Your little one will love this baby activity, scooping and pouring! So much fun and great for vocabulary and motor skill development.
I gave N, 18 months, a chance to experiment with scooping and pouring. Yes it was a mess and yes she tried to put it in her mouth, but it was FUN!
I put a shower curtain liner down on the kitchen floor (my favorite parenting hack) and gave her a bowl of colored rice and colored noodles and then on a different day a container of beans. With spoons, cups, and shovels she scooped and poured. She liked picking the colored pasta out of the rice the best.
This is a great time to use words like full/empty, scoop/pour, and in/out.
When the fun is over, fold up the shower liner and shake it out outside. Make sure to do it on a day you were planning to sweep anyway. =)
Allison Brewer
Saturday 23rd of March 2013
I did this with my 15.5 month old son. He wasn't really into scooping, rather shaking the beans/rice/pasta out of the scoops. He also was very in to all the different textures. It was a total mess, but fun for him. I could see his little brain wheels turning. I like the idea of using cereal. I think I will do that next time.
Anonymous
Friday 21st of October 2011
Instead of a shower curtain, I washed and brought indoors our turtle shaped sandbox/pool to keep all those beans and rice contained. It didn't work perfectly since there is just something about dumping the contents onto the outside of the pool, but it keeps my little guy busy for 15-20 minutes easily.
Jackie H.
Saturday 13th of August 2011
We did this with our Parent Educator from parents as teachers. She also brought small items (not small enough to choke on) to hide in the beans and then the boys could scoop up the beans and find the objects. For Tyson (19 months), I put the object in the beans and show him and then let him look for it.
Jen @ lil Mop Top
Saturday 13th of August 2011
Fun! I am always worried about the babies choking (which makes it not fun for me!) so I started using cereal for scooping and pouring with the boys. Much less stress for me until the 1 year old learns not to eat everything in sight. :)