Sippy Cup Decorating
Parent helps child decorate a sippy cup with stickers, promoting fine motor skills while making the transition from bottle to cup fun and engaging. The agent coaches the parent to observe different grasp patterns (raking, finger feeding, pincer) as child handles stickers and cup, building hand strength and coordination for independent drinking.
Opens a guided voice session in TogetherTime.
What you'll need
Sippy cup and stickers ready on a table or high chair tray. Child seated securely in high chair or at table. Best done before feeding time when child is alert but not hungry. Ensure stickers are easy to peel or pre-peel some edges.
How it works
- 1~30s
Start by showing your child the stickers. Place one sticker on the table or tray with the backing still on. Watch how your child tries to pick it up — does they use their whole hand to scoop it up, or try to use individual fingers? You might see a raking motion where they drags it toward themself with all fingers. Tell me what you notice about their grasp.
Watch for: Child uses a raking motion with all fingers to gather and pick up the sticker.
- 2~35s
Now let's work on peeling the sticker. Hold the sticker with the backing facing your child and peel a corner up just a tiny bit. See if your child can use their thumb and fingers to pull that corner. Watch which fingers they uses — does they use the side of their index finger, or try to pinch with thumb and fingertip? This is similar to the finger feeding motion used for picking up small foods.
Watch for: Child uses thumb and fingers (not whole hand) to manipulate the sticker corner, similar to picking up small foods.
- 3~30s
Finally, let's place the sticker on the cup. Once the sticker is peeled, help your child hold it and press it onto the sippy cup. Watch how they holds the sticker now — does they use just fingertips to position it, or still the whole hand? See if your child can make small adjustments to get it just right. This fingertip control is the beginning of pincer grasp development.
Watch for: Child uses fingertips to manipulate and position the sticker on the cup, showing early pincer grasp development.