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    Best STEM Toys for Toddlers: Fine Motor Coordination For Little Ones

    10.1KViews Modified: Feb 8, 2022 · Published: Apr 1, 2016
    By Jacqueline 10 Comments

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    Best STEM Toys for Toddlers: Fine Motor Coordination For Little Ones. Toddler toys in a basket,

    Updated 9/2017

    The STEM movement is gaining momentum at home, as parents turn to STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) games and toys to teach these critical concepts during early childhood. Ten years ago, STEM toys were hardly a blip on manufacturers’ radar; today, they line the shelves of toy stores around the country. it is funny, but below are a plethora of the “toys” (though less expensive and less glamorous for marketing), that we older mamas used to use.

    Since your school at home is now underway for this year, it seems a good time to share some ways to keep the little ones busy with STEM. I am sharing this post by my friend Joy Kincaid over at Artful Homemaking, with her permission:

    As I was thinking about the coming school year, I decided to make a list of activities that our soon-to-be-three-year-old would enjoy doing. Some of these activities he can do completely unassisted, but others will require a bit of help from an older sibling or Mom (I plan time into our schedule for each child to have a one-on-one playtime with our preschooler, and I also plan to have a preschool time with him).

    Some of the activities would be suitable for a younger child (toddler), but some of them involve small parts and possible choking hazards. Since our youngest will be three next month, he is past the stage of putting things in his mouth, and I have included some activities for him that contain beads, buttons, dry beans, and other small items.

    Know your own child and use common sense when you are picking activities for little ones.  Be safe!

    The key to not losing your sanity is to only get one or 2 things down at a time and to let them help you put them away when done.

    Best STEM Activities for Little Hands:

    1.  Lauri Shape and Color Sorter

    Fine Motor Coordination: Keeping Little Ones Hands Busy. Lauri shapes and colors

    2.  Wooden Block Cart (ours has been well-loved).

    Fine Motor Coordination: Keeping Little Ones Hands Busy. Wooden block cart

    3.  Colored toothpicks in a cheese shaker (we got ours from Walmart years ago). 

    For whatever reason, toothpicks and a bottle with the right sized holes have always been a favorite with our little ones.

    It will sometimes occupy them for a long time.  Something about sticking the toothpicks into the holes fascinates them.

    Fine Motor Coordination: Keeping Little Ones Hands Busy. A glass bottle with toothpicksFine Motor Coordination: Keeping Little Ones Hands Busy. colorful toothpick activity

    4.  I Spy Bottle This cost me nothing to make, as we already had all of the supplies here at home.  I just gathered little random items and tiny toys and then filled the bottle part of the way with bird seed.  Then they turn the bottle to find the items hidden in the bird seed.  My little one will need someone to do this with him, probably.

    Fine Motor Coordination: Keeping Little Ones Hands Busy. An I spy bottleFine Motor Coordination: Keeping Little Ones Hands Busy. An I Spy bottle list of contents

    5.  Wooden String- a -Farm (This has also been a favorite for years.)

    Fine Motor Coordination: Keeping Little Ones Hands Busy. Wooden farm animals called String-a-farm

    6.  Primary Lacing Beads

    Fine Motor Coordination: Keeping Little Ones Hands Busy. primary lacing beads

    7.  Playdough and playdough toys.  I usually make my own playdough, and the toys were given to us by grandparents.

    Fine Motor Coordination: Keeping Little Ones Hands Busy. playdough and playdough toys

    8.  Nuts and Bolts

    Fine Motor Coordination: Keeping Little Ones Hands Busy. nuts and bolts

    9.  Wooden Stencils (We’ve had these for years, so I’m not sure the ones I’m linking to are exactly the same…)

    Fine Motor Coordination: Keeping Little Ones Hands Busy. wooden stencils

    10.  Straws to String (Cheap straws, cut into pieces and used for stringing with a plastic yarn needle.)

    Fine Motor Coordination: Keeping Little Ones Hands Busy. straws to string

    Manual Dexterity and Motor Coordination for Small Hands

    11.  Pattern Matching With Pony Beads. I used some wooden toothpicks and cut the ends off.  Then I glued one bead onto one end.  I made a pattern with the beads, and then glued the other end, using my glue gun.

    Fine Motor Coordination: Keeping Little Ones Hands Busy. Pony beads

    Fine Motor Coordination: Keeping Little Ones Hands Busy. Pony beads

    This will be an activity my preschooler will need help with.  He already knows all of his colors, though, so he may actually be able to do it.

    Fine Motor Coordination: Keeping Little Ones Hands Busy. Pony beads activity with glue gun

    12.  Pony Beads and Pipe Cleaners  (Little ones think it’s fun to thread the beads on the pipe cleaner.) I got the plastic trays here (Brawny Tough Plastic Art Trays).  They work great to hold a preschool/Montessori-type activity or art project.

    Fine Motor Coordination: Keeping Little Ones Hands Busy. Pony beads and pipe cleaners

    13.  Large Buttons and an Ice Cube Tray (They can sort the buttons by color, or younger children can just put them in the ice cube tray compartments.)

    Fine Motor Coordination: Keeping Little Ones Hands Busy. Sorting buttons

    Fine Motor Coordination: Keeping Little Ones Hands Busy. Sorting more buttons

    14.  A Basket of Really Large Buttons  (These can be sorted by color or shape, or just played with.)

    Fine Motor Coordination: Keeping Little Ones Hands Busy. basket of large buttons

    I got the above basket and the below divided tray at the dollar store.

    Fine Motor Coordination: Keeping Little Ones Hands Busy. Sorting activity

    15.  Stacking Cups

    In this activity box I have stacking/nesting cups and various items to sort and/or just play with.

    Fine Motor Coordination: Keeping Little Ones Hands Busy. shells, buttons, etc to sort into cups

    Stacking cups are also fun with the pony beads.  He filled the whole tray with cups and then wanted to put beads in them.  It kind of became a pouring activity then.

    Fine Motor Coordination: Keeping Little Ones Hands Busy. Stacking cups and pony beads

    16.  Pom Poms, Tongs, and Tea Light Holders

    Fine Motor Coordination: Keeping Little Ones Hands Busy. fine motor activity with tongs and pompoms

    17.  Beads, Tongs, and Tea Light Holders

    Fine Motor Coordination: Keeping Little Ones Hands Busy. More tongs and pompoms

    Lacing for Little Hands

    19.  Lacing Cards:  Farm Animals Lacing Cards

    Fine Motor Coordination: Keeping Little Ones Hands Busy. Farm animal lacing cards

    Eric Carle Lacing Cards

    Fine Motor Coordination: Keeping Little Ones Hands Busy. Eric Carle lacing cards

    Friendliest Bug Lacing Cards

    Fine Motor Coordination: Keeping Little Ones Hands Busy. Friendliest bug lacing cards

    20.  Covered Cake Pan with Magnetic Letters (or other magnets) – both from the dollar store.

    Fine Motor Coordination: Keeping Little Ones Hands Busy. magnetic letters on metal cake pan

    Fine Motor Coordination: Keeping Little Ones Hands Busy. magnetic letters on metal cake pan

    21.  Wooden Pattern Blocks and Pattern Block Cards

    More Activities for Little Hands

    Fine Motor Coordination: Keeping Little Ones Hands Busy. Pattern blocks

    22.  Beginner Pattern Blocks (love these!)

    Fine Motor Coordination: Keeping Little Ones Hands Busy. beginner pattern blocks

    23.  Lauri Puzzles

    Fine Motor Coordination: Keeping Little Ones Hands Busy. Lauri puzzles

    Fine Motor Coordination: Keeping Little Ones Hands Busy. Lauri toddler tote

    Lauri Toddler Tote

    Fine Motor Coordination: Keeping Little Ones Hands Busy. Lauri toddler tote

    Magnetic Puzzle (This is a huge hit.  It will sometimes occupy a little one for a long time as they try to “catch” a fish with the magnetic fishing rod.)

    Fine Motor Coordination: Keeping Little Ones Hands Busy. magnetic puzzle

    Fine Motor Coordination: Keeping Little Ones Hands Busy. magnetic fishing puzzle

    Fine Motor Coordination: Keeping Little Ones Hands Busy. farm puzzle

    Farm Peg Puzzle

    Fine Motor Coordination: Keeping Little Ones Hands Busy. farm peg puzzle

    Jumbo Knob Farm Puzzle and Fish Bowl Puzzle (These are wonderful for very little hands.)

    Fine Motor Coordination: Keeping Little Ones Hands Busy. jumbo knob farm puzzle

    Fine Motor Coordination: Keeping Little Ones Hands Busy. jumbo train puzzle

    24.  Latches Board (this is cute, but it’s a little hard for really little ones to do on their own).

    Fine Motor Coordination: Keeping Little Ones Hands Busy. latch puzzle

    25.  Magnetic Hide and Seek Board

    Fine Motor Coordination: Keeping Little Ones Hands Busy. hide and seek puzzle

    Open each door to reveal a surprise…

     puzzle with doors to open

    The items behind each door are magnets.  The child tries to match each item with where it would be found (cow in the barn, cookie in the cookie jar, etc.).

     puzzle with hidden toys

    26.  Bean Bags With a Box or Bucket

    bean bags

    27.  Spray Bottles and Paint Brushes.  I mostly use this activity for outside play.

    They can fill the spray bottles with water and go on the back porch with a sibling and spray to their heart’s content!  I give them a recycled plastic container full of water and a paint brush (from the dollar store) and let them “paint” the deck, the house, or whatever they want.  Another favorite activity, especially when it’s nice outside.

    spray bottles and paint brushes

    28.  Small Items and a Pringles Can

    I started saving these tags from bread bags years ago…I thought, “hey, these are free…what could I do with them?”

    If you cut a hole in the top of a Pringles can, you can have fun inserting small items (like the bread bag tags) in the hole.  You can also use play money, pennies, buttons, beans, or whatever.  It seems to be the act of dropping something in a hole that thrills little ones.

    bread bag closures

     Pringles can with hole cut in top

    29.  Dyed Pasta (I used the instructions here for dyeing pasta.)

    You can sort this, string it, make a necklace, or whatever.  Very cheap and easy.

    dyed pasta to string

    30.  Play Food  (Our children have had so much fun through the years with this wooden play food.  They love the crunching sound they make when you slice through them.)

    wooden play food

    31.  Counting Bears and Balance Scale  (Or you can use any other item with the scale: beans, buttons, beads, etc.)

    counting bears and a scale

    32.  Kumon Workbooks (These are so bright and colorful.  Little ones do need help with these, but they are very quick to do, and then they feel like they did their schoolwork, too!

    Kumon preschool books

    33.  Laminated Worksheets and a Dry Erase Marker  (I took some of the pages out of one of the Kumon books many years ago, and laminated it.  Little ones love to write with the marker and then wipe it off.  Wipe-off books are also fun.

    laminated pages for tracing

    34.  Wedgits

    35.  Duplo

    36.  Lincoln Logs

    37.  Blocks

    38.  Envelopes and Paper (The free envelopes that come in the mail and would otherwise be thrown out.)

    39.  A large cardboard box or boxes (They can use this for a car, a boat, a house, or whatever their imagination dictates.)

    40.  Bubbles (On the back porch with an older sibling.)

    41.  Cars and Car Mat (the car mat was a gift from Grandma)

    42.  Lauri Pegs and Pegboard

    43.  Wikki Stix

    44.  Magneatos

    45.  Dress Up Box (our box is filled with Grandma’s dress shoes, old dresses, vests, construction hats, bonnets, fire hat, clip-on earrings, purses, wallets, long strings of beads, velvet jackets, bandannas, and other fun stuff.  🙂

    So, there’s my list!  It may sound/look like a lot of stuff, but keep in mind that we have been collecting these items for 13 years (since our oldest daughter’s birth).  We knew we wanted to invest in quality wood toys, and we got our first set of wooden blocks when she was just a tiny baby.  And they are still going strong!

    The grandparents also know that we love to receive educational items and art supplies for gifts, so a lot of them were given to us.  I also try to take advantage of free/cheap/used/recycled items.

    Where do we store all this stuff?

    Storing Activities for Small Hands

    As I mentioned in the post about our homeschool room, this basket on top of the bookshelves holds preschool activity bags:

    wicker basket holding preschool activities

    These plastic shoe boxes hold some items:

     plastic shoe boxes

    And other items are kept in the craft cupboard.

    Stacks of shoe boxes with school activities

    For more ideas, check out The Preschooler’s Busy Book, and The Toddler’s Busy Book and this free ABC Snacks Plan.

    What activities keep your little ones busy?

    Meet Joy from Artful Homemaking. You will love her blog and learn much from her journey as a strong helpmeet to her husband and homeschooling mom to five. Her heart is to encourage and build others up in their parenting and homemaking through thrift, downsizing tips, excellent curriculum and homeschooling ideas, and handmade DIY and crafts that are simply beautiful. She also will wow you with healthy recipes. Visit her blog today here. She is one of my favorites, and I know you will be glad you did!

    Joy's family

    Best STEM Toys for Toddlers: Fine Motor Coordination For Little Hands. Preschool hand eye coordination activities and how to use and store them
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    Hi! I’m Jacqueline!

    Thanks for being part of this journey with me.
    Welcome to my own little place on the internet! Home is where I love to be. I feel there is no greater place to incubate souls. These days you’ll find me using my experiences here to write about herbal remedies and natural health research — a big passion of mine. But being a wife and mother is not easy. It is challenging and potentially lonely. I get that. I wanted to create a place to connect with and support other moms for creating a natural, healthy, and fulfilling home life.
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    Comments

    1. Gin

      October 30, 2012 at 10:45 am

      Several of these ideas are new to me. My littlest will enjoy these activities. Thanks!

      Reply
    2. Emily Cook

      October 31, 2012 at 7:44 pm

      this is exactly what I needed to read today! You have given me hope that, with a little planning, tomorrow’s attempt to do schoolwork with the older ones will go more smoothly! 🙂

      Reply
      • Jacqueline

        October 31, 2012 at 11:01 pm

        Emily,
        It reminds me of our early home-schooling years; with a few well-planned days, you and your children will most likely find a groove that works for you. Those good days will fuel you and get your through the bumps in the road. Look for things to praise them for and rememeber Rome wasn’t built in a day! May the Spirit pour out blessings upon your days, friend.

        Reply
        • Emily Cook

          November 01, 2012 at 1:04 pm

          I realized this week that I have NOT been intentional about teaching my younger 2 to play independently. I made a point to do this with the first three.. but… life happened! So this week I am organizing my supplies (turns out I have so many of these things on hand!) and I am focusing on this! Thanks so much for getting me started!

          Reply
          • Jacqueline

            November 01, 2012 at 5:47 pm

            Emily,
            Life does happen, but I’m so glad you have things on hand to facilitate independent play. Better late than never, so it is said! Emily, I think you are a great Mama~ don’t despair…it will come together 🙂

            Reply

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