Last Updated on November 12, 2021 by Sheryl Cooper
Inside: This tweezing corn activity is a fun way to build preschool fine motor skills. Perfect with your farm or fall theme!
Using tweezers is one of our favorite ways to strengthen the fingers and hands, getting them ready for writing.
We’ve used them in the sensory bin, while exploring nature, and with our table activities that involve transferring small objects.
Today I’m going to show you how to put together a fine motor activity that involves tweezing corn.
Make sure to add this to your farm or fall theme!
Preschool Tweezing Corn Fine Motor Activity
Every fall you see those ears of corn with multicolored kernels. You might have even used them to decorate your Thanksgiving table, or as a display with some pumpkins. They are known as flint corn, or Indian corn.
Its kernels, which come in a range of colors including white, blue and red, have “hard as flint” shells, giving this type of corn its name. Flint corn kernels contain a small amount of soft starch surrounded completely by a larger amount of hard starch, which means the kernels shrink uniformly when drying and are dent-free and less prone to spoiling (and therefore ideal for autumnal décor). – (Source)
Because the kernels are hard, and there is some space between them, they make an excellent fine motor tweezing activity for preschoolers.
- Indian (Flint) corn
- Tweezers
Looking for more fine motor activities?
- A Collection of Fine Motor Activities for Fall
- Pine Cone Fine Motor Painting
- Squeezing Activities to Build Those Fine Motor Skills
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Sheryl,
Do you do this activity with your 2’s also?? I bought some Indian corn awhile back and I have some left over from some painting we did. Wondering how well the little ones do with the tweezers 🙂
Thanks,
Michelle
Sheryl,
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How do they get so colorful ? I’m afraid we don’t have this in Norway…We have corn, but I have never seen something called indian corn….and I have never seen corn beeing so colorful…Torild
Where did you find your tweezers? Christi
Michelle – I haven’t done this activity with my 2’s because I think it would be too hard to manipulate the tweezers. However, some Indian Corn’s kernels pop off easily, allowing the children to sort of pluck them off with their fingers. That would probably work for 2’s. You’ll want to select corn with some space between the kernels.
We used regular eyebrow tweezers for this activity. The Pre-K 4’s teacher had this pair and I loved the vinyl-coated handles.
Not sure about why or how Indian Corn is so colorful or where it’s available. Guess I better do my homework! 🙂
Sheryl
The Hooligans LOVED plucking the corn OFF the cob this fall. I never even thought about having them use tweezers! Next year!
Were the corn cobs dry or fresh? Where do you purchase them? I am in California. I really like the handled tweezers too. Where did she come across those?
Hi Holly – in Oregon we can purchase the corn cobs in grocery stores during the fall season. They are dry. Unfortunately, I am not sure where the tweezers were purchased, as they were given to us. 🙁