100 (Attempted) Ways to Entertain a Young Toddler, Day 80: Paint with Cars

A couple weeks ago, I was brainstorming for new project ideas to entertain Oliver. As I was going through is box of little toys, I thought I had a unique idea: why not paint using his toy cars?  Later, I was browsing my cousin's blog site and saw that she'd posted this activity months ago. I get the feeling I saw it, forgot it, and then thought I came up with the idea myself!

Why not still give it a try? I grabbed a bottle of non-toxic black paint and squeezed some into a shallow bowl.  I taped some sheets of paper down onto the table and then showed Oliver how to run his cars through the paint and then onto the paper.  He loved seeing it transfer on the paper, and he started sticking his hands in the tracks and smearing it around with his fingers!  I think it's fair to say he had a good time.

Photos of our painting activity:

To be perfectly frank, the project was a lot messier than I expected.  Although Oliver had fun, the activity didn't last all that long, and clean up took at least as long as the actual painting did.  Paint got stuck up in the axles of the cars, there was splatter on Oliver's arms, and some got into the crevices of our chairs.  It was fun, but I couldn't help but wish we'd just colored with crayons or something instead!  I guess it was neat and worth checking out this activity, but I don't think we'll be doing it again--at least not any time soon!  I give this "Paint with Cars" activity a C.

100 (Attempted) Ways to Entertain a Young Toddler, Day 77: Gas Station Stop

Kids are weird.  Oliver has recently become obsessed with stopping at gas stations.  I don't drive much, so I only need to fill up every month or so.  Oliver is thrilled every time.

Oliver has a little push car that he got from my friend for his first birthday.  I told him he could fill it with gas and handed him a Wii controller attachment to act as a gas pump.  It was a hit!

A couple weeks ago, I was filling up the car and had an idea.  I should create a credit card machine for Oliver!  For about a year now, he's loved to watch me scan my Safeway card and credit card at the grocery store.  Before Jo, I used to let him scan the cards himself.

I dug through the cupboard for inspiration.  I finally chose to make a credit card slider out of a sponge.  I took a knife and carved out a strip in the middle and ended up with this:

I taped the sponge-turned-credit-card-machine to the front of the dish machine.  Then, I gave Oliver an old Starbucks card that was given to me from Aunt Bette.  I slid the card through once, and then Oliver insisted on doing it himself:

He scanned his card over and over and over again.

I reminded him to put "gas" in his car.  He did, but, apparently, that wasn't as much fun as the credit card machine.

He went back to sliding his "credit card" through the machine, just like Mom and Dad do.

If your toddler is always grabbing at your card when you shop, try setting up a machine for him/her to play with at home.  Making a credit card machine from a sponge worked very well for us, but get innovative, be thrifty, and use whatever you have on hand.  I've found that my son loves to do anything that imitates me.  It didn't matter that it was a sponge; he got to slide the card through, and that's what matters!

So, although our pretend gas station activity really just turned into a pretend credit card activity, it was still a huge success.  I give it an A!

100 (Attempted) Ways to Entertain a Young Toddler, Day 71: Car Wash

Like most of the country, we've been enjoying a few days of warm weather. I decided to make the most of it and took Oliver outside to do a little car wash. I filled one bowl with soapy water and another with fresh water. I grabbed a spray bottle with a vinegar-water mixture for the windows, and we headed outside.

Oliver looked really excited when he saw me rinsing towels. It was everything a toddler could hope for:

I showed him how to wash the car. He looked so interested!

But, when push came to shove, Oliver didn't want to wash the cars. He wanted to spray the vinegar-water into the bowls:

And soak the rags in the water and fling them about:

It wasn't what I'd planned for, but Oliver had a great time. After we (I) finished washing the outside of the cars, he climbed into the passenger side to push buttons and play with the air vents while I cleaned the interiors.

Of course, I had to keep an extra close eye on him, since our cars are parked in a lot. It was a good time, productive time, and a good way to spend a warm afternoon. If you don't have a toddler, I highly recommend getting one to help with your car cleaning. Your toddler probably won't be able to help much, but he'll make it a fun time.

Our "car wash" gets an A-.

100 (Attempted) Ways to Entertain a Young Toddler, Day 65: Car Ramp

Today's toddler activity idea came from my childhood friend's Facebook page. She has a daughter just a few weeks younger than Oliver. In a photo she'd posted, she had a shelf set up like a ramp with race cars strewn about. It was obvious her daughter had been shooting cars down the ramp, and I thought, "Why didn't I think of that?"

I brainstormed what I could use around the house for a ramp. Andrew's aunt had sent us a name plaque wall hanging for Jo, so I pulled that off of the wall and set it up in the living room (upside down, to protect the front) as a ramp. It didn't hold very well, so I used the coffee table to hold it in place, like this:

I then showed Oliver how his little cars, which Santa had brought him for Christmas (free from Kohl's using the $10 coupon they'd sent me for signing up for email alerts!), could roll down the ramp. He loved it! He spent about 15 minutes shooting cars down the ramp. Jo decided to watch (she's his number one fan):

This activity didn't last any longer than most new activities, but it was something fun and new. It was also very easy to set up and really didn't involve any clean up time. I opted to keep the board downstairs so that it'd be readily available, and I caught Oliver setting up the ramp again himself a few hours later. It's obvious he had fun.

I assume most people have some wheeled toy in their house for their kids, but, if not, I think it's worth a few bucks to pick one up. Use your imagination to make a free ramp with things you have available around the house. In a pinch, you could probably use your largest, hard-cover books to make smaller ramps.

The ease and fun of this classic activity make this a good one. I give it an A!

100 (Attempted) Ways to Entertain a Young Toddler, Day 20: Cars and Cans

Today's activity is courtesy of my friend, Sam. She has two boys: Charlie is 2.5, and Jack is 6 months old. They all battled a virus last week, and Sam was desperate for indoor activities. Here's what she came up with: Cars & Cans. I love how creative she got using stuff from the kitchen to make tunnels for Charlie's cars!

I decided Oliver needed his own round of Cars & Cans. I used actual canned goods and set up my cooling rack on top. I got Oliver's car ready and showed him the fun of driving it through the tunnel. Oliver got really excited... but not about the car. Oliver was excited for the cans.

Oliver toppled my tunnel over and started playing with the cans. I tried to rebuild it a few times, but it was completely futile. Oliver wanted those cans! Finally, I decided to let him have the cans, and I got four identical mugs down from the cabinet to use as the support for the tunnel. Oliver found this acceptable.

He started stacking his cans on top of it. He had a blast, and I'd count each can for him: One, two, three! I was worried the whole thing would come crashing down on his toes, but he seemed to balance them well. He only liked stacking them directly on top of each other. I tried to stack them in a pyramid, but he never did that himself.

I started to see the wheels turning in Oliver's head as he realized the tunnel could hold weight. Sure enough, he walked up to it and sat down on it. It was strong enough to hold him up! I wouldn't let him stand on it, though (Yes, he tried).

Oliver continued stacking cans, and the activity kept him happy, smiley and occupied for twenty minutes!

About an hour later, I finally caught him playing with his car and the tunnel. He didn't drive the car through it, but instead enjoyed the sounds it made as he drove it on top of the tunnel. As soon as I came to join him, he stopped (of course). I left it set up for him to play with all afternoon. Then, Andrew came home and crashed into it. Oops.

This is a great activity to do with young toddlers, and it's perfect for a day indoors. Use whatever you have in the house to build it. If you use canned goods like I did, expect that your child will eventually drop them on his toes. Thankfully, Oliver didn't today, but I know it's just a matter of time. Ouch! In spite of that risk factor, I give this activity an A+. It's easy to do, and it was so much fun for my little guy, even if he didn't play it as I'd intended.