One of the boards on the Sleeping Should Be Easy Pinterest account is a “crafts with kids” section, where I pin awesome activities I swear I’ll do with my toddler. Of course I always find some excuse: “But I don’t have tongue depressors handy… I lost the white crayon so now I can’t make the magic letters… He’s too young for that activity…” And so on. But I couldn’t find an excuse for this activity, from the blog No One Has More Fun than the Adams’: fun with pipe cleaners and a colander. After all, I actually had pipe cleaners (who knew they’d come in handy after all?) as well as a colander in the kitchen. So off we go, for our first ever Pinterest activity.
And what do you know, the little guy loved it. I figured he would, considering he likes figuring out how things work and was just bowled over at the shapes the pipe cleaners were making. I had to help him make poke the first end of the pipe cleaner, but he determined where he wanted to stick the other end to. He kept asking, “What’s this?” with the pipe cleaners, although he must have selective memory because I swear I showed it to him several months ago but was met with a “I’m not interested” shrug.
I liked this activity, however short it was, because we already had these two items and he was able to flex his fine motor skills with all that poking and aiming at the holes. I’m pretty sure he would have kept going if I had given him more pipe cleaners (and another colander).
Perhaps I can go find more orange pipe cleaners while you read a few links below:
- The The LA Times cites that the U.S. ranks 25th of best places for mothers. The U.S.’s relatively low ranking compared to other developed countries is due to issues like risks in pregnancy-related deaths, child mortality, low political status for women, preschool enrollment and guaranteed paid maternity leave.
- Next, SSBE reader Reading Teacher Mom pointed me to a link from Science Daily article, Books in home as important as parents’ education in determining children’s educational level. I had heard that the number of books found in a home (or, I presume, the number of trips to the library) correlates to children’s success in school.
- If that isn’t enough to get you excited about books, SSBE reader Ana from Mommyhood: From the Heart featured a link to Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. If your child is between the ages of 0 to 5, he or she can receive one free book a month until they turn five years old. I haven’t signed up for this but Ana has been receiving her free books from this literacy program.
What Pinterest activities have you done recently?
These are great resources! Thank you. I do not have a Pinterest account yet. Although, I think I’m going to have to get one now. It seems that so many people are sharing great ideas on a simple board. Thanks for the inspiration.
I love this Pinterest-inspired craft. Must do with little man. The most recent Pinterest activity that we did was the homemade play dough. So so fun. Thank you so much for the mention! xo
So glad to know you’re on Pinterest! Am now following you, and will be looking for some pipe cleaners tomorrow!
I like that colander thing. It’s like a spaceship. Can’t wait to try it with Gunnar………………gotta buy some pipe cleaners first…………………….
C has loved this activity as well. We also stick pipe cleaners in a cheese shaker (the kind that pizza places have–got one for $1), wrap them around fingers and arms, link them together, have used them as place food in the kitchen, games of “cleaning house” (dump pipe cleaners everywhere and pick up–I don’t enjoy this game much but C invented it and loves it). When I reach the point that I can’t stand the pipe cleaners anymore, we put them away for awhile but he often asks for them again. Amazing how the simple things provide so much entertainment!
That looks really cool, I wonder if I could get my hands on pipe cleaners in China….
Wonderful idea, I already saved it for future use.
I also wanted to let you know that I nominated you for the “One Lovely Blog Award.” Details at my blog tomorrow morning.
I’m going to try this too! Thanks for passing on.