Looking for an indoor activity this winter break?

Dot the lights is where it’s at.

We already know that dot stickers make crazy fun Breakfast Invitations.

Spider Webs crawled throughout the 7 continents on Instagram.

Christmas Trees raved on Busy Toddler.

And DIY board game helped keep us all going over Thanksgiving Break.

Bring out the dot sticker packs for the brightest Breakfast Invitation yet!

RELATED: Our top used supplies for Breakfast Invitations here.

But how can I use this for multiple ages?

Older preschoolers love patterns, and younger toddlers love to color match.

You can do both, or either!

Since I knew both of my boys had a solid understanding of patterns, we went all in.

I created 3 simple patterns for them to follow.

Troubleshooting:

When my 3.5-year-old thought it was funny to put the wrong color, we would simply laugh about how that lightbulb is broken and won’t light up the strand. He would then take it off, and replace it with the matching color. Problem solved. Moving on.

Taking that approach kept things light, and didn’t cause stress on either one of us that would make us want to give up.

Let’s get started with this fine motor holiday activity.

• Roll out the white paper roll and draw three long lines to represent the light strings.

• Create three simple patterns with your dot markers.

• Younger children: Do one strand at a time.

• I chose 3 because I knew that was within their ZPD. It was an amount they could successfully complete as they think. It wasn’t too easy, or too difficult. It was also an amount that I knew they could complete before growing bored.

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Three simple supplies:

 

 

 

If you read anything on this fine motor post, make sure it is this:

Left to right. Left to right. Left to right.

It can be tempting for children to dive right into the game.

“I see an orange! Here I goooooo. I put my orange right smack in the middle of the strand”.”

But we want a little more than that.

We want to remind our children that we start on the left and work our way to the right.

This is how we read and write and will help build a habit to focus on the harder things down the road such as sounding out and forming letters.

One way we can do this is by placing a large star to show the starting place for the activity. Peeling and placing these stickers are also helping your child with future pencil grip.

“Can you find the star? That means start! Put your finger on the star and then you may begin your pattern.”

Say the pattern aloud as you go.

This can look different depending on what works in your home:

• As you are preparing breakfast, lean in and say something like, “Oh I see! pink, orange, green, pink, orange, green, etc.” Then touch the colors as you say them aloud.

• Your child may want to say the pattern as they go. – this is what we aim for

• Apprehensive preschooler? Do a little pattern impromptu dance to pique their interest. Jumping jack and say pink, squat and say orange, clap and say green…” You get the idea. Just add something that also distracts them to stop whining and wonder what mom is up to.

Remember to keep Breakfast Invitations to what works for your home.

There is no hard right or wrong way to make it your own.

Our goal is to share with our children some tips. When they are ready, they will take the bait.

Until then, KEEP AT IT! You are doing more than you think about leading them in the right direction for what’s to come down the road.

You’ve got this.

When will you get started?