Surprise on a String

This activity sounded like it would be pretty fun, and required very little set up, so we went for it. The gist of it is that you take a few toys, tie each one to its own piece of string, attach the string to baby's highchair tray, and then they have to pull the toy up on the tray to play with it. In practice it just wasn't working out. I used tape to attach the strings to the highchair tray, but instead of pulling up the toys, Erik just pulled the tape off his tray and dropped the toy, string and all, without ever even trying to pull on it. He just wanted a snack, after all he was in his highchair! 

So, we made a few adjustments to the idea and it became a hit. As you can see in the pictures below, we tied the toys to the back of a chair and then Erik sat on the seat and pulled the toys up. It worked out pretty well. This activity is a great way to help your child develop problem solving skills, hand-eye coordination, and work on those arm muscles. 

 We did discover that the longer the string is the harder it is to get the toy up and over the back of the chair. Erik just couldn't quite figure out how to pull it hand over hand to get that toy.

 I shortened the strings and things went much better. That is until Erik noticed the empty box in the room. Don't you love how something as simple as a cardboard box can trump any cool activity you try to put together? He was never this excited about the toys on the strings.