WIRED - DIY Bead Maze!

Wire is something that is always available in our playroom.  I found this particular floral wire at the Dollar Tree.  Wire is a great medium to explore, create, and manipulate.  Its great for strengthening the muscles in the fingers and hands - improving fine motor skills.  My initial thought was to make a DIY Bead Maze, like one of these:

 

I decided to let the activity remain a little more open ended than that.  But making a bead maze is definitely an option for those of you interested.  You might need a sturdier grade wire, though.

For this activity we used floral wire, styrofoam block (found at Walmart), wire cutters, and pasta wheels (we already had the colored pasta wheels.  You can use anything - beads, pasta, whatever has a hole in it).  My son actually helped me set up the invitation, and the pasta wheels are what he chose.

The Invitation

sticking the wires into the styrofoam

(somewhere along the way, he turned the board over.  I left the wrapping on the contain the potential mess)

 putting on pasta wheels - great for fine motor

 an extra LONG wire...he thought this was fun

 "Its like a roller coaster, Mommy"

- AK (MESE, MECD)

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