Simple Play: Pipe Cleaner Game

Porter is 15 months and has enjoyed this game for a little while now.  It's perfect when I need him focused and quiet for a little bit--- think church or waiting in the doctor's office.

SUPPLIES:

• Pipe cleaners (I cut a few pipe cleaners into three to fit into the bottle).


• Bottle that has a lid with holes (large spice jar, parmesan cheese bottle).

And there you have a fun little toy for your tike to play with.  So simple, right?!

It's the perfect game for him at this stage right now.  He is so focused on getting those pipe cleaners into the container!

Simple Play: Strainer & Pipe Cleaners

I mentioned some time ago how I struggle with the simplest tasks like cooking.  Here's an activity that will keep your little one busy while you whip up your fancy meal on the stove.  Give him a strainer and a few pipe cleaners and see if he can string them through himself.  My baby can't (he's 14 months) so another alternative is to put the pipe cleaners in place and he will pull them out and try to put them back in.  It works even better if you have someone around to play the "game" with your little one.

Simple Play: DIY Magnet Jar

We had a couple pipe cleaner scraps left over from our DIY snowflake activity so I decided to make a quick magnet jar.

SUPPLIES:

• Glass jar (this is a recycled Ragu jar)


• Strong magnet


• magnetic items (we used pipe cleaners)


• non-magnetic item (we used colored rice)

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Place everything in the jar except for the magnet.


2. Shake it up.


3. Slide the magnet on the outside of the jar to see if you can get anything to move.  If not, put the magnet inside the jar to see what you can fetch!

"Look, mom!  A spider!"

Caden loved this so much and it was so, so simple.  I love it when we can find fun and creative things to play with around the house.