The Drop Box

I found this idea on one of my FAVORITE children blogs, Play at Home Mom. This may be a looong post, but it was an absolute home run at our house!!! I did this when my twins were just barely 2 and they LOVED it!! We still bring it out and it still keeps them entertained for long periods of time (20-30 minutes). I altered her idea because 1) I didn't have a big box on hand and 2) I could foresee a lot of fighting over it so I just made them each their own:) This is a definite 10 out of 10!! It is quite simple and easy to put together.

Here is the invitation:

Some of the items I used were pom poms, jewels, rocks and plastic string. I purposely did not tape the lid down because I knew the first thing they would want to do is see where the items were going and then dump them out and made sure to use a white tablecloth so that they could more easily see the objects:

 My son Mark was up first from his nap and went straight for the pom poms. I didn't give ANY direction at all. I simply sat next to him, answered his questions and took pictures. He got them all out, organized them how he wanted, and then named every color:

 He was fascinated with the jewels and liked to compare shapes (oval and diamonds) to size. He dumped them from one jar to the next (good thing I'd been saving all of Annie's baby food jars!):

 Then of course he had to shake them and watch where they landed!!

 He was a little confused by the light, medium and dark shades. He kept thinking the dark blue was black...so I lined them up so he could see the difference (excuse his hand reaching in to steal one):

 Then he hid a lot of them under the sheet, again with no direction from me. He has still not discovered or even touched the box!

 He asked me what this was and it took me a second to think of the word (tired brain:) and so before I could say string he said 'it's a snake!' I smiled and then he pulled out every 'snake' and said...'pink snake, purple snake, orange snake' and so on!! I guess it does look like a snake coming out of the jar!

 He noticed the rocks last and started fitting them in jars while I showed him the difference between smooth and rough:

 Then he discovered the box! Last thing and I directed him a little bit here and showed him what the holes were for. Once he realized that, he had a lot of fun putting all the objects in and out of the box:

 About 40 minutes later Elizabeth woke up.  The invitation was there but because she already saw Mark playing with everything and using the box it wasn't a true exploration for her. With that being said she still had a lot of fun! The first thing she did was sit down and ask me what everything was:

 Then she did the exact opposite of Mark and started mixing everything together!!

 Dumping them all out:

Hoarding them back in and then stuffing all the jars with a variety of objects!

 Then eventually put things in and out of the box:

 Mark even continued playing when Elizabeth woke up, so he went a good hour playing with this!! Success!! I bet you are wondering what I did with Annie my 9 month old during this whole time?

 No I didn't leave her in her jumper the WHOLE time!! I did at first when Mark woke up but after he got into it I grabbed her out and let her join the fun! The first thing she did was pick up two jars and bang them together:

 Then quickly discovered the rocks:

 Which then naturally went straight into (and then quickly out of) her mouth!!

 She loved chewing on this string for a long time:

 And even the jar:

 She wanted to know what was in the box too! I'll definitely fill up a box for her too next time.

 Follow me on Pinterest!

Mess Free Finger Painting

I found the idea on this website. It seemed perfect for my twins who were just barely 2 at the time. It did not hold their attention for as long as I thought it might...but they had fun for 5 or 6 minutes and it was mess free. I think now that they are 2.5 and know all their colors and have become interested in how colors are made that this is an activity I should bring out again. It was easy to set up, I believe I got it ready while they were eating breakfast. My son did try to rip the tape up off the table and probably would've tried to open the bag, but I was sitting with them. This isn't an activity I would probably feel comfortable leaving the room to let them do alone for that reason! I think she added cars and trucks that you could drive over the paint and I'm sure you could get even more creative with instruments to push the paint around. I would give this one a 7 out of 10, but perhaps would be higher if I tried it with my kids at an older age. 

 Great sensory play!

 Even my 9 month old enjoyed it!

Feel free to follow me on Pinterest!

Welcome!

I think Pinterest is one of the world's finest inventions. Kudos to the brains behind the idea! Finally a place where I can keep all my ideas in ONE place and on top of that copy everyone else's wonderful ideas!! I am not a pro crafter, chef or diy'er but I strive for it and in the small amount of free time I have I enjoy creating and organizing. I wanted to create this blog for two reasons.

1. To keep a library of completed pins that have be done by moi.

2. To review those pins and remind myself (and hopefully the viewers) about whether this one pin was worth doing!

I am a stay at home to 3 kids under the age of 3. Twins that are 2.5 and a 16 month old. Like most people my free time is limited, in fact, I don't even feel comfortable calling it free time....it's more like exchangeable time. I have to give up something (like sleep, showering, cleaning, etc) in exchange for some time to give myself a mental break!! I have also found that I am a much happier person to be around when I am organized. So, you will see a lot of organizing, kids activities, cooking, baking and general crafting. Enjoy following and please comment on any posts, especially if you have done the same pin. I love to find others who actually use pinterest to do things, not just pin. Thanks!!