still figuring out that she needs to flip the can over and shake it to get the popsicle sticks back out though. The bottle lid drop requires her to be more precise with her drop which she is still working on figuring out. She would like to drop the lid flat rather than tilting the lid on its side to fit it through the slot.
Benefits
- Problem solving skills: Your child is working on problem solving skills as they try to figure out how to fit the objects into the slot.
- Fine motor skills: Your child is working on their pincer grasp as they pick up each object, manipulate it to fit in the slot, drop the object, and shake the canister.
- Object permeance: Your child is gaining an understanding that the object doesn’t disappear once it’s been dropped in the container-it’s still there. They demonstrate this when they shake the can, peer through the slot, and try to empty the objects back out.
- Hand-eye coordination: This activity requires hand-eye coordination to fit the objects into the slot.
- Language development: Your child is hearing contextual vocabulary as you narrate what is happening. They might here words such as lid, popsicle stick, turn, grab, hold, drop, shake, pinch, etc.
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