{"id":3105,"date":"2012-08-16T06:00:15","date_gmt":"2012-08-16T11:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.crumbbums.com\/?p=3105"},"modified":"2016-09-27T12:32:42","modified_gmt":"2016-09-27T17:32:42","slug":"diy-fun-mystery-box","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crumbbums.com\/?p=3105","title":{"rendered":"DIY Fun: Mystery Box"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm9.static.flickr.com\/8288\/7785059334_e3960d9f9e_b.jpg\" alt=\"DSC_0026\" \/><\/p>\n<p>We still have a\u00a0<em>month\u00a0<\/em>of &#8220;summer&#8221; left before the big boys start preschool. Seriously. I mean, it&#8217;s been fun and all, but let&#8217;s get into a better routine because I am running out of ideas! But not completely. Today&#8217;s DIY Fun involves sensory learning and imagination.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Materials Needed:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Large shoebox<\/li>\n<li>Random items from around the house that will fit through a small opening<\/li>\n<li>Scissors<\/li>\n<li>Duct tape<\/li>\n<li>A pen or marker<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7134\/7785057974_74c3c8c2c9_b.jpg\" alt=\"DSC_0016\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The instructions are easy. Cut a small hole in the top of the shoebox lid (small enough so that it is difficult to peek inside, but large enough for a small child&#8217;s hand to fit inside and pull an item out). Do you see where I&#8217;m going with this?<\/p>\n<p>Next, draw (or for older kids, simply write out) the items you plan to include in your mystery box on a piece of paper with the word next to it (this can help with word recognition if your child has started the process of learning to read).<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm9.static.flickr.com\/8291\/7785058488_9010bde98a_b.jpg\" alt=\"DSC_0018\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Place the items into the box. Tape the lid on (if you don&#8217;t, they will pull it off every time they try to pull an item out). And begin!<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm9.static.flickr.com\/8440\/7785059598_d9cf5969d8_b.jpg\" alt=\"DSC_0030\" \/><\/p>\n<p>You can make up your own rules, but we played by having each child point to an item they wanted to retrieve from the mystery box. Then they had to feel around for it and pull it out. If they pulled the wrong item out, they had to place it back in the box and it was the next child&#8217;s turn.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7106\/7785059882_2afc148ec2_b.jpg\" alt=\"DSC_0034\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm9.static.flickr.com\/8295\/7785060200_0afb06321f_b.jpg\" alt=\"DSC_0038\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Think the big kid will win every time? Not the case with us! Milo guessed wrong a couple of times, leaving Oliver with the larger pile of items at the end of the game.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm9.static.flickr.com\/8442\/7785060640_016a48c74d_b.jpg\" alt=\"DSC_0042\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm9.static.flickr.com\/8429\/7785061048_2455398acd_b.jpg\" alt=\"DSC_0049\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Your child can play this game by him or herself, of course. A fun way to challenge him would be timing your child while he collects all items and encouraging him to to try to beat his best time.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm9.static.flickr.com\/8443\/7785061550_babb004c1f_b.jpg\" alt=\"DSC_0051\" \/><\/p>\n<p>So, don&#8217;t throw away that old shoebox! Turn it into a mystery box!<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm9.static.flickr.com\/8444\/7785061992_947c04c4b2_b.jpg\" alt=\"DSC_0056\" \/><\/p>\n<p><em>Happy hunting!<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We still have a\u00a0month\u00a0of &#8220;summer&#8221; left before the big boys start preschool. Seriously. I mean, it&#8217;s been fun and all, but let&#8217;s get into a better routine because I am running out of ideas! But not completely. Today&#8217;s DIY Fun involves sensory learning and imagination. Materials Needed: Large shoebox Random items from around the house &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.crumbbums.com\/?p=3105\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;DIY Fun: Mystery Box&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12432,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[121,187],"tags":[119],"class_list":["post-3105","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-diy-fun","category-motherhood","tag-diy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crumbbums.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3105","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crumbbums.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crumbbums.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crumbbums.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crumbbums.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3105"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.crumbbums.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3105\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12433,"href":"https:\/\/www.crumbbums.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3105\/revisions\/12433"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crumbbums.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12432"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crumbbums.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crumbbums.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crumbbums.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}