Monday Made It! A fun fine motor idea.

I always feel so accomplished when I've made something worthy of linking up with Tara for Monday Made It!  Today I'm sharing a super simple but very fun idea to use as a fine motor activity.

You've probably seen these little guys on Pinterest - I'm not sure what their official title is, but in my classroom we call them 'Mike'. Not sure why, probably because they kind of look like the green fella from Monsters Inc.  My Mikes needed some TLC these holidays, and one had disappeared completely so I figured as I was making another I should share the process with you!

You'll need some cheap tennis balls, googly eyes, a craft blade (here we call them Stanley knives, but you might have an X-Acto) and super glue.  I've tried PVA in the past, but without fail I end up having to re-glue after a while so super glue is better value for money!

Use the knife to cut an opening in the tennis ball - about 2 inches long.  Please be careful! Make sure you have the tennis ball on a hard surface so it won't move, and be sure to cut super slowly so the knife doesn't slip.  

Glue the googly eyes on - whichever glue you're using might soak into the furry fabric part of the tennis ball before it sets so make sure you glue on top of the rubber strip.

That's it!  Now you have your very own Mike to use in fine motor activities.  Kidlets squeeze the mouth open to feed him... well, anything! Pom poms, beads, dry beans - anything you have.  This activity really works the hand muscles of little ones so can already be tricky, but to increase the difficulty you can have them use tweezers to feed Mike. 

Well, that's one project done! I think it might be time to scroll through Instagram to check out the #bloghoppin2014 Scavenger Hunt fun, as well as all the pics from Vegas that have been making me so jealous. :)