Tag: indoor activities

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Pom Pom Sensory Bin

parksandcoffee

These dollar pom pom balls from Target were a hit with both my one year old and three year old. They are so simple to use, mess free, and oh so versatile. This is also an amazing fine motor skill activity for both kiddos.

What you will need:

  • Container
  • Colorful cups
  • Pom Poms
  • Tweezers (if your child is ready for them)

It’s pretty easy to get this sensory bin up and going. Dump all the pom poms you have into the container, put some cups inside, and you have a sensory bin. The more pom poms you have the better. You can also getting different size pom poms to add even more fun to this activity. Let your little one explore the bin.

Depending on your child’s ability, have them sort by color or just dump the pom poms from one container to another. For my oldest, I gave him some tweezers to make it just a little more challenging. He not only had to sort the poms by color, but also use his fine motor skills to transfer the poms from the container to the cups.

Each of them had a blast playing with the pom poms and this will definitely be a sensory activity we come back to! It took my oldest 10 minutes to sort his pom poms. Ten minutes of concentration, hard work, and silence. I sat there is awe watching him maneuver the tweezers and pom poms. He had so much fun and worked so hard. He was so proud of himself and I was proud of him too!

XO Kate & Elizabeth

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Flashlight Look and Find

parksandcoffee

We have played a ton of flashlight type games, but this one was a little different. We didn’t need any batteries, just some imagination. And let me tell you, his imagination went wild and I am sure your child’s will too.

What you will need:

Let’s get started! First, pick your theme. My son is in love with all things construction, so that’s what I picked. Once you have your theme you can either find a picture and trace it or if you are more artistically inclined, draw your own.

For my picture, I added a little challenge for my son. I hid the letters of his name throughout the pictures for him to find. You can hide letters, numbers, or shapes in your picture to make it even more fun.

Once your picture is complete, take out the picture you traced (if you used one), and insert the black construction paper into the bag. Now we can get started on the flashlight! It’s super easy you guys, I promise. Draw a simple flashlight, cut it out, but leave some white paper showing as if its the light shining. I have a picture of it below to help you visualize.

You are now ready to start your flashlight hunt! Have you little one put the flashlight into the bag and watch the magic happen. The drawing will pop out from behind the black paper and look as though a light is being shown on it. Grayson’s face lit up with surprise as he moved the flashlight from left to right.

A few tips!

  • You need to use permanent marker or else it will all wipe off.
  • Let the marker dry before handing it over to your kiddo or you’ll end up with a smudged mess.
  • The most important tip, it doesn’t have to be perfect. They will love it no matter what.

XO Kate & Elizabeth

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Simple Sorting

parksandcoffee

My one year old is very into picking things up and putting them in something…a bin, a toy box, a random kitchen drawer, the garbage can. Oh yes, we find toys everywhere. She’s THAT child. So I like to make some activities for her where she can sort and store at will. Here are two DIY activities that are really simple!

Here’s what you need:

-colander
-pipe cleaners
-q-tips
-old parmesan cheese container
-“O” shaped cereal (optional)

Start by showing your child how to thread the pipe cleaner into the colander. Let them play with putting it in, pulling it out, and feeding it through. Even twisting it up a little bit! Our colander has different shaped holes as well which makes for fun trial and error to see where it will fit. We added a step today by threading Apple Jacks cereal on some of the pipe cleaners. My 3 year old enjoyed that part a lot more!

Parmesan cheese is pretty essential in our household and therefore I often buy the big container. Ours was almost out so I just transferred it to a new container and cleaned out the parmesan cheese shaker, which is great for sorting! We used q-tips but you can also use beans or other small child-safe objects to place in the two different sides. (I recommend adult supervision with q-tips so they don’t try to stick them in places they shouldn’t go…because kids.)

This was definitely the favorite of the two activities. My 3 year old spent more time with the colander than my 1 year old, and even took it over to her play kitchen to “make pasta” so hey, the activity that keeps on giving! They both loved putting the q-tips in and then opening the other side to try and shake them all out.

Have any tried and true activities using household items? Please share below!

#MakeItMonday
XOXO Elizabeth & Kate