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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While we’ve done plenty of 
Sometimes, or better yet, many times, it’s the simple things. This afternoon, my freshly napped bubba woke up to discover a new package by our door. She excitedly asked to open it, not caring about which actual item may be inside, but rather which packing material was surrounding the item (both bubble wrap and packing peanuts are huge in our house). To her satisfaction, she found a fresh new sheet of bubble wrap inside, just waiting to be enjoyed.
After a good long time poking at it with her little fingers, I asked, “Are there any other ways we could pop the bubbles?” This is what she came up with…
First came stomping on it with her feet, then she moved to digging her elbows into it and stabbing it with a wooden block…
Next she tried rolling beads on it (which actually worked fabulously when a good amount of pressure was applied) and twisting it forcefully.
Lastly was placing a borrowed book (sorry library!) on top of the bubble wrap and standing on it. The good news is that this didn’t work very well at all, so it was short-lived. 
This may very well be the easiest activity to throw together ever, but Gracen thoroughly enjoyed it. All you need is a couple of paper plates (ours are made of styrofoam, which I absolutely despise, but they, along with many other party supplies, were in the cupboard when we moved into this house, so I don’t feel quite as badly about using them), 2 large popsicle sticks, some masking tape, and a balloon. To create simple racquets, all you have to do is tape popsicle stick handles onto the bottom sides of the plates… Then you’re ready to play! Partner pass, keep it up, and distance contests are all fun.
This is a perfect activity for a rainy day and great for helping your toddler burn off some energy if getting outside isn’t an option. The other perk is that it is relatively quiet (especially when played independently), so it could make a good quiet activity for an older sibling whose little brother or sister is napping.
While we had our painter’s tape out for our 
♥
Basically, all we do is toss a pillow back and forth. Seriously, that’s it. A pillow is easier to catch than a ball, it’s as soft as can be (even when you get whacked in the head repeatedly), and apparently throwing a pillow around is hilarious. 
To set up a simple pomegranate play station for her, I sliced the pomegranate in half, cut a cross about an inch deep on the flat surface of one of the halves, and popped it in a big bowl of cool water for her. (Removing the seeds of a pomegranate in water is by far the best way to do it. Keeping the fruit submerged in water seems to loosen everything up a little, plus it prevents nasty pomegranate stains from occurring. )
I also set out a little tray of “tools” which included a small bowl, a teaspoon, and a large slotted spoon.
Without any direction or modelling, I asked her, “Do you want to play?” She of course let out an immediate “YES!” and jumped right in.
Right away, she began pulling apart the peel and pulp, digging out the seeds (which are actually called ‘arils’, but who says that?) by scraping her finger along the membranes, and adding them to the small yellow bowl. (Keep in mind that she has watched me do this before.)
And before long, she requested another small bowl for the “white yucky parts”. 
The other neat thing about taking apart pomegranates while they’re in water is that the seeds sink down to the bottom and the white membrane bits float to the top, making sorting the two very easy.
After she’d realized this, Grae worked on removing the white bits with her slotted spoon for quite some time, but eventually retired the spoon and went straight to using her hands.
And in the end, not only did we have a very happy {and speckled} little lady, but we also had a big bowl of pomegranate seeds just waiting to be eaten up. ☺
