The rains have arrived here in Northern California, which means re-discovering old toys and finding fun things to do. I’m always looking for new ways to re-use stuff, and the corner of the room where the tots toys are looks like a big blow up of itty-bitty parts of puzzles and games (which no one is putting away).
We need some organization.
I pulled out a couple of egg cartons and knew they could be transformed into something useful and entertaining – at least for the day. With the help of some tape, tempera paint, and the creativity of the tot, we turned an egg carton into hours of color organizational excitement.
This is a perfect project for introducing color recognition to your kiddies – or for the older set, color theory. I offered some assistance helping to mix the primary colors (red, yellow, and blue) so the tot could paint green, orange, and purple cups, but older kids can be on their own to experiment and explore creating their own unique colors for painting the inside of the egg cups.
Simply cut the side off the egg carton, leaving the side with the egg cups, and use masking tape to section off the cups to encourage the kids to remember to paint each individual cup – instead of creating a big ol’ mess of color – and then let things dry.
While the paint is drying, invite your child to look through her collections of things for small items that are similar in color to the egg cups (which might also include a bit of cleaning up – yay!)
Once the paint is dry, offer your child the painted egg cups and invite her to organize her colorful items in the appropriate cups. She can see how many small toys she can fit in each cup, counting along the way, also encouraging her budding math skills.
Even if the egg carton color fun only lasts one day, it didn’t cost anything to make and was a fun and exciting way to organize (and maybe clean) your child’s toys – and encourage some color and math skills!