I love making toys out of random things we have around the house. I also love repurposing the toys we do have, mixing up parts etc. Often some of the actual toys become much more fun when mixed with some of the non-toy items.
The other day it occurred to me that those little plastic balls from one of the little guy’s toys (that were spilled all over our living room floor) would fit perfectly inside the cups of my muffin tin. So while he was napping I ran around and collected them, plopped them in, and set it out and waited for him to get up from his nap. I couldn’t wait to see what he would do with it!
Immediately he was drawn to it and grabbed a couple of balls. Then a couple more. As he emptied the tin I would fill it back it back up. Although I didn’t set out with the idea of this becoming a game, I think Mr. C had other things in mind.
He would giggle when I shook it around on the floor and the balls would spin in their cups. Eventually he figured out the best way to use this “toy” was to dump the balls out and watch them roll in all different directions! He thought it was even funnier when Mom dumped the balls out so that they would all roll in his direction.
PS. I thought this would be great with ping pong balls (and they would probably bounce and roll more) but Mr. C is still putting everything in his mouth and I thought that the ping pong balls might be a little too risky. If you have an older child, say toddler age, I think they would find the ping pong balls combined with the muffin tin lots of fun! Have older kids try bouncing ping pong balls into the muffin cups. It makes for great entertainment.
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Thanks for the easy and great idea! Our ball collection isn’t quite mature enough for this – but our plastic Easter egg collection is! I mentioned you in my blog post about it!
This looks like great fun. I see Argos sell these balls, but we have some left over from a ball pit that burst. This will put them to good use.
Amanda, I think I saw a package of balls about that same size at Toys R Us made by bright start.
I love this idea! Do you know where you can purchase balls that are large enough so little one can’t choke on them and small enough to still fit in the tins? I have a couple from random toys but would love to get more.
The most wonderful toys can be created from things we have around the house. This is brilliant!
Fun and Cheap- Definitely my kinda toy 🙂
This looks so fun. I’m going to try it with my little girl. I love these simple and fun activities.
I just did this with my lil’ girl the other day and she also loved it. She enjoyed most putting the balls back and got frustrated when one tin was left empty because a ball had rolled under her leg and she couldn’t find it. Funny.
I LOVE using muffin tins with my little guy! There are so many different ways to use them. This looks like so much fun…good job!