It is so important to find fun ways to develop young childrens fine motor skills in order to help them to learn to write and control small tools as they get older. We do lots of drawing, mark making and playing with play dough each day, but it's also fun to do something a little bit different, and that's why we're loving playing with Aquabeads.
We were asked to take part in an Aquabeads Party and we were sent a bit pack full of loads of Aquabeads materials to try out. The kids were so excited to get into those boxes and get started. So my first bit of advice would be to set things up when the kids aren't around if possible, I let mine play outside while I opened up all of the little packages of beads so that they wouldn't end up pouring them everywhere!
Then when the kids did come inside they were excited to see that everything was ready for them to get started making their creations.
Ivy had a small set of Aquabeads to try out, even though she's only 2 1/2 and not really old enough to use them, I kept a close eye on her and she happily picked up the beads and placed them onto the tray. She didn't follow the pattern of the picture underneath, but she placed her beads carefully onto the tray to make a very colourful teddy bear face.
Ethan used a larger Aquabeads set and followed the pattern to make a lovely rocking horse first, then a heart shape at the side of the tray. After that he decided that he wanted to make a design of his own, and created a little submarine on the other side of the tray. He did most of this by hand, picking up one bead at a time and placing it in its spot, but did also try using the tool to pick up the beads. Both ways are great for fine motor skill development and coordination.
Once his designs were finished he used the spray bottle to spray them fully with water which fuses the beads together.
He then lifted up the tray slightly and tiled it to let the excess water drain off, before leaving it to dry for one hour.
The great part is that the kids have made these little designs that they're really proud of, the kits pack up really easily and now that they have the hang of it they'll be able to go back and make more designs whenever they like. And we've got another fun fine motor activity to do at home!
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* This is a review post, we were sent a variety of Aquabeads to play with and write our honest opinions about.*
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