Fine motor skills refer to the small muscles of the hands and during the preschool years, these muscles are rapidly developing. Use noodles to hone the development and control of fine motor skills in your students. Provide kids with lengths of yarn and encourage them to string the noodles on to the yarn. Set out empty bowls and bowls filled with noodles; kids can use their fingers or tweezers to transfer the noodles from one bowl to the other.
Noodles serve as an unexpected, yet handy tool for teaching preschool children basic math facts. Teach children the concept of sorting by having them sort different colors and shapes of noodles based on the noodle's characteristics. Reinforce number recognition by printing numbers on index cards and have students place an amount of noodles that corresponds to each number on the appropriate index card; one noodle on the number 1, two noodles on the number 2 and so forth. When teaching addition, use noodles to represent addends and have your students count the total number of noddles to determine the sum.
Preschoolers can express their artistic side by creating noodle crafts. Supply kids with different types of noodles and have them string them on to ribbon, yarn or string to create necklaces or bracelets. Offer kids glue, crayons, markers, paint and noodles and encourage them to use the materials to create an artistic collage. Kids can draw pictures of people or animals and glue noodles on as hair or fur.
Promote literacy development in preschoolers with noodles. To reinforce letter-sound recognition, draw a letter "N" on a piece of construction paper and print ""N" is for "Noodle" on the bottom of the paper. Encourage children to glue noodles on to the sheet of paper. To help kids learn how to write the letter "N," draw an upper- and lowercase letter "N" on a sheet of paper and show them how to lay the noodles on top of the letters, helping them gain an understanding of how the letters are formed.