Toddler Tuesday – Pom Poms!

Aah, the pom-pom. Small, colorful, full of endless possibilities. I picked up a pack a couple months ago but never thought Lucy would get so much use out of them.

I started by setting up a transfer activity. One tray with two bowls, one empty and one with 15 or so pom-poms. She would sit and transfer them back and forth, back and forth, at first just using her hands but now she likes to use a spoon. In theory, I start her going from the left bowl to the right since that is supposed to help prepare them for reading but she switches back and forth and I’m not going to micromanage her pom-pom fun.
 
Another activity I made with pom-poms is her drop bottle. Its just a small plastic soda bottle with a hole cut out of it. I wrapped the edges of the hole with duct tape so they wouldn’t scratch her. She stuffs pom-poms down the neck and uses the hole to get them back again. It isn’t the pretties thing but she uses it a lot.


Those the only official pom-pom activites I’ve set-up but that isn’t the only way she uses them. She also likes to:
- Roll them down the slats of the rocking chair so they fly off the back. This really wears her out since she likes to roll one down, run around the chair to pick it up then back to roll it again. Never mind that she has 14 still in her bowl, she has to get that one back.

- Hide them around the room, stuffing them into crevices in the couch, putting them in the corner of shelves, etc. Then she will go around and collect them again. Its like an Easter egg hunt anytime she wants!

- Place them over the air ducts (when the air conditioner is running) so they fly up in the air.

-Rub them on her face, our face, her baby dol'l’s face, the cat’s face. She likes how soft they feel and assumes everyone else must too. The cat is the only one of us who has issues with this.

- Give up trying to put them on the cat’s face and just watch the cat bat them around. This one brings on lots of giggles, especially when the cat looses control and goes skidding across our hardwood floors.

So far, this has been one of the best $2 investments I’ve made. And I’m sure we’ll be using them more in the future. Sorting by color, counting activities, art projects, are just a few of the things I can think of right now but Lucy will probably come up with better ideas anyway.