Fine Motor Invitation to Play with Bristle Blocks and Beads

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Happy Fine Motor Fridays! Lately Kingston has been obsessed with his bristle blocks. We are constantly making robots and "robot shelves" (I have absolutely no idea what these are, but K is adamant we build them and they kind of resemble a robot tower) out of these blocks. I have several packs of beads from CraftProjectIdeas that have just been sitting in the cabinet waiting to be used, so I thought that I would set out this simple invitation to play and see what K could come up with! 

One of the things I love about "invitations to play" is that you don't have to have a formal activity. It is simply setting out certain materials and allowing your child to play and create the way that they deem fit! I set out a bunch of bristle blocks , several  The first thing Kingston wanted to do was decorate the blocks. So we did. I got right in there with him helping him and making my own designs too. It was really fun! 

The beads were of varying sizes which were fantastic for working Kingston's fine motor skills! We used Pastel Faceted Crystal Beads which were nice and small, white pony beads, and wood beads in different shapes and sizes. We used all of them to make different designs on the blocks. K was super excited saying that the blocks were "ROBOT SHELVES" (whatever you say my love!).

He was enthralled with the different designs we were making. He worked really hard to get the different beads to stick on the blocks. Certain beads only fit in certain places, edges or corners, some in the middle etc. It was fun watching him figure it out. 

As he played, we started making faces on the different blocks. It was really fun choosing which beads to use as the different facial features. 

We made ROBOT faces of course! K loved pushing the eyes in the most, and putting the ears on. 

This turned into a full on robot construction party!! We made multiple robots. The bigger the robot the better for K! He worked at creating the faces using the different beads. 

His focus was adorable. We played together for quite some time. The conversations spurred from this invitation to play were fantastic! He has such a great imagination that the possibilities were endless. 

Look at that angelic face deep in thought. I love this child so! 

Don't forget to check out the other awesome Fine Motor Friday posts: 

Clothespin Name Activity from School Time Snippets

Valentine’s Day Salt Tray Writing Activities from Lalymom

Salt and Glue Watercolor Hearts from Still Playing School

Muffin Tin Fine Motor Practice from Powerful Mothering

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The products from CraftProjectIdeas featured in this post were given to us for free. 

They offer phenomenal projects and fantastic ideas on both their website and their Facebook page.