(easy and free) Make Your Own Toy

This post is quick and easy because this activity is too!

•Find a bunch of a small object laying around your house, they should all be about the same size. Could be paper clips, beads, pennies, milk caps, etc.

•Find a plastic container with a lid. Think margarine tubs, cool whip containers, drink cups from fast food, etc.

•Cut a hole in the lid slightly smaller than your object, so the object can go through, but they have to push it a bit instead of it just falling through.

•Line the hole with masking tape so they don't cut themselves.

Voila!

So the concept here is that they push the object into the container. (Great for refining fine motor skills and eye/hand coordination) But Liliana found lots of other ways to play with it too. She counted while she put them in. She started using different body parts like her chin or her elbow to push them through. It took me less than a minute and no money to make and she played with it for over a half hour on three different occasions. Micah also liked it, but he pretended that the bead things were bad guys and he had to put them in jail.

One other tip- whenever I give the kids something new that may not have super kid appeal at first...like a yogurt container with beads for instance :-), instead of giving it directly to them, I take it myself to the table and start playing with it without acknowledging their presence. If they ask me what it is I say, "MY new toy!" Instantly, it is cooler than any toy at Target and they must. have. a. turn. NOW!