Monday, May 4, 2015

A Box and Tube Toy

One of my goals this year was to improve on the activities I have available for toddlers.  Another goal was to continue to create toys from inexpensive materials that families could replicate at home if they wished.
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With that in mind and noticing that the children are still very interested in the plastic Easter eggs that we have playing with for the past month I created this toy.
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Using one more apple box, I flipped it upside down and inserted tubes from side to side.
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                                 They love it!
At first they were busy opening the eggs – so I hot glued them shut (because they won't roll through when they are open).
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Then they noticed the tubes and started dropping the eggs in.
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It didn’t take the older children long to realize the eggs were coming out the other end.  The younger children spent time looking into the tube to see the egg.  Was it inside?  Where did it go?
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One time there was a large group of children around the table playing.  I noticed a younger child watching  them and then peek in the tube again, still not quite figuring it out.
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Other times we moved the box to the floor so the smallest children could access it easily.
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We added baskets to catch the eggs, sometimes they would bounce out and send us scurrying after them.  That added another dimension to this play.
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Even though my intention, when creating this toy, was for the toddlers I’m constantly reminded that children at any age are still exploring, experimenting and revisiting their environment.