Click here to read Fine Motor Balance Pom Poms & Golf Tees to Make a Rainbow on Hands On As We Grow®
Crazy simple activity to combine fine motor, gross muscle development, and color recognition with a pom pom balancing with golf tees.
Not to mention a little critical thinking.
We had so much fun with this simple activity that works on both fine and gross motor while adding in some color learning.
We had a few hiccups which led to some critical thinking and a few adjustments on my part.
So stay tuned for tips from what I learned through trial and error.
How to Prep Your Pom Pom Balance Activity
This is actually really easy to prep. I happened to have some golf tees that were already colored, but also colored the tops of some simple white ones for more options.
Supplies Needed to Create Pom Pom Balance
- Cardboard box (pizza boxes work great)
- Golf tees
- Tiny Pom Poms in various colors
- Permanent markers in same colors as pom poms
- toy hammer
- Smaller basket or container
Setting Up Your Rainbow and Golf Tees
First thing I did to set up this pom pom balance activity was to match up the colors of pom poms with gold tees.
As I mentioned, I had some colored golf tees to start with.
So I lined up a bunch of tiny pom poms in the colors of the rainbow.
I went with a rainbow because my kids have been interested in the order of rainbow colors lately. But you can go with any colors your kids know and are working on.
Next, I counted out 5 golf tees in each color per kid.
For the colors I didn’t have, I simply used sharpie markers to color the tips in the missing colors.
Then I drew arches onto the pizza box to create a rainbow. Making sure the lines are far enough apart to make lots of room for balancing pom poms.
Then I poked small holes with the tip of the golf tees to show the kids where to put the tees in for making their rainbow.
And that’s it! Pop the supplies into a container of some kind and bring your pom pom balance activity to your toddlers and preschoolers!
TIP: If your doing this with a young toddler, I recommend the “stages” version of this activity to avoid frustration with pom poms falling off from hammering. Older kids can develop more critical thinking through trial and error, but it may be frustrating for younger kids like my 2 year old.
If your kids love pom poms then check out our 35 Exciting Pom Pom Activities and Crafts for Toddlers and Preschoolers
Pom Pom Balance Activity Freestyle
For this version of balancing pom poms on golf tees, I simply set out all the activity in front of my toddler and preschooler and suggested they hammer in tees and balance pom poms on top!
Charlie was in awe! I could see the wheels turning as he looked at the supplies. He likes to think outside the box!
First with My Toddler
Maisie, on the other hand, is my toddler of order, sorting, and categorization!
Maisie went straight to work on the red line of her rainbow.
But this is where the critical thinking came into play that she just wasn’t quite ready for.
She wanted to balance the pom pom immediately after hammering in each tee.
This of course caused the pom poms to fall off when she would hammer in the next one.
At this point I attempted to offer a little guidance.
Suggesting she hammer all the golf tees in the box first and then balance all the pom poms on top at the end.
This worked a little for her.
She loved the gross motor color matching part of the activity!
Matching colors is right up her ally and she loves using her tools!
She managed to hammer all the red ones in first. But then she wanted to complete the color by adding pom poms.
This of course presented another problem when she went to start on the next color.
Hammering in an orange golf tee caused all the red pom poms to fall and of course roll.
If she was just a little older I believe this would have been a great opportunity to develop more of her critical thinking skills.
However, at this point I realized I wanted to repeat this activity with her another time using stages!
Refer below for how to make this activity a bigger win with toddlers below!
Next with my Preschooler
Now, back to Charlie! My creative thinking preschooler!
Charlie started with pounding in all the green tees into his box along the green line. Great color matching!
Then he decided to balance a different color on each one to make his own little rainbow.
Charlie also took some time to just play with the pom poms on their own.
He made a cute happy face and was very proud of it!
He also chose to work on some color patterns in his creation. Pink, orange, pink, orange, pink!
So fun when my kids find more ways to play with an activity than I had imagined.
They are just so creative.
Next, my preschooler decided he wasn’t interested in a rainbow.
That’s totally ok.
He flipped over his pizza box and hammered in almost all his golf tees all over the place.
So great for his gross motor skills. He didn’t even have the starting holes like I had made on the other side.
Next, Charlie picked out pom poms and balanced them onto the matching golf tees like I had hoped for this activity.
This was great for working his pincer grasp muscles and control.
Yay! Total activity win.
I helped Maisie get all her golf tees in so she could enjoy matching up all the pom poms with Charlie.
This was all in all a definite activity win. And the two siblings loved doing it together and helped each other along.
Balance is so fun! Check out this Easy Balancing Sidekick Gravity Experiment and Activity for Kids! It’s mind blowing cool!
Pom Pom Balance Activity in Stages
Like I mentioned above, I wanted to do this activity again with just my 2 year old in a more toddler focused manner.
First task was the hammer tees into the rainbow.
I simply brought out only the box, hammer, and golf tees.
Maisie had lots of fun hammering in all her golf tees.
I offered her a break but she wanted the pom poms next!
So next I grabbed the container and she balance all the tiny pom poms on the matching colored tees.
We had so much fun doing it. That we did it over and over for days!
Every time we did this activity, Maisie balanced the pom poms on color order.
She always started with all the red and worked her way along the rainbow to end with pink.
This activity was so great for fine motor control.
Watching exactly where her fingers went and controlling her hand to be steady so she didn’t bump off any other pom poms.
She learned to hover her arm over the box and come straight down with the pom pom.
She also learned to be aware of the whole body since it was easy to knock pom poms off by moving the box too fast or too hard.
There was a lot of learning moments and she absolutely blossomed as she mastered her skills!
Watching her learn and improve with each color and row was priceless.
And I’ve noticed it has positively affected some of our other activities and play times also.
She will tell me she accidentally bumped something and made her toy fall down.
But also that it’s ok because she can put it back and be more careful next time.
This pom pom balancing activity with golf tees was a huge win in our home! Both kids asked for it again.
What fun ways have you worked on fine motor skills lately?
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