On Saturday, I spent $4 on Dollar Store items to be used to entertain Colin. I bought a pack of foam sheets, an 8 pack of Mardi Gras beads, an 80 count bag of colorful craft puffs, and a pack of 25 balloons.
With the foam sheets, I cut out 5 shapes: a square, a circle, a triangle, a star and a heart. These were put into the bath on Sunday, and Colin stuck them to and took them off of the tub and tile happily until the water got cold. We spent a lot of time just naming the shapes, and pointing to them. (See how it's educational?) Since then, I've begun cutting out other things to play with in the tub to make scenes. So far, we have some flowers. The plan calls for a few clouds and a sun. After that, my creativity runs out, so we'll see what happens.
The Mardi Gras beads were opened and placed in a large plastic bowl and paired with a wooden spoon as soon as I got home. They were the main source of his entertainment for the rest of the evening. We're talking about 5 hours of fun, people!
The craft puffs were opened this morning. The goal was to put some into a clear plastic bottle we cleaned, put the top on, and use it as a shaker. Instead, Colin spent about 90 minutes putting them in, putting the top on, taking the top off, shaking, spilling, kicking and throwing the puffs around. After a break, he came back to them and spent another half an hour or so playing with them.
I haven't opened the balloons yet. We have 3 left in the last bag. The last two balloons I blew up, two weeks ago, are still in my living room. They are kicked, hit, thrown, sat on, layed on and all around enjoyed nearly every day. I'm amazed they've lasted this long. Balloons can save just about any day for us. They cause big smiles and shouts of "boon!"
That was the best $4 I've spent in a long, long time.
No comments:
Post a Comment