Simple shapes toy

My two year old is at that stage where she is into everything. She has to know how it all works and likes to figure things out for herself. Because of this need she has to keep her hands busy, I'm always on the look out for things that she can play with that are easy, simple, and that keep her attention. I read about a toy here that I thought would be easy enough to make.

Start with some sort of tall can. I used an old formula can but a Pringles can would work as well.

Punch holes in the lid with a hole punch. We didn't have a one hole punch and our three hole punch didn't work so I used a screw to made holes in the lid.

I gave my daughter pipe cleaners to put through the holes. She loved it.

We also found that glow sticks put through the holes (the small sticks, bracelet size) and she liked that better because they held their shape. Pipe cleaners bent as she tried to put them in the holes. 

This toy holds her attention well and has been a lot of fun for her.

There are different ways to change this toy to the needs of your child. You can color around the holes and have your child match the pipe cleaner to the color around the hole. You can also cut the holes bigger and have puff balls to put through the holes. You can also let your child decorate the can which mine did with a crayon (it matches our walls).

A variation I also tried was showing my daughter how to put pipe cleaners through the large holes in a colander. We bought this one at Ikea.

This didn't keep her attention nearly as well. But it was fun for awhile.

Jenn