I am going to try some of these ideas! Thanks

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[quote=Kelechim;892775]I

Another thing I did yesterday has given me idea for a new toy. I drew a face on a sheet of paper and taped it to my rear and danced while washing her bottles in sink. She sat in bouncy seat watching paper. She had been crying, but this amazingly calmed her. QUOTE]

This cracked me up!! What a great idea Gotta do what it takes sometimes. Plus you got a little exercise dancing!

I drew a smiley face on a paper plate and hung that different places--next time I'll have to remember to use my rear too! LOL!

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Blessed beyond measure

I just made this looping PowerPoint for my 12 week old daughter, Ella, in colors she'll enjoy. I am going to make sure I keep her back from PC screen a couple of feet. I figure if she looks at it only for a few minutes a few times a week it won't hurt her eyes. If anyone knows diff please let me know. I have attached it for other newborn moms.

Attached Files

Ella show.zip (5.9 KB, 11 views)

Easiest toy I ever made, and my 11-month-old's favorite:
a couple cheerios inside a plastic baby food container!
Just snap the lid on and you're done! And if she does get it off (she hasn't yet) she can just eat the cheerio.

Also strips of fabric (not too long, for risk of suffocation)
and don't forget your kitchen cupboard, they love plastic collanders, pans, measuring spoons/cups. She did have a habit of sticking the cup handle way back in her mouth, so I clipped one of those linking rings through the hole in the handle. This made it too big for her to fit in her mouth, and also made it more colorful.

I didn't read back all the way through but the one that got used a lot was a 20 oz coke bottle filled with beans...actually ours is black-eye peas I think. I wrapped some electrical tape around the lid so it wouldn't come off. When she got a little older (closer to 18 months) we used it to practise being loud and quiet. Shaking it really hard to be loud and really softly to be quiet. My 7 month old loves to play with it now.

If any of you have PAT in your area, they are really good at coming up with good toys from household items

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LeAnn, mommy to
Kaylee July '06 and Megan June '08

http://mommysavers.com/boards/mommys...ml#post1060022

LOL, I see that you posted the same as me about PAT!

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LeAnn, mommy to
Kaylee July '06 and Megan June '08

http://mommysavers.com/boards/mommys...ml#post1060022

This is fun and brings me back a few years. My kids are 12, 14, 16 and 18 but here a few of their favorites toys that I made for them.

Garden book:
We were big gardeners at the time (out of necessity). I cut out pictures of the basic fruits and veggies from the seed catalog. I glued them onto card stock cut into fourths. I labeled each page "apple", "carrot" etc. and covered each page completely with clear contact paper. I bound them together with string. This gave them a sturdy, education book that they even used to chew on when they were teething.

Color book:
I did the same thing as above but with the colored flowers to help them learn their colors.

Family book:
Another version of the above. I took family pictures and labeled them. They loved to look and point at the picture of "Nanny", "Cousin Michael" etc.

These three books were very well ready from about 5 to 24 months. By the way, my oldest is 18 and in college and still has these on his book shelf.

Lid and Bucket:
I saved the lids from concentrated juice cans (the metal kind although you could save the plastic as well). After I had about 20 of them I put them in an ice cream bucket with a slit cut in the lid. They would love to dump them out and then put them back in the bucket through the slot. Great for fine motor skills. They also make a great noise when you shake them and dump them out.

I spy in a bottle, place small objects, like different colored beads, paper clips, marbles, buttons, maybe a barbie shoe thats missing its match, anything that fits in a plastic bottle mixed with rice or elbow mac. glue the lid on, and shake. the more rice, the harder it is to find objects. my 19 month old shakes it and plays with it and it keeps my 3 year old busy, i tell him to find a certin item and show me when he finds it. its kinda fun for dads too, make a list of the items and test him...

where did you get the coloring pages from?

Here's a game M has been playing lately:

-stack of old cards (library cards, expired insurance cards, fake credit cards etc)
-baby wipes container

She loves to put the cards into the container though the slot, then empty them out and do it again.

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It's not what you make; it's what you spend.

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