"Thingy Box"

 Every home should have one of these, no matter the age of the kiddos!  My kids start with a "thingy basket" as soon as they can sit up.  Filled with items to hold, touch, gum, explore and drop, initially.  Items change with development and by two years Little Man has a box filled with a variety of random objects.  I have also included a couple magnets.  He can use them to figure out which items are attracted to them.  However, most often he just looks through the stuff and plays with the different items.  There are jar lids, tiny buckets, paperclips, coins, keys, a wrench, rocks, poker chips, a caribiner, a twist-up mechanical pencil, a scoop, an old dog tag, a rubberband, a padlock/key, a pencil, a washer, a marble, a couple keychains, a fake spider, a plastic toy cat.....etc, etc.  He can sit with his box for a good while, just exploring what is inside.  I change them out occasionally to keep his interest. 

For me the two best places to find items for the box are the kitchen junk drawer and the drawer of junk in Daddy's dresser.  Also the garage usually yields something fun and interesting.

Do you have thingy baskets/boxes for your kiddos?  You should try it!  Fun and educational.  And so very simple.