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Make your next puzzle time with toddlers super exciting with this simple fine motor puzzle piece unwrap activity! It’s one of Gina’s favorite activity twists.
Gina is a lovely stay at home mom with in class experience teaching early learners!
She is all about themes and hands-on learning with young kids. In class as well as at home.
However, Gina ran into some challenges with trying to do activities at home with her own child.
- She spent a lot of time pinning ideas on Pinterest but rarely actually went back to try them out.
- It was harder than Gina expected to find time to prep all the activities she wanted to try.
- She discovered she underestimated her son’s ability. And selected activities that were far to easy.
Gina wanted so much to do activities with her son, Tiberius. She even made a New Year’s resolution for herself to do 1 new activity every week.
“Before I joined The Activity Room®️ with Ty, I definitely wasn’t the best with activities. I had actually decided for my new year’s resolution this year to do a new activity with him every week. I wanted to do something, spend time with him and make things more interesting for us staying at home.”
Kids Rise to The Challenge
Gina discovered The Activity Room when her son had just turned one. She quickly realized he was a bit young yet. She printed the activities and set them aside for later.
When Ty was about one and a half years old, Gina went back to try the activities she had saved.
Gina is still amazed at her son’s ability in these activities. She had no idea how much he was capable of.
“When we joined The Activity Room, he was about a year and a half old. And there were activities that he could do that I would have never even attempted because I assumed he couldn’t do that. Without even realizing it.”
Gina continues to be amazed at how kids can rise to the challenge when presented with an activity in a loving environment!
Why Activities are Important to Gina
“The biggest reason I want to do activities with Ty is I want to be able to take that time and have quality time.”
Gina tells us that when she first joined The Activity Room she thought doing an activity every day was overwhelming.
But now she laughs at that idea as she finds herself doing multiple activities with her son most days. And finds ways to turn every day outings and chores into activity opportunities also.
“Being a stay at home mom, sometimes I get so wrapped up in what needs to get done around the house. I need to do the dishes. I need to do the laundry. And I need to make sure lunch, dinner, breakfast, all meals are ready. The activities really help me to stop and pause and make sure that I’m spending that quality time. And not just, Oh, look, you’re playing with your toys, and that’s awesome. I’m going to go do this.”
“Ty definitely enjoys the activities. I think it’s really strengthened our relationship. I feel like I spend that extra quality time with him every day now.”
Don’t miss checking out the fine motor puzzle piece unwrap activity Gina shares with you at the end of this post! It’s just one example of activities she loves to do with her son.
So Much to Love
After being a member of Room for about a year, Gina wants to share with us some of her favorite parts.
The Activities are So Simple
“I love how simple the activities are to set up. They are very low prep.”
Unexpected Growth
“I have a very active little boy, as many little boys are. He wasn’t behind with his speech. But I have noticed, especially recently, the activities have really helped us talk about so many things. His speech is starting to explode, which is awesome.”
Being Present with Your Kids
“I can be a better mom, for my son. After joining The Activity Room, it’s helped me to realize how much he can do. And it really helps us to spend that time every day together.”
Building Memories Became a Priority
“Since joining The Activity Room, I’ve made activities more of a priority. Sometimes the dishes do sit in the sink a few extra hours. But I look back and see all the wonderful things my son and I have done. It’s worth it. I also realized to look for opportunities in everyday things.”
How to Succeed at Activities with a 2 Year Old
If you are familiar with trying to keep a toddler boy engaged in an activity, then you will love these tips.
Gina has a very energetic little man on her hands. And she shares with us a few of her tips she has learned along the way.
Let Them Take the Lead
“I have learned from my son, that it works best if he can kind of take lead on the activities.”
“Sometimes I honestly just give him the materials and see what happens even if it’s not exactly what we should be doing.”
Be OK with No or Not Now
“Something else that helps us is letting him say no to an activity.”
“If I show him what it is, or I show him the materials and he’s not interested, letting him say no and go back to it instead of forcing him to try and get through it.”
“Because then neither of us are going to have a good time and it defeats our purpose.”
“I do really love The Activity Room. We are so glad we joined, it’s just been amazing.”
Let’s Meet Gina
How many kids do you have and how old are they?
I have one son who is 2 named Tiberius.
Why do you love doing activities with your kids?
I love doing activities with my son to spend quality time with him.
And I love seeing his face light up when we are doing something new that he enjoys.
I like that activities help me pause anything else that I feel like I should be doing and I can just stop and be in the moment with him.
How long have you been in The Activity Room?
We joined The Activity Room in March of 2021.
I made a New Year’s resolution to do a new activity with my son every week.
While I was keeping up with it, I had a lot of things posted on pinterest that I wasn’t actually doing. I was also about to start watching my friend’s daughter, who is the same age as my son, 3 days a week for a few months.
Joining The Activity Room gave me so many new activities to try every week and gave us exciting things to do when I had both kids!
What is your favorite activity you’ve done in The Activity Room?
My son’s current favorite activity we have done is the water wall!
We do it in the bathtub along the wall.
(Maybe the unwrapping puzzle pieces activity Gina came up with will be your new favorite!)
What’s your favorite thing to do with your kids when you get a few moments?
When we get a few moments our favorite thing to do is to cuddle and read books. We also enjoy just being outside.
What’s your best tip for doing activities with your kids?
My best tip for doing activities is to let them lead the activity.
While this can sometimes be hard for me, the activities always seem to go better when I let my son show me how he wants to do the activity (especially when it is not how I envisioned it going).
Sometimes I will explain the activity to my son, but sometimes I just kind of give him the materials and see where we end up.
Giving him the power allows us to have an enjoyable time and sometimes we do things that I wouldn’t have ever thought of!
It is amazing to me how creative kids can be and I am guilty of not giving my son enough credit sometimes.
Also, it helps a lot when he isn’t interested in an activity.
It can be frustrating to me at times when I have set something up and he doesn’t want to do it, but letting him lead and tell me “no” or “not right now” in the end is the best thing for us!
If I was trying to make him do something he didn’t want to do, neither of us would have a good time and it would defeat the purpose of us spending that quality time together.
From what I can remember, we have always gone back to the activities later (even if it is a few days later) to give them a try.
Some activities he took the lead to say no to, we have actually gone back when he is ready and he has loved them!
I make so many decisions for my son that I think he likes having the power to lead our activities.
If you were to tell a friend about The Activity Room, what would you say to them?
Before The Activity Room I saved a lot of activity ideas, but would get overwhelmed and not actually do them.
I wouldn’t always know what to do with our time all day while my husband was at work, especially before the weather got nice.
Now with The Activity Room I am able to try at least 5 activities every week.
I am trying activities that my son loves that I would have never even given a chance!
I am able to spend quality time with my son with very little prep work and I don’t feel pressure to “have” to do activities.
Fine Motor Unwrap Puzzle Pieces Activity for Toddlers
My son really enjoys doing puzzles right now and he likes unwrapping things!
We mixed pieces from 2 toddler puzzles together to create a simple and fun fine motor unwrap activity.
For this Puzzle Pieces Unwrap Fine Motor Activity You’ll Need:
- Puzzles your toddler is comfortable with
- A variety of wrapping materials like:
- tin foil
- plastic wrap
- tissue paper
- bubble wrap
- toilet paper
- scarves
- foam sheets
- Tape (optional)
How to Make Your Own Unwrap Puzzle Pieces Fine Motor Activity
I started by taking one of his peg puzzles and wrapping the pieces in a variety of materials.
We used wrapping paper, tissue paper, aluminum foil, bubble wrap, and a scarf.
I placed the puzzle and the pieces on his picnic table and told him to unwrap the bundles to find the pieces.
That’s it!
So simple!
Unwrap Fine Motor Activity with Puzzle Pieces
My son was thrilled and quickly started working those fine motor skills unwrapping each piece to complete the puzzle!
As soon as he finished, he asked to do the activity again.
We put a twist on our own fine motor activity and I hid the wrapped puzzle pieces for him to find and unwrap!
Fun little DIY scavenger hunt twist that made our unwrapping puzzles a gross motor activity too!
For children who have more advanced puzzles skills, more challenging puzzles can be used.
I picked puzzles that I knew my son could do so he wouldn’t get frustrated with that aspect of the activity.
Since I did tape the wrapping paper on the puzzle pieces, I knew that would be enough of a challenge for this activity for him.
Extend Your Fine Motor Puzzle Pieces Unwrap Activity
As a bonus, my son enjoyed playing with the materials the pieces were wrapped in once we were finished.
An added sensory play gross motor activity!
You could even get them involved in the clean up!
Just scrunch up the paper into balls and play a game of indoor basketball into a trash can!
Gina Loves Being A Member of The Activity Room!
I am so happy that we have been welcomed into The Activity Room Facebook group with open arms.
We get so many new ideas for activities and I always feel supported when an activity goes really well or really poorly.
I am so happy to have found a group who understands our love for activities and is excited to share activities!
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