Parenting Tips for Your 35-36 Month Old Toddler

Materials

• Six plastic containers like margarine tubs or food storage plastic containers

• Fillings to make the containers rattle, such as rice, coffee grounds, beans, small pebbles

Making the Toy

• Partly fill two containers with something hard that rattles like beans. Be sure to put the same number of beans in each container so that the containers sound alike when you shake them.

• Then partly fill two more containers with grains of rice. Check to see that they sound the same.

• Partly fill the last two containers with coffee grounds or some other filler. Coffee grounds will make a soft, swishy sound.

• When you shake the three kinds of containers you will discover that each pair sounds different.

• Tape the tops of the containers closed with heavy duty tape to keep your toddler from swallowing the fillings.

Playing

• Sit down with your toddler and give him three of the containers, one with each kind of filling. Keep the other three for yourself.

• Take turns rattling one of the containers and having the other person find the matching sound in their own set.

Another way to play this game is to put all six containers between you.

• Pick them up one at a time and shake them. Encourage your toddler to do the same.

• Together, pick up and shake, pick up and shake until you have a sound match for each. Point out that these are the same sounds.

• Point out when the sounds are different. Your child may want to see what it is inside the containers making the noise.

The two of you can think of other sound-making items to put into pairs of containers. In this way, you can work together in changing and enjoying this simple toy.

Remember; do not put anything in the containers that will hurt your toddler. Be sure to tape on the tops so that they cannot be removed by your child and put them out of reach when you’re not supervising play with them.

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