Toddler Boredom Buster with Cups and Cotton Balls

Recently, we went to visit the kids’ grandparents. We all had a lot of fun, but we still ran once or twice into a situation where N got bored while we had to wait for the next activity, we didn’t have a lot of toys on hand, and getting messy wasn’t a good idea. The solution: Use minimal materials found at grandma’s house and explore them in new and different ways!

Here’s a Toddler Boredom Buster with Cups and Cotton Balls for you if you’re ever in a similar situation!

 

Quick and simple activity to keep your toddler busy with minimal supplies: Toddler Boredom Buster with Cups and Cotton Balls

(N was 1 year and 5 months old.)

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Materials for Toddler Boredom Buster with Cups and Cotton Balls

  • Plastic cups.
  • Cotton balls.
  • Spoon (optional).

I simply grabbed a few things grandma had around the house and left it up to N to explore everything at his own pace.

As usual, N was already there before I even had a chance to set down the cups properly.

 

Quick and simple activity to keep your toddler busy with minimal supplies: Toddler Boredom Buster with Cups and Cotton Balls

 

He started out exploring the cotton balls, both with his hands

 

Quick and simple activity to keep your toddler busy with minimal supplies: Toddler Boredom Buster with Cups and Cotton Balls

 

and the spoon.

 

Quick and simple activity to keep your toddler busy with minimal supplies: Toddler Boredom Buster with Cups and Cotton Balls

 

Afterward, he spent a lot of time looking at the plastic cups and figuring out how they fit together.

 

Quick and simple activity to keep your toddler busy with minimal supplies: Toddler Boredom Buster with Cups and Cotton Balls

 

In the process, N accidentally squashed one of the cups. He thought that was pretty interesting, but ended up spending more time stacking the cups.

Until he happened to squash the cup again. This time, he forced the issue, and the plastic broke.

 

Quick and simple activity to keep your toddler busy with minimal supplies: Toddler Boredom Buster with Cups and Cotton Balls

 

N noticed that he was now able to stick the broken cup into an intact cup in a whole different way. He tried to make it fit

 

Quick and simple activity to keep your toddler busy with minimal supplies: Toddler Boredom Buster with Cups and Cotton Balls

 

until the plastic cup came apart completely.

 

Quick and simple activity to keep your toddler busy with minimal supplies: Toddler Boredom Buster with Cups and Cotton Balls

The edges weren’t sharp, so I allowed him to pull the cup completely apart before he moved on to squashing and basically destroying the other cups, too 😉

When he was done after 20 minutes, it was almost time to go, so this was definitely a very successful toddler boredom buster 🙂

 

What’s your favorite toddler boredom buster? Leave a comment below!

 

Are You Looking for More Quick and Simple Activities for Toddlers?

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Sticky Sand Sensory Play

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Quick Toddler Activities That Require No Setup by Hands On: As We Grow

10 Simple 2-Minute Toddler Activities by Lemon Lime Adventures

 

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One Comment

  1. Kristina @ School Time Snippets says:

    So precious! Little ones always remind us to keep things simple : )