Easy Paper Tunnels for Little Car Lovers

7 / 9 / 18

Sometimes the very simplest things turn out to be the biggest hits, don’t they? Take these insanely easy paper tunnels for example… A totally random idea, thrown together on the spot, and yet Sam just loves them.

Do all little car lovers have a ‘thing’? I once nannied a little car lover who was obsessed with speed bumps. Like LOVED speed bumps. And Sam’s thing? Tunnels.

I don’t know what it is about them exactly, but he just freaking looovvvves tunnels. He’s constantly searching them out for his toy cars and will basically transform anything he can into a tunnel. Even if it’s your leg – hope you didn’t plan on moving any time soon {hah!}

So this afternoon when he woke from a nap talking about a tunnel for his purple concrete mixer, this little paper tunnel idea popped into my mind and it couldn’t be easier.

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Basically you need two things – washi tape and card stock {I love this stuff from Ikea – it’s super sturdy and the colours are gorgeous}. Oh, and a hard surface of some sort. All I did was cut some of the card stock in half and kept some whole, then folded little tabs on each side, and washi taped them to our coffee table to form little rainbow tunnels.

Easiest thing EVER.

He collected up a bunch of different cars and trucks, placed them in the middle of the table, and then drove them around and through the paper tunnels one-by-one.

One thing I really love about this activity besides it being so easy is that while the paper tunnels are fairly crash proof, the fact that they’re just paper taped down onto a table encourages Sam to practice slow, controlled, gentle movements – something that doesn’t always come naturally to him.

These remain on our coffee table currently and probably will for a while, but when we’re done with them, we’ll just take them off and tuck them away until next time, probably reusing the same paper tunnels several times over.

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Mini Racer Wall Ramps

5 / 21 / 185 / 22 / 18

This boy and his cars. He just loves them. Throw in a ramp and he’s pleased as punch, so imagine how thrilled he was about these mini racer wall ramps we put up on our landing today! {SOO thrilled.}

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It’s incredibly easy, but here’s what we used to create our mini racer wall ramps:

several mini racers (anyone else remember these from their childhood?)
several cardboard tubes (we repurposed most of ours from our car ramp sensory bin)
a roll of painter’s tape (though we used this decorative Scotch masking tape)
a pair of scissors

Now because most all of our paper rolls were the ones we used for our car ramp sensory bin, we didn’t have to cut ours in half lengthwise, but if you do have to do that part, it does take a little bit of effort… Sharp, longer scissors are key in my opinion. With your paper tubes cut, it’s as easy as running a long piece of tape down one edge and sticking it to the wall at an angle.

There’s really no right or wrong way to do this… You can have the ramps work together or separately – up to you. I decided to start at the top and got Sam to stand near the wall to judge how high we could go with the first ramp. I thought it would be fun to make the ramps work together if possible, so with each addition, I got him to send one of his mini racers down and then positioned the next ramp so it would catch the car once it launched off the first.

Once we had all of the previously cut ramps up, I asked Sam what he’d like to do with our one new paper roll – cut it and make two new ramps or keep it as is and make one tunnel and he was absolutely certain that one tunnel was the way to go, so we hung it as is.

And then we were off!

He’d simply place a mini racer, wheels down, at the top of the tunnel or one of the ramps and then watch it go.

The transition from one ramp to the next didn’t always work out perfectly, but he didn’t mind one bit. If a car got stuck sideways or wheels up, he’d go help it and then step back to continue watching it race down.

Part way through we added a basket to catch the cars that were flying off of the last ramp and crashing into our window, which added a fun element.

I don’t know how long this will stay up on our wall for, but it’s not going anywhere anytime soon.

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Car Ramp Sensory Bin

2 / 6 / 182 / 6 / 18

Oh, how this little boy of ours loves cars, trucks, tractors, and all things that go. Help him set up some sort of ramp and he’ll send vehicle after vehicle after vehicle down that hill. It’s his jam.

One day a little while back while Grae, Sam, and I were down in the playroom, this idea sort of randomly sprung to mind. Brad had tucked a bunch of empty wrapping rolls in our play closet earlier in the week and Sam was enjoying his trucks but was frustrated that the ramp he’d set up wouldn’t stay in place. While I briefly thought about trying to help him tape his giant ramp in place, I remembered our stash of paper rolls just waiting to be used for something fun, and that’s when this little car ramp sensory bin was created!

Now thinking back, I’m pretty sure that this idea was inspired by The Imagination Tree’s awesome cardboard tube racing activity… I remember seeing her beautifully painted tracks and colourful images a long time ago… I probably just didn’t realize what a little car enthusiast I’d have on my hands one day in the future!

Our ramps certainly aren’t as pretty as hers and maybe one day we’ll paint an entire set of paper roll roadways {how fun would that be?}, but these certainly did the job and setting everything up was incredibly quick and easy.

Because this little set up was completely impromptu, I didn’t take photos of the set up process like I usually do, but I think it’s pretty self explanatory.

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All you need is a pair of scissors, some cardboard tubes, painter’s tape {CAN}, and a big, shallow bin {CAN}. {Any big, shallow bin will do, but this huge under the bed bin is one of my absolute favourites for any kind of sensory or small world activity.}

All you have to do is cut the tubes in half lengthwise, trim them down to whichever size you like, and then use painter’s tape to secure one end to the edge of the bin and the other to the base of the bin.

Add a bunch of little vehicles and it’s time to play!

The beauty of having your ramps contained in a big bin? The cars zip down quickly, but stay within reach! A bin of this size also means that there’s more than enough room for several kiddos to play at once, and Miss G actually did play alongside Sam for quite a while.

While we’ve tucked our bin away for now, I’ve saved the paper tube ramps to use again next time and I’m certain it won’t be long before Sam requests this activity again.

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Portable Car Play Kit

9 / 24 / 1411 / 11 / 14

Have I mentioned that Grae and I love putting together homemade gifts? Because we do. We love it so much in fact, that despite the fact that we had actually already purchased a gift for today’s party, we decided we would make something instead – just yesterday afternoon! Today’s birthday boy is a car lover through and through, so we used that for our inspiration. He also {like many of our international friends} is often on the go, so we decided to make him a portable car play kit so that he has a fun and easy way to take his beloved toys with him – whether it be to a restaurant, on an airplane, or over to a friend’s house.

Table Top Washi Tape Roadway

8 / 9 / 137 / 26 / 16

Have I mentioned how much I love when fun, unplanned activities just come about naturally during the day? I do! In fact, I often find that they’re some of our very favourites. That’s exactly what happened today with our super simple table top roadway.

Quiet Road Trip Activities for Little Ones

8 / 22 / 128 / 28 / 12

Tomorrow Miss G and I head out on a little Mama and Bubba road trip. A good friend of mine is getting married this weekend in my hometown in the Okanagan, and since Brad is in his final few days of work at his current job before transitioning over to his new teaching position, Grae and I are on our own. While the two of us have done the 5 or 6 hour drive sans Papa before, I must admit that I am a little nervous about it this time around (despite the fact that Grae was basically born travelling and has successfully made the 36 hour journey to Kuwait and the 36 hour journey back to Canada – if she can make it through that, she can make it through pretty much anything, right?)

The thing is, at nearly two years old, Miss G is more active than ever. She loves to be on the go, naps in the car happen very rarely (they’re something we try our very best to avoid, so can’t blame her on that one), and without a second set of hands, there’s no one besides me to handout snacks, pass toys, or retrieve dropped items.

So, with all of this in mind, I decided to put together a little collection of simple, car-friendly activities to keep my busy body baby happy during our time on the road. Here’s what I’ve collected…

1. A Crayola Color Explosion mini notepad. I was actually on the hunt for the old-school colouring pads that came with just one white marker when I was little, but no luck on that front. While I don’t normally buy into all of the “gimmicky” products Crayola makes, this was the next best thing. One colourless {and therefore mess-free} marker with only one lid to potentially lose, but with the fun of all the colours in the rainbow? Yes, please. Sign me up.

2. A mini sparkly scratch notebook. Sparkly, fun, and virtually mess-free.

3. A magnetic pipe cleaner sensory bottle. Quiet fun + the easiest thing to put together ever = win!

4. A magnetic paperclip sensory bottle. Even better than the pipe cleaner one, and while it could be a little noisy when shaken, these plastic-coated paperclips don’t make that much noise.

5. Stickers and a notebook to stick them in. Pure magic in our house.

6. A homemade 3-in-1 travel board. Very easy to make and packs a big punch as it provides 3 activities all in one. All I did was spray an extra baking sheet I had on hand with a few coats of paint (this makes it prettier, but certainly isn’t necessary). Then I free handed three coats of chalkboard paint on this side, letting it dry well in between each coat. Afterwards, I conditioned it by rubbing a generous amount of chalk all over the board before erasing it. Voila! This side is not only a perfect lap-sized chalkboard, but it also doubles as a magnet board too.

For the other side, I cut out a piece of felt, glued it onto the baking sheet using craft glue, and cut out some felt dress up girls by modifying the patterns found here. Of course, the felt activity you create can be personalized to your child’s age and interests. Cutting out the letters of your child’s name so he or she can practice spelling it, creating felt pattern blocks, or making a matching game like the ice cream cone game I made previously are just a few ideas.

I’ve tucked all of the pieces for this travel board into separate containers so I can hand them out one at a time tomorrow and get the most use out of this board as possible.

7. Snacks. Lots and lots and lots of healthy snacks, each in small individual containers so they can be handed out one at a time. Dried fruit, nuts, dry cereal, fresh fruit and veggies, healthy bars, and freeze dried treats… All of Miss G’s favourites.

In addition to these things, we stocked up on new CDs from the library earlier this week, so we’ll have those to listen to too. Of course, I’m hoping for a nice long nap along the way, but if it doesn’t happen these goodies should take us through a 6 hour trip, right?

Wish us luck!

♥