Wipe Container Toys

There's a lot of reasons why I love pinterest. The image above is one of the simplest explanations. People share such brilliant ideas!

Reid never took interest in pulling all the wipes out of the container. He probably tried it once, and I probably got after him and that ended that. Nell on the other hand, she loves pulling the wipes out! Pinterest has no shortage of ideas on how to solve this problem. I know there are tutorials on how to make felt squares that pull out in a way that mimics wipes -- one fluffy square at a time, but I didn't want to spend more than 60 seconds making my alternative. Unused scarf to the rescue! 

The wipes container game Reid is pictured playing is a fabulous way for kids to work on fine motor skills. I saved up milk lids for a couple months, ran them through the dishwasher, and then let him practice pushing the lids down through the container opening. He loves to pretend like it is his treasure box and the lids are his golden coins. He hid it from me several times today, and he loved watching me try to hunt it out.

This particular toy was in hiding from the time Nell was about 6 months old until now (15 months). When she was a baby he played with it, because it was nearly impossible for her to grab one, let alone put it in her mouth. Plus, babies have very limited unsupervised play time. Once she was old enough to grab and put things in her mouth I put the toy away. She is still putting things in her mouth, but she doesn't try to eat them anymore. New objects simply go in her mouth for touch; this is one way toddlers figure out what new objects are. Once she felt the lids with her mouth they came right out. I imagine it would be super difficult and highly unlikely that a child could actually choke on the lids (kids have amazing gag reflexes), but just to be safe I kept it out of reach during what might be considered the "danger zone" time period.

I found the scarf pulling game worked best in an old Pampers container, and the coin game only works in a Huggies container. Why? Well, Pampers has a slim oval shaped opening, and Huggies has a larger oval shape opening that is blocked by a rubber catch. In a Huggies container the scarf can get caught on the rubber, making it too difficult to pull the scarf out (depending on the size and material this may not be a problem, it was with my particular scarf). Using the Huggies container for the coin game adds an extra level of fine motor. First the child must line the lid up with the opening in the container, then they have to push the lid down through the rubber catch. This should all make sense to anyone who uses wipe containers regularly (but if you are totally confused you can look at the third picture in this post and try and see the difference for yourself). 

Anyhow, I'm sure these ideas aren't new to anyone who might see this, but at least now you have read first hand how well they work with a toddler and a preschooler. 

Look at them, playing so nicely together ... for ten whole minutes.

P.S. Reid was using our hall rug as a bridge when I snapped these pictures. Bridge to where? Who knows, but I love his imagination!