When Travis sees pipe cleaners, he generally either wants me to bend them into shapes (hearts are a favorite) or into a loop to wear over his arm like a bracelet. So I wondered if he’d care at all when I presented him with this fine motor challenge! Happily, he took right to it.

The idea is self-explanatory from the photos: set your toddler up with pipe cleaners and a colander and let them go to town.

Travis loved poking the pipe cleaners through the holes, although never quite got the hang of bending one so it could come back through a second hole.

This game is the kind that’s great to leave out for a day or two. Travis would return to it in between playing with other toys, thread a few pipe cleaners, and then move on again.