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There are endless benefits of using tongs for toddlers! Tongs activities are perfect for toddlers developing small muscles, fine motor skills, and hand-eye coordination. I’ve also heard that mastering the use of tongs is necessary before moving on to scissors — the action is fairly similar.

Well, this tongs and pom pom activity is a frugal and simple activity to get your toddler using tongs. Many months ago, I made a simple pom pom drop activity using an old food can. My toddler (now 2 years old) still regularly plays with it. So, I decided to enhance the fine motor control fun by giving him tongs!

A collage of 2 photos of an easy tongs and pom pom activity for toddlers, including a toddler using tongs to drop a pom pom into a recycled food container.

Simple Tongs and Pom Pom Activity for Toddlers

How to Prep Your Tongs and Pom Poms Activity:

Toddler fine motor activities don’t get much easier than this tongs activity. You simply cut a round hole, large enough for a pom pom to fit through, out of the plastic lid of a cylindrical food container. I used a craft knife but you could probably also poke a hole in it and then use kitchen scissors.

A photo of the supplies for a tongs and pom pom activity for toddlers.

Once you have your hole in the lid, just place it back on the container. That’s it!

Of course, you can use paint or construction paper to cover the sides of the container if you really want to. But, honestly, your toddler probably won’t care one bit. They will be busy exploring the tongs and pom poms and practicing their hand eye coordination and fine motor skills instead.

How to Do the Tongs and Pom Pom Activity:

All you have to do for this tong activity is present the container, plastic tongs, and pom poms to your toddler and let them explore them. If your child doesn’t figure out how to use the tongs on their own, show them how to pick up a pom pom with them.

A photo of a toddler doing a tongs and pom poms activity.

Use words to explain to your toddler, too. It’s great for their language development.

“Squeeze to pick up. Hold while moving. Open to drop!”

A collage of 2 photos of a child doing an easy tongs and pom pom activity for fine motor skills.

When I first showed my son, the action was very difficult for him. He spent quite a long time just putting a pom pom into the tongs and trying to keep it in there. But he kept watching me demonstrate and was sufficiently intrigued to keep trying. Eventually he started to get the hang of it and gain more fine motor control.

A collage of 2 photos of a toddler practicing fine motor skills with a tongs and pom pom activity.

The next day, he got the pom poms and tongs out all on his own and started trying again. He kept telling himself many times over to “Squeeeeze!” It quickly became his favorite pom pom activity!

Further Play and Learning with Tongs and Pom Poms:

Now, this fine motor skills activity offers lots of opportunities for extension and variation of play and learning for kids of all ages. Yes, these tong and pom pom activities offer toddlers a fun challenge for eye-hand coordination, pincer grasp, and muscle control. But, older kids can use this fun activity to practice color sorting and counting, too! Check out these fun play ideas…

Container Pom Pom Sorting Activity — Make multiple containers, but cover the sides of them with a variety of colors of construction paper. Then, have your child sort the pom poms using tongs into their matching color containers.

Container Pom Pom Counting Activity — Make multiple containers and label each one with a different number. Then, invite your child to use tongs to drop the correct number of pom poms into each container.

Muffin Tin Pom Pom Drop Activity — Skip the container altogether and invite your toddler to use tongs to drop pom poms into the cups of a muffin pan instead.

Muffin Tin Pom Pom Color Sort Activity — Add a different color of construction paper to the bottom of each cup of the muffin pan. Then, invite your child to use tongs to sort pom poms into their matching color muffin cups.

Muffin Tin Counting Pom Poms Activity — Label the bottom of each muffin cup with a different number. Then, invite your child to use tongs to drop the correct number of pom poms into each muffin cup.

Do you have a fun toddler activity to share? Leave a comment below to share!

Full Tongs and Pom Pom Activity Instructions: