Connecta Straws for Fine Motor and Visual Perception
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I had heard years ago about using straws and connectors, and I think that someone had mentioned using regular straws and the connectors for drip tubing from home depot. Well I tried the drip tubing connectors, and they don’t work with regular straws. They are too small for regular straws, and they are very hard to get into the drip tubing. I saw a play set of straws and connectors at a teacher store, but it was expensive and I wasn’t going to spend that kind of money. Then, a couple of months ago, I was wandering through Marshalls, and found these Connecta Straws for less than 8 dollars. That was a price I was willing to pay (eager even).
These Connecta Straws are great for working on fine motor skills, and they use a lot of 3 dimensional visual perception. You can cut some of the straws shorter so that you have the sizes you need for what you want to make.
There are designs included to copy, or you can make a design for the student to copy. We made some letters and worked on a helicopter. It can be difficult, but is rewarding because the shapes look very cool when done.
These are great for working on fine motor skills as you have to place the pieces into the straws. They are a visual perceptual challenge because you have to visually figure out how to get the connectors into the hole, and what pieces need to go where in order to make the object that you are making.
Materials:
Skills:
- Fine Motor
- Visual Perceptual
- Bimanual skills
Wow, what a great toy! We don’t have a Marshalls here, so I checked to see if they have it on Amazon, and sure enough they do. Although they’re a bit more expensive, $15 as opposed to $8, but they’re still worth it. Thanks for the tip!