My son loves to throw these pom poms up in the air and yell "SURPRISE"... so that is how this activity got it's name.
This was a simple activity we did during our playgroup today that the kids LOVED... mostly because we got to throw things in the air 🙂
Materials Needed:
- colored baskets (we used 4 heart-shaped baskets- each were a different color)
- varied colors of pom poms (including ones that match the colored baskets)
Directions:
1. Play with your manipulatives and let kids get used to them and have fun with them... these pom poms are too enticing to just start sorting right away.
2. Have the kids throw the pom poms all over the floor (or you can be more structured and put them in a bigger basket and move to a table- we wanted to keep this physically active, so we didn't)
3. Have each kid choose a color basket and then have them start looking for the colored pom poms that match their basket (we reviewed colors and modeled this before we got started since the kids were at different levels and some knew their colors better than others).
A variation for a mix of kids at different ages would be to have them work together to fill up the baskets. In our case, the four year-old got her basket filled really quickly and then went around and helped the younger kids look for their pom poms by giving them hints.
4. Once all the colored pom poms are collected, count how many are in each basket. After this step it could be fun to make a graph of this information... but instead today the kids got to toss their pom poms in the air and start all over again!
Be warned- this activity will result in a lot of goofiness and laughter because tossing pom poms is so fun! 🙂
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