Pillow Towers

August 3, 2020Leave a comment

Pillow Towers (1)

Stacking blocks is great for a toddler’s fine motor skills, but some materials can lead to the occasional owie. Here’s a way to make the biggest, softest towers ever: pillow “blocks”!

After cleaning the living room this morning, all the couch pillows were on the ground, which immediately had me thinking we needed to play with them before restoring the room to order. We added a few extra pillows from the bedroom and I showed Veronika how to stack them one atop the other.

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She proudly added the final pieces.

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And then couldn’t resist jumping atop the pile…which is exactly what I was hoping for. “Cozy!” she said.

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Then we stacked them up and did it again.

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This tower never got very tall, because either she was tempted to knock those pillows down…

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…or wanted to throw her whole body into the mix.

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All of which confirmed my hunch that pillows make the perfect stacking blocks for toddlers.

Climbing Practice

July 13, 2020Leave a comment

Climbing Practice (4)

We couldn’t get to the real playground this morning because of rain, so turned the living room into an indoor playground instead! If you’re helping your toddler learn to climb and navigate playground structures (which can be tricky for toddlers!), pillows are an excellent learning opportunity.

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I set up all the couch pillows in such a way that Veronika could crawl from pillow to pillow and make her way up to the top of the actual couch. She was so excited she threw herself into the mix!

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Her favorite was the squishiest pillow from the back of the couch, which could be crawled up…

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…slid down like a slide…

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…and more. Then she said, “Let’s walk!” “Good idea,” I complimented her, and she was so proud.

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“Good idea!” she parroted, and danced and pranced from pillow to pillow.

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Amazingly, we had no bumps or bruises! I was really happy when she used the pillows as I’d intended, like stairs to reach the top of the couch.

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We did a big round of “hip hip hooray” to celebrate.

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You’ll notice big brother Travis wanted in on the action, too.

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A big heap of pillows is fun no matter how old they get.

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Walking on Pillows

June 11, 2020Leave a comment

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We had a rainy and overcast day today, and the kids were sad to learn they couldn’t head to the playground, especially since it is only newly reopened in our state. Thinking quickly, I devised this gross motor game for them inside: walking on couch pillows!

We stripped the couch of every single pillow, from the big seat cushions to the little side pillows, and arranged them all in a big line. This alone was a thrill – pillows all over the floor!

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“Walk?” I asked Veronika, who loves to test her balance. She immediately took my hand and walked the pillow course from start to finish.

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Of course then she wanted to do it “all by self”. She was wobbly on the smaller pillows, but so proud.

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On the times she wobbled to her knees, she simply turned it into a crawling course instead, which was equally great for gross motor skills.

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Big brother Travis could even do it backwards.

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She kept trotting over to walk the line over and over again, a sure sign that we had a hit.

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And then of course the couch pillows were perfect for a rest after. “Cozy lie down,” she told me.

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A quick rest, and then she was up to do it again!

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Aside from being great fun, this activity was excellent for building balance. So we had the perfect playground for our rainy day.

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3 Baby Obstacle Courses

August 29, 2019August 29, 2019Leave a comment

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Veronika can’t wait to break free from “pillowville” (the name I have for the way I currently block her in the playroom with pillows; it’s time to buy baby gates!), and she’s trying to scale the pillows constantly. Today I set up a few obstacle courses to develop her gross motor skills, and boy did she have a blast.

First, I placed a very low obstacle in the center of the playroom with a few toys on top.

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This is lower than couch cushions, so it was great practice for getting her knees up and onto the top, the last piece of the puzzle for her to work out.

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She was so proud when she reached the toys!

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You can make a similar “obstacle course” for any early crawler with low pillows or bean bags to crawl across. Toys at the end as incentive always help!

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Next up was more of a cerebral obstacle course. I had her practice zigging and zagging across the room by placing a series of enticing toys.

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First she crawled to bean bags hidden under cups.

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Then she had to zig to a tower of blocks.

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A current favorite music box toy was up next. She made a beeline for it.

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She probably would happily have stopped there…

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…so I moved it to the final point of her “maze” too. As she moved towards each group of objects, we also worked on language development. “Come get the blue bean bag!” “Can you get the square block?” The activity also builds math skills, believe it or not (the geometry of zigging and zagging) and fine motor skills as baby plays with each toy along the way.

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Finally, it was time for the big girl obstacle course! For this one, I set up the couch cushions so they formed “steps” and “ramps.” I did all of this over a soft floor mat, and added blankets along the sides as added protection against any rolls.

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She needed no encouragement at all; she wanted up! She headed for the toys at the top of the first ramp, still needing a bit of a boost on her bottom.

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