Today I want to share some meaningful and purposeful transferring activities using mini tongs and ice trays. Transferring with mini tongs is fantastic for developing fine motor skills, coordination and concentration.

Transferring herbs. If you have any leftover or excess herbs you can chop them up and freeze them in olive oil. 

There is a lot of transferring work here. 

The child uses mini tongs to transfer the herbs to the ice tray. The child also makes sure the compartments have an equal amount of herbs in them.

Then we fill the ice tray with olive oil and freeze. 

Later we can add the individual herb portions to casseroles, soups, or stock.

Transferring berries. If you have leftover, excess, or slightly squishy berries you can freeze them.

The child uses the mini tongs to transfer the berries to the ice tray. The child can put an equal amount in each compartment.

Then cover with water and freeze. This pouring is also great for developing hand control, it's not easy for my child to do this without spilling.

The frozen berries can be used in smoothies, a cold glass of water, we could also add to yoghurt or cereal/oatmeal. 

Transferring mint to freeze with orange juice. 

Using mini tongs the child transfers the mint to the ice tray. We used chopped mint but we could also use a whole mint leaf per compartment.

Then the child fills the ice tray with freshly squeezed orange juice and puts it in the freezer. 

Once frozen we can add the orange juice and mint to a glass or pitcher of water for a lovely, refreshing drink.

Transfer pesto. There are many dips, sauces, stocks that are easy to freeze. If we make too much or have excess this is easy for the child to transfer to an ice tray and freeze. We can also freeze crushed garlic or crushed ginger this way. This doesn't use mini tongs but it is still a good transferring activity for the child. 

Using a simple spoon the child transfers the pesto into the ice tray. Once frozen we remove the pesto from the ice tray and put them in a freezer safe container. 

These portions are not equal but it doesn't matter too much. We can defrost and use the individual portions. 

You can find our mini tongs at Amazon, Montessori Services, and at M.Vita. Otto started using these tongs at around 26 months.

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