Fun with Pipe Cleaners

(25 Months Old)


St. Patrick's Day Week

I brought out a pack of green pipe cleaners and a small colander.  After doing a really quick demonstration on how to push a flexible pipe cleaner through the tiny colander hole, I let them try.  They both learned through trial and error to hold the pipe cleaner more towards the end so that it's easier to push through the hole in the colander.

Then we tried our hand at stringing tiny beads onto the pipe cleaners.  I was really nervous about letting Wild One try this, he still has a tendency to put objects in his mouth.  After he placed several beads on the pipe cleaner, he tried his own method (second picture below).  I love how he created his own solution.

I knew Little Miss would love this activity.  She likes working with tiny objects (small pom poms, Cheerios, grains of rice).  She spent about five minutes stringing beads and taking them off, all while saying, "little pink on (not on), little blue on (not on), little yellow on (not on)."