Popsicle Stick Builders

Here's another simple and inexpensive quiet toddler activity that's super portable and now lives in our diaper bag all the time for restaurant trips or visiting family/friend's who don't have kids where it's necessary to bring our own entertainment. These popsicle stick builders can easily be adapted to grow as your little does to include some flash cards with photos on them which your little has to copy. For example, a square made with a red, blue, orange and yellow popsicle stick, or a triangle made with all blue popsicle sticks etc.

All that was required for this one was some coloured popsicle sticks, and self adhesive velcro dots. I cut the dots in half since the popsicle sticks aren't very wide and then stuck them right to the sticks. I put dots on both sides of the sticks and both ends to maximize building possibilities.

At the moment the boy-o is more interested in attaching them all end to end like a train than he is with making shapes out of them, but that will come in time, and in the end it doesn't really matter how he plays with them--they're keeping him busy and he's learning either way!

Homemade Sensory Toys, Part III: Sensory Tubes

I hope you enjoyed my previous post on Sensory Bags, and Sensory Bottles! Today will complete this mini series on making your own sensory toys at home. Today I'm going to show you how to make a Sensory Tube! Like the sensory bag and bottle it provides an excellent learning opportunity for your baby by stimulating their senses without overwhelming them.

Sensory Tube:

Now I realize that for most people this will be a difficult one to make, because most of us don't just happen to have a piece of plastic tubing lying around. I bought a "Yard of Licorice" in a large plastic tube as Christmas gift only to realize that I couldn't bring it on the plane because it wouldn't fit in my suitcase.... so I ate the licorice and turned the tube it came in into a sensory toy!

Materials:
- Plastic tube with lids for each end (if tube contains licorice, eat licorice first)
- Sensory items, I used marbles, plastic dinosaurs and glitter
- Coloured duct tape

Instructions:
- trim tube to desired length, mine went from a yard to about 1.5 feet
- remove one side's lid and add sensory items of choice
- replace lid and wrap both lids with coloured duct tape to ensure they remain on and closed!

Sensory Tube for shaking and rolling

Mini dinosaurs, marbles and glitter