Cans of fun!

 Like most moms, I'm always trying to find fun developmental activities for the little man.  He turned 1 on Saturday and it seems like over night he has become a toddler...bittersweet is an understatement.  So I saw this blog and I loved the ideas it gave.  I found an activity that I thought James would really like and I knew I could make it today with items we already have.   We have an abundance of these clear plastic balls and James loves them.  We also eat a lot of oatmeal so I had an empty oatmeal container on hand that had a plastic lid.  Any container with a thin plastic lid would work well, i.e. a Gatorade powder can, a coffee can.  A metal container like a coffee can or any container with a metal bottom would make for some extra fun since it would make a loud sound when you drop a ball or toy in!

All I did was cut a hole in the lid that was a little smaller than the balls I wanted to use and showed the little man how to push the balls through.  He LOVED it!  He also really enjoyed taking the lid off and dumping the balls out.


 (And, yes, he is only wearing a diaper...it's 75 degrees outside and I am refusing to turn the A/C on because it's December.)










He even got pretty good at putting the lid back on! 

 I took this opportunity to throw some counting into the mix as well.  We counted each ball we put in and then counted them after we dumped them out.  Something else that turned out to be fun was throwing the balls back into the bowl we keep them in.  We counted as we did this too!

I hope this is something you can add to your list of playtime activities!  Leave a comment with any other fun counting and sorting games and activities you want to share.  Actually, I'd love to hear any baby/toddler activities you have to share! 

Keep an eye out for my recipe for the little man's birthday cake which was made with whole grain flour and no added sugar!