Easter snuck up on us this year, it’s hard to believe it will be in a couple days from now. To celebrate Easter with our little hands, Educator Linh brought out some kitchen tools and several colourful, eye-catching Easter eggs. A sensory bin filled with water, Easter eggs and tools kept our friends busy for a while.
Scooping and pouring of water seems like such a simple activity but it is such an important skill to develop for younger children. The act of scooping and grasping Easter eggs encourages the refinement of hand-eye coordination and strengthens the small muscles in the hands and fingers, which are essential for later tasks such as writing and self-feeding. Moreover, by engaging with a variety of textures, shapes, and colors, infants experience multi-sensory input that supports cognitive growth and sensory integration. As infants scoop or shake eggs and observe the result of their actions (e.g., an egg making noise, rolling away, or falling into a container), they begin to understand cause-and-effect relationships. When done in group settings (e.g., playgroups), this activity promotes early social skills such as parallel play, sharing space, observing peer behaviour and a sense of independence. Furthermore, the benefits of water play for little hands not only includes developing and strengthening fine and gross motor skills, improving hand-eye coordination, but also introducing early math vocabulary including more, less, empty, full and simply counting as well.
