DIY Sound Cylinders

Here is a simple sound matching activity that I set up for the Mini a few months back. These little boxes are actually building blocks encasing different types of lentils within! The objective of this activity is to find one red and one blue cylinder that make the same sound and pair them together. 

This is like a simple DIY version of the Montessori Sound Boxes. I am no expert in Montessori teaching and so have no idea on how such activities are explained or presented to the child. 

I just laid the boxes together on a little wooden tray and explained to him how to match the cylinders based on sound. He seemed to have understood the concept and I was pleasantly surprised to see him match the similar sounding boxes at first go! :) It is a lovely little game to sharpen the memory and also to work on the auditory senses of little ones.

DIY Picture Matching Activity with Flip Covers

With a young toddler a home, there was this time at home when I had collected so many wet wipes flip covers that I began looking for DIY ideas just so that I could use these up!! :D I loved how sturdy these flip lid covers were and did not have heart to discard them once the wipes packet was empty. So had hoarded almost a dozen at one point!

On one such ideas hunt on Pinterest, I chanced upon a very simple and interesting memory game board that was created using similar flip covers. I tweaked the idea to suit the materials I had at hand and to suit my little boy's interest. 

At 19 months, I did not expect him to understand the concept of finding matching images and actually match them. I just wanted him to experience the joy of flipping open the lids, finding colourful stickers under each, explore and just have fun! And fun he did have! :)

I used a few craft paper, some foam stickers and some glitter stickers to create a couple of different work sheets. It did keep him entertained and curious for a while and in the process helped develop his concentration and also gross motor skills.