We Play - With Matchboxes and Tiny Things

I bought some matchboxes from the craft store quite a few months ago now and Ed found them the other day while he was going through one of our toy cupboards.

He stuffed the matchbox with some other tiny treasures he found and came to find me. I had to guess what was in the matchbox. In the beginning, he made it multiple choice. Once I'd guessed correctly a couple of times, he changed the rules so that I got no clues.

Realising this was something he was quite taken by, I quickly collected up some more tiny treasures and displayed them near where he was originally playing.



You can see in the photo I gave him some buttons, pom poms, fairy stones, small babies, nuts and bolts and some small pieces of felt that we had cut up to use as baby blankets.

He kept playing the guessing game for almost half an hour and then got a few of his dump trucks out to carry the small items around as 'loads'.

With these little lovelies he was giving his development a workout too. He was building on his:
- fine motor and manipulative skills
- eye-hand co-ordination
- language skills
- ability to develop strategy
- problem solving

Little things are so much fun!

Come over and play at the 'Childhood 101' 'We Play' link up

Containers and Lids

I know this looks like a basket of recycling, ready to go out to the bin, but it's actually what my little boy has been playing with for the last couple of days.

I've been noticing how much Ed enjoys the challenge of opening and closing containers lately. Whether he wants a biscuit or a drink or a cracker, I always get "I'll do it, I'll do it" when it comes to opening the container. So, for the last week or so, I've collected up every bottle and plastic container that's passed through my kitchen sink to pass onto Ed so that he can practice the skill of opening and closing.

It's a skill we take for granted as adults, but you actually need quite a large amount of muscle control in your wrists and fingers, not to mention eye-hand co-ordination, to get lids on and off properly.



I saved up cream containers, yoghurt containers, butter containers, milk bottles and soft drink/water bottles. By putting them all together into one basket, Ed is also working on his cognitive skills, matching and sorting.

Of course, no activity is complete for my boy without the addition of some matchbox cars and butter containers are the perfect place for them to hide away!