Fun with Pipe Cleaners - Fine Motor Skills

Here is a quick idea for fine motor skills that uses something most everyone has - a colander!  You will also need some pipe cleaners, which in my opinion are also something everyone should have. This  fine motor skills activity takes no time to set up and is great for when you need to keep your child busy for a little bit so you can make dinner. Just don't have them do this if you are cooking something that requires a colander.

If you would like to purchase the supplies we used, there are affiliate links provided at the end of this post.

I am lucky to have 2 colanders, but not so lucky to have 3.  Little C was not happy that she had to wait her turn while her sisters did the activity first.  To be fair, at 18 months, C had a tough time with this activity, but she did love playing with the pipe cleaners.

A and B just adored this easy activity.  I gave each of them a colander and a bunch of colorful pipe cleaners.  I showed them how they could poke the pipe cleaners through the holes of the colander to create sculptures.  The girls thought they looked like tunnels.

They kept asking for more and more pipe cleaners (luckily I had a few bags of them) so you might want to have some extra on hand.  They were delighted with their creations and A proclaimed "this is fabulous!" What I really found fabulous was that I snuck in some fine motor work.  As the girls pushed their pipe cleaners into the small holes they were strengthening their fine motor skills.

The finished product! What do you think of their fine motor skills art?

I was inspired by The Imagination Tree where you can find lots of fun ideas.

For more fine motor skills ideas check out:

18 Fine Motor Activities for Kids




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