Trish is at it again and because I seem to be challenge crazy right now I am signing up.  I will keep myself sane by signing up at the Timid level promising just 1-3 Pinterest posts this month.  Now that my A-Z challenge is over (thank you all for sticking with me!) I need to start challenging Gage with some projects I’ve pinned.  I may try other things too but my goal is Gage activities.

If you want to join in stop by Trish’s post and see the details.  It’s an easy, no stress process, I promise.  Trust me, I wouldn’t be doing it otherwise.

Trish’s Pin It & Do It Challenge

I decided to jump in at the easiest level and try a few things for Gage.  Pinterest is a great place to find toddler activities.  The two I tried are going to seem silly because they’re so basic, but the truth is that the easiest and most basic things rarely occur to me!

First up a Gage activity.  My original pin is here.  The original post is here.  Basically it’s a basket activity that helps fine motor skills.  You put lots of different containers that open in various ways in a basket (I used his dry water table), show him how each one opens and then let him play.  Here’s the set up

The beauty of this activity is how simple it is.  I spent 15 minutes going around the house collecting things and this translated to about 20 minutes of fun for Gage.

Here’s a picture with his favorite, the bubbles bottle

Do you see the concentration?  There were some he couldn’t do on his own, but by showing him how maybe he’ll be able to do it next time.  He did have fun and I collected it all to bring out another day.  I’ll see what other goodies I can add.

The key for these types of activities is the presentation (I’ve seen some sites call it the invitation).  This and the alphabet box were successful in part because I presented them as something special and he recognized that.

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Now on to the food portion.  This was also for kids, but, hey, maybe you want to surprise your husband tonight, LOL.

This picture is from Cake From the Soul, although I’m not sure if she’s the originator.  My pin is here.

I fixed this last night for dinner and it works!  Cut some hot dogs (we used nitrite-free turkey dogs), poke the thin spaghetti through and boil.  Easy peasy.  I think this would be great for older kids.  Gage was not all that impressed.  He did eat some but it was definitely more fun for me to make than for him to eat 🙂