Pom Pom Playtime!

As a stay-at-home mom of a very busy toddler, I often struggle to find things to fill up our day that keep my son entertained.  Especially during a long, cold winter when we are stuck inside every single day!  He likes to color, he loves playing with cars, he’s obsessed with trains and loves watching Thomas.  But he also has a relatively short attention span and always seems to be hopping from one thing to the next, scattering all his messes everywhere he goes.  Sound familiar?  He woke up from his nap one day and was a little clingy.  But it was time for me to start dinner.  He wanted to be held, I needed to get dinner going – we were at an impasse.  This was the perfect solution for both of us – he loved sitting right there in the kitchen with me, and this held his attention for a surprising amount of time!

I pulled out a bag of pom poms – you can buy them at the dollar store.  We always have a couple bags on hand.  That way, once they get kind of gross after extended use, you just throw them in the garbage and pull out a new, clean bag of pom poms.  I grabbed a bowl and dumped them in.  I also handed him a wooden spoon.  This boy loves to “stir.”  Then I grabbed a muffin tin and a measuring spoon, demonstrated what he could do with them, and he went to town!  He loved scooping a single pom pom up at a time with his measuring spoon and transferring it from the bowl to a muffin tin.  And he would laugh when he accidentally got 2 pom poms in the measuring spoon (“Big one!”).  He added the baby spoons to the muffin tin all by himself.  🙂  He sat there playing for a good half hour, and I got dinner in the oven.

There are so many other fun things for toddlers (& mommies) to do with pom poms!  My son loves having pom pom wars and throwing them at each other.  We like to throw them into cups.  And if your toddler is old enough, they’re perfect for color sorting.  Plus it teaches them great motor skills.  So go grab some pom poms at the dollar store today – they can provide endless fun for your toddler, too!