I'm always reading about these awesome developmental baby toys people make. They look so... time consuming! The last time I made one (a really cute teething ring!) I spent a whole day working on it, and for what? Less than 1 minute of baby entertainment. Now, I'm all for cute looking baby toys, but if she is more satisfied with a poptarts box (current favorite toy) I want to spend less than an hour making it.
Last week I ordered some checks. Four boxes, which my husband lovingly pointed out will last us more than 10 years (600 checks may have been a few too many!!!). But I had these checks boxes begging to be made into a cute baby toy. So I decided that this was my chance to redeem my baby toy making career and create some fun sensory blocks!
Materials needed:
small checks boxes (or another type of small box that a baby can hold)
random materials to put inside the boxes
some examples: rocks, screws, beans, rice, flaxseed, sticks
scrapbook paper
scissors
packaging tape
First I gathered 4 materials from around the house that would 1. not go rotten and 2. would make a variety of sounds
I chose flaxseed (from my "I'm going to be healthy" kick that didn't last long), rice, dry beans, and a few stones. I put each material into a box and tested the sounds to make sure they were cool enough.
Next I picked some pieces of scrapbook paper and began wrapping each box. I taped the boxes closed to make sure the materials wouldn't escape with all the shaking they had in their futures. I trimmed the paper and folded it around the box without taping it first. Wrapping looks better with crisp corners, so after folding to see where the creases would be, I took the paper off and went over the creases with my fingernail to make sure they were crisp. Then I proceeded to wrap them like presents.
This would be all well and good, but when you have a baby playing with something made out of scrapbook paper, its not going to last very long. Now comes the slobber-proofing! (Note: these probably aren't waterproof, like, don't go making them a bath toy or something, but it will guard against the paper disintegrating in your child's mouth)
I wrapped 3 strips of tape around the middle of each block making sure they overlapped a tad. Now the middle is covered but the edges and short ends are still untaped.
Each end takes 2 pieces of tape, each about at inch longer than the box. Put each piece of tape on the end so they meet in the middle (they are going down the length of the box) and fold them around the sides, Like this:
Then snip down each corner of tape.
and fold each of the 3 pieces of tape down. You will do this 4 times, twice on each end of the box.
Then let your child enjoy!
=)
Thanks sister!!
