The Twins Christmas Tree

For my younger grand daughters (they just turned 1) I made a tree from a cardboard box.

I found these amazing screws, for cardboard, at a store in Vancouver.

They work like a charm and hold the cardboard pieces together so simply and firmly.

I cut one hole in each side and finished off the edges with tape.

I gave the girls a basket each full of balls.

 Some balls were smooth, ruff, prickly, small, big, rubber, plastic and some have lights inside that shine when they are hit or dropped.

After they spent time checking out all the balls I showed them how the balls can disappear into the tree.

The balls that light up are great motivators for the little ones to look through the holes.

 It didn't take them long to figure out to drop the ball through the hole

but getting it out again was a challenge.

 These two are quite physical so it wasn't a surprise to see the tree tipped on to it's side.

 Which seemed like a perfect invitation to go inside.

If one tries it then the other often does too.

I think they like all the balls the best.

A couple of days later I visited again to see they were trying to get the ball out through the hole.  I noticed that she tried with both arms.

When that didn't work she went around to the open end.

It may be a proud Nana talking but I think they are clever.

March Treasure Basket - Balls

In January I made a card board box house for my grand daughter 

but she never was comfortable going into it.

I tried poking lights in the top but that didn't interest her

so I thought balls might do the trick.

I spent the past month searching for a variety of balls,

some from my own bins and others from dollar stores.

We set the box on it's side and cut holes for these two big tubes

to fit through.

Then I showed her the balls.

She took each from the basket and showed me her favourites.

Then I took one of the balls and rolled it through the tube.

She copied me.

A couple of balls have lights inside them.

She figured out how to activate them.

I thought they might motivate her to go farther in to the box.

As you see in the video she is stretching into it but I wouldn't say she is

comfortable.

Do you have any suggestions on how to encourage her to go in the box?

Balls and Box is All you Need

I was given a bag of plastic balls for free.

I used one of our old boxes (it was our old pretend washing machine)

and cut a few new holes in it.

The basket worked great for collecting the balls

and carrying them around.

The holes on the sides allowed more than one child to play

and it challenged the children to bend, peek and stretch

to get the balls out.

The big hole on the top makes a great target for tossing the balls.

One morning I saw a family had incorporated these coloured bowls

into their play to sort the balls.

It inspired me to encourage others to try it.

This child discovered a different way to use the bowls with the balls.

He put one inside then held the bowls together and shook it.

Love how a simple toy can inspire a variety of play,

even peaceful moments.

More Ball Play

The balls and tubes were so popular that I added more balls

in a bigger pool with a box that has holes.

The pool is set in the middle of the classroom that allows

 room and space for a lot of access.

The older children took time to try to find the right size hole

for each ball.

The younger children climbed right in.

Some started to throw them out so I gave them targets.

The pails were great targets for throwing the balls into

but they were even better for collecting the balls.

I'm not sure if it was a child or a parent that went and got the tube 

 but it added another dimension.

Adding to the Balls and Tubes

The children began getting inventive with the tubes.

Making them longer and taller.

So we introduced our extendable tube.

And it has been stretched here and there throughout the room.

So much experimenting.

What happens to the ball?

Will it come out the other end?

How can we make it come out?

Lots of running back and forth too.