This game is super easy to make, and it kept my little one occupied for hours this weekend. Yes, you hear that correctly, HOURS.
Reuse a snack can (I used an empty cashew container, but a reusing a toddler snack container would be great too!) Wash it out and punch holes in the top. Cut some straws into small pieces (I found thirds worked really well). 8 straws cut into 24 pieces sees to be a good number (We started with 16 straws, but he seemed to go though them too quickly). I had actually seen this project done on Pinterest, and they placed paper reinforcements around the holes. I tried it, and after about a half hour of playing, the reinforcements were falling down through the holes (possibly because my holes were not punched with precision, aka I stabbed them with scissors, so no-precision-at-all). I wanted the reinforcements to work not only because they cleaned up the look of the activity, but they also made the holes easier to locate. So instead, I took some sticker labels, cut them into squares, and used a hole punch to make a hole in the middle of each square.
This solution has worked much better, even after a week of Ethan poking his little fingers into the holes! To pretty it up, I turned the label inside out (it would be real cool to color it too- but that's for another weekend) and colored in the label squares. The colored labels, that match the colors on the straws, make for a great discussion about color. "Can you put the yellow straw in the yellow hole?" "I see you're putting the blue straw in the green hole." Great game, free and easy to make. Perfect!
Reuse a snack can (I used an empty cashew container, but a reusing a toddler snack container would be great too!) Wash it out and punch holes in the top. Cut some straws into small pieces (I found thirds worked really well). 8 straws cut into 24 pieces sees to be a good number (We started with 16 straws, but he seemed to go though them too quickly). I had actually seen this project done on Pinterest, and they placed paper reinforcements around the holes. I tried it, and after about a half hour of playing, the reinforcements were falling down through the holes (possibly because my holes were not punched with precision, aka I stabbed them with scissors, so no-precision-at-all). I wanted the reinforcements to work not only because they cleaned up the look of the activity, but they also made the holes easier to locate. So instead, I took some sticker labels, cut them into squares, and used a hole punch to make a hole in the middle of each square.
This solution has worked much better, even after a week of Ethan poking his little fingers into the holes! To pretty it up, I turned the label inside out (it would be real cool to color it too- but that's for another weekend) and colored in the label squares. The colored labels, that match the colors on the straws, make for a great discussion about color. "Can you put the yellow straw in the yellow hole?" "I see you're putting the blue straw in the green hole." Great game, free and easy to make. Perfect!
We also make the Pin Drop Game out of cloths pins and a water bottle last spring. It's still a hit in our house (although my crafty toddler has since disassembled the pins and now plays the game with pin halves)
We LOVE these types of games at our house, do YOU have a fine motor skill game to share? I'd love ideas!