Pom Poms!

Presentation:  Pom Pom Sorting

These fuzzy-wuzzy-furry Pom-Poms are awesome...

They remind me of the unbelievably stylish bobby socks I had in 5th grade.  White Keds and matching colored scrunchies in my hair.  Add a Bongo skirt and a Guess canvas tote and I was ALL SET.
I'm totally dating myself, but, like... whateves...

This is a variation on the original "Scooping Pom Pom" tool.
Zozie use to have a bowl of various colored pom poms which he scooped into an ice cube tray one at a time, using a plastic spoon.  This easy tool can be created with an egg carton, an ice cube tray, or any other compartmental container.  Now that he's over 2, I wanted to add levels to the original Pom Pom tool and expand on the basic skill of using a tong to pick objects up. 

I was mostly inspired by the wooden tray I got during our Group Yard Sale.  The tray is a Melissa & Doug wood block sorter.  A few pieces were missing, so I only kept the tray.  It's square, with 4 shapes (Triangle, Square, Rectangle, Circle) punched in.  Something good came out of that crazy sale!  Actually, quite a few things...this being one of them.


The Goal
Counting, color & shape sorting, pincher skill.

The Set Up
1)  A tray with compartments (egg crate, ice tray..)
2)  Handful of colored pom poms
3)  A small basket or box
4)  Tweezers or tongs

The Presentation
1)  Demo the basic clamping motion of using a tweezer
2)  Pinch a Pom-Pom, drop deliberately into a compartment.
3)  Repeat until all Pom Poms are placed, go from left to right.
4)  Reverse presentation, place all Pom-Poms back into basket.
5)  Invite child to try.
6)  Since my tray had shapes, I have cards that show each shape with a corresponding Pom-Pom color, so Zozie can read the card and know which color to place into which shape.

Practical Use for this tool?
Zo LOVES to serve his own plate or ours during meal time.
He also loves his little blue or yellow "compartmental" plate...like his mama's love of in-flight airplane meals.

Check out the work session...