Fine motor development
A toddler uses tongs to transfer small blocks from a container with a larger opening to a container with a smaller opening.
Be Prepared: Secure two pairs of toddler-size tongs (sometimes called jumbo tweezers) that work best by using a whole hand, not fingers only. Tongs that are less than four inches in length may be too small for whole-hand use. Some toddlers may be ready to manipulate larger-size tongs. One of the tongs is used by the toddler and the other is used by you during the activity. It is helpful for your tongs to be the same size as the toddler’s tongs.
Secure small blocks of the same size (at least two inches) that can be readily picked up by the tongs you select. Use up to 10 blocks, depending on a toddler’s fine motor ability. Place all of the blocks in the small bucket or a similar container with a wide mouth/ opening.
Secure a taller container with a narrower opening made of a nonbreakable, transparent material so the toddler can see the blocks he/she drops into it. The use of containers with larger and smaller openings is an important part of the activity’s support of fine motor actions with tongs. Begin the activity with the taller container empty.
[Invite a toddler to join you in using tongs to move blocks from one place to another place. A toddler may wish to sit or stand at a low table or sit on the floor, with containers on the floor.]
[Point to the two containers when you describe each. Show the tongs, pointing to each of its two arms when you describe them.]
I would like you to help me move the blocks from this bucket to this container that has nothing in it.
It is fun to try to use tongs to move things from one place to another place. Here are our tongs.
Tongs have two arms. Here is an arm and here is another arm. We push the arms together when we use tongs to move something.
Follow-up prompts if needed: Have you ever watched other people use tongs? What did they do?
This is how we can use tongs to move blocks from the bucket to our container. We will move one block at a time.
[Demonstrate and describe how to pick up one block. Emphasize each step:
Now it is your turn to move a block from our bucket to our container.
[Invite the toddler to use his/her tongs to move a block. Offer verbal support by quietly describing or reminding the toddler of each step.
Explain that we pay attention to keeping the arms of the tongs pushed together when we move a block.
Encourage the toddler to watch the block drop into the container.
Emphasize that the block drops when we let go of it; we let go of a block when we stop pushing the arms of the tongs together with our hand.
Encourage the toddler to move as many blocks as he/she wishes. A toddler may be interested in setting a goal of moving all of the blocks, if appropriate. You may wish to offer a progress report to encourage persistence. Example: “Wow, you have moved most of our blocks into the jar. There are only two more blocks to move!”]
[Engage the toddler in describing what happened. Emphasize effort, not outcome. Example: “You used tongs to move blocks from our bucket to our container. We use our hand to make tongs work. You paid attention to a lot of different things. You put the tongs around a block. You pushed the arms of the tongs together. You moved the block to our container. How did you make the block drop into our container?”]
The task may be more than a one-handed process. A toddler may use two hands to push the arms of the tongs together. Or a toddler may use one hand to support the block (or be positioned to catch the block if it falls) while using the other hand to push the arms of the tongs together. Positively accept the problem-solving approach a toddler uses with the tongs. Using two hands involves important practice in coordination.
A toddler may try to do the task quickly by using his/her hand (rather than the tongs) to move a block or attempt to move more than one block at a time with the tongs. If this occurs, explain that we are not in a hurry and gently remind the toddler that we are learning how to use tongs by moving one block at a time with the tongs. It may be helpful for the toddler to pause and take several deep, slow breaths before trying again.
Toddlers are likely to differ in what is most challenging—putting the tongs around a block, figuring out how hard to push the arms of the tongs together, or letting go when the block is over a narrower opening. Be flexible in how you offer support. Example: If putting the tongs around a block in the bucket is difficult, encourage the toddler to use his/her fingers to remove the block from the bucket, put it on the table (or floor), and then try using the tongs with the block. Coordinating the tongs’ arms with a block that is askew in the bucket may be lead to unnecessary frustration. You may wish to put all blocks on the table (or floor) as their starting point and put aside the bucket.
If a toddler finds it too challenging to use the tongs, invite him/her to use fingers to move one block at a time. Acknowledge the benefits of this approach. The toddler is paying attention to each block and moving his/her fingers to grasp and then let go of each one.
Look for ways to draw attention to the toddler’s efforts to pay attention to each part of the move (a selfregulation skill) and to the cause-and-effect connection of letting go of a block that then drops into the container (a cognitive skill).
The one-to-one configuration of this activity offers a good opportunity for you to focus on a step(s) of the task that may need further guidance or practice. It also is a good arrangement for taking turns with the toddler in transferring blocks with tongs, if you anticipate this informal form of repeated demonstration and support would be helpful.
Extra support
Enrichment
Fine motor development
A toddler uses tongs to construct a road and/or a tower of small blocks.
Be Prepared: This activity is for a toddler who has participated in Option 1 or has similar experience using tongs to transfer small blocks, one at a time, from one place to another. Use two pairs of toddler-size tongs that were used in Option 1. One pair of tongs is used by the toddler and the other is used by you during the activity. Secure small blocks of the same size (at least two inches) that can be readily picked up by the tongs you select. Use up to 10 blocks, depending on a toddler’s fine motor ability. Place all of the blocks in the small bucket or a similar container with a wide mouth/opening.
Invite a toddler to join you to use tongs to make a road or a tower with blocks. The toddler may prefer to work at a low table or on the floor. Place the bucket of blocks in close proximity to the toddler but not in the space where he/she will build with blocks. Remind the toddler that tongs have two arms, just like we have two arms. We push the two arms together to hold a block with the tongs. Encourage the toddler to tell how he/she used the tongs to move blocks from a bucket to a container (Option 1) or another recent experience with tongs.
Ask the toddler whether he/she wants to build a road or a tower. If appropriate, explain that both a road and a tower can be built, one at a time. Initiate building the road or tower by putting the first two blocks in place with your tongs, one block at a time. Describe the steps in using the tongs or invite the toddler to describe how you are using the tongs. Draw attention to key actions:
After you put two blocks in place, invite the toddler to use his/her tongs to continue building the road or tower. Offer verbal support by quietly describing or reminding the toddler of each step. Emphasize that we pay attention to keeping the arms of the tongs pushed together when we move a block. Encourage the toddler to build as much of the road or tower as he/she wishes. If the tower falls before all blocks are used, invite the toddler to build another tower. A toddler may wish to use the tongs to build something different.
Conclude the activity by inviting the toddler to help you describe what happened. Emphasize the use of our hand to push the arms of the tongs together and how we watched carefully to figure out where to put a block. Give more attention to use of the tongs than to the outcome.
Using tongs to put a block next to or on top of another block is considerably more challenging than the Option 1 task of using tongs to move a block to another container. In the current option, the Option 1 task of dropping a block once it is over the opening of a container is replaced by the challenge of letting go of a block when it is in the desired position in a construction effort.
A toddler may use his/her hands to adjust a block after using tongs to put it in place. Examples: moving a block closer to another block in the pretend road, lining up blocks in a tower. Positively accept these actions without tongs; they show attention to details and a good understanding of how blocks work together in constructing a road or tower. At the same time, be prepared for a road that has gaps between blocks or a tower that quickly falls because blocks are not well positioned. Avoid adjusting a toddler’s placements of blocks. An attentive toddler will learn from whatever happens. This activity is primarily focused on the coordination and manipulation of tongs in relation to block building, not the outcome of block building.
Many of the possibilities described in Option 1’s What to Look For section apply to the current activity, including working too fast to build a road or tower and differences across toddlers in what is most challenging in the use of tongs. See the Option 1 What to Look For suggestions on how to respond to these possibilities and others.
The activity description includes the ELM Curriculum’s continuing suggestion that you describe your actions and the toddler’s actions plus repeatedly say the names of objects. These suggestions support a larger goal of helping toddlers understand that we can use words to tell what is happening and what we are doing (pick up, push, let go) and use words to give something a name.
Extra support
Enrichment
Materials Needed: Option 1 materials, a nonbreakable transparent container with a wider opening, several different sizes of tongs
As an extension of the Option 1 activity, place on a low table the small blocks in a bucket for toddler(s) to use tongs to transfer to one of two transparent containers. Including different sizes of tongs and containers with narrower and wider openings as two possible destinations of blocks offers some differences in the level of challenge. Also, put some blocks on the low table or floor as well as in the bucket for toddlers to pick up with tongs. Invite toddlers to reverse the process by using tongs to transfer small blocks from a transparent container to the bucket or table.
Materials needed: Option 1 and Interest Area materials
In addition to offering Options 1 and 2 to toddlers, as appropriate, invite preschool-age and older children to use kitchen-size tongs to move blocks of different sizes into a construction of their design. Mobile infants and younger toddlers will enjoy carrying small blocks from one location to another location. Offer a small container to a younger toddler for transporting 1–2 small blocks.
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