Pop it in combination with sensorimotor play

“Were the pop-its a short-lived fad? Do you still use them and if so, how?

I still think they are great fun for fine and sensory motor skills. There is so much more than just popping possible.”

With this call on facebook a beautiful and very creative collection of ideas has been created about what you can do with the pop it. Enough reasons not to leave them in fabrics! Get them out of the closet and offer them in a new way. Maybe this will stimulate the imagination for your own ideas?!

Kim:
1. Put different liquids in a circle (water, oil, yoghurt, gel, etc.) Possibly with food colouring in it. And then let the kids tap with their fingers and see what happens when the liquids mix together. (A pipette, brush, spoon is a nice addition) You can also just make it about the colour aspect and work with different colours of paint that can be mixed like that. If you don't want a wet mess, it is also nice with coloured rice, for example. But a towel underneath will already absorb a lot because the quantities are small.

Petra:
2. Use during senso. With shaving foam, hair gel or something else the pop-it feels even better!

Annette:
3. They also seem to be very tasty, one of my babysitters puts the pop it partly in his mouth. You can just wash them. You can fill them with melted chocolate melts or juice with gelatin, that feels different and is tasty, unfortunately they can't pop those sweets then.

Anneke:
4. And completely out of the box put the pop-its on the ground and make a barefoot path . If necessary with eyes closed and a classmate must guide.

Judith:
5. The water balls/water beads fit in perfectly!

Pop its for fine motor skills and didactic learning

Danielle:
6. Throwing a dice: you may pop the number of eyes . Who is the first to fill the entire pop-it? You can vary this by filling the holes with materials (beads, pompoms etc.) of the number of eyes that was thrown).

Miriam:
7. Let 1 child do a task (stack a number of blocks, walk around, collect 5 red objects, etc.). Another child pops 1 ball at a time with 1 finger. When the shape is completely popped, turn around and pop again. How many times was the entire shape popped before the task was finished??? Or how many pops were you able to make before the task was finished? (for the good counters!)

Sara:
8. Put letters in the pop it and then use the tweezers to take out the letters and make little words.

Ellen:
9. Continue patterns by adding colored balls.

Sanne:
10. Have children play a game with a dice ... take turns throwing and popping that number and so on until someone has won because that pop it is already finished. Anneke:

Esther:
11. Learning to count with two pop its next to each other

Anneke:
12. With the letters put words in the row of the pop-it. So small words and long words.

Using pop its for relaxation and concentration

Chaja:
14. We regularly give it to children so that they can hear more attentively , and leave it up to the children what they want to do with it!

Miriam:
15. Have the children close their eyes. Plop a few circles. How many plops did you hear? Of course, count them by having one child pop them back.

Nienke:
16. We use them combined with a coloring page of them . Then you first practice with the pincer grip (taking out the balls) and then coloring small areas. Always a big success!

Gea:
17. The pops can go in the “fidget basket” For children who like to have something in their hands during circle time!