Welcome to week 7 of ‘Toddler Tuesdays’. You can find more of our ‘Toddler Tuesdays’ activities here, we hope you are enjoying them. This week’s activity is Make a Shaker.

You will need -

1 or more plastic bottles with lids, three 600ml water bottles would be perfect.
1/4 cup of rice.
1/4 cup of popping corn or lentils.
1/4 cup larger beans or chickpeas.
Superglue (keep out of reach of children).
Funnel.
Optional - tray, you may like to sit the bottles onto a tray when they are being filled to contain any spillage.

Instructions -

Have all of the items ready on the kitchen table or toddler table before introducing your child to the activity (except the superglue which should remain out of your child’s reach). Have your child either independently, or with assistance insert the funnel and pour the rice, corn or beans into the bottle. Let them feel and describe the rice, corn and beans. Only 1 type per bottle so you will end up with a rice shaker, a popping corn shaker and a bean shaker for example. Have your child remove the funnel then put some superglue around the thread and screw the lid on tight. Superglue should not be given to your child or within their reach. The super glue will only take a few moments to bond and you can continue filling the other bottles in the meantime. Once completed encourage your child to make music shaking their new shakers.

Focus -

This activity promotes sensory exposure to different textures via the beans, rice etc and via the different sounds that the shakers make. An older child may be able to distinguish which shaker is which from the sound that they make without looking at them. They may also begin to play to a beat. Fine motor skills are also practiced in this activity when the child is using the funnel and pouring the rice etc into the bottle.

If you try out one of our activities please let us know what your toddler (and you) thought. Feel free to leave a comment here or post an image or comment to our Facebook page. If you enjoy the activity we would encourage you to share this post with your friends.