On a recent trip to the Dollar Tree I spotted these rainbow colored pill cases. They looked like a great toy for Tinker who loves twisting caps on and off, so I picked one up. Since then we’ve been using it for this simple color matching and fine motor activity.
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Materials for this Fine Motor Rainbow Sorting Activity
To make your own you only need two things. First you’ll need a pill case. As I mentioned we found ours at the Dollar Tree, but this pill case looks very similar. You’ll also need some pom poms in colors to match your case.
The first time I opened the compartments they were a bit hard to open and close, so I turned them back and forth a few times to loosen them up. Since then Tinker has been able to open and close them on her own without any trouble.
Ways to Play
The first time I introduced this activity I set it up as a tot tray to use during our home preschool time. One day I placed the pom poms inside the compartments for her to open and remove. Another day I placed the pom poms outside of the compartments for her to match and close.
This is also a great boredom buster to toss in your purse or diaper bag. It’s very lightweight, and it engages young kids for a few minutes when you are waiting at places like restaurants, doctor’s offices, and siblings’ extracurricular activities.
For older kids you might choose a clear case and label it with color words. Then kids could match the corresponding color pom pom to the color word on the case.
Continue the color matching fine motor fun with our rainbow caterpillar activity,or gather some more pom poms to create some pom pom art.
Get a full week of playful rainbow theme ideas!
Save time and get right to the playful learning with our printable lesson plan sets. Each set includes over 30 playful learning activities related to the theme, and we’ve provided different versions for home preschool families and classroom teachers so all activities are geared directly toward your needs.
Explore a rainbow theme with your preschoolers for St. Patrick’s Day or Spring. This pack includes editable lesson plans and hands-on activities for a week full of math, reading, & science learning activities. There are also many color activities included so that preschoolers can learn colors and be introduced to basic color theory. Watch this short video to see just a few examples of the types of activities and printables included in this set:
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Deebi27
Love, love, love this simple, but awesome activity!! Will look for these this week…got my fingers crossed! Thanks!
Clare
Now I would never have thought of that! I don’t think I’ve ever seen pill trays like that in our store though, they’re usually the ones with tiny boxes and the days of the week stamped on. I’ll have to keep a look out.
Shaunna Evans
Hopefully you spot the pill trays. This activity has been a great boredom buster around here.
Tiffiny
This is great! pinning!
Kristina @ School Time Snippets
I have had that pill case in my hand thinking, “how cool” but would always leave without it because I couldn’t think of anything off hand to do with it! Love your activity!
Renae
What a great activity! I love it! Such a great idea!