Straw Drop

On the Mess for Less blog, I read about an idea called the color drop game. Basically, you take an empty plastic container with a lid, drill some holes in the top, and your toddler practices placing the straws into the holes. On the Mess for Less blog, the mom also colored around the holes so her toddler had to put the straw into the matching colored hole. I did not add the colors element to this activity when I did it with Baby Bear. First, my lid was black, so coloring was not a good option. Second, this activity requires a lot of dexterity and hand-eye coordination. I wanted to give Baby Bear a chance to work on these skills first before adding colors to the mix.

The drill was not handy, so I used a large pen to poke straw-sized holes into the lid of an empty coffee container. I cut the straws so that they were a little shorter than the container and would drop all the way through. Baby Bear thought the straws were a fun toy all on their own, but when I showed him how to drop them into the container, his eyes got big, and he was eager to try it, too.

The first few times Baby Bear tried this activity, he needed a lot of help. The first time he got it without help he was so excited! I was proud of him, and, more importantly, he was proud of himself. He quickly became a Straw Drop expert, and this was all he ever wanted to play with for at least a week. He brought the container to me over and over again asking, "Do? Peese?" (peese=please)

Now, whenever Baby Bear sees a straw, he wants to play with it and looks for holes to push it through. (He loves playing with the straws and lids of my to go cups!) I'm keeping my eye out for an empty container with a white lid so I can add the color matching component to the game.