Pompom Toilet Paper Roll Activity

Are you ready for another simple toddler activity? Well good, you're in luck! I found this pom pom toilet paper roll activity on Pinterest. This activity is perfect for those 12 months and older. As always please complete all activities with adult supervision. I loved the look of the activity and the skills that it works on, so I started saving up some toilet paper and paper towel holders. After a week or so I was ready to go!

Here's what you'll need:

• Toilet paper and/or paper towel cardboard holders
• Blue painter's tape (it's safe for your walls)
• Pompoms, small styrofoam balls, and/or cotton balls

We found that the paper towel rolls seemed to work best. Maci squished a few of the toilet paper holders and the items would get stuck inside the holder. I was hoping that I had colorful pompoms from my teaching days and I did, but they were small enough that I was worried that Maci might choke on them. So we opted for small styrofoam balls and cotton balls that we had on hand. The styrofoam balls worked the best for us. They are small and sturdy. Maci did bite the styrofoam balls, so as always please use adult supervision when completing an activity! 

For this activity we used blue painter's tape on our walls. This particular tape works well and does not rip off the paint when removed from the wall. Next time I think I might get a thick poster board and use duct tape on it. Maci was trying to take the tape off every so often. 

How to Complete This Activity:

1. Find an open flat, vertical surface or use a thick poster board.
2. Using the blue painters tape, tape the paper towel and/or toilet paper rolls to the surface of your choice.
3. Arrange the tubes how you would like. You can have your child help as well. Then tape them horizontally so when the objects are dropped in from the top they will fall out the bottom. You can make a fun maze by allowing the objects of your choice, drop from one tube into another. 
4. Model for your child how to put an object into the top and see it drop.
5. Model how to use a pincer grasp (thumb and pointer only) to grab each pompom and/or object one-at-a-time.

                       

Modification for an older child or to make this activity a little more challenging:

You could work on colors, counting, and or sorting. You could color or paint each tube a different color and have your child place the matching colored object in that tube. Your child could name each color as they place the object in the tube. Or you could call out a color and have your child find that colored object and place it in the tube. Counting could be worked on in a few different scenarios. They can count each object as it is placed into the tube, count the objects as they sort by color, or count the different tube. 

Skills Worked On:

• Language/Vocabulary: Hearing and talking about different objects (styrofoam ball, pompom, paper towel tube, toilet paper tub, longer, shorter, hole, soft, smooth, fuzzy, hard, colors, numbers, etc.) 
  
• This is a great way to practice colors. Point to an object and say to your child, "This pompom is green. What color is this pompom over here?" "Can you please find the purple pompom?" 
• Cognition: Learning and understanding new concepts (drop, top, bottom, fall, sort colors, counting)
• • Talk to your child about the concepts under, in, on top, bottom, out, up, down, fast, slow, sort, count.
• Fine motor skills: Strengthening and coordinating the muscles of their hands by using a pincer grasp to hold onto the objects that they are working with. They are also working on bilateral coordination by using their hands together in different ways.
  
• Try having your child use a pincer grasp (thumb and index finger) to pick up and sort the objects.
• They can transfer the object from one hand to another.
• They can practice holding multiple objects in one hand and let go of them one by one.
• Sensory: Your child will get to see and feel a variety of objects. In some cases like mine, Maci even tried tasting them. Not highly recommended, because of choking hazards. I had to watch her like a hawk and remind her that we put the objects in the tubes, not our mouths. 

Let me know how your little one enjoyed this activity or if you have any questions!

- Marrisa