Primary Sensory Station About Insects For Fine Motor Skills and Science

Welcome to Becca's Heart for Early Childhood Education blog! This posting shares my heart's desires for ECE and Science. My main focus is setting up a sensory station for children to explore, learn about identifying and matching different insects with different ways to strengthen their fine motor skills.

Set up a garden or outdoor scene to create a context where children will find insects in nature, their natural setting. Small containers with jumbo tweezers aid for young children to pick up small clipart pics of various insects and to sort, all while developing their cognitive skills essential in math and science and their writing tool gripping.

Small river rocks, flower arranging dried grasses, and butterflies and dragonflies meant for wreaths and floral bouquets are additions to simulate the outdoors. Placemats and/or hand towels with nature designs can anchor the sensory explore station to a set spot on a table or low bookcase.

The worksheet copies will be the focus of their own post. It took about 30-45 minutes to create this worksheet and I formatted it to be multi-purpose to get the most for science, math, and fine motor growth. The primary strategy I thought of was cutting the worksheet apart into the strips/rows and asking children to grip and squeeze the single-hole puncher on the insect(s) that match the very first one in the row. Before they do that you might ask them to color only the ones that are exactly the same as that first pictured insect.

Maybe they need to follow a designated color code? Like purple for a butterfly. Yellow for a bee. Other insects I used include fly, water beetle/bug, and horned beetle.

Add a vase of real flowers if possible or maybe a small silk cluster. A small potted plant would be great addition to the explore station, too.

Depending on the number of children allowed at the sensory station, another pair of jumbo tweezers might be needed. On the worksheet I had 6 insects to identify but for the station and your usable space that may need to be limited to 3 or 4. Timing allowed to be at the station would be another consideration. Little ones don't like to be frustrated so the explore station shouldn't be too big or have too much to do. Be willing to make adjustments if you find out that they need fewer things to do for the time they have to share the space.

A big passion of mine in ECE is giving science equitable time and space within the classroom space and weekly schedule. Choosing a science theme book for your read out loud time is one way. Lots of science books about inventors, environments, space exploration, and reference in your classroom library are an important way to give science equity in your room. Picking a decorating theme that's about animals, plants, rockets, gears and wheels would be another addition to keep science in your environment.

I've used a general outdoors with a bit of camping broad theme in recent years, but I'm thinking my next classroom space will have a four season combined with birds décor theme to help organize the room. But I'll save those thoughts for a future posting.

Sensory stations like what I've pictured focuses primarily on the tactile, touch. Pinching the jumbo tweezers to pick up the small pictures would be one task for touch. Maybe one of the containers could be for holding the river rocks. That would give the children more pinching or gripping practice.

Using the hole-puncher to identify and match insects could be in a station right next to this one. The hole-puncher involves eye-hand coordination and gripping strength.

Get little ones during their primary years of early learning involved in hands-on approaches like a sensory explore station that develops their small motor skills and cognitive intelligence.

With a passion for ECE,
Becca S

Illinois certification endorsements:
Birth to Grade 3
FACS grades 6-12

and approval:
General science grades 5-8

Preschool Science and Motor Development Land vs Ocean Mammals Activity

Welcome to Becca's Heart for Early Childhood Education blog! I'm Becca S. Go to my previous post to learn more about some of my degrees and experiences in teaching. I love being creative and love learning and teaching! This activity involves one of my favorite cognitive areas-science!

In the USA, Earth Day is celebrated on April 22. So I have an animal themed activity that is designed to check whether your little ones understand that animals can live in different environments. Within those environments, their habitats can vary. Birds have nests in trees and bushes. Bears have caves. Bees have hives.

In the previous post I showed a small-ish tarp and this activity also uses a tarp. If you are using a large indoor space, a plastic tablecloth or shower curtain could also serve as your base.

Here's the 5.5' x 7.5' tarp bought for about $2.50 plus tax.

The other 2 major supplies for early science are foam puzzle pieces I found at Dollar Tree recently. And because they have a variety of topics I latched onto 2 sets that had land mammals and the other had ocean creatures. What great resources to help little ones build their cognitive knowledge about classes of animals! And the 2 major supplies that are mainly to be used as eye-hand coordination targets are the frisbee discs. 

The cool thing is that these flying discs are going to be your two-fer in this activity. Besides being the targets, their colors are going to serve as codes for green grass/land and blue water/ocean categories.

Land vs Ocean Mammals Activity=

Close-up photos of the puzzle pieces:

Before doing this gross motor underhanded tossing activity please take time to have circle group or table meeting and discuss each animal featured. The land mammals show just the faces but there are distinguishing body parts that you can emphasize: whiskers, snouts, snout, tusks, mane, and more to point out and ask children questions on.

The ocean animals have tentacles, claws, tails, arms, and other characteristics to draw focus about. The gull can be set aside and used as a challenger puzzler mystery identifying question to the preschoolers. It's always good to stoke their curiosity and sense of mystery and wonder!

When you are ready for them to gather around the perimeter of the tarp, randomly go around and distribute the pieces. Before they can toss to "land" or "ocean" target, they have to say out loud what the animal name is and where it lives.

The eye-hand coordination building through this activity will also benefit the children as this skill is vital for writing and reading. Encourage children to toss their puzzle piece to hit the correct target.

For Earth Day let's encourage appreciation for all animals whether they live on land or in water!

Teaching and learning in the USA heartland,
Becca S

IL certification endorsements:
FACS grades 6-12
Birth to grade 3 ECE

and approval:
General science grades 5-8

Preschool Science and Motor Development with Bunny Inspired Activities for Indoor or Outdoor

Welcome to Becca's Heart for ECE blog! This post features a dual purposed activity to support science and motor development.

I'm Becca S, a teacher with both FACS degree/teaching experience as well as Elementary with Early Childhood degree. I have lead teacher daycare experience with 3-5+ year olds and private Christian kindergarten teaching  experience. After all those previous years, this winter and early spring, I applied and received ECE endorsement by ISBE (Illinois). Wahoo!! That's for Birth to Grade 3! I'm super excited about this. I took the professional exam and scored 278 out of 300 so I was stoked about that and then ISBE evaluated my transcripts and approved the endorsement. Yea!! Now that you know a little more about me, let's focus on the springtime idea for science and physical skills.

For the younger ECE children, providing a wide range of activities that can develop both fine and gross motor skills are very important. Fine or small motor are those finger gripping and pinching skills that help with holding a pencil, picking up tiny objects, and moving a paintbrush. Gross motor skills in this activity will mostly be arm movements like underhanded tosses. This activity can be used to let children share what they know about rabbits and bunnies OR the glass beads can be a color code for water and land features of the Earth's surface.

Earth Day option: Blue Beads are tossed at a distance after answering a question about water or oceans. A basic early content in science and particularly for Earth & Space Science is our planet Earth's surface is made of 2 parts: land and water. With older ECE children in 2nd grade and 3rd grade introducing them to the terms of continents and oceans will be cognitively more developmentally appropriate. With younger ECE children in the preschool to 1st grade range the Earth's surface should be referred to in terms of land and water. Each child can share where they've seen water: sink, bathtub/shower, garden hose, puddle, creek, pond, lake, river, and others.

Before sharing more of the educational components let's get this versatile location activity ready=

Set-up for this activity:

Have small tarp...will travel! If you have a large open indoor space you could use a tablecloth or shower curtain instead but a clean tarp could still be used inside.

This 5.5' x 7.5' was only about $2.50 with tax and coupon/sale at Harbor Freight Tools, so this was a great bargain multi-use purchase!

Below: Rabbit tray with green glass beads; read below for 2 options for usage:

Earth Day option: Green glass beads can represent land so before a child tosses a green glass bead she/he must share something found on land, a feature of the land portion of Earth. Children might suggest grass, dirt, hills, mountains, yard, and others.

Fine motor skill focus: As soon as I saw these Easter/spring rabbit deviled egg trays, I wasn't thinking food display but for the egg-shaped divots to hold marbles or glass beads or pom pons. At Dollar Tree was where I purchased these 2 trays and the flower arranging supply of decorative blue glass beads. Children can stand around the perimeter of the tarp. Remember the dimensions are small enough for this to be a good distance for this age group to get some underhanded and overhanded tossing practice (gross or large motor skills).

Bonus benefit: What is another HUGE important skill for writing and reading is the eye-hand coordination that the children will build when they are eyeing which tray to toss to and which divot might hold their glass bead!!! I LOVE a two-fer!!!

Animal focus: Science-wise, the teacher can guide questions not only about distance and range of motions but could have children take turns tossing AFTER they answer a science content question about rabbits. That would mean this would have to be a follow-up activity AFTER story time book(s) about bunnies. (Rabbits' babies are called bunnies. Rabbits can hop.)

Give each child in your group 5-10 opportunities before things get too wild or boring. When the trays and beads are collected back, have 1 final gross motor skill practice but this time for their legs by leading a bunny hop around the perimeter of the tarp!!!!

Oh what fun learning and acting like rabbits!  Be creative and resourceful. Look at household items differently and see how they can be used to help your little ones build physically and cognitively.

Teaching and learning in the USA heartland,
Becca S

BS Secondary w/ Home Economics proficiency
M. Ed. Elementary w/ ECE emphasis
IL endorsements: FACS grades 6-12, Birth to Grade 3/ECE
IL approval: General science grades 5-8