A New Toddler Posting Activity!

 I watched Idris playing with the bath plug chain in his treasure basket and dropping it in and out of a milk jug..... It gave me an idea and I fetched out the bead strings from my Christmas box and chopped them up into smaller lengths..... some about 10cm and some up to 30cm long. I then simply clamped an empty bottle between my knees, demonstrated once and he was off!

 He quickly worked out that using two hands with one very near to the end of the string was the best way to get them in. He was very steady handed, making very small adjustments to his hand position as he wavered over the neck of the bottle trying to thread them in. I used quite a narrow necked bottle but you could make it easier with a wider necked one, or even a jug as he had used originally!

 He discovered that the bottle made a great sound when shaken......

 But that you had to pull most of them out, they didn't just fall out!

 Then he threw them on the floor (doesn't he always?!) and danced on them for a bit - they made a great clacking sound as they hit the floor!

Then he went to the recycling box and helped himself to another bottle and tried again, all by himself! He took them in the bath that night too and spent ages draping them over his arms and shoulders, deep in concentration! Draping is something that he likes to do anyway, with socks or small pieces of cloth so it was interesting to see him trying his theories out on a new medium!

This would make a great discovery box with  a collection of different receptacles to put the chains in and a variety of different chains to explore - hardware shops and garden centres often stock rolls of different sizes of chains - tubes would be fun too, and funnels to explore which chains went through them and which didn't - I think I feel a new treasure basket coming on!!!!!