Eggboxes

1. Sorting

There a million things you can sort in an egg box with those perfectly divided sections but here’s three of my favourite ideas. Colour: dot stickers on corks and in the box itself for a match up game. Letters: same idea but I wrote letters on the corks and in the box. You could use magnetic letters, alphabet tiles or pebbles too. Blocks: I just pulled out our duplo bricks and coloured the bottom of the egg box sections so they could be matched. You could use beads, wooden blocks or any other toy you’d think would fit.

2. Fastening

I’ve tried three ways to teach fastenings in an egg box. The first is the simplest. Sew or tie buttons to the base and use felt squares with slits cut in the middle to practice buttoning coats! Secondly I used elastic hair ties to create a looped fastening over buttons again. Thirdly, for the more advanced learner you can use the box to practice shoe tying.

3. Ice cream cones

I had to include a craft as there are just so many possibilities with eggboxes. Our favourite is to cut out the triangular pieces to play alongside playdoh. The ice cream can be decorated with any loose parts you have around like straws, beads or Pom Poms. Setting up a playdoh ice cream parlour is one of our favourite games and these ‘cones’ are the perfect addition.

4. Posting

This activity is perfect for teaching little ones the fine motor requirements of the correct pencil hold, and will build confidence with handwriting. The small pieces of straw ensure the pincer grip is used and posting them into the slots gives those muscles a work out.

5. Stacking

Again there are many things you could use for his activity but fundamentally it’s an egg box and some straws. Pierce the straws through the box to create a number of ‘poles’ that can be used to stack up paper clips, hair ties, elastic bands, beads or tube pasta.