Small Manip Shelves for February

The Small Manip Shelf is basically where the children can explore the different toys or games and help develop their small motor skills and also cognitive development with math and literacy.

I go over or demonstrate how to use these each time I change them so they know the basic rules and how to use the different manipulatives.

Here are the fun things I have set out for the month!

WIKKY STICKS I think wikky sticks are so great! There are so many different things you can do with them. Plus the children LOVE to explore with them. This time, I'm setting them out with a white board (which they stick to perfect) and the children can make different pictures, spell, etc.

This is an alphabet puzzle that is perfect for preschoolers. What a great way to help develop our letter recognition and also beginning sounds!

The Fishing Game has been a favorite so far this month. They can't seem to get enough of it!

I got these great fishing poles at Target (or you could easily make your own). The BIG material letters I ordered from a Books Are Fun place when I taught Kindergarten. The children LOVE the big letters because they are easy to recognize and fun to manipulate.

This is a great activity for eye-hand coordination also. It takes focus and the children LOVE it when they get a letter. I usually ask them, "Oh my goodness, what letter did you catch?" or "What sound does that letter make?"

The kids have also loved writing their names with the letters or asking me to help them spell a certain word out.......what GREAT literacy development!!

Valentine beading game........I set out some basic heart beads, string (shoelaces), and pink dice (for valentines time). The children roll a dice or both dice, count, and add that many beads to their shoelace.

This activity is going to help develop one-to-one correspondance, counting, eye-hand coordination and of course, small motor skills!!