8 Amazing Ways To Use Plastic Eggs for Learning
The groundhog didn’t see his shadow this year, which means that spring is coming early (or so legend says)! Although spring may be on its way, we are still in the midst of the cold days, which keeps kids inside. Are you looking for something new to interest your child?
Every year around this time, there is always one thing you can be sure to find on the shelves at just about every store you go to. They are plastic eggs! When I see these plastic eggs start to hit the shelves, I know spring is right around the corner. These super simple and affordable spheres come in all colors of the rainbow. Some have sparkles and zigzags, others have hearts and flowers, and some are see through. There are even camouflage plastic eggs!
I want to share with you some ideas on how to use these eggs to entertain your little ones!
Sort them by color or pattern!
If your child needs a little extra motivation ask them to clean up the eggs and put them in separate piles based on their color.
Hide the eggs!
Once they are hidden, give them directions to find the eggs to work on positional concepts such as under, next to, inside, behind, etc.
Bowl with the eggs!
Set up small cups like bowling pins and use the eggs to knock them down. If your child is working on speech sounds, you can easily incorporate this activity by asking them to say their words X number of times to earn a “bowling ball.” Five minutes later and they have practiced their sounds and have a handful of eggs ready to roll!
Decorate the eggs!
This can be done with a variety of materials, but I recommend markers or stickers if you don’t want too big of a mess. Encourage your child to talk about and describe their creations.
Put small items in the eggs!
If you put in small items like plastic bugs and animals or small erasers, you can then ask your child to describe them to you. What color are they, what sound do they make, where do they live?
Put coins in the eggs!
Your child can open each egg, identify the coin and then open another and add them together. I’m sure they will be ecstatic to be a whole 87 cents richer and want to show off all their new coins!
Put snacks in the eggs!
No, I’m not suggesting you put a whole strawberry in the egg, but how about a few cheerios, goldfish crackers, or some fruit snacks. You could ask your child to first shake the egg and guess what they think is inside. Is there only one cheerio in there or can you hear three goldfish swimming around together? Encourage your child to use their senses.
Put anything else you can think of in the eggs!
One of my favorite “lessons” using plastic eggs is teaching textures. I put a cotton ball inside (soft), sandpaper (rough), tape (smooth), squishy (marshmallow) and bumpy (Lego.) I ask the child to open up their egg, feel what is inside of it and describe how it feels.
Written by Speech Therapist, Katie George