Keeping A Bunny Busy; Fun With Volume

Right now I'm going through what many a Mother has probably gone through.  The feeling that we're stuck in a rut.  We've established a good routine for ourselves and I am really happy about that, but I can't help fighting back the idea that Bunny is getting bored.  We run errands once or twice a week and I promise I'm going to muster up the courage to get her to the park by ourselves, but I can't help the feeling that the day-to-day for us is a bit bland. 

So today, I hopped over to this website, www.productiveparenting.com, and decided to shake things up a bit, literally. 

First, I got three of Bunny's empty, or almost-empty, Gerber Puff canisters.  These things are great!  I'm saving a few more to make an indoor bowling set for her as well.  I also got together some clear packaging tape, scissors, a Sharpie marker, and some pasta, rice, and salt.

The assembled supplies.

Once I had everything together, I removed the labels from the canisters (the scissors were absolutely necessary here) and labeled each one with the Sharpie.  The labels were "soft", "medium", and "loud".  (MM informed me that they should have read "quiet", "normal", and "loud".  He's probably right, but I'm not going to tell him that.  Wink, wink.)  The "soft" canister was then filled with about 1/4-cup of salt.  The "normal" canister was filled with about 1/4-cup of rice.  And finally, the "loud" canister was filled with about 1-cup of dried pasta.

Labeled and filled!

Once the canisters were labeled and filled, I carefully sealed the tops on with the clear packaging tape.  A more permanent solution would be to glue the lids on, but I would like to have the option to "undo" this in the future, so I went with tape.  (Please note: do not leave your child unattended while playing with these! The contents of the canisters are a choking hazard!!)

Then, it was time for Bunny to check them out.  Her first reaction was to knock them over and roll them around.

Once I got involved, though, she responded well to the shaking.  I would grab the "soft" canister and say "soft" in a quiet voice while shaking the salt to a beat.  She would dance with me, but in very small movements as if to say, "I'm being quiet, too!"  I would repeat the action with the "medium" and "loud" canisters and her movements would get progressively bigger.  By the end, she was whispering with the "soft" canister and screaming at the top of her lungs with the "loud" one.  By Jove, I think she gets it!!

Then she decided they were better drums.

 And then she took a turn shaking.

One HAPPY Bunny!

        
But the very best part was when Mommy stacked them up for her and she got to knock them down.  She LOVED that!!  Oh well, it was educational then, too.  I counted "one", "two", "three" as I was stacking and she squealed in anticipation every time I reached "three", then she swooped in and knocked them over.  Oh what fun for Mommy and Bunny!!

I love the Productive Parenting website and all the great ideas for parents needing to keep little ones busy.  What I like even better is that the activities are categorized by general age, so I was able to go right to her age and find a fun idea to implement.  I know I won't be able to accomplish (or afford) one a day, but I am going to shoot for at least one fun, new activity a week and I will definitely repeat the good ones throughout the weeks to come as well.

All in all, it was a great activity and a fun way for Bunny to learn about audio volume!!!  Maybe someday soon I'll be able to use it to teach her "indoor" and "outdoor" voices.