You may have overlooked tongs as an educational and fun household item but tongs can provide children with hours of fun! Here are some things that you can try with your child using kitchen tongs:  

- Pick up and transfer things with tongs. Can your child transfer ice cubes from one bowl to another using tongs? Smaller things are more difficult to pick up and will require more coordination from your child. Try items like (Lego, buttons, small blocks, stuffed animals, beans, toy cars, etc.

- Tidy-up time with a spin. “Let’s tidy-up our toys with tongs instead of our hands today.”

- Reach up to retrieve. Tape some balloons to the wall or place post-it notes on the wall at different heights. Can your child pull down these items?

- Go outside and collect. Using tongs as hands, encourage your child to pick up rocks, sticks, pinecones, etc. with the tongs and put the items in a basket or pail. “How many things did we collect?”

- Pop those bubbles. Using tongs, pretend that they are hungry creatures that feast on bubbles. “How many bubbles can your tongs eat?”

Engaging Your Child:
As play partners to our children, do what they do. They will have a lot more fun and feel more connected to the activity if you are doing the same thing that they are. When we follow our children’s lead it tells them that their actions and thoughts are meaningful and valuable to you. During this activity, all participants should have a set of tongs. Comment on their actions, “Oops. The doll dropped. Try squeezing the tongs closed while you lift the doll.”