Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Fore! A great toddler activity that sort of has to do with the game of golf

This winter I've tried to create different ways to entertain and teach my girls.

On Pinterest, I saw an idea to have your toddlers balance marbles on golf tees, secured in foam.

Cheap and easy--especially if you golf (or know someone who does), have received a flower arrangement secured in that green foam stuff, and have a few marbles laying around.

I decided to take this idea a few steps further (and to make it a bit safer for my girls, who would love to swallow put things like marbles in their mouths).

Instead of marbles, I used wooden balls, you can find at any craft store. They're larger than marbles, which made me feel better about them. I painted them.


I painted the golf tees too. This way it works on hand/eye coordinations AND color matching.

I secured the tees (with a little glue) in a foam retangle (4"x 3").


Our girls get SO excited when they balance those balls on the golf tees!



A few minor flaws I've noticed about my design:
  • It needs to be secured on something heavier like a block of wood, or even a heavy piece of cardboard--it's too tippy the way it is.
  • The tees need to be positioned further apart. The girls get a few balls balanced, and then knock them off attempting to get the others balanced; it's frustrating for them. Maybe just put them in a row--at least a couple inches apart, or just a couple inches in all directions.
I hope your kids enjoy this as much as mine do! It's really benefitted their color matching and hand/eye coordination abilities, and it's a great quiet activity for toddlers!

9 comments:

Miss Megan said...

Great idea! My nanny and I have been scouring pintrest trying to find age appropriate activities form my girls as well! This looks like an awesome idea!
Can you remind me, how old are your girls? I'm trying to figure out if my girls (15 months) should be able to do the exact same activities that your girls can, or whether you guys are a couple months ahead of us =).
We recently tried "clean painting" (blog post to come hopefully this week), and they enjoyed that, but our girls too are still very oral and want EVERYTHING in their mouth, so I find that there aren't as many activities that are actually safe for them to do (because finger paints for example aren't edible, and they insist on EATING the crayons, not coloring with them - lol). It's harder than I thought to actually get them to participate in some of the activities! Any pointers?

The Iowa Farmer's Wife said...

This is a great idea! I've seen variations of it and really need to get some golf tees. I love the wooden balls too! They are too cute! Thanks for stopping by!

yettie said...

I like the idea of buying wooden objects from the craft store and painting. Like!

Helene said...

Oh I totally love that! My first thought, though, was I could easily see my kids swallowing the marbles (even though they're old enough to do better. These are the same kids who stick q-tips up their noses). Then I saw your comment about your girls swallowing marbles too and giggled a little.

This is such a great way to teach them about balance and just to have fun!!

I love that one of the girls is wearing leg warmers. They're coming back in style again, I have a feeling. Bella got a pair of leg warmers for Christmas and she loves them!

championm2000 said...

Another Pinterest WIN!

Love it!

Once Upon A Time said...

You are such an awesome Mama Julia! I aspire to be as crafty with Sam and Anna's learning as you are. I pinned so I could remember to attempt when I have more time!

Fun Frugal Mommy said...

What a great activity. I just pinned it and started following your blog. I think I might do this and use large pom poms instead of balls. Thanks for sharing.

BTW I am hosting a bloghop where bloggers can share their fun frugal kid-activities. Please consider linking up. www.funfrugalmommy.blogspot.com

Sierra @ H is for Homeschooling said...

I am a new follower :) I would love for you to share this at What's on the Tray Wednesday.

http://his4homeschooling.blogspot.com/2012/01/whats-on-tray-wednesday-4.html

Fun Frugal Mommy said...

Thanks for sharing on fun frugal friday. I would love it if you stopped by again and shared some more ideas. I will be posting on friday mornings. : )