Making Toys

I follow a blog about child development (well, a mommy blogger who knows about development) and she had some suggestions for fine motor skill toys the other day. Joseph is very adept at using manipulating small objects, and I'm always trying to figure out how to give him new things to do with those skills. I read it, thought "wow, that's great" and promptly stole the ideas for myself.

Here are Joseph's new "toys":

Shape sorters: I had some empty containers that I washed out, and cut appropriate holes in the top (I do not recommend kitchen knives, though I did manage to keep all of my fingers). In one I put 50 popsicle sticks that I picked up at our local variety store on a whim a couple of months ago

This is too easy... where else could they go?

I know, my EARS!

(I'm positive that instead of stitches, our emergency room visits will include removing objects from Joseph's orifices)

The second one I cut a round hole and filled up the bucket with... wine corks. Hey, we have to do something with them, right? Cork boards are so passe. Ha! I did use the synthetic ones so they weren't full of old wine at least. Does that count for something?

Seriously, Mom? Don't blame me for how I turn out.

Feeding Tube: Empty paper towel roll, pipe cleaners, and voila! Fine motor skill tuning device. Joseph liked that quite a bit! I'm sure he'll find other stuff to shove through the roll, as well.



Hope this helps someone else!