W is for Water Spray Bottles

We are thrilled to be participating in the Everyday Fine Motor Materials From A to Z series, hosted by Still Playing School. Activities that develop fine motor skills work on strengthening the small muscles of the hands. Each blogger has taken an object that is found in almost every home and shared a fine motor activity. We had the letter W. W is for water sprayer bottles!

As it is the summer holidays my 7 year old nephew Stevie was at Nana’s house as well as my 2 year old niece Beth. I bought two water spray bottles from PoundLand for the toddlers and reused a cleaner spray bottle for Stevie. In each bottle I poured in paint so that it covered the bottom and filled up the bottle with water. When I explained the activity to Stevie he requested we had stencils to squirt the paint onto to make the pictures more interesting. Unfortunately I didn’t have any stencils at Nana’s house and have zero artistic ability but I managed to cut out templates for a windmill (which looks more like a lighthouse), a boat and a turtle (Stevie had requested a Ninja Turtle but this was the best I could do).

With the paper pegged onto the fence we let the three children loose with the water spray bottles. Stevie took to it straight away. He had good control over the spray bottle and experimented with spraying from a distance or at short range.

The larger bottles were quite a handful for the toddlers. However, with a little practise they soon got the hang of it. The squeeze factor needed to get the water spray bottles to work strengthens the muscles in the palm of of our hands. These control the movements of our thumb and fingers. When a child has developed strong fine motor skills they are able to control the thumb and fingers individually. At the moment the toddlers are grasping items with their entire fist.

Adam developed a technique of holding the water bottle under his arm and using his body to assist in squeezing the water out. This meant the paint didn’t reach the paper but he had great fun. We resorted to putting the paper underneath Adam to catch his paint. Certainly glad we did this activity outside.

If we were to do the activity again I would definately search for smaller bottles. As they were so big the toddlers found them heavy to hold. The paints were also watered down too much meaning that most of the paint dripped off the paper. It certainly was a great fine motor skill activity though and perfect for a hot summers day.

Remember to check out all the other letters in the series and our other fine motor skills activities.

Equipment:

Water sprayer bottles

Paint

Water

Paper

Black card for stensils (optional)

Pegs to attach the paper to the fence (optional)

Adam was 2 years and 2 months old.

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Emma Edwards

During a difficult pregnancy suffering from Hyperemesis Gravidarum (HG) Emma vowed to make every day an adventure once she had recovered. Adventures of Adam is the outcome of completing a 100 day play challenge with Adam as part of that promise. Emma has a section dedicated to HG friendly play activities so that Mums can still be part of their children’s play whilst they are ill.

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