The Imagination Tree

Creative play and learning for kids

Baby Play: Cardboard Box Play Tunnel

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Make a sensory crawl through tunnel for babies and toddlers to explore together! Great rainy day fun for everyone!

The best fun comes from the simplest of things. This is something I say a lot because I really believe it! Look at the joy created from simply turning a large cardboard box onto its side and creating a crawl-through tunnel! Games were invented (“can you catch me baby?”) lovely jokes and giggles were shared and plenty of exercise was had with all that fast-paced crawling!

While they were taking a nap I cranked it up a notch to create the funky-hanging-tights-crawl-through-tunnel-extravaganza! (if you didn’t know how bonkers we were before, you do now.)

I punctured the top of the box all the way along with closed scissors and twisted them around to make the holes big enough the thread a pair of tights through. Having two girls has its benefits!

And when they woke up they were introduced to the dingly-dangly colourful jungle! They could crawl through, pull on the stretchy material and have a good old silly time exploring together.

.Baby crawl through sensory tunnel

Baby Pop was bewildered by the strange hanging objects and gave them a good stretch and tug then crawled back and forth through them plenty of times, laughing and chasing.

Baby sensory tunnel

We played lots of games of  the favourite “Peepo!” and C wanted to introduce hide and seek too!

We rolled a few balls along the length of the tunnel and then I added some rattles inside a few of the tights for them to locate and shake. Lots of silly fun with many possible activities to tie in. What other auditory sensory materials could you add to the tights?

And after all that exhaustion, what better place than such a cosy nook to take a few books to read? Baby too!

This activity is good for:
* lots of silly, energetic, collaborative fun!
* gross motor skills (crawling, sliding, chasing, navigating objects)
* sensory exploration
* developing a repertoire of games with simple cause and effect results
Want to see more ideas? Click to see Baby play and activities for Toddlers on the highlighted words.

Comments

  2. Monkeying Around says

    The girls look like they are having lots of fun bless.them. Cardboard boxes always bting the most fun dont they. Our link up went up today if u want to add ur ideas.
    Adele

  3. Kendra Dixson says

    How did you get to be so smart? I am always amazed by the creative games you come up with using everyday objects. I LOVE this. I hope you keep your blog up forever, even if you ever decide to stop writing. It is a treasure trove of good ideas and fun activities. Thanks for sharing!!!
    Love Kendra xo

  4. RedTedArt says

    That laugh is just too precious!! And LOVE the tights idea!! We will DEFINITELY give that a go the next time we have a big box!

    Maggy
    (thanks for linking up to Kids Get Crafty)

  5. Jamie @ hands on : as we grow says

    What else can I hang?! I don’t have girls = no tights! Ah! This looks like so much fun and a way to kick it up a notch!

    I’m excited to feature this in this week’s High Ten! Friday (Usually I do a High Five, but I’m behind a week and had a really hard time narrowing them down!)

    Be sure to check it out: hand on : as we grow

  14. Neda says

    We also made tunnel like this but we did’t remember a socks…next time we will make one like yours… Thanks for sharing… 🙂

  15. Anonymous says

    I made a similar cardboard box tunnel for my baby and she enjoyed it.thanks for inspiring us 🙂 Shweta

  16. hennablossom says

    I just did a post on this, yep, babies love cardboard boxes! So funny, I even found photos of myself as a baby hanging out in boxes. They’re a classic it seems.

    http://hennablossom.com/?p=639
    (<-- for my take, and of course, cute photos. nothing cuter than a little one, a cardboard box and some imagination)
    HENNA BLOSSOM