Busy little hands

Let’s face it, busy little hands are always going to be touching, poking, squeezing, pinching and poking! Here are some ideas to help parents/carers to embrace this natural part of our children’s development.

Lids

Ah, lids. We talk about lids a lot at Nature! I have a few large water containers with lids. Over the years, different children have been endlessly fascinated with taking the lids off and putting them back on. Sticks, dirt, water, cars, fingers and rocks are regularly posted through the small hole in the top when the lid is off. There are kids who love to pour the water out, into a jug or bowl and then attempt to pour the water back in again. Outside spaces are perfect for these experiments as any mess is easy to manage. All you need is a bit of time, a water container and some patience.

Lids can twist on and off or flip up and down. Some are attached and some come right off. They come in all different shapes and sizes! You don’t need to buy anything special, just find a bottle, jar, pan or container that you already have at home.

There seems to be something so deeply irresistible about lids, so you may only have to leave them around and see how your child responds. Give them plenty of space to explore, discover and play. If your child is taking a while to work it out, simply give them even more space and time!

Dough creations

Dough provides valuable opportunities for small hands because it can be squeezed, rolled and poked. You could make salt dough, playdough or pizza dough.

Salt dough is great for outdoors as it’s quite firm in consistency. You can find a recipe and more ideas for salt dough by clicking here .

Cooking with dough gives your child/ren a chance to use their hands to mix, pull, roll and then eat! If you’re a family that celebrates Easter, you could have a go at hot cross buns. If not, perhaps your family have a bread recipe passed down from older relatives that you could try with your kids.

Picking fruit and vegetables

Little hands can be very useful for harvest time! Climbing a tree to pick apples, or reaching small fingers into the strawberry patch to pick a strawberry.

Picking food straight from a pot or garden plot is fabulous for so many reasons. There is physical skill involved, but also lots of language to learn about colour, texture and taste.

Reluctant eaters could become otherwise in the garden. I have known many children who will not eat food served to them on a plate, but who will happily pick cucumbers or snow peas straight from the garden and start munching!

If you don’t have much space, even one small pot of herbs will make a good start.

If you’re interested to read more about this, here is a link to a blog about picking berries.

Good luck watching your children use their hands to explore and discover. There are sure to be many adventures awaiting you!