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Homemade Toys: Clothes Pin Drop

Finding activities for pretoddlers (12-18mos) can be difficult.  They are a bit too young for a lot of artwork/activities out there, but they are capable and enjoy doing more interactive activities.  That’s one reason why I chose to start this blog now, so I can show others all the fun things that are possible for this age group.

One of my favorite things to do is making toys for J.  Here’s a toy that I introduced to J when he was 12 months old and have changed it as he has changed.  It cost me next to nothing to make and it’s a toy that is still used daily around here.

Materials: Any plastic jug or container with lid, old fashioned clothes pins

The first time I made this I used an old pasta jar and placed the clothes pins inside.  J enjoyed dumping them out and then dropping each one back inside.

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Dumping

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Dropping

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Figuring out the lid

Last month I changed this toy up for him.  His fine motor skills and hand/eye coordination have improved and he needed a bit more of a challenge.  I exchanged the jar for a milk jug.  The opening is much smaller so it’s more difficult to drop the pins, and it’s more difficult to shake the pins out of the jug.  The cap twists on/off and is great for fine motor skills.  J still hasn’t figured out how to twist lids off, but this toy helps with learning that skill.  Such a small change to the milk jug had made this a whole new toy for J.

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More Homemade Toys coming soon!

What toys have you made using things found around the house?

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by Amanda Leave a Comment

Filed Under: Play Tagged With: DIY Toys and Games, Fine Motor Play, homemade toys, Toddler

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Comments

  1. andie jaye

    November 15, 2011 at 6:18 am

    my mom and i were just talking about this game the other day! love that you’re sharing these classics with your kiddos! thanks for linking this up to last week’s tip-toe thru tuesday party! i hope to see you again this week!

    andie @ crayonfreckles

    Reply

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