Games with cereals are a fun development of fine motor and sensory skills. Games with cereals: developing fine motor skills for kids How to color cereals

The more the baby plays with objects that are different in structure to the touch (soft, hard, rough, smooth, etc.), the more actively and correctly he speaks.

Groats (one type) can be poured into the basin . Add a spoon or a small scoop, various jars, bottles, animal figurines that can be hidden in the groats. You can put beads in the groats and then take them back with your hands and put them in a jar. You can sort them by color.

Grain games

pouring.Take several plates or other containers. Let the child pour the cereal into the bowls. He can do this both with his fingers and with a spoon. Pay attention to the baby that there is a lot of cereal in one plate, little in the other, and nothing in the third. Compare quantities: more, less, the same.

Rain. Pour cereal from one plate to another. In the process, show the little one that you can raise the plate higher and lower. Hear how she makes noise. Play the game "Rain": let the child pick up a handful of cereal, raise the handle and pour out the cereal, imitating how it rains. For her, it is better to take beans or peas to make it easier to clean.

Games with cereals will help develop the child's muscular, visual, nervous and skeletal systems

Tracks. From beans, for example, you can make paths - short and long, lay out various drawings - geometric figures, letters, houses, etc.

Filling out the forms. Take any molds (for example, for plasticine or sand), put them on a flat surface and invite the child to fill them inside with grits. It can be picked up by hand or with a scoop.

Tweezer games. Give the baby tweezers and invite him to grab the beans with them. This game develops perseverance, and, of course, motor skills.

Well. Take any plastic bottle. Tell the child that this is a well that is completely empty, there is no more water in it. And our bear is very thirsty. Help the bear fill the well. Take the cereal and pour it into the narrow neck of the bottle with your hands.

You can also :
- Spoon the cereal from one bowl to another.
- Try it with a fork. Explain to the baby why he did not succeed.
- Pour the peas with a glass, a plastic bottle (you can take it from under the yogurt).
- Pour the cereal into a glass through a funnel.
- Pour the peas into a deep and flat plate.
- Ask the kitten to pour cereal into a bowl yellow color, and a blue chicken, etc.
- Pour and pour the peas into the container by hand.

Many of us were forbidden to play with food as children, but there is always an exception to any rule. And it concerns games with cereals. Buckwheat and millet, beans and peas - you can not only cook healthy dishes from them, but with their help you can come up with educational activities for your growing child.

In general, games with cereals are not at all a new invention, but because of this, these activities have not become less fun and useful. First of all, both parents and teachers refer to. The kid learns to touch different objects, to distinguish them from each other. In addition, any classes fine motor skills beneficial effect on mental development, and hence on the process of learning speech, have a calming effect, develop imagination.

Moms, of course, are interested in how to avoid unpleasant consequences after playing with cereals? Not only is the “cereal master” likely to scatter buckwheat or peas on the floor and on the table, but there is still a danger of small grains getting into the child’s mouth and nose. Therefore, firstly, be close to the baby while he is fiddling with cereals. Second, prepare the space.

As a rule, a suitable place for playing with cereals is the kitchen, where it is easier to clean up. Be prepared that for the first time, mom will still have to pick peas from the floor. By the way, it would be prudent to cover the space with oilcloth - then it is easier to collect scattered cereals. Sit the child at the table, or organize a playground on the floor.

You can teach your baby to play with cereal at any time after he learns to sit. It is not necessary for the game to display all the jars of cereal that are in your kitchen cabinet. You can take buckwheat, beans, peas, sunflower seeds, pearl barley, lentils and arrange cereals in bowls. Even semolina, salt and, by the way, small pasta will do. So the child will feel the variety of types of cereals by touch. If necessary, add more, only after the games, of course, the cereal is not suitable for food, so you can use it repeatedly to entertain the child, or throw it away.

How to play?


Game number 1. Semolina and salt are similar in structure to sand. To get acquainted with the new fun, invite the baby to simply sort through the croup with his fingers, pour the semolina from palm to palm. If salt and semolina are poured onto a flat surface (for example, on a tray), then you can draw various figures or a muzzle with a smile on them.

Game number 2. Take two bowls deeper: fill one of them with any cereal, and leave the other empty. Ask the child to pour the cereal from the first container into the second. This can be done with your hands or a large spoon. It's okay if the baby carries half past, but over time he will learn to coordinate his movements and will do it more accurately.

Game number 3. Pour several different grains into a small bowl so that you can dip your wrists into them. Play the Hidden Pens game. Show how your fingers and hands hide in the rump, and then let the baby follow your example. Show your imagination and come up with some phrase like “Where are Masha’s hands?”, Or alternately show your fingers on the surface, accompanying this with cheerful exclamations.


Game number 4. Continuing the idea from the previous game, play hide and seek with objects. You can use small toys from Kinder Surprise, large buttons, pebbles or shells from the sea for this. Hide objects under the grits, just ask the baby to turn away. And then let him look for the “treasure” you have hidden.

Game number 5. You will need a sieve. It is better if the strainer is small and with a handle. Take two bowls: pour semolina or salt into one, throw a few large pasta there (for example, horns). Let the baby scoop the cereal with pasta into the sieve and sift it so that only pasta remains in the sieve. Accordingly, the horns are sent to the second bowl. In the future, for this game, use not pasta, but peas. It is smaller, and the task of sifting will become a little more complicated. You can also separate peas from semolina with your fingers, but this is already for more patient and diligent children!

Game number 6. Target next game similar to the previous one - sort the cereals. Only for this task, take not cereals, but pasta and beans. For example, two types of pasta (horns and spirals), two types of beans (white and dark). First, let them be mixed in one container. Show your child how to separate them and arrange pasta and beans on separate plates.


Game number 7. , you can attach almost any kitchen appliance to the game with cereals. Here is an example! Arm yourself with a simple plastic bottle and a watering can (funnel). Show your child how to use a funnel to fill a bottle with grains. Instead of a bottle, use glasses or other containers with a narrow neck.

Game number 8. The more we invent different options games with cereals, the more we are convinced that this simple material is just a storehouse! Both millet and grain fit perfectly into story games. For example, in the puppet world, semolina will serve as a snowdrift. And buckwheat can be loaded into a small truck and pretend to deliver gravel. With millet, a kid can feed domestic animals from his mini-farm.

Game number 9. Having played plenty of plot games with cereals, you can move on to intellectual ones. With the help of large beans - learn a simple account.
And also you will be able to introduce the child to geometric shapes and letters. Spread them out of beans or peas.

Game number 10. Surely your grandmother will soon, or is March 8 coming? What will her grandson or granddaughter give her? Well, of course, pasta beads. After all, the best gift is a handmade one. So, go to the grocery store and buy some types of pasta with holes. At home, string them on a string with your baby. By the way, miracle beads can be diluted with rings from breakfast cereals, and at the same time eat them in the process of creativity!

In general, dear mothers, do not be afraid to give your crumbs such pleasure as playing with cereals. Even if a little mess remains after these fun, it is easily removed with a broom and a vacuum cleaner. In addition, during the game, the baby learns and remembers new concepts for himself: narrow - wide, deep - small, a lot - little, and so on, which best affects his development and mood.

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You can start playing with cereal from a year old, or even younger (under the supervision of your mother, of course). This is an excellent material that can be used to develop motor skills, sensory sensations; cereals are also an integral part of many games, crafts, activities. Let's look at some ways to use them.

sensory pods

Rice is the most popular "ingredient" for creating so-called "sensor boxes". You can use both regular - natural color - and tinted rice. In any case, it should be washed and dried before use.

The "theme" for the sensory box can be anything: dinosaurs, a zoo, a garden, the sea.

The topic "Construction" will be especially interesting for boys.

Naturally, the boxes can be filled with more than just rice. Diversified and multi-colored cereals look good and are interesting to the child.

Millet, semolina - we use it as sand

Millet, like rice, must be washed and dried before the game. The millet is small, free-flowing, and it rustles pleasantly when poured - the child likes it.

You will need: millet, a sand mill, a basin, a smaller container, a spoon for bulk products, a stick, and other toys.

First, we simply show how to pour millet into the mill with a spoon, how the blades will spin, explain the process and let the child play on their own. Further, the course of the game will depend on the baby. A child can pour cereal from a container into a mill, play with animal figures (or with cars).

If it happens that the millet gets stuck, show how you can clean the hole with a stick.

It is better to play with decoy in a limited space. It is suitable for drawing with a finger or stick. To do this, it is enough to distribute it evenly on a tray or other surface. Can be used in other games as well (read the article about sand games, especially dry sand games, for ideas for playing with decoys).

Beans, peas - lay out, lay out, sort, count

With beans and peas, you can come up with many mini-games. Beans are larger than millet and rice, so it is more convenient to use it for the development of fine motor skills. Here are some examples of its application.

1. Homemade sorters

Make a hole in the cap of the milk bottle. Or in the side wall of a porridge box. Let the kid stuff the beans in there. Tweezer grip, coordination of movements is trained.

2. Lay a path, lay out a pattern

Draw two characters at opposite ends of a piece of paper (for example, a zebra and a giraffe). Draw a path between them. Ask your child to help lay out the path with beans. Explain that the path goes through a swampy swamp, it must be paved so that friends can visit each other.

3. Sort

As in a fairy tale about Cinderella: mix beans and peas, put two cups in front of the child - let them lay out. Don't forget the goal! The goal - albeit invented and the most primitive, but fascinating - should be in every game.

The little bear loves beans, and the hamster loves peas. Baby, let's help them so that everyone gets what they like for dinner! And what do you like to eat for lunch?

Pasta

Pasta is not exactly a cereal, but it is found in any kitchen and is great for games and activities. You can strengthen the vertical “base” in plasticine, on which the child will string thick pasta. An option for girls is beads from a variety of pasta.

The list will be updated. If you have an interesting version of the game with cereals, please share in the comments.

Cereals are not only a valuable food product in the arsenal of the hostess. This is also a good game material that develops fine motor skills and imagination in children from the age of one. It is easy to organize games with buckwheat, semolina, rice cereals, lentils or beans, pasta. It is advisable to gradually introduce children to each of the bulk materials. They have a different color, shape, degree of hardness, which provides a wealth of impressions and sensations.

The benefits of playing with cereals

Many parents, for safety reasons, are in no hurry to acquaint their one-year-old children with small objects. It is important not to hide them from the baby, but to teach them how to handle them correctly. The first months of exercise with cereals, one way or another, will be under the close supervision of adults. Mom will be able to observe how the child behaves and prevent dangerous situations.

Benefit didactic games with cereals has been proven by psychologists, speech therapists and other children's specialists. Classes stimulate and develop:

  • fine motor skills important for drawing and writing;
  • imagination and attention;
  • sensory perception;
  • sensory cognition of substances and objects;
  • speech development.

For many children, developmental exercises with croup in a calm, trusting environment have a calming effect. You can practice them with children who have learned to sit.

Initially, it is quite difficult to focus the crumbs' attention on this lesson. However, over time, the child will learn to concentrate and will play with cereals for longer and longer.

Preparing for games

The main attribute of such games is a variety of cereals that can be completed in a plastic tray divided into sectors. At first, it is better to deal with a baby who is sitting in his highchair. All necessary components conveniently placed on the countertop, and to localize the cleaning area, lay an oilcloth or newspaper on the floor.

For exercise mom will need:

  • small toys (cars, figurines from kinder surprises);
  • toy dishes;
  • plastic scoop;
  • several bowls or containers;
  • strainer;
  • rustling candy liners;
  • chestnuts, acorns or nuts.

We play with kids 1-2 years old


The introduction to cereals is usually easy for the little ones, because most children like everything new. If the baby was apprehensive about the new activity, the adult should also get involved in the game, demonstrating its capabilities. Children under three years of age learn through imitation of loved ones. They see how interesting it is to shift small objects, and gradually learn to do it on their own.

At first, it is enough for the child to shift the cereal from the box to the box, try to hold the grains with his fingers. Gradually, the task becomes more difficult, and the child learns:

  • transfer bulk into containers or children's dishes with a spoon or mug;
  • take beans, pasta or peas with tweezers;
  • throw grains through a narrow hole in the bank, listening to the sounds;
  • look for a small “treasure” (a toy, a candy) in a tray with loose goods with your hands;
  • look in the semolina for larger bulk (pasta, beans) sifting with a strainer;
  • lay out colored letters, paths, ornaments from cereals;
  • independently bury and dig out small toys;
  • pour small cereals, semolina or salt with a pinch;
  • stomp your feet on the groats scattered in the basin.


To occupy the crumbs in the kitchen while mom is preparing food, the sensory box will allow. To create it, you need a large plastic container, which should be filled halfway with cereals of different sizes and colors. In the lid, you need to make two holes for small hands so that the baby can sort out loose, but not litter at the same time.

We play with a child 2-6 years old

After 2 years, the baby will like to sort cereals of different shapes, colors and sizes. Before work, several types of bulk materials should be mixed and a tray with divisions should be prepared so that the baby can decompose each variety separately. You can use plasticine or modeling dough, showing the baby how to press the grits into it and create a pattern.

In order for the child's fantasy to fully manifest itself, you can paint the cereals in the colors of the rainbow. There are several ways to do this:

  • fry semolina in a pan so that it changes color;
  • dilute gouache in two tablespoons of vodka, pour 5 tablespoons of semolina or rice, mix and air dry;
  • crumble the crayons and mix them with semolina;
  • crumble the pencil lead, rub it on paper, pour semolina on top and mix;
  • color white beans, pasta, rice or semolina with food coloring or diluted gouache water and dry in the oven at a temperature of 150-200 degrees;
  • large pasta can be painted with gouache.

Games with cereals with a child of 3-6 years old become more difficult and interesting. At this age, he distinguishes colors and shapes well, can create amazing compositions from cereals and pasta.

For general development, you can try soaking and germinating cereals, or decomposing them into matchboxes and signing each. More difficult task– drawing and applications from loose materials. It requires not only imagination, but also perseverance.

Drawings with sand and semolina

Many parents are attracted to special sand drawing tablets (we recommend reading:). To understand whether the child likes this activity and whether it is worth buying a tablet, you can try drawing with semolina. For the first time you will need a bright tray. Mom should evenly distribute semolina over the surface and show the baby how you can draw beautiful patterns with your fingers.

There are many master classes on the topic of drawing decoys. For example, you can complicate the task by using colored semolina or rice. It is necessary to prepare a simple picture on paper (for example, a flower or a boat). Alternately, you should coat it with glue and ask the baby to pour the cereal onto the glued area. It is important to immediately shake off the remnants of the cereal and gradually form a beautiful picture that will decorate the creative album.

Pasta Applications

Pasta of various shapes - nests, shells, bows, stars, spaghetti, are well suited for cute children's applications. To work with a preschooler, mom should prepare:

  • pasta of various shapes after dyeing;
  • liquid glue;
  • thick cardboard;
  • paints and brushes;
  • plasticine.

On a sheet of paper, mark the contours of the application with a pencil. Apply glue along the contour and apply pasta until dry. Let the kid choose the shape and colors of the pasta. For example, the eye of a fish is a dark wheel, and the scales are wavy yellow or green pasta. You can dream up together, “populating” the lawn with orange and red pasta stars, or making a fluffy coat of spirals for a lamb.

magic pouches


Beans are one of the most suitable materials for a variety of games and applications. It has a different shape and color palette, makes interesting sounds when in contact with plastic, wood, water and other materials. In addition, it is absolutely harmless to the crumbs (even if he accidentally swallows a grain, nature will help to cope with this).

Games with beans or peas develop tactile sensations 3-4 summer baby, teach counting and comparing sizes, shapes. After getting acquainted with them, you can consolidate the impressions received with the help of magic bags. To do this, you need 3 similar bags and the same amount of semolina, buckwheat and beans (peas).

You should offer the baby to shift the cereals into bags, tie them with ribbons and re-sort. Further, according to the sensations of the fingers, he needs to determine in which bag which cereal is located. Don't put them away after the game. It is possible that the baby will want to touch them again, stimulating the development of tactile sensations and fine motor skills with the help of cereals.

Finger exercises with bulk materials are unlikely to bother a child, because there are a considerable number of them. The main thing for parents is the willingness to constantly develop in crumbs Creative skills. The result of early exercises will be high mental activity of the child, good imagination and clear speech.

Clinical and perinatal psychologist, graduated from the Moscow Institute of Perinatal and Reproductive Psychology and Volgograd State Medical University with a degree in Clinical Psychology

I have already talked about several useful games for the development of sensorimotor skills in one-year-old children.

In this article, you will find several more options for interesting activities for an entertaining and useful pastime with children.

So, here's what you can play with a child from 1 year old:

1. Play with cereals, sand, water.

Walking on the playground in the warm season, do not pass by the sandbox. Playing with sand contributes to the development of fine motor skills of the hand, and also introduces the child to the basic physical properties of substances.

At home, you can also organize a lot interesting games with bulk substances, you can make a mini-sandbox or (this is especially true in the cold season). In your homework, instead of sand, you can play with cereals: peas, millet, buckwheat, semolina. For a variety of tactile sensations, try to use several types of cereals.

Of course, building Easter cakes at 1 year old is still too early, the baby is unlikely to find this activity interesting. H Eat the same then engage in the sandbox? Here are some interesting game options:

  • Show your child how pour sand/grain from one container to another . For this purpose, small cups, children's dishes, sand molds are suitable. The main thing is that it is convenient for the baby to grab the dishes with one hand. The child, repeating after you, will learn to coordinate their movements.
  • If you also use in your game small jug , then you will help the baby practice another very useful type of grip (the child holds only the handle, not the entire container), which diversifies the baby's sensory experience.
  • Teach the child "salt" with sand your toy soup (put the fingers together with a pinch and three together), so you encourage the fingers to do fine work.
  • Dial together with the baby grits / sand in the palm, then, unclenching the palm, pour out- it turns out gymnastics for the palm.
  • Suggest to the child pour grain / sand with a spoon from one container to another . Important: put the dishes in front of the baby so that he has to pour the cereal from left to right. Thus, we gradually prepare the hand for the correct position while writing.

  • The baby can get experience of interaction with cereals and other bulk substances by playing with a variety of sensory boxes . Here is an example of one of those boxes (you will find other options) that you can offer to a one-year-old baby. Pour any cereal into a container or bucket and hide small toys there so that only the edges are visible to the child. Offer the baby find toys . Similarly, you can play in the sandbox.

  • And, of course, continue to work out, fill buckets and molds with sand / cereal with your child.

How to play with water? From the age of 1, we only learn to pour water from one dish to another. The container requirements here are the same as in the game with bulk (read above).

2. Learn to push objects (sorter, piggy bank and other useful things).

I already mentioned these games earlier in. At the age of 1 year sorter (My shop, KoroBoom) becomes more and more interesting to the child. In addition to the fact that the process of “pushing” attracts the baby, at this age he also begins to pay attention that not every figure will fit into any slot he has chosen. Therefore, classes with a sorter are very useful both for and for improving motor skills. In this regard, it is worth noting that if you want to study geometric shapes using a sorter, when buying a sorter, pay attention to whether it contains the main shapes or whether it contains only asterisks and hearts.

The “pushing” skill (which, by the way, is very useful for developing coordination and motor skills) can also be practiced on other household items or toys that you can easily make yourself.

Option 1. On a small box (for example, from baby porridge), stick a face of your favorite character drawn with your own hand or printed on a printer and make a cut in place of the mouth. Children usually love it feed such "box" friends pasta. The more accurately the size of the slot corresponds to the diameter of the pasta being pushed, the better the baby’s motor skills will be worked out.

You can use two boxes with slots of different diameters. So during fun game you will also reinforce the concepts of "" and teach the baby to select an object by size.

Option 2. No less interesting to push various items V plastic bottle - it is transparent, it will be interesting for the child to watch how the object falls inside. In-shell nuts (hazelnuts, almonds, peanuts), small pieces of foam rubber (cut sponge for washing dishes), pasta, hairpins, rubber bands and other small toys that fit the size of the bottle opening can be used as pushed items.

Option 3. Another fun activity is pushing cotton swabs or cocktail tubes into colander holes (it is better to cut the tube into 2-3 parts in advance). It should be noted that sticks and tubes do not go into all colanders. Therefore, this game is only for owners of colanders with large holes.

Option 4. Offer crumbs play with a piggy bank . It is better to immediately offer the child a separate clean piggy bank, as well as wash a few coins, so that later you do not have to wash your hands after each game with the piggy bank. Naturally, such a game must be carefully monitored, because. there will be nothing good if even a clean coin gets into the baby's mouth.


3. Play with lacing

In stores, as a rule, there are two types of lacing. Most frequently encountered lacing (Ozone, labyrinth, KoroBoom), which are a set of a flat picture (and sometimes of bulk toys) with many holes and a lace with which the child must lace up these very holes.

In another variant lacing (Ozone, labyrinth, KoroBoom) instead of a picture with holes, there are many different details (these can be animals, fruits, vegetables) that need to be strung on a string. As a result of playing with such lacing, you should get something similar to beads.

For a toddler who is just starting to learn the art of lacing, in my experience, type 2 lacing is much better suited. Making beads for a child's favorite toy is clearer and closer than threading a needle into numerous holes without any purpose. And it's still too early to tie bananas to a palm tree (like our toy in the photo). Therefore, at this stage, I suggest that you purchase lace-beads.

When my daughter and I just started to master lacing (and Taisiya's interest in lacing appeared somewhere at 1 year and 2 months), we played like this. I held the part, guiding the hole so that it was convenient for my daughter to put the lace into it. She took a wooden needle with a cord in one hand and pushed it into the hole, then with the other hand she took out the end of the needle that appeared on the opposite side. When this movement began to turn out well, I began to teach my daughter to hold the part on her own with one hand, and push the needle with the other. After the needle was inserted into the hole, she needed to shift the detail to the other hand and with her freed hand to get the end of the needle. To my surprise, my daughter quickly mastered this skill, but at first it seemed to me that this task was very difficult for a one-year-old child.

As the first lacing, you can also try this option: take any ribbon that is not too long, and use bagels (drying) or rings from the pyramid . At the same time, also explain to the child that you are making beads for a bear with him, for example. The holes in the dryers are much larger than in the details of the lacing, which makes it easier for the baby. However, my daughter liked ordinary lacing much more, perhaps because it is more convenient to use a needle than a ribbon.

4. Roll the ball/ball down the hill/grooves.

Watching the balls roll down is a great exercise for a child's eye muscles, and also gives the baby a first understanding of the basics of the law of universal gravitation. And, of course, it's just very exciting for kids - to look at the rolling balls.

For this game, you will need to build a small slide from improvised materials, even a book is suitable for this purpose, but something bigger is better. The main thing is that the slide does not turn out to be too steep, otherwise the ball will roll down too quickly, it will be difficult for the child to keep track of it.

Also for this game there is a special toy for sale, it is called Kugelbahn (My shop, KoroBoom). Kugelban is a structure with grooves along which balls and other figures roll. Invite the child to put the ball on the top track and see what happens next. And you can put several balls at once one after another.

5. Carry a wheelchair

I think all parents are familiar with this game. Quite often you can see a child walking through the park with a wheelchair. Rollers are of two types: on a string (Ozone, labyrinth, My shop) - her baby will need to pull along - and on a stick (Ozone, My shop) - you need to push it in front of you. Both wheelchairs are useful for developing a child's motor skills, coordination of movements, and a sense of balance. As soon as the baby begins to walk more or less confidently, he can already be offered this toy.

I hope you enjoy these educational games and take them into your arsenal. How do you play with your baby? What games does he like the most? Share your ideas!

If your baby is already a little more than a year old, then you will definitely find this article interesting:


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