Homemade Toys: Texture Cards

I made these texture cards for J sometime around 10 months to bring with us on plane trips.  I reserved them for those special trips, stored in a ziploc, so that they would keep their novelty.  J loved them.  He has since mostly lost interest in them at 23 months (though he does still like the one with buttons).  But they definitely served their purpose.   The cards are made of cardstock.  They survived pretty well, though I can see the benefit to laminating them (it would have to be done before the texture was added I guess).  You could even use thick cardboard to make them stronger.  There have been a few that have found their home in the trash. 

In choosing textures, I basically went through the house and found interesting textures (that would be fairly easy to attach to the cardstock… I was is a rush!).  I really didn’t get very creative with my textures, but J was still entertained! You’ll notice quiet a few cards with puffy stickers and foam stickers (especially easy to make!), buttons, sponge, styrofoam, post it tabs, duct tape flaps (I created windows and placed a sticker behind the window), fabric, clear plastic, net, …  The only one I can remember that isn’t pictured is the velcro card.  J still really likes this card too since it is interactive (he could remove and replace the velcro pieces).  It’s somewhere around the house, I just can’t find it for the picture!

The back side of the texture cards don’t look so pretty.  I covered a lot of the back sides with packing tape or duct tape.  In hind site, I could’ve created duct tape flaps on the back of all the cards so that they would be double sided. 

To create prettier cards, you could cut larger pieces of the cardstock, attach the texture, fold the card in half and glue them shut. 

Age attempted:  about 10 months -17 months

Teachable moments:  discuss what’s special about each texture/surface :)  (smooth, shiny, bumpy, squishy, crinkly, …)

Try Again?  At 23 months, I’ll soon be trying more advanced texture cards and make a game out of it (similar to this activity on Children’s Learning Activities)

The Visiting Zoo

This “game” has been on my list of activities since J was 7 or 8 months old.  It’s simple and I’m sure you’ve heard of it before.  It requires no prep work and kids love it!  The only thing you have to do is check your pride at the door. 

So what is the “Visiting Zoo”?  Just pretend to be any animal that pops into your head. Hop around like a rabbit and scrunch your nose (J always loves Mommy scrunching her nose!), slither like a snake, waddle like a duck,… you get it.  And you get why pride has to be checked at the door.  The more into it you are, the more your little one will like it (especially as a toddler!). 

Babyhood: J started out just in awe of Mommy (or maybe it was shock).  He would stare or smile or giggle or look at me like I was loony.  He quickly learned to make the animal sounds but couldn’t manage the movements.

Pretoddler: J started trying to imitate the animals with me, both in sound and movement.  This is great practice with gross motor skills (jumping, slithering, crawling on hands and feet).  Instead of me chosing the animal, I started having him pick the animal.  I was amazed at the animals he remembered.  Caution: They will chose animals that we have no clue how to imitate (like a giraffe, what does a giraffe sound like?)

Early Toddler: J is getting better with his imitations and can do more animals.  I sometimes have him chose animals or pick flashcards from a bowl.  He has gotten to where I can act out an animal and he can name it. 

Toddler and Beyond: Eventually you can add homemade costumes to look like the animal (have them get creative with household items to use); have them draw the written word out of a hat to read instead of using a picture or use animal categories/classifications and they have to name an animal in that classification before you’ll act it out. 

Age Attempted: maybe 7 months at first?

Teachable moments: obviously animal sounds, also physical traits of animals come up (like elephants have a trunk instead of nose, paws instead of feet, beaks, tails, …); gross motor skills, animal classification, animal recognition, lose some inhibitions (though toddlers have few, maybe that’s a teachable moment for mom/dad!)

Try Again? over and over

Why Didn’t I Think of That? Piggies in a Blanket

Check out this link http://babywisemom.blogspot.com/2010/03/prodcut-review-piggies-in-blanket.html

This Piggies in a Blanket would’ve been perfect for J!  Had I only known earlier!  I was always so annoyed with how often J’s blanket would fall off his stroller. I ended up rigging his grocery cart cover to stay on a little better, but it took so much time to set up and was never completely successful.  So long to dirty blankets and cold toes!! My next little one will be so lucky!

Whip Cream Painting

I planned an entire day of fun for J’s first birthday.  We live far from all family and knew that we wouldn’t have a big party for J, but I still wanted it to be special.  Whip Cream painting is one of the activities that he did that day.  I made some homemade whip cream, tried coloring it with blueberries and rasberries (I forgot to buy food coloring!) which worked… a little.  I stripped J down to his diaper, sat him in his highchair and put a spoonful of each color on his tray.  He was a little confused at first (this was one of the first times he was in the highchair aside from mealtime) and just slowly tested the waters with one finger.  Eventually he was had the whole tray covered, as well as his belly and his hair; he liked to fill his hand with it and then make it squish out by making a fist.  Of course he tasted it too, which in this case was perfectly ok.  It’s basically a texture activity for him, a chance for him to experiment and explore something new. 

My little guy does not normally like getting dirty, so it’s good for him to experience it every now and then!

Age: 12 months

Try Again?  I haven’t repeated this same activity again, though he would’ve enjoyed it I’m sure.  I have done other texture painting activities since this.

Tunnel Play

I guess I was slow in introducing tunnels.  My first attempt (around 10 months) was not well received, so I didn’t try again until J was 12 months.  I just set up the couch cushions to create a short tunnel and he loved it.  He liked to follow mommy through (though it was a tight fit for mommy!), play peek a boo with mom at one end and J at the other, push his cars through the tunnel, or pop his head up through the top of the tunnel.  It’s an easy activity to set up and free!

12 months

Age attempted? 10 months not successful (cautious little guy!); successful at 12 months and ever since

Try Again?  Yes; still a good activity

Homemade Toy: Fabric Colors and Texture Box for Babies

I gathered a collection of fabric swatches with vibrant colors and a wide range of textures, stuffed them in a wipee box and let J at it.  We could talk about the different textures/colors as he pulled them out or he could just have fun emptying and filling the box. 

Age? Started around 8 months

Try Again?  This was just a toy always available to him for a few months; It probably lost it’s intrigue after a few months

Music Time with Babies

J has ALWAYS loved music.  I swear he could kick on beat in the womb.  Daddy used to sing “Jesus Loves Me” to him when I was pregnant and he would dance around inside me.  After he was born, he was crying while the nurses worked on him and daddy started singing “Jesus Loves Me” and he stilled right away.  He knew the voice and likely he knew the song. 

We have always had some type of music time, whether singing to J, playing the guitar/piano for him, or playing a CD/Youtube song for him.  For the first few months, he mostly like acoustic music and lyrics really weren’t necessary.  Starting at 2 months, he began singing a long with us (his favorite was “Moon River”). 

Playing the guitar at 8 months

Homemade Toy: Family Photo Magnets

Much of our family live far away so J doesn’t get consistent interaction with them.  It is very important to me that J know his relatives and develop relationships with them as he gets older.  The first step to me was knowing who was who in his family.  At 10 months, I made some photo magnets for him to play with.  I printed pictures of each family member, put a sticky magnet on the back and then lamenated both together (so he couldn’t peel the magnet off the back).  He has loved them since the first day I put them up.  He often played with these while I cooked dinner (convenient for me since he was close by).  He quickly learned who was in each photo.  When we were plannning a visit to see certain family (or before family came to visit us), I emphasized their photos. 

Age Attempted: 10 months; this is an toy/activity he still plays with at 22 months. 

Teachable Moments:  Family members (or other important people in baby’s life)

Try Again?  This toy rests permanently on the refrigerator door, used often

Homemade Toy: Endless Scarf

You know that magic trick where the scarf just keeps coming?  Apparently magicians need to be using this trick on infants.  They love it. 

Tie a bunch of scarves/rags/fabric pieces together and stuff them in an empty tissue box (or wipee box is even better since it encourages them to open and close the lid).  At first, let a little hang out of the box to encourage them to pull. 

Age?  I think he first did this around 8 months

Try Again?  This just became a toy always available to him.  It lasted a couple months.

Stacking cups are definitely worth it!

Stacking cups are awesome.  Even now, at 21 months, J enjoys them. 

J first learned to tear down a tower that mom/dad created.  At first he was a very careful little boy, removing one cup at a time (starting around 8 or 9 months).  I also used the cups to help teach object permanence (the idea that an object doesn’t disappear simply because we can’t see it).  I would place a small toy under one of the cups and have him find it again.  Then I added two cups, hinding the small toy underneath one of them so that he had to find which cup help the surprise.  After working up to 3 and 4 cups and he was quick to find the surprise underneath, I started hiding the surprise while stacking,…  basically any way to make the game new and interesting. 

Of course eventually he learned to stack the cups himself, nest the cups (I use both activities to emphasize size – big/small), fill cups with the matching color pompoms, fill and spill in the bathtub,…  There are so many possibilities, long lasting possibilities!

A careful demolitionist at 10 months