Are you ready to get crafting with your little one? Grab your recycling box, it’s time for the February edition of Project: Recycle & Create!
Project: Recycle & Create is a collaborative series all about creating with recyclables. Each month we’ll be focusing on a different material. You may recall that last month it was cardboard boxes.
This month? We’re having fun with styrofoam!
When we bought our carpet cleaner, I kept the large pieces of styrofoam packaging that were in the box. I just knew they’d be fun to play with one day, even though I wasn’t really sure at the time what we’d do with them.
This week I let the preschooler practice his carpentry skills on the styrofoam.
First I gave him a box of nails and showed him how to hold each nail while hitting it with his plastic hammer. (I opted for the plastic hammer so his fingers wouldn’t risk getting smashed by Daddy’s real hammer.)
He was in Heaven! “I’m doing it by myself, just like Daddy!” he proudly told me.
As he banged away on the nails, I quickly realized that THIS activity was the PERFECT styrofoam activity for us! I quickly set aside the pieces of styrofoam I had been cutting for a different project and got out a box of screws and one of Daddy’s screwdrivers.
This time around I showed him how to carefully hold the screw and use the screwdriver until the screw lay flat with the styrofoam. He was so proud of himself!
The nails and the screws were fairly long, so I figured he would do 10 or so and then be finished.
Boy, was I wrong!
After half an hour I was informed that my “construction worker” needed a lunch break. In between bites of his lunch, he continued to hammer in nails.
For 2 hours he hammered in nails and turned his screwdriver until each and every nail and screw in both boxes were gone. That is 2 hours of hand-eye coordination and manual dexterity practice. It’s 2 hours of building his self-esteem. (It’s also 2 hours that I got to do some work in the basement in between checking out his awesome construction skills.)
The preschooler was super excited to show Daddy his handiwork when he came home. That’s when the kindergartner decided she wanted to create as well!
I love how she found smaller pieces of styrofoam and nailed them together — really building! I can see this activity really growing with them.
Looking for other fun uses for styrofoam? Check out some of the great ideas from this month’s co-hosts!
P is for Preschooler Powerful Mothering Afterschool for Smarty Pants
Still Playing School Lemon Lime Adventures Creative World of VaryaMama Miss
There’s Just One Mommy Little Bins for Little Hands Peakle Pie
Sugar Aunts Teach Me Mommy Danya Banya ALLterNATIVElearning
Widsom Knowledge Joy
Emma @ P is for Preschooler says
Sounds like they had a lot of fun with this one! Getting to use real tools must have been exciting! 🙂
OneMommy says
They loved it. I briefly thought about letting them use a hand saw, but I think we’ll wait on that one!
Donna DM Yates says
This is a great idea. They learn how to handle a hammer and a screwdriver while they entertain themselves. Endless possibilities.
OneMommy says
And they were both so proud of their work, too!
Dayna@ Lemon lime adventures says
I have been thinking about my hatred toward styrofoam and realize I need to give it more a chance. What is so cool about it, is the strange shapes it comes preformed in. My boys created an ice caste with theirs and couldn’t get enough. I love seeing where little ones will take something, since they are not limited in their possibilities.
OneMommy says
I think I just hate the mess when you cut it, but hammering nails in = limited mess! 🙂 Of course, I cut up some pieces to craft with later…but I did it outside so the mess didn’t drive me as crazy.
Terria @ homeandhired says
I would love to feature this on homeandhired.com. I like to give ideas for keeping little ones busy while mom is working from home. This is a great one!
OneMommy says
It would definitely keep the little ones busy! You are welcome to use one photo and link back to my original post.
Jill says
This looks like it was a lot of fun!
Thank you for stopping by the Thoughtful Spot Weekly Blog Hop this week. We hope to see you drop by our neck of the woods next week!
OneMommy says
I think it was one of the preschooler’s favorite things we’ve done so far! Definitely will be doing it again soon!