Supplies:
- Shoe box or any type of box.
- Scissors.
- Rope.
- Tape or stickers.
Directions:
- Cut or remove the lid from the shoe box. If you have a regular box, cut the folds off.
- Poke a hole through one end of the box with scissors and guide the string through the hole. Tie a knot on each end of the string.
- Decorate the wagon by helping your child color, paint, or add stickers to the box.
Ways to expand it:
- Babies can begin to work on pulling a wagon at 6-7 months to work on raking with their fingers. They can pull the wagon around while crawling.
- When babies begin to pull themselves up and start cruising around, they will develop skills to be able to bend down to the ground and pick up a toy (like the string to the wagon). This is a developmental milestone. Babies can pull the wagon while cruising. Next thing you know, your baby is walking and pulling the wagon everywhere!
- Take it a step further and have your toddler pull the wagon while walking backwards.
How do kids benefit?
- Babies can benefit by utilizing this toy to work on pulling and grasping with their fingers while crawling, cruising or walking.
- Babies can have fun putting items in and out of the wagon, making it harder to pull, which can be a fun game! This game is beneficial for children from 6 months to toddler age.
- Vocabulary
- Grasping - A baby's hand development begins from the pinky finger, which is the strongest at birth, to the thumb and pointer fingers, which are the strongest within the first year of a baby's life. Babies begin holding items on the pinky side of the hand, and hand coordination picks up around 3 months. At 6 months a baby will “rake” items with their whole hand. At 9 months to 1 year, babies will use their “pincer” grasp, using their thumb and pointer finger to pick up small objects.