I needed a box to keep Veronika busy this morning, and I needed it fast! This one fit the bill. First, I filled a plastic toy bin with pom poms – as many as you can! Be sure to include lots of different colors and lots of different sizes. I then set out a few empty cardboard tubes and some brightly colored straws, thinking these would be great for scooping and stirring.

Veronika very quickly had other plans. She loved the straws and pretended she had a “smoothie”. So I made her one! I showed her how to stuff pom poms into the cardboard tubes like “juice”, then insert the straw.

Now she was running a juice bar!

When she tired of that game, there was still so much more to do. Next, we buried a few favorite small toys in the pom poms. “Where are you bunny?” she called, as she sifted through either with fingers or with the straws.

For older kids, you could even make this more of an ‘I Spy’ search with laminated pictures of every object you hide, but I knew that would be too advanced for Veronika.

Next we had fun watching items drop through the tubes. We could drop a toy down to land with a plop in the soft pile of poms pom. Or just let handfuls of pom poms rain through.

She was frustrated trying this a few times with the largest pom poms, which wedged into the tube instead of slipping through, so it turned into a useful lesson on relative size.

And then sometimes she just wanted to run her fingers through the whole pile for the feel of it, or stir with the straws, or stuff the tubes full of pom poms.

Needless to say, this bin lived up to its name; it was the perfect way to keep her busy.