*If you are a regular reader, I’m dropping the twins’ nicknames from this point forward. You can “meet” them on my about page!
…or “How to Entertain Your Toddlers While You Call the Plumber”
It’s amazing the things I once took for granted before having children. Like using the bathroom without an audience of two. Or sleeping in past 6:15. Ever. Or taking a shower without someone whining, “Momma, out! Poop on leg!” Seriously. That happened today.
But I digress. One morning a few weeks ago I had to make an important phone call to find someone to deal with our latest plumbing emergency. Sound simple? HAH! Come live with me for a few days. I knew I had to create a diversion for the twins so I could steal a few moments to search for and call a plumber. Luckily, I had just seen this post at Learning for Kids about making a simple “car wash tunnel” with socks and kitchen chairs, and I had an idea.
I know I’ve waxed poetic several times before about our West Music Scarves and how much we love them, especially Sydney. Since they were handy, I decided to use them to make a sensory tunnel of sorts. It took all of two minutes- I tied a few scarves to the backs of the chairs (or highchairs, as you can see in the pictures), pushed the chairs together in a line, et voila! A tunnel to crawl through filled with bright, floaty scarves.
At first I had covered the middle chair with a blanket to make a hiding spot, but Will refused to enter the tunnel until I removed it!
No qualms for Syd. She LOVES crawling through tunnels or into small spaces.
Doesn’t that look fun?
The twins were captivated by the tunnel all morning, playing peek-a-boo and hide and seek with each other. It was one of the first times I’d actually seen a prolonged period of cooperative play between them. They are growing up! After awhile, Sydney brought her wooden princess set inside the tunnel for some girly dress-up time. I had so much fun listening to her talk while she was playing- “Momma-Daddy-Bubba-pinshess (princess). Pink dress. Green shoes. Blue dress on. A tunnel. A tunnel. Yay!” I could listen all day!
This activity was easy to set up, didn’t cost me a dime, and provided lots of gross motor play, sensory stimulation, and pretend play opportunities. And as an added bonus, I got to call the plumber in peace!
What more can a mama ask for?
Your site looks great! And it is amazing listening to them talk and play together!
Thank you thank you! Listening to them interact is one of my favorite things!
How fun! I love that this is something siblings of different ages can enjoy together, too. I can definitely see all four of my home preschool kids, ages 1 to 4, having a lot of fun with something like this.
You are so right! I even had fun with it
Love it Stephanie! Peanut has always loved playing with my scarves so he’d really enjoy this.
These scarves are one of our go-to toys! We love them.