Fun Math Games With Colored Cotton balls

We used colored cotton balls from the dollar aisle for these simply activities. The ones we used were left over from Halloween but you obviously can use any color for these activities. 

My daughter has been learning a lot about patterning in Kindergarten and she has really been interested in it at home as well. So I thought she would enjoy making patterns with the cotton balls.

I used tag board paper to cut strips and then I drew lines to make the squares on each strip. I then colored in the squares with the pattern I wanted on each strip. My daughter also helped me color in the squares. 

When we were done coloring it was all ready for her to make the patterns. It was fairly simple for her to match the cotton balls to the corresponding color so once she completed a strip I asked her to tell me the pattern and then continue the pattern without the color boxes. This added an extra challenge for her. 

Simple but educational way to have fun with patterns and you can use them over and over again! 

We used the cotton balls with my 3 year old to work on sorting. I made color cards ahead of time to correspond with each pom pom color. I wrote the color word in the actual color on each index card. I also pulled out our tweezers and ice cube tray that we purchased from the dollar store and incorporated them into the activity for fine motor practice. 

Writing the color word instead of just having a colored index card is a great way to also incorporate print into the activity! Now we have three concepts being practiced: fine motor skills, sorting, and exposure to print! Not bad for a quick and easy set up! 

My 3 year old used the tweezers to place each pom pom onto the corresponding color card. 

 

Once she was done I asked her to count how many orange ones, black ones etc.. Wait, now we just added counting skills to the list of educational concepts used! Super! 

So many ways to use colored cotton balls but listed here are just a few fun suggestions to get you started! 

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Fine Motor/Math Pom Pom Activity

I love the dollar store almost as much as I love Target! Speaking of the dollar store be sure to check out this post from growingajeweledrose.com: 100 things to buy from the dollar store

Her list is fantastic and she gives examples of how she uses each item for play. We already used many of the materials she suggested but I was also inspired by many other ideas I hadn't thought to use before. She also has wonderful sensory play and bath play ideas on her site so be sure to check it out!

A recent trip to the dollar store inspired this activity. It's not ground breaking or anything, it's been done many times but it's the first time we did it and the girls loved it.  One of the best parts is it all was purchased at the dollar store for $5 and it can be used over and over again!

The materials are simple: pom poms, ice cube trays and tweezers.





The girls used the tweezers to sort the pom poms in the ice cube tray.

 

My 4 year old sorted them by color and counted each color after sorting.

 

 My 2 year old had fun simply using the tweezers to pick up the pom poms. Great fine motor skill activity! Also an example of how this activity lends itself to different skill levels.

 

So simple and fun all for $5!!