Baby Ball Drop

A simple DIY activity for baby to play.

Creating activities for a 12 month old isn’t the easiest task. Of course sensory activities are always a win, but beyond that – this age group of Tabies (part toddler, part baby) is a tricky one to plan for. That’s why I was jumping for joy when I made this easy baby ball drop for my sweet one year old.

This baby activity was so simple to set up and yet, it held her attention for 14 minutes. That may not sound like a world record amount of time, but when you’re talking about a 12 month old… 14 minutes may as well be forever. I did a Mom-happy dance and unloaded the dishwasher in peace. It was amazing.

How to make a Baby Ball Drop (3 easy steps).

Materials:
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• Empty wipes container
• Balls

First step is to thoroughly rinse out your wipes container. I went into an “overkill” level in cleaning this out.  It has to be void of all chemicals. Run it through the dishwasher even. Just get it sparkling clean.

Next, I cut out the smallest inset pieces of the container – the part that cuts off the wipes (and always cuts my hand when I reach in!). It wasn’t too tough to cut off but it did take an ounce of effort and maneuvering.

Last, hand that sucker over to baby with a bunch of balls. Stand back and watch the magic.

This activity held my daughter’s attention for way longer than I ever expected. It was amazing to watch her skill level rapidly increase the longer she played it. Once she’d get all the balls into the container, I’d pop the top off and dump them for her – they just wouldn’t fit back through the hole no matter how hard her little baby arms shook it!

What I saw when her playing this, I was amazed at the hand-eye coordination it took to do it. She was transferring from hand to hand, too – practicing so many important skills in this one little game.

Such a simple activity to build but my goodness does it ever grasp and hold a baby’s attention. This set up as been promoted to the toy basket at our house – the highest honor for a toy at our house.

Baby Ball Drop for the win.