Physical Friday: Fruity Necklace

"I want a snack!"

I hear it all day long; I'm sure you do too. Sammi is a bottomless pit. Most children come equipped with the ability to recognize when they are full and to stop eating. With Sammi, I haven't figured out if she lacks that ability or if we've just never gotten her full. But, in an attempt to help her not overeat, I'm always looking for fun snack ideas that take awhile to consume.
For Christmas Sammi got a box of Fruit Loops. I found some string and an egg carton and we had an instant activity. Stringing the Fruit Loops on the string is a great exercise in fine motor skills. Not only is each hand doing something different, they are required to work together to produce the desired result. Sammi's neckalce wasn't very long, which is a reflection of her two year old attention span. However, the fact that she was able to make a necklace at all, shows that she's developing control of individual muscles in her fingers and hands. She had so much fun making the necklace. She ate a bunch while she was stringing her necklace, so we saved the actual necklace for another day. It was perfect! I had a whole afternoon without a single plea for a snack.

Making a Cereal Necklace

• All you need is a piece of string, a donut shaped cereal and an egg carton.
• Dump some of the cereal into the egg carton so it's easy to see and grab.
• Begin the necklace by looping the string around one Fruit Loop and tying it off. This will keep the rest from falling off while your child is stringing the necklace.
• String cereal onto the necklace. Continue until the necklace is full or your child is done with stringing.
• Loop the end of the string around the same Fruit Loop that the beginning is looped around.
• Now you have a necklace. Wear, snack and enjoy!