Purpose: Encourage strengthening of the muscles in the fingers, visual motor skills, visual spatial skills and grading of movements (BONUS: super light to carry around from school to school).
Materials: 4 large colorful sponges, optional: tongs, water, colored tape. Preparation by Adult: using a ruler mark the sponges into 1 inch cubes. Cut the sponges apart.
Activity Ideas: Here are a few ideas to use with the mini sponge blocks –
1. Free form build – because of the light weight sponge it encourages the child to grade muscle movements to avoid knocking over the sponge blocks.
2. Match the buildings – One person builds a small tower or object. The other person has to copy and build the exact same tower including position, number of blocks and block color.
3. Fill in the Shapes – using colored tape create a shape such as a square or rectangle. The child has to fill the shape with the mini blocks.
4. Tongs – use tongs to try and stack the blocks. Only pinch the sides of the blocks and then release.
5. Wet to Dry Blocks – put the blocks in a small dish of water. The child has to squeeze out the water in the block and then build a tower.
