Tongs. These are brilliant pieces of equipment for exercising the small hand muscles needed for skills such as writing and using scissors.
I have to admit I rarely use tongs for their intended purpose in the kitchen but we have a collection purely for fine motor play activities.
The letter T in our Fine Motor A to Z series gave us the perfect excuse to create a Tong Fine Motor Play activity.
The activity also gave us the opportunity to use the latest addition to our fine motor tool collection.
Whilst shopping the other day I couldn’t resist purchasing the Kikkerland Whale Salad Tongs. The whale tongs joined our Piggy Wiggy Tongs and our wooden tongs.
Continuing with the letter T theme, I decided to use transport as the manipulative that my son would pick up using the tongs.
These included small Thomas The Tank Engine figures, Disney Cars 2 figures and miniature construction vehicles erasers.
I left out three containers that my son could sort the transport into.
My son couldn’t resist using the Whale Tongs. He immediately picked them up and started to sort the transport.
Despite insisting on holding the whale upside, he found the tong easy to use. He quickly sorted the transport into the three containers.
After emptying the bowls to start again, my son turned his attention to the Piggy Wiggy Tongs.
These required him to separate his thumb and index finger further apart. This is the same skill needed when using scissors.
My son needed to concentrate harder in order to pick up the transport and place them into the container.
Up until now, the wooden tongs have been my sons favourite fine motor tool so he couldn’t resist using having a go with them in this activity.
However, once he had used all three tongs my son returned to the whale tongs.
He then spent the rest of the activity seeing how quickly he could pick up the transport with the whale tongs.
I have a feeling our new whale tongs will get plenty of use in future activities.
RELATED READING:
Transport Calm Down Sensory Bottle
33 Ideas for Transport Themed Sensory Play
Playful Activity Plans for Your Active Toddler
Thanks for introducing me to the whale and piggy tongs. I love having a collection of various tongs to incorporate fine motor development in a fun way for children.