The Imagination Tree

Creative play and learning for kids

Baby Play: Dropping and Posting

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Little Pop is crawling everywhere now and getting her hands on all of big sister’s toys, much to her joy. She is entering that stage of pure wonder as she explores the shape, texture, smell and taste of a myriad of things that are all new to her. She is particularly interested in dropping small objects and picking them back up again and has recently entered the “enveloping” stage, where she likes to put things inside boxes, tubes and pots and then find them again.
So I made her a quick and simple game for independent play and exploration using a milk jug. 

 I cut the top off and then a couple of small-ish holes in the sides (larger than her fists) so that she could reach inside.

Then I picked up a few small Duplo pieces and cotton reels ready for posting through the holes and set her down to play.
                           
And she didn’t need any demonstration!    

 She loved the holes and immediately put her hands into them to see what she could feel inside.
                        
 She pulled objects out and examined them briefly before dropping them back in and repeating again.

This is the age at which babies do the same thing repetitively until they have got the hang of it and have added it to their learning “repertoire”. Which is why some babies seem to love dropping things off their highchair repeatedly, because they love to watch the cause and effect of it falling to the floor and being returned to them (much to most parents’ annoyance!)

 “Oooo I can fit my whole arm down in here!”

 Collecting and posting, shaking and rattling, tipping and emptying. Repeat, repeat, repeat!
                          
 “Hmmm, I wonder if my favourite Little Ted will fit in here too? Oh yes, he sits there nicely!”

 She played with me and Big Sis (who of course wanted to play too) and loved the game of passing the pieces back and forth, dropping and picking up, hiding and uncovering. She then played with it independently for another 10 or 15 minutes seeing what else she could fit inside it and generally shaking it around to enjoy the noise she could make!

We will be doing more, quick and easy baby play games soon!
This post is shared at 
We Play and abc button and
play academy

Comments

  1. Wow, this is such a neat idea! I was directed here by Lisa Sunbury, Regarding Baby. Love the illustrations and commentary . . . can’t wait to try it with my own babe! Thank you. 🙂

  3. Fantastic idea to cut the holes and put the Duplos in! (I was directed here by Lisa, too)

    I was loathe to throw out an orange juice bottle recently because it had a wide enough top for toys to be passed through a and a lid that wasn’t choke-able. (It’s by Organics.) I’m always thinking of babies…

    My 3 children are older now, but I facilitate RIE parent/infant classes and never tire of watching babies explore. There’s a video tour of our classroom at RIE in my post “Creative Toys Engage Babies” that might give you more ideas for simple items that occupy babies for LONG periods of time.

  5. Wonderful use of a milk bottle!! James loves putting his blocks into things. So, I will make one tomorrow too (if you don’t mind)

    As for textures Anna, I made recently a book out of a cardboard box and stuck cut up Christmas cards on the pages. They have all sorts of wonderful textures glitter, flock, shiny stars etc etc. James loves to go with his finger over the textures and carefully feel it. (and yes the cardboard did go a couple of times in his mouth but he didn’t eat it completely 😉 )

  6. Of course I don’t mind! That’s the whole point of sharing the idea 🙂
    The texture book sounds lovely. I have been meaning to make some books so thank you for spurring me on! Look forward to seeing yours x
    Ps a bit of cardboard is good for him I’m sure 😉

  8. This is great! I’m looking forward to sharing this with my parents. The curriculum I use has a similar activity but the hole at the bottom is such an improvement and twist. I’m going to have to pay someone to drink milk at my house so I can use the jug. 🙂

  10. Hi,Anna, Thanks for your reply regarding the paints you use. One question – what did you use to cut the jug or any other plastic container and aren’t the edges sharp? I am totally in love with your creativity,ideas and your cute little ones.How old are they, by the way? Thanks a lot.Shilps

  11. Hi Shilps, I’m so sorry I missed your question! My girls are now 2 and a half and just turned 1. I used scissors to cut the milk container and the edges were fine. I guess that type of plastic is fairly soft maybe? Have fun!

  12. You just inspired me to dig through our trash can for the milk jug in there. My 15 month old will love posting things in there. The hole in the side is smart, so he can get them out again. 🙂 Thanks!