Set-up Time: 10 minutes (for the adult doing the set-up)

This fine motor activity can be put together with things that you already have in your

home. If you don’t have cotton balls, you can use small pom-poms instead.

Cut an egg carton in half (see picture). It

can be Styrofoam or cardboard. We will be

using the bottom part for this activity. You

can save the top part for something else or

throw it out/recycle it!

Find some tweezers or tongs that your

child can use to pick up cotton balls. I

found two different kinds of tongs in my

kitchen and tweezers in my nail kit. I chose

small kitchen tongs for this activity.

Set-up the activity so the child picks up

the cotton balls from the egg carton and

places them in a container on the right.

Set-up the activity so the child picks up

the cotton balls from the table (placed at

the top of the table) and places them

one at a time in the egg carton.

Fine Motor Activity: Cotton Balls, Tweezers, and Egg Carton

OR

Cotton Balls Into

Egg Carton:

Cotton Balls from Egg Carton to

Container:

Adapting the activity:

If your child can’t complete 12 cotton balls in one sitting, you can decrease the

number. An easy way to do this is to cut the egg carton into half or even thirds. If you

cut it in half, your child can do 6 cotton balls. If you cut it in thirds, your child can do 4

cotton balls. You can always tape the container back together as your child is able to in-

crease the number of cotton balls in the activity.

For example:

Cut egg carton in half

Set-up activity with 6

cotton balls