"Straw" Sort and Drop

I'm going to admit that this next activity is really more of a "keep the kiddo busy" kind of deal, but in all reality, these activities are also very educational as well.  Again, this activity doesn't call for much and it can be a fun, yet time consuming activity for the kiddos.  I hope everyone enjoys!

While playing, you kiddo can learn:

• Patience
• Eye-hand coordination
• Fine motor skills
• Sorting - based on colors, sizes
• Visual discrimination - distinguishing differences between objects
• Math
• Size differentiation

You will need:

• A clean grated cheese container; or small pop bottle; or cups of different sizes
• Straws, pipe cleaners (chenille stems), chop sticks, unsharpened pencils, old markers - anything long and rather thin

This activity actually doesn't involve any handy work on your behalf.  All you have to do really is collect the items that you need.  I used a grated cheese container and straws because those were the items I had handy around the house.  Be creative and look around and see what you can find!

Here's how it works.  Have your kiddo take the long, thin item of your choice and stick it into the small holes.  That's it!  The fun actually is letting your kiddo see how many "objects" they can fit into the holes.  For instance, observe and ask these questions (based on using the straws and grated cheese container):

• How many straws fit into the smaller holes compared to the bigger hole?
• Can you put all of the red straws into the big hole?
• How many straws do you have all together?

Honestly, this activity is all yours to play around with!  Have fun and let me know what other objects you've used that have worked for you!

Homemade Puzzles

Today I am going to show you a fun yet quick activity that you can make with food boxes that might be just sitting around in your food pantry or cupboard.  It seems that puzzles can be costly sometimes and children out grow them making them an expensive investment.  Little do some know though, you can make your own at home that are very affordable and you can change them out without worrying about costs!


After making your own puzzles, your child can learn all kinds of things:

• Fine motor
• Cognitive skills - Letters, Shapes, Numbers, Colors
• Problem solving skills
• Eye-hand coordination

The only two things you will need are:

• Empty food boxes
• Scissors

Basically the steps are so simple.  First, you need to take the empty food boxes and cut the front panel out from the rest of the box.

The front of the boxes

The next step and the last one :) is to cut the boxes into the shapes and pieces you want.  You can go completely simple and cut them into 2-3 pieces or more complex with additional pieces.

These are cut into random shapes; 1st box into 3 pcs. & 2nd box into 4 pcs.

In my past experience with homemade puzzles, I have learned the more letters/numbers on the package the harder and it can be to put the puzzles back together.  Therefore, keep this in mind when you are cutting the boxes into your desired pieces.  I also use random cuts when cutting them, but you can always have a plan and cut out precise shapes or edges.  

*I used the boxes that I HAD in my pantry.  I don't have grown kiddos yet so I don't have any kid friendly boxes.  Choose boxes that your child enjoys looking at or recognizes to make the activity more exciting!

Enjoy and feel free to share any ideas that you have!