We have had so much fun from my dust covered golf bag this last month. Starting with our Backyard Golf Ball Hunt, to refining the girls’ fine motor skills with Golf Tee Challenge, and Big M’s favorite to date – Create a Creature with Golf Tees. On Monday, we were waiting around for our bi-weekly grocery delivery and Big M asked for a ‘project.’ She was beyond thrilled with our final golf activity: DIY Geoboard with Golf Tees.
DIY Geoboard with Golf Tees
Who remembers playing with geoboards as a kid – those plastic boards with all the pegs that you could wrap rubber bands around? Well, I made our very own geoboard using Styrofoam and golf tees.
Supplies
Styrofoam
Golf Tees
PlaygroundParkbench Printable
Rubber bandsCost: Less than $10
Prep Time: Less than 5 minutes
Clean-Up Time: Less than 10 minutes
You can find Styrofoam in the floral or craft section of most craft stores. I found 9″ x 12″ pre-cut 4 packs for $12.99 at Hobby Lobby last week. Each of the Ms used one piece for a morning of activity, including using all of the printable templates, and then free-styling their own creations.
To start, I gave them each a cup full of golf tees, and taped a printed template to the top of their Styrofoam. Big M requested the hammer, which she remembered using in the Golf Tee Challenge. At first, Lil’ M was far more interested in the tape, but after watching her big sister for a bit, quickly started filling all the dots with tees herself. I was frankly shocked by how quickly and readily she caught on… for 20 months old, her fine motor skills continue to amaze me!
The hammer adds a nice, additional eye-hand coordination challenge for Big M at 3.5… The printable templates all have dots where tees should be inserted, and the dots are then connected by dotted lines to form an image: a butterfly, house, star, and of course, an M. As an additional fine motor skill challenge for Big M, once she hammered in all her tees, I gave her a handful of rubber bands to connect her dots. We used black, loom bands, which worked great.
Voila! A beautiful butterfly. One word of caution – be sure to help your child firmly insert their tees into the Styrofoam. We had a tee or two shoot loose under the tension of the rubber band if only partially pushed into the base. As soon as the butterfly was completed, she wanted to make the rest.
You can download our printable templates here. I typically only make my printables available via my weekly newsletter, so be sure to sign up below! Our newsletter comes out every Friday and includes all our posts for the week, any related printables and a weekly special offer.
Did you play with geoboards as a kid? What was your favorite post from our Golf Series? What other activities have you done with golf tees at home?
If you enjoyed this post, you can find more great fine motor skill and preschool activities on our Pinterest boards below.
Follow Meghan @ PlaygroundParkbench’s board Fine Motor Skills on Pinterest. Follow Meghan @ PlaygroundParkbench’s board Preschool (3-5 years) on Pinterest.
7 comments
[…] What other activities have you done with golf tees? Be sure to check out the other posts in our Fun from the Golf Bag series […]
I made a geoboard for our kids to play with. I love that your idea uses Styrofoam! And I love that you provide patterns. Wonderful, wonderful!
Thanks so much for sharing this idea (along with your other one) on my Grandma Ideas Sharing Time link party. I really appreciate your participation.
All the best,
Nina
What a great idea! Love it!
I love the idea of making a geoboard – I never would have thought to use golf tees! Thanks for sharing on #ToddlerFunFriday
I was amazed by how long they were entertained for too… definitely will be a repeat activity!
This looks fab, I’m going to be trying this with Archie once he’s a little older #toddlerfunfriday
I was shocked by how readily my 20 month old joined in… never underestimate them!