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Sock-er Balls Activity

Show your kid that pom poms and a pair of socks can be as fun as a "real" toy.
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Your kid loves to play with balls. Your kid loves making a mess. Combine his two favorite things to do in this easy (and cheap) activity. Who knows? Maybe with a bit of practice, he'll decide that cleaning up is actually one of his favorite things to do. (OK, maybe not.)
Fuzzy balls: Pick up a big bag of 2-inch pom poms from the craft store.
Sock: The color doesn't matter as long as it's clean and doesn't have a hole in the toe.
1 Stuff as many fuzzy balls as you can into the sock. If you have a little baby, leave the top open so it's not too challenging. For older kids, tie it in a loose knot and let them work to get it open. (Untying knots is going to come in handy once they start tying their own shoes.)

2 Hand your kid his sock-er ball and let him play.

3 Encourage babies to reach down inside the sock and pull out the balls. Show him how to use his hands (and practice that pincer grasp).

4 Play a game with older kids, having them pull out balls until they find, say, a blue one or a red one.

5 Let your kid swing the sock around and let balls fly out (without worrying about them hitting the flat screen!).

6 Once he has all of the balls out of the sock (which could take a while), show him how to put them back in.

7 His new proficiency in putting things away could easily transfer to other things. Maybe he'll learn to put his toy cars away. Just be careful when you're putting on your socks because you never know what you're going to find.

Make sure you supervise your kid at all times as he plays with the pom poms as they can pose a choking hazard! If your kid is the kind who shoves everything in his mouth, you might want to wait a few months for this activity!

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Erin
Erin
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9/11/2008 - 3:48PM
Report Abuse 		This is the activity that keeps on giving. I pulled it out again and both my two-year-old and one-year-old loved it.
nocuously
nocuously
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2/5/2008 - 8:17AM
Report Abuse 		Wow, neat idea! We are going to try it! My kids are getting SO bored with winter! Thanks!
Erin
Erin
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2/4/2008 - 3:57PM
Report Abuse 		I tried this DO and it was great. My two-year-old played with his sock for more than twenty minutes (an eternity in toddler time). After he was done, I dumped all of the fuzzy balls into a big shoebox. I gave him some plastic cups and let him fill the cups, dump the box out, refill the box, etc. Walla! Another twenty minutes.


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