Pom Pom Tunnels

Entertaining toddlers can be a daunting task. They have the attention span of a gnat which means you have to find an endless number of ways to keep them entertained throughout the day. Even the parent with the house full of toys will tell you that their kids still get bored. The secret is keeping a stash of items on hand that can be used in a variety of ways to entertain your rambunctious toddler. On one chilly Sunday afternoon recently, both daddy and Miss O were getting bored with the same old toys and were quite restless as a result. In swoops Super Mom with just 3 items from her stash of random household & crafty items to save the day.

Pom Pom Tunnels

Items Required

• variety of toilet & paper towel rolls
• masking or painter’s tape
• pom poms
• wall or other surface like the back or side of kitchen cupboards

How-To

Lay out a maze of angled “tunnels” by taping the various rolls on your flat surface. Toss a pom pom in the top tube and see if it makes it all the way through the tunnels. It will take a few tries to get it just right and it’s fun to tear them all down and try and a new pattern. Miss O also really enjoyed the different types of pom poms – large and small but the spiky sparkly ones were her favourite. She brought over some of her stacking cups – one to hold the pom poms in her hand and one on the floor to catch the pom poms. 

Skills Learned

• physics
• cause & effect
• fine motor skills
• building & assembling

I think daddy had just as much fun as Miss O if not more! He is excited to do more and more science experiments with her as she gets older. Miss O loved putting the pom poms in the top and watching to see if they would make it all the way down. She also enjoyed helping daddy assemble – she kept trying to figure out the tape and why it was sticking to her! It was an activity that lasted about half an hour in total but as any parent of a toddler will tell you – an activity that keeps their attention for 30 minutes is a fantastic success!