Tuesday, April 3, 2012

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.

1 comment:

Lindsay said...

I love this idea. I tried it today with my little girl and it kind of ended up being pom-pom hockey. Thanks for sharing.