Some of the skills we have worked heavily on during our school time are counting, sorting and matching. We live in a small space and so I like using objects that are compact and don’t take up a lot of room for our lessons. Enter pom-poms. Pom-poms are some of the best tools I have found for counting and sorting. For not very much money (especially with a coupon at Hobby Lobby), you can buy a bag that has multiple colors and shapes inside.
Pom-poms allow for some many different activities that they are well worth their space and minimal cost. The actives we do with pom-poms include:
Sorting:
Find all of the big pom-poms
Find all of the medium pom-poms
Find all of the small pom-poms
Find all of the green pom-poms
Find all of the purple pom-poms
Find all of the pink pom-poms
Find all of the yellow pom-poms
Counting after sorting:
Count all of the big pom-poms
Count all of the medium pom-poms
Count all of the small pom-poms
Count all of the green pom-poms
Count all of the purple pom-poms
Count all of the pink pom-poms
Count all of the yellow pom-poms
Matching:
What color of pom-pom do I have? Can you find one of the same color?
What size pom-pom do I have? Can you find one of the same size?
Pom-poms are a great activity for learning colors or reinforcing the colors they already know. It works find motor skills to pick up the small pom-poms and is overall a very effective activity for a preschooler. It is one she enjoys immensely and asks for all the time. If you are teaching a very young child, you can start with fewer sizes or colors to help them build confidence. I have often noticed that my child does better with harder problems if she first solved some easy ones to build her confidence.
Counting, sorting and matching are basic and essential skills that this easy lesson can teach effectively.
Paul loves pom poms! Still working on colors. But he's super into letters right now, so we're going more where the interest is. My stubborn child.