quick & to the pointless (okay, so in all actuality, there really is a point & it's a pretty good one).....

toddlers are busy people & our little H is no exception. while it seems that most of our time is spent in motion, there are a few less active moments where we attempt to focus his attention on particular tasks. curling up with a book or three is always great, but we like to stimulate our boy's brain in lots of ways & as much as possible! here are a few things we've made from items found around the house to keep our babyeel's fingers busy while also working on a little fine motor, color & shape recognition, language & other such fun!


earlier this week i was inspired by a photo that i saw on pinterest of a shape memory game by dandee designs.  check it out for yourselves here: http://www.dandee-designs.com/2011/05/shapes-colors-memory-game.html

i love the wooden discs they are made with, but had no luck finding any at our local, "we've got it all, but not really" mega store. unlike most, i don't have immediate access to a craft store in my area & my woodworking in-laws live an hour away, so i decided to find something else to make them with. i was determined to get them made asap & we weren't due for a trip into town for another day or two, so i started to dig & came across a stack of old album covers that i have been collecting. my friend & craft fair partner uses the actual records as canvases (records that are otherwise unlistenable, of course! we never destroy mint records, we listen to them.) & papaeel & i upcycle the covers for lots of things & so i figured why couldn't they be used in place of the wooden discs? yeah, they're a little thiner than wood, but that just means if they end up being thrown, it'll hurt less. i decided to go with a seals & crofts album cover & proceeded to look for some fun paper to use for the back of our matching/memory shape game (at H's age, this activity is more appropriate as a matching game, ie., "can you find the other black square?" as he gets older, we'll use them as a memory game).

i cut the album cover along the sealed edges so it opened up & used a spray adhesive to secure the paper to the front & back. it sat outside to dry for a little over an hour & when it was ready i brought it inside & quickly pulled out my 3" circle punch only to discover that the record/paper combo was too thick for my punch to successfully punch through! it was looking rather dreadful for a second, but then i decided i'd just have to do it the old fashioned way. i found a good sized circle (roll of masking tape) & quickly traced out 12 of them. i painstakingly hand cut each one with scissors, but what other choice did i have at this point? 

not too shabby! i cut out 6 different shapes (2 of each) from felt & used aleene's quick dry tacky glue to adhere them to the circles. once the felt dried, we were ready to match some shapes!  

*for the record (pun intended), i strongly suggest adult supervision should you decide to make your own set. do you really know where those old records lived before they came into your possession?? that fact & the glues used are why i make sure the pieces stay out of my boy's mouth.


what to do with some big wooden beads & a shoelace or two?? tie a big knot on one end of the shoelace & let your toddler work his/her fine motor skills. H will sit with such focus & determination when trying to string a bead. it's pretty great to witness!

another fun fine motor activity is the clothespin game. all you need is a narrow mouthed container & some clothespins & you're ready to go! 

we left the part of the sticker that wouldn't peel off just where it was & let H create the container's artwork. oh, how he loves to draw!

your child is sure to love dropping the clothespins into the container, dumping them all out & doing it over & over again. 

H is way into counting right now, so we make sure to count the clothespins as he drops them into the bottle.  he's pretty great, this child of ours! i'm sure you feel the same about yours, so go on now & enjoy one of these activities with them.