Jingle Bell Sorting

 

Big Brother woke up with a fever, so we stayed in our PJ’s all day, read lots of books, and watched entirely too much TV (which is what you’re supposed to do on “sick days”, right?!?!). Although I don’t like seeing my babies sick, having a day at home and having nothing we had to do was a welcome relief to our busy week. It also proved to be a great day to do a few simple yet fun activities!

We had lots of fun with the bag of jingle bells, sent to us compliments of CraftProjectIdeas.com. This is a great activity for a variety of reasons–first of all, it encourages cognitive development through the process of sorting the colors of bells. Secondly, we used tongs and tweezers to pick up the bells which was definitely an exercise in fine motor control.

Here’s what you’ll need:  jingle bells, tongs or tweezers, and an empty egg carton (or other divided container).

1. Put your bells into a shallow dish and your egg carton to the side of it.

 

2. Give your child the tweezers/tongs and let him get started sorting the bells by color by picking them up and placing them in the egg carton.

 

 

 

 

 

Notice the placement of his fingers…this is a great pre-writing exercise to help build those little muscles in the hands!

 

 

 

Little Brother wanted to get in on the action as well.

 

Little Sneak…he apparently abandoned the tweezers and began using his fingers (which I didn’t realize until I was looking at this picture)!

What is your favorite thing to do with jingle bells? Stay tuned…Monday I’ll be sharing a fun and simple craft using jingle bells!

*Please note:  This activity is not for children under three. These small bells are a choking hazard. If you have older siblings and children under three in your house, use caution when doing this activity with the older children and be sure that there are no loose bells lying on the ground.