100 (Attempted) Ways to Entertain a Young Toddler, Day 91: Pushing Pom-Poms

Today's activity comes from the Fun & Engaging Activities for Toddlers blog. She found it from another blog, so it's been passed down a few times. I decided I would try it and see what the kids thought.

What you need to make this toy:

* An empty & clean plastic container. She used a margarine container, and I used a yogurt container.
* A knife
* Scissors
* Permanent marker (various colors are optional)
* pompoms (available at your local craft store)

After cleaning and drying my yogurt container, I used a sharp knife to carefully poke holes into the lid. I worried the edges were sharp, so I used scissors to round out the holes as best I could. The holes were almost impossible to see on the clear lid I used, so I used a Sharpie to outline the holes. If your kid is older, you might outline holes with different colors. Your child can then put the yellow pompoms into the yellow hole, the green pompoms into the green hole, etc.

Once your toy is made, just give your kid pompoms and let them poke them into the lid!

Joanna loved this activity! She picked it up right away and enjoyed poking pompoms into the lid over and over. I think her excitement was contagious because Oliver wanted to play, too. We only had four pompoms (I can't find where I put the rest of them), so Oliver would take the lid off the container, dump it out, and separate the pompoms so they each got two. He put the lid back on, and then they'd push their pompoms through again.

I wasn't expecting this toy and game to be as fun as it was. They loved it and played for about 20 minutes.

We've played a different version of this game in the past. I keep an empty travel wipes container, and Jo enjoys dropping letters into it (like a mailbox). Pushing pompoms into the holes was a bigger hit.

Pros: Easy to make, simple, cheap, fun, keeps kids busy
Cons: Need supplies, possibly sharp

This took all of 5 minutes for me to make. The container is its own storage, so it's easy to tuck away for a rainy day. It kept both my kids (3 years, 4 months old and 16 months old) happily occupied. I'm thrilled! This is something I plan on keeping and pulling out whenever we can't leave the house for illness or weather. It gets an A.

100 (Attempted) Ways to Entertain a Young Toddler, Day 72: Miniature Mini-Golf

Oliver invented today's activity himself! I call it miniature mini-golf, although people out here in Colorado might be more inclined to call it miniature "putt-putt." Potato, Potahto.

Unlike most of the other toddler activities, I knew this one was a hit from the beginning because, as I said, Oliver started playing it himself. He had tons of fun, and so I wanted to share it with other toddler parents.
To do this activity, you need some pom-poms (which we've used for a few other activities) or perhaps some cotton balls, if you have those on hand. Then, you need a tool, like a spoon or a spatula. Have your child use his or her tool to whack the pom-poms around the floor.

That's it. It sounds too simple to be much fun, but my toddler gets a big kick out of it. He yells, "One, two, three, go!" and then hits the pom-poms. He crawls after them and hits them again and again. I thought about setting up a bucket to have him hit the pom-poms into (and I might one day), but I decided there was no point in making it more complicated when he's clearly having a good time.

He's done this activity a few times a day for a couple days now. Once he seems to tire of it, I might introduce a "goal" for him to hit the pom-poms into, but for now, it's fun how it is.

This pom-pom activity reminds me of "Blowing Know How," which we did back in August (and, admittedly, haven't played since). I think "Blowing Know How" is a great way to teach your tot about blowing, but if your toddler doesn't get the hang of it or isn't good at aiming the straw or whatever, it might be more fun for them to bat around the pom-poms more directly with this activity.

I give "Miniature Mini-Golf" an A because it's easy, it's not messy, and it's a lot of fun.

100 (Attempted) Ways to Entertain a Young Toddler, Day 49: Curling

Today, I decided to teach Oliver how to play curling. It's my dream for him to be an Olympic champion.

*cough*

OK, no, I just decided to let Oliver sweep the kitchen. I, like most Americans I know, do not know the rules for curling.

I have two brooms. Why do I need two brooms? Because I have a toddler who likes to do whatever Mommy and Daddy does. So, every day, when I take out the broom and dust pan, Oliver gets excited and wants to sweep, too. I let him, but it involves him scattering the pile of debris every which way. Sweeping takes a long time. Well, today, Oliver was playing with his pom-poms, and I had a great idea. Why not let him practice sweeping with those? They're big, so he can see them, and they looked fun to push around with a broom.

And, so, I taught Oliver to scatter the pom-poms all over the floor (that can't backfire later, right?). Then, I handed him one of the brooms and told him he could sweep the pom-poms into the dust pan. He looked so eager and excited! He took the broom and got to work:

After a few minutes, he decided that the broom made his job more difficult, so he ditched it in favor of his hands:

He seemed to enjoy the task, but it didn't last for very long. Once he had most of the pom-poms in the dust pan, he decided he'd rather they went into the ice cream maker. He enjoyed mixing them with his dried pasta and then separating them back out again.

So, Oliver had fun, but the activity I'd invented wasn't the real winner. I still think it's creative, and I like that it's free, but Oliver just wasn't that interested in pretend sweeping. Pretend sweeping, or "Curling," as I jokingly named this activity, earns a C.

100 (Attempted) Ways to Entertain a Young Toddler, Day 36: Pompom Fun

I read somewhere online that children can begin simple sorting by color close to age two. It reminded me of one of the activities I'd read in The Toddler's Busy Book called Pompom Fun.

Before I started this blog, I'd read through my toddler activity books and made a trip to the craft store. I picked up some pipe cleaners, some containers with lids, and some pompoms. That was also the same trip in which I picked up the cheap glow stick or his Fourth of July glow stick activity. I think the large bag of pompoms I bought was $4. To me, that's a little expensive for a bunch of fuzzy things, but I have a feeling they will provide fun and entertainment for a few years. I suppose it's worth it in that regard.

Anyway, with Pompom fun, you choose pompoms in no more than three colors (or sizes, because they suggest teaching your child to sort by size, too. I haven't done this yet) for your young toddler. If you're like me and haven't really taught your child colors yet, then I'd recommend starting with two. I chose yellow and red because I felt like those two primary colors are very distinct from each other. The book recommends just having your child sort them by color.

Well, in Oliver's case at least, I knew I couldn't just hand him a bunch of pompoms and have him sort them. He hasn't worked with color yet at all. So, I put all the yellow ones in a container and all the red ones in another container. I told him which ones were yellow and which ones were red. Then, I removed a red one and placed it on the floor. I asked him where the red one goes. He did a very good job sorting, but it's not as easy as you'd think. I'd say he got it right approximately 9 out 10 times.
Once he seemed to fully understand the concept, I started grabbing a couple pompoms at a time. At first, when the pompoms were different colors, it threw him off. He'd put both in one bucket or the other. I'd tease him and say, "Oh, no! There's a yellow pompom in the red bucket!" He started to separate them out (sometimes after placing them both in the same bucket first). I'd say his accuracy with two pompoms at a time is approximately 7 or 8 out of 10.

We've been working on this activity for about a week now. Today was the first time I stopped to take pictures because I'd been working with him so closely at it. The activity doesn't keep Oliver occupied for very long. He'll usually do a few pompoms and then wander off to do something more fun. So, I can't claim that this activity will keep toddlers entertained for a long period of time. That said, I felt good about stimulating him and teaching him something new. I've probably waited a little too long to introduce him to colors, and I think this activity was a good way for me to begin. Soon, I'll grab a third bucket of pompoms (maybe purple, since we don't have blue), and start challenging him with three different colors.

I give Pompom Fun a B grade. I liked the activity, and I feel like it's teaching Oliver something new. However, it takes advanced preparation, it costs a bit of money, and it doesn't keep toddlers entertained for any lengthy period of time.

UPDATE: At nearly 23 months old, Oliver now enjoys dumping out all of his red, yellow, and purple pom-poms. He then sorts them into the three buckets. His mistakes are fairly rare, but when he puts the wrong one in a bucket, he usually dumps out the entire bucket to start again.

100 (Attempted) Ways to Entertain a Young Toddler, Day 32: Blowing Know-How

Today's activity came straight from 365 Games Smart Toddlers Play. It's called Blowing Know-How, and it's listed as being age appropriate for toddlers who are 15-18 months old. After reading the activity, I decided we'd never done anything like it at our house. Even though Oliver is 21 months old, it seemed like an activity he'd enjoy.

Blowing Know-How is a simple cause and effect game. Next time you're at Starbucks or fast-food restaurant (even at a grocery store than has a Starbucks), grab a straw or two. Then, when you're looking for an activity for your little one, pull out the straw. Blow through it so the air pushes on your child's skin. I told Oliver, "Look, I'm blowing!" I blew on his skin. He was immediately interested. I gave him the straw, and he blew into it. Some spit came out, too. Haha.

Once they understand the concept of blowing into the straw, grab some light-weight items around the house. This book recommends items like feathers and Cheerios. I had some pom-pom balls from a craft store, so I grabbed those. I blew them around the floor a bit. Oliver was very interested. When it was his turn, he wasn't quite able to do it. He blew into the straw, but he didn't aim it right at the pom-poms. I helped him aim, but he wasn't close enough and wasn't blowing hard enough to make them move. After a few tries, he just started batting them around with his hands.

My main goal was for Oliver to have fun, but I was hoping he'd be able to do it all by himself, too. I tried to ditch the straw. I blew directly onto the pom-poms to show Oliver how the force could move them. He wanted to do it, too, but he put his mouth right on them and blew downwards. He didn't have the patience for me to show him again, so I decided that was OK. He still enjoyed playing with the straw and pom-poms, and he'd make them move by whacking them with his hands or the straw.


The game didn't last too long. From beginning to end, I'd guess that it lasted about ten minutes. I left the materials out. Usually, when I do this, Oliver's not very interested in going back to an activity on his own. This game was different. I caught him going back to the straw a few times, sometimes to blow and other times to just play with it and bend it. I'm happy to know that it's an activity he can enjoy on his own, so I give it an A!