Stack, Build, Smash and Play with Styrofoam Bowls

 

Ever since Putti has been able to sit upright and grab things with her hands, she has loved stacking and playing with blocks, plastic cups and containers from the kitchen and even cardboard boxes!! 
Styrofoam bowls are not common in my kitchen because they do not decompose easily and are not easy to recycle. But, I buy them for Putti's play and once bought they do last a very long time. She has even tried sewing with it. 
Stacking and building with Foam Bowls has always been a huge hit. Even friends that come over have played with these.  And smashing them down is bigger FUN !!! This is one of her favorite rainy day or sunny day(our us in Florida) and quiet time activities.

 Trying to see how tall a tower she could build and then off course knocking it all is fun fun.

 These bowls have probably gotten more use than many other toys. There is no need to buy expensive toys, she finds joy in the simplest things! Here are some more pictures of her stacking the bowls and then smashing them down.

I have found them being built with, painted on, jumped over, filled with play food, water, used for imaginary play with her animals and little people and more!    

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Play and Learn with Blocks

Putti loves to play with Blocks. Ever since Putti has her hands on her First Blocks, she has loved exploring them by touching, licking, banging, throwing and offcourse sorting. 

Her favorite blocks right now are Imaginarium Wooden Block. She loves the colors and different shapes.  

Here are some of the fun things she has been doing lately with her Wooden Blocks. She almost always starts with sorting them by various shapes and sizes and then comparing the piles which one is bigger?

Knocking the blocks down either by kicking them or with a fly swatter/ bat is fun too. Infact its greater fun than stacking:)

Separating each pile of block shapes by color and counting how many of each color she has got? A fun way to learn Fractions.

Counting numbers. Recently we have started simple addition and subtraction game too. We both start with our own small pile of blocks and count them. Then she gives me 1-2 blocks and we count how much I have now in total. And how much less she has.

Make Alphabets with blocks. When Putti was younger I used to write the alphabets for her and she would lay the blocks over the letters, kind of like tracing.

 See how tall the tower she bulit is by measuring it with a scale.  Also, measure some of her toys using blocks. Compare and see how many of big and small blocks do they each measure.

Imaginative play by using cars, people, animals etc along with blocks.

Other than building castles for her doll princesses to live, she loves making random things like a staircase

 

A ship

 Block person

Sun 

The top of the container has a sorter on it and that is a favorite way to put back all her 200 wooden blocks. I love it because she is working on her fine motors, her hand eye co ordination and also is re-enforcing her shape recognition!

Do your kids enjoy blocks? What is their favorite thing to do with them?
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