Where Play Meets Potential
I’m all about thinking frugally when coming up with toys and activities for my little one for several reasons. Obviously to save money, but also because often times we create these elaborate activities for our baby and then they couldn’t care less about the toy or activity. That or they spend one or two minutes and move on to the next thing. Why spend lots of money on something when you could find something at the dollar store that may or may not keep their attention? Also, having lots of ways to play with one item increases the likelihood of them finding something interesting, extends your dollar a bit further, and gives the added benefit of developing their creative and critical thinking skills.
Sponges are fun and can take many shapes and forms. The variety of textures, colors, shapes, density offers boundless opportunities for sensory play. Sensory play is so important for brain development. Basically, when children are allowed to explore their surroundings with all of their senses they can make more sense of their world and more synapses are created and connected in their brain. For example, if you have never felt anything wet before and someone said, “Touch this it’s wet” you may not make that connection in your brain and you wouldn’t know how to approach that scenario. If you have many experiences with things that are wet you may begin to connect the dots in your brain. You may still have questions, but at least you have a starting point and something to connect back to. If you want to read more about the importance of sensory play, read my post “What’s the Deal with Sensory Play?”
Let’s start with an obvious one, water. Sponges and water go hand in hand. Try mixing it up though and add color to the water or make the water bubbly. Demonstrate different ways to use the sponge as you narrate what you are doing (ie. “Look, I’m going to get the sponge really wet. Now I’m going to hold it up high and squeeze, squeeze, squeeze. Look how the water is falling. Reminds me of rain…”). It’s also fun to have a variety of types of sponges in the water. Some may hold water better than the others. You can even add in scientific terms like “absorb” or “dense.”
Adding cars with sponges can create opportunities for pretend play. They might build roads, tunnels, parking spots, garages, etc. for their cars. You may also want to do a car wash. Typically, children won’t build actual things and use props with their play until they are about 3 years old. Doesn’t mean you can’t play with cars and sponges when they are younger though. Your role will look different. You may be doing more modeling and narrating while they explore the items themselves when they are younger than 3. Watch to see what they are doing before you intervene and don’t force them to play a certain way.
As with cars, adding animals to sponges can create opportunities for pretend play. You can now build beds, dens, nests, caves, and other animal homes with the sponges. You may also want to give the animals a bath so add them to some soapy water.
This activity is best for babies starting to crawl until they are walking toddlers. Finding a variety of sponges can make for some fun sensory experiences. Tape them to the floor and encourage your baby to crawl over them or next to them while feeling them. Your little one will likely stop to get a better feel and this can help them with balance and their motor skills.
One of my current favorite games with my 7 month old is how tall can I build this tower until she knocks it over. We do this with foam blocks, wooden blocks, and, hey, we can even do it with sponges. You can build with wet or dry sponges. Your toddler or preschooler might enjoy building the towers themselves, or may even come up with more complicated structures.
It’s never too young to get them started, am I right? This is another conventional use for the sponge, but can be very fun for babies, toddlers, and young children. Young children love to help out. You can “clean” just about anything. Maybe it’s time to clean their bikes and other outside toys…get the sponges out! Maybe they want to help clean the dishes…get the sponges out! Maybe the walls in the playroom need a little scrub…you get the idea. They don’t have to do a perfect job and you will probably have to do the real cleaning, but allowing the opportunity for them to help empowers them to feel like a contributing member of the family and teaches responsibility.
Cut your sponges into simple shapes and make them into puzzles. You can make more complex shapes depending on the developmental level of your child. You can also cut them into Tanagrams to build with.
Use the shapes you cut when making your sponge puzzles and then dip them into edible paint. An alternative to edible paint is non-toxic tempera or colored water. We used water with food coloring. When we painted with sponges I made sure to tape the paper down and I showed Miss 9 months how to stamp the paper with the sponge. Best part was when she inevitably put the sponge in her mouth, it was completely taste safe. You can stamp them onto paper or simply let the activity be a sensory process art experience.
Ok, I originally saw this idea from @Play_at_home_mummy on Instagram and ran to the dollar store to buy some sponges. While at the dollar store, I found some foam numbers and thought they might work like sponges on the window. Sure enough they did. My 7 month old loved grabbing the foam numbers and putting them directly into her mouth. This kept her busy long enough for me to empty the dishwasher. These are also really fun at bath time.
Mix up the wet sponge play by adding a few dry ones in the mix. Talking about the difference is a great way to create those neural pathways for a better understanding of the words and concepts of “wet” and “dry.” My 7 month old definitely prefered the wet ones though.
The beauty of having multiple ideas in your “toolbox” is that not every child is the same or is engaged with the same experiences. Also, developmental levels can affect a child’s engagement level. Try an activity one day with no interest at all and the next week they can play for hours…ok, let’s be real for at least several minutes. Plus, babies and young children have about a millisecond attention span so you may even decide to do all of these activities on the same day.
Try them out and tell me what was your little one’s favorite activity? Add your ideas in the comments below.
Please support my blogging efforts by sharing this post with someone who may find value in its contents.
My guess is you are here because you are looking for 2 year old gifts that are a little more unique than the average advertisement from Target or Amazon. Well, I have curated a list that works with any budget, plus aids in development, stands
Looking for a way to integrate letter recognition in a fun and festive way? Try this Letter leaves match and stick activity for some letter recognition with an Autumn theme. We had done a similar activity before when my toddler wasn’t even quite a year
A little bit of science, a little bit of Halloween. This Magnetic Halloween Sensory bin is the perfect way to balance learning, play, and the Fall season. I am truly inspired as soon as it hits the Fall season. I am not sure if it
If you love Halloween and the Autumn season, but dread carving a pumpkin, then this post will offer you 10 unique toddler pumpkin activities that don’t involve Jack-o-Lantern faces. These unique toddler pumpkin activities come from years of teaching preschool and wanting to be
What exactly is social and emotional learning (SEL) for toddlers? You may understand that these are important skills for your child to learn, but what exactly do they need to learn and how? What is developmentally appropriate for a toddler? The Collaborative for Academic,
It’s the infamous clean-up time, oh no! Let me set the scene for you. It has been a day full of independent play and there are toys scattered around every room in the house. You really want to teach your child independence and responsibility so