"Coin" Drop

This is a fun game children really enjoy playing over and over again.  It can keep them busy for at least 15 minutes (to me that is awesome), but also requires some supervision to make sure the pieces don't make it in the mouth.  My children love when I get this activity out and just have fun with it.  Very content little creatures ;-)


What children will learn through this activity are:

• Object Permanence - an object stills exists when not in view
• Cause and effect
• Eye-hand coordination
• Problem solving
• Fine motor skills
• Sorting
• Numbers and counting

Depending on what children do with this activity, there are also extensions that you can do and we can discuss that later.

To get started you will need:

• Plastic containers - I had clear containers hanging around, but you can use any older recyclable container such as butter or yogurt containers, but make sure that they have a lid.
• Milk caps in various colors
• Scissors
• Tape

First, you will need to collect milk caps.  I have collected these over the years since being a teacher and now a mother.  You can ask friends to help as well, but if you can only collect 2 or 3 colors of caps that is a good start.

Next, take scissors and cut a slit in the top of the lid of your plastic containers.  The slit should be approximately 1"x 2".  Once the slit is cut, use the tape to tape the edges.  This is to prevent the edges from being too sharp.  I used clear tape, but you can also use colored masking tape.

I have been using this game for a while now and in all honesty,
its starting to bend a little and the tape is coming off,
but that just shows how much my kiddos enjoy this game.

Once the slit has been cut and the tape applied, pop the lid on and give your kiddo the milk caps to start playing.  

As I mentioned, my kiddos love this game and started off playing with it by just putting the caps in the slots.  Now, they have figured out how to pop the lids off and love to fill them up through the slots and then dump them out again.  They haven't grown tired of this activity yet!

Once kiddos have played with this activity for sometime and start to not enjoy it as much though, here are some other ideas on how to extend off this concept:

• Counting - as your kiddo plops the coin through the slot, count them.  When done dump them and count them again!!
• Sort - sort the caps by colors
• Add different objects - find other objects that fit into the slot: straws, popsicle sticks, etc.  Any other objects you've tried?  Let me know how it works out for you.

Have fun!!