Today we share a classic fine motor play idea – beads and pipe cleaners which surprisingly we have somehow managed to miss. Since all the fine motor practice needed are tied into many of the kids crafts we do, we haven’t created any dedicated fine motor activity.The last intentional fine motor activity we shared was our frugal stack up structures for baby.

Fine Motor Activity : Glowing bead maze

[box title=”Things we used” color=”#333333″]

• Glow in the dark beads
• Pipe Cleaners
• Styrofoam Sheet
• Black Light

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Our glow in the dark beads came in different sizes and colors and glowed pretty good under black light. Considering that it was not completely dark when we did this  fine motor activity that glow was good enough to elicit a squeal of my child.

I placed our glow in the dark beads in an empty egg carton so that my kid can sort them by shape and size if needed (for the record she didn’t and point blank asked why she needed to sort when I gently suggested sorting by shape )

The pipe cleaners were  just bright neon colored ones which was a perfect addition to this glowing fine motor activity. My 4 year old attached the pipe cleaners to the Styrofoam sheet. If I were working with more than 1 child I’d go for a larger block for the addition place. To keep it frugal it is better to re purpose your packaging material -more space no money spent!

The step was the glowing part! She got to create patterns with the beads while getting much fine motor practice. It was pretty tricky getting the smaller beads through the pipe cleaners.

But she did manage to create a beaded necklace of sorts.

She threaded the beads on a few pipe cleaners and then bent the pipe cleaners and attached them to the styrofoam sheet. Since this part was so much fun she quickly moved on to creating structures with the pipe cleaners. The fine motor activity became a building activity.

Just so you know, we did this fine motor activity inside a big box with a black light on the top. The same box was used as an outdoor art studio, rain forest and a glow art box. The most popular use for our big box – throw ball painting.

I purchased my supplies at a craft store.  Here are similar items that will work. Each image is clickable (affiliate links)

                 Glow in the dark beads        Styofoam Sheet                         Pipe Cleaners

Black Light

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