15 min
Homemade Posting Box
One box, one slot, and a toddler who will not stop posting.
🔴
Cardboard Tube Drop
A tube taped to the wall and a basket of things to drop through it.
A ten minute setup that a toddler will repeat forty times without losing interest.
What you need
- cardboard tubes
- masking tape
- large pom-poms or balls of scrunched paper
- a bowl
How to do it
- Tape two or three cardboard tubes to a wall or the side of a cupboard, one below the other.
- Put a bowl on the floor underneath the bottom tube.
- Give them a handful of large pom-poms or scrunched paper balls.
- Show them once, dropping one in the top.
- Step away and let them work out the rest.
Why this is good for them
Aligning an object with an opening they cannot fully see requires spatial reasoning and a lot of trial and error. The delay between dropping and the object appearing is also a small, satisfying lesson in cause and effect over time.
Adapting by age
15 to 24 monthsOne short tube at a low height with a wide opening.
3 to 4 yearsAdd a bend so the object comes out somewhere unexpected.
Keep it safe
Objects must be too large to swallow. Do not use small pom-poms with children who still mouth things.
Cleanup tip
Everything ends up in the bowl already.
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