Squeeze bottle fun!

If you have been following this blog for a while - or if you have attended any of my recent workshops - you will know that I love visiting

the plastics shop

when needing some inspiration for new skills activities for Sweetpea. 

A while ago I on one such trip, I purchased a plastic 

squeeze bottle,

 the kind you would use for tomato sauce or other condiments. So, on one of our last summery days a week or so ago, I  presented it to her on a tray with a

tiny ceramic pitcher

- it is actually the little milk jug from a tea set my sister bought for her.

 I showed her once how to squeeze a few drops of water out of the botlle and then she eagerly had a go at it. 

She had so much fun

 experimenting

 with controlling the flow - this is how you squeeze to only get a drop at a time, and if you really put some E into it, you can squirt out a nice steady stream. (The only thing I'll do differently next time is to not fill the bottle right up - it was a little heavy...although, now that I think about it, that has its benefits, too!)

I anticipated her next move (looking for something to empty the jug into) and fetched more cups from the tea set, and she spent the next half an hour happily squirting and pouring from one cup to the next.

It would probably have entertained her for the rest of the morning, but ArrowBoy woke up then and I had to rescue the tea set!

It was a great workout for Sweetpea's little arms and fingers, though, and I'm working on a few more ideas for using the humble squeeze bottle for strengthening small muscles - possibly using it with coloured water to experiment with colour mixing? Let me know what ideas you have!!