Having had quite a few parties and going through the phase of folding straw hearts for my other half as a teenager..I have amassed straws enough for a party of100 (yes, I'm such a hoarder) so I decided to try use them for last week's home learning activity with Kaitlin.
This activity is pretty easy to do and if you have toddlers that are 2-3 years old, I think this activity would be just right for them to practise using the scissors. K's school had started letting them use scissors since she was in the playgroup class, though they are the kiddy ones that aren't particularly sharp and won't be able to cut straws.
Since I was supervising her, I decided to let her use scissors that were a little bit sharper. Of course, I had to keep my eye on her most of the time which explains why there aren't pictures of her cutting the straws into smaller pieces.
Basically I just got Kaitlin to choose what straws she wanted and decide on the length she wanted them to be and cut it. I had to guide her most of the time when cutting. At times she needed my help her to cut, so I did and I just got her to instruct me where to cut.
We put all the cut up pieces into a box. I demonstrated twice to her on how to put the straws through the pipe cleaners and she got the hang of it quite fast. Do note that pipe cleaners were used instead of string as they are easier for her to handle. I had actually let her try using wool, but she had difficulty in grasping it while putting the straw through. I would eventually let her try using different kinds of string, so of course if you do have kids that have quite a good grasp already, you can always switch to using string or whatever materials use have in mind.
Just like previous home learning activities, I went through the colours with her in English and Mandarin, and told her the names of the different objects we used. I also taught her a little about 'small' and 'big'. I should have taught her 'short' and 'long' as well, but that did not occur to me so I shall introduce those words to her next time.
Since this part did not require much supervision, I decided to prepare for her evening activities. I was next to her and turned around for abit, and before I knew it, she had finished putting all the straws she could possibly fit through the pipe cleaner. So I let her choose another pipe cleaner to work with, and let her do it on her own as well.
When she was done, I just showed her how I twist the ends of the two pipe cleaners together and TADAH! She had a necklace which she made by herself!
Here she is showing off her new necklace which she wore till dinner time! I think we will be doing similar activities soon..in fact I'm already thinking of using pasta to make bracelets with Kaitlin, and of course I will also be thinking of other activities where we could use the crazy amount of straws I have. If you have any ideas on what I could possibly do with all those straws, please share and I would be most happy to try new activities out with Kaitlin.
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