milk cap container

M loves putting money into piggy banks, which is good since he has quite a collection of them.  This activity is one we've had for a while and that M has used several times without getting tired of it.  We keep it in his restaurant backpack so he can play with it whenever we're out somewhere.  We brought it on our Philadelphia trip as well.

You need a container with a plastic lid (we used Gerber crunchies but anything with a removable plastic lid would work) and milk caps.  We get our milk delivered and the caps are a little bigger than the caps from regular milk jugs.  At 2, M has a mixture of both in his collection and does great with them but the big ones might be better for smaller hands.

There's a rectangle cut in the lid, big enough to fit the largest caps.  I went around our cut-out with painter's tape to soften the edges.  M's job is to fill his container with the tops.  He's pretty independent with it now because he's learning to remove the cover to get them out again when he's done.

miscellaneous fun

M's daddy was in Chicago this weekend for the Ryder Cup so we tried a few little quick activities over the course of the weekend.  Some were more successful/fun than others but I thought we'd post a bit about each.

Pipe Cleaner Strainer

I'd seen this idea on various blogs and websites I've visited.  You fill the holes of a strainer with pipe cleaners.  It's supposed to be fun to pull them out then try to put them back in.  I say "supposed to be fun" because M found the first part much more entertaining than the second.  He'd never used pipe cleaners before so he had a lot of fun taking them out and inspecting them.  He didn't have as much interest in trying to put them back in.  He found it much more fun to chase the dogs with them.

Sticker Collage

M's had a little experience with stickers in the past but I've never given him a whole sheet of them before.  Nonni brought us some pumpkin stickers so we used them to make a Happy Halloween sign.  At first M was mad when he stuck the stickers to the paper and couldn't get them back off but eventually he got the hang of it.  The trick at the beginning turned out to be providing him with a new sticker as soon as the first was on.  Here's our final product:

Color Sorting

This is my free version of this $30 activity.  M has started to recognize colors, especially when we color with crayons.  I set up three pieces of construction paper (yellow, blue, and red) and we used some of his magnetic letters of the same colors to sort.  M watched me do it then tried it:

To his credit he did do a few on his own.  However, the activity ended shortly after like this:

Card Books

This last one is another mom idea from Pinterest.  If you look for it you'll find a variety of ways to bind together greeting cards into keepsake books.  I am not one to hold on to cards.  I probably have less than 10 saved cards (for me) but I've kept every card M has gotten.  They've been in a box, which seems like a waste, so I took out his first birthday cards and the cards we received right after he was born and made two card books for him.  I found these small 3-ring binders at Staples, which worked great for the cards.  However, if there is such a thing as a small 3-hole punch, I don't have it.  So I ended use a single hole punch to put the cards into the binder.  It was a little more time consuming but it didn't take me more than an hour to make both books - and we had a lot of cards.

Before:

After:

treasure hunt

Our blog has been on the slow side lately because two weeks ago we moved into our new house.  We've been doing a lot of unpacking and rediscovering the toys I had put in boxes weeks ago (I didn't put them all in boxes weeks ago but for the ones I did it's been like Christmas in July for M).  We haven't done too many "out of the box" activities because we've been so busy.

This afternoon M and I went outside to play and kind of inadvertently began a treasure hunt in the backyard.  M loves all things small and since we've been spending more time outdoors this summer he's discovered rocks.  He finds one or two and carries them around in his hands.  He did this today and I decided to grab his bucket and take him on a treasure hunt.  After about the third "treasure" we found he seemed to get the hang of it.  He was surprisingly very picky about the things he put in his bucket.  Here's how it went....

- I would spot something.

- I would say, "look M, a treasure!" and point it out.

- M would pick it up, inspect it carefully, and either put it in his bucket or throw it back on the ground in disgust (i.e. this is definitely not a treasure).

Some things that made the treasure bucket: at least 4 rocks, a three-leaf clover, a twig, a few flowers, an acorn, a weed

Some things that did not make the cut: a dandelion, a piece of mulch, a handful of grass M pulled up

As I said, after the first few things I found he really got into it and liked filling up the bucket.  Of course, we had to stop our walk a few times to dump out the bucket, inspect everything again, and put each thing back in.  

One of the things I liked watching M do was balance while walking and holding the bucket.  Tricky...

Overall, a good little unexpected activity.  I'm sure it's something we'll do again many times but it was fun to see him enjoy it at this stage.  

sticker hands

A quick little problem solving activity for M this morning....removing stickers from the backs of his hands.  He loved the bright star stickers and didn't mind having them on his hands but (of course) wanted them off so he could play with them.  The first one took him a few minutes to figure out.  He knew he had to pinch it but kept missing the edge.

Once he got the first one off the second one was easy.  And once he unstuck the second one, he stuck it back on (it's still there).

Quick and easy if you have stickers at home.  Good for pincer grasp and fine motor development.

M's age when we played: 11 months, 3 weeks

bowl of jello

The idea for today's activity came from here.  I read about their Gelatin Sensory Tub and wanted to try it. I thought about a slightly different take on it by trying to make jello "blocks" to play with.  I put my jello in ice cube trays to form but the pieces ended up being more floppy that I thought (I guess it's been a while since I've had a jiggler).  We ended up with a sensory tub instead of blocks but we had a lot of fun. The mom on No Time For Flash Cards had a much more appealing array of jello.  We had two colors.  M didn't seem to mind though.
We poked it....

Scooped it....

Squashed it...

M had a lot of fun.  He got to practice holding and handling a spoon (even though he didn't eat any jello).  He also got to practice picking up some not-so-easy-to-handle jello chunks.  We've done a lot of activities that have allowed M to practice his grasp and fine motor skills.  The other day he took one of those small lipstick cases out of his grandmother's purse, opened the button clasp, took out the lipstick, fit it back inside, and buttoned it.  We were kind of impressed.  That's why we do these kinds of crazy things :)

A few tips- make sure you and your child are not wearing anything you don't want ruined.  Even if you don't plan on touching the jello, you will end up with it on you.  Do it on a surface that could be easily hosed down, wiped down, or thrown away.  We used a plastic table cloth.  And finally, only do this if you can handle a mess.  M needed a bath afterwards and anything he inadvertently touched on the way to the tub turned instantly sticky.  Messy but fun.

M's age when we played: 11 months, 3 weeks

magnetic letter tray

M's new magnetic letter sets came in the mail this week and he's had fun playing with them on the fridge. One of the teachers I work with uses cookie sheets with letter tiles for phonics activities.  This morning we tried a few letters on a cookie sheet.

Why we loved the magnetic letter tray...

baby: pulling the letters off

mommy: exposure to the alphabet, fine motor skills (pulling the letters off the tray), developing pincer grasp, and it gave the letters that have been on the fridge for a few days a more novel appeal

M's age when we played: 10 months, 2 weeks