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Fun and easy kids activities

Baby Stack-Up Towers with Paper Rolls

May 2, 20135,748 views
For the baby
Fine motor activity for the baby: Stack up towers- Quick Play Idea Save
tp roll tower Save
building blocks with tp rolls Save
baby play Save
baby play with tp rolls Save
block play Save

by TurkeyMom in For the baby

Ages1–3 yrs
Prep25 min
Activity15 min
Leveleasy
MessLow
Works for1:1 · Small group

Slide cut and sticker-decorated toilet paper and kitchen rolls onto a kitchen paper towel holder to build towers of different heights. It's a cheap, low-prep stacking activity for fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination and problem solving.

⚠️ Safety first

  • Adult does the cutting with scissors.
  • Babies mouth things. Peeled-off stickers, bits of tape and torn cardboard are choking hazards, so supervise closely the whole time and collect loose pieces.
  • Only add sensory elements that are safe for babies, as the author advises.
  • Check that the paper towel holder is stable and has no sharp edges or loose parts before play.

Before the kids arrive

  • Cut the toilet paper rolls into halves and the kitchen rolls into thirds.
  • Decorate the rolls with stickers and tape on paint cards. An older child can do this for you.

Steps

  1. Adult: cut toilet paper rolls in half and kitchen rolls into thirds to make small rolls.

  2. Decorate the rolls with stickers and tape on pieces of paint card.

  3. Set up the play area with a basket of rolls and the kitchen paper holder.

  4. Let baby slide a roll down over the holder's pole.

  5. Keep stacking rolls to build a tower.

  6. Build towers of different heights and add rolls to the side arm too.

  7. Take rolls off and put them back on to create new structures.

  8. Admire the finished tower, then pull it apart and build again.

Tips

  • Ask your older child to decorate the rolls. Sticking and peeling is a fun fine motor activity for them. My preschooler was very excited to do it!from the author
  • Using tape to hold the paint cards turned out great, since it gave the paper rolls an extra sensory element while playing.from the author
  • Your baby might have fun peeling the stickers off. That was OK with me since I see that as a fine motor activity too. Just watch closely and collect the peeled bits.from the author
  • It kept my baby engaged, happy and playing for quite a while. Given their attention spans at this age, I was very excited to see her merrily creating structures with such focus!from the author

Make it your own

  • Add any other safe sensory element to the rolls to make play more exciting for baby.
  • Let an older sibling decorate the rolls as their own sticker-and-tape fine motor activity.

The story behind it

By TurkeyMom · May 2013
Fine motor activity for the baby: Stack up towers- Quick Play Idea
This week's quick play idea is an easy to create fine motor activity for the baby. I turned to my most trusted, wallet-efficient play mate: paper rolls.
1 / 7

Baby Stack-Up Towers with Paper Rolls: the original post

This week’s quick play idea is an easy to create fine motor activity for the baby. To encourage developing fine motor skills, hand-eye co-ordination and of course to simply PLAY, I turned to my most trusted, wallet-efficient play mate- paper rolls. Stacking blocks and tumbling them all down is one of the first fine motor milestones for a baby. As they grow up stacking becomes a big part of building structures and I’m always trying to find new and easy ways to promote this play

  • Paper Rolls
  • Stickers(optional)
  • Paint cards(optional)
  • Tape
  • Kitchen paper holder

Cut the TP rolls into halves and the kitchen rolls into thirds to make smaller rolls. Decorate them with stickers. You could ask your older child to decorate the rolls for you. Sticking and peeling will be a fun fine motor activity for your older child. Your baby might have fun peeling off though and that again was ok since I’d see that as a fine motor activity as well. My preschooler was very excited to decorate the paper rolls with stickers and painters. Using tape for holding the cards turned out great since it gave the paper rolls an additional sensory element while playing. You can use any safe sensory element to add to the roll to make playing for baby more exciting.

simple baby play Set up the play area with a basket of rolls and the kitchen paper holder. The holder works to hold the tubes and little hands work on creating structures of different heights.

baby play with tp rolls

This fine motor activity kept my baby engaged, happy and playing for quite some feat. Given their attention spans at this age, I was very excited to see her merrily creating structures with such focus!

block play

building blocks with tp rolls It also teaches problem solving, learning to remove and put through the tubes erecting and creating new structures.

baby play Simple play for your baby.

tp roll tower

This post is the second installment of our new series - Quick Play Ideas. Every Friday we will share one easy kids activity which involves minimal preparation and thinking ahead!

blogmemom kids sensory activity Thanks for stopping by our little space here. We encourage you to stick around and take a look at couple of our popular posts.

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