Here’s an activity that is super easy to prepare, set up and one to keep your little one busy on the road trips too! If your little Einstein enjoys shapes and is up for a challenge, he/she will surely enjoy this activity.

A post shared by Khushboo S- Mummy Blogger (@mumzynotebook) on Jan 31, 2018 at 2:17am PST

I prepared this activity for my two year old daughter, who already knows her shapes and colours. With that knowledge, the next step was to develop her problem solving skills. This activity does just that and helps train the little ones to make their own decisions and aim to find a solution.

Materials:

10 Popsicle sticks

Various coloured felt

PVA Glue

Scissor

Ruler (optional)

Instructions to prepare the activity:

1. Line up two popsicle sticks next to each other, so that you have 5 pairs of popsicle sticks.
2. Using a ruler, measure the width of the two popsicle sticks together. This measurement is going to be the width of your 2D shape that will be glued to the sticks.
3. Cut out various shapes, that your toddler is aware of, keeping in mind that you must not exceed the measured width.
4. Cut each shape in half and stick each half on two popsicle sticks. Repeat again, so that you have two shapes of 2 pairs of popsicle sticks.(Refer to pictures)
5. Allow the felt shapes to dry.

Directions to play:

Lay out the 10 popsicle sticks in a random order, in front of your toddler. Just make sure that they are facing the right way up, unless you think your toddler can work it out. Now encourage him/her to find the matching pairs of shapes and line them up next to each other. Watch how they learn to make decisions, try to solve through trial and error and reach to a conclusion.

For older children:

If this isn’t challenging enough for your toddler, there are other ways you can raise the bar.

1. Use shapes of the same colour, so that they can’t use the colours as the deciding factor to make their pairs.
2. Put more than two shapes on the popsicle sticks.
3. Use shapes such as pentagon, hexagon and octagon to improve their vocabulary.
4. Have your child prepare the activity from scratch and allow him/her to think about symmetry.

Did you enjoy this craft? Leave a comment if you would like to see more similar crafts.

In the mean time, you can enjoy reading the following crafts:

Toddler DIY Craft: Cloth pegs and colours

UAE Flag Pinwheel (with a printable)