Fine Motor Fun with a Cardboard Box!

*Age: 21 months actual, 19 months adjusted.

In my last post about our wonderful shipment of toys from Little Pnuts, I promised that I would share with you how I upcycled the cardboard box that brought us our treasures. Inspired by a mysterious hole that was in our box when it arrived, I created a simple activity that kept the twins entertained (and quiet) for almost an hour, which is almost unheard-of in this house! Best part- it was ridiculously easy to prepare.

Using a pair of scissors, I poked holes in no particular pattern in the lid of the box. Once the blades were down through the lid, I twisted the scissors to make round-ish holes.

After that was done, I got a tray and gathered materials from my tot school stash, including empty spice bottles, plain cardboard toilet paper rolls, color sorting tubes (felt-covered toilet paper rolls), and some brightly colored dowel rods that I purchased at Walmart. If you use dowel rods, be sure to lightly sand any rough ends before giving to your little ones. Also, these particular colored rods do stain if you get them wet, so bear this in mind if you have a chewer.

Resisting the urge to show the little ones what I wanted them to do, I set out the materials and let them explore at their own pace. In about 20 seconds, Little Man figured out that the dowel rods fit into the holes. And so the fun began!

I loved watching my tots play with these materials. I saw lots of good fine motor practice, as well as a healthy dose of problem solving. Little Man discovered that he had more control over the sticks if he maneuvered them with both hands.

Toots concentrated hard as well.

Love those little hands!

After they had placed all the rods in the holes, the twins began playing with the tubes and the bottles. They worked hard to put the tubes onto the dowels and balance the bottles on the ends.

Since they currently have a fascination with cotton swabs, I threw in a handful of those as well and let them poke them into the holes.

Little Man decided to take a peek inside the box.

And that’s it! This activity may appear simple, but it was challenging for the twins and perfect for their stage of development. They pulled all the rods out and started over again several times before getting tired of the activity, and we have done this at least once a day since the first time. Interestingly, it is also one of the first activities I have ever seen them work together to complete…typically they work parallel to each other or even fight over materials, but on this day they were handing sticks to each other and even clapping for each other when they got a rod placed correctly in a hole. It was so fun to see!

Looking for more ideas for upcycling cardboard boxes? Check out our Duct Tape Building Blocks from our Construction Unit!

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