DIY Cheap Toddler Toy Great for Motor Development

This is another idea I saw on Pinterest and made one of my own.  I made it when L was a little over one year old but she would have used it much earlier than that.  Some children could probably start using this as early as six months.  And guess what...  She still uses this thing now at almost two years old.  It is much better than cleaning up torn up Kleenex all the time which is what I was doing.

First, most of us have empty wipes boxes lying around when we have infants.  I always figure I will find a use for them.  I usually do.  We've actually gone through two of these so far because when she figured out how to open the wipes box all the way up, she broke the lid off.

Here is what you do:  Take some scrap material (I didn't have any scrap at the time so I just used one of her millions of receiving blankets) and cut strips of material about two inches wide and 8-12 inches long.  Open up the hole in the top of the wipes box.  We just used a knife, then filed the rough edges down.  Younger children may not need the top opened up but my child did.  Don't open it up too big because they are supposed to have to use their pincher skills to do this.  Now put all of the strips of material in the wipes box and pull just one out of the hole a little.  Once L saw me pull one out she went at it herself.  Here are some pictures of her enjoying her easy, free toy.

The material makes a good hat:

 They are good hats for Charlie too (That is our youngest dog underneath that pile of strips):