Following up on yesterday’s simple game of “boom!”, today I made a cause-and-effect game that was a little more sophisticated for Veronika. This game is also great for talking about words like in/out and fast/slow.

I filled a shallow plastic tub with water, and got out two small balls (golf balls or ping pong balls are about the right size) along with an empty paper towel tube.

I held the tube against the bin of water and let Veronika see me put the ball inside. “In!”

Now tilt the tube slightly and let the ball fall in with a splash. There was a great element of surprise here for Veronika, who was wondering where the ball went!

We played around with different variations for quite some time. Sometimes I let the ball fall fast from a steep angle, or sometimes held the tube nearly horizontal so it would roll slowly and build her anticipation.

Soon, she was the one wanting to put the balls in the tube, making this almost like a one-shape shape-sorter!

When we were done with the tube, the leftover balls and shallow water were a big hit.