Teaching Tools and Training

What you need: paint, paper (or other surface), cotton buds What is it teaching?: pencil grip, fine motor skills, coordination, building strength in the hand and patience

What you need: clear contact, sticky tape (to hold contact down to a table), any crafty or natural items, leaves, glitter, matchsticks etc. What it teaches: fine motor development, creativity

Playdough is great for developing fine motor skills and strength in the wrists, hands and fingers. What to do: 1. cut with a plastic knife or scissors 2. use cookie cutters to make shapes 3. make little balls and count them 4. let your children put glitter in the playdough or mix colours to see what happens 5. let them be creative and do their own thing! 6. make letters or numbers with the playdough

We have an emergency activity box in the boot of our car. Instead of getting out your phone or Ipad when at a cafe give your children activities to do.