I don’t know if I’ve ever shared that in addition to being a professional nanny I’m also a professional church worker. I’m the Coordinator of Next Generation Ministries at my church, which is a fancy title that sounds so much cooler than it is! Basically I hang out with kids of all ages during the week. Having these two vocations means that my car and house are full of random toys and tools. Shockingly, the Venn Diagram of things children and high school students enjoy is very nearly one circle! Earlier this summer I found myself buying 100 ball pit balls for about $10. We were originally using them with a parachute playing the old fun popcorn game we all played during elementary PE.
As the months have gone on, I have found a few more ways to use these incredibly versatile tools!
During our apple theme, we used the red and green balls as a color sorting game.
This was a great gross motor active coloring sorting game! Simply place the balls in a bag or box at a starting line, have your child pick a ball and run to the matching bin. Have her practice her throwing skills. When all the balls are sorted, race your child to bring the balls back to the starting line! This could work for nearly any type of matching or sorting you want to practice.
Super simple water play never gets old! Since we used these during our apple theme, we practiced scooping, pouring and washing.
This one was the best! I simply dumped all the balls on the ground, gave the kids (18 and 20 months) two bowls, and gave zero instruction! My little buddies had the best time collecting balls. Once their bowls were full they would dump them to start over once again. You could of course make this as structured as you want. Have your child sort colors in different bowls or boxes. Set up numbered boxes and have your child place that many balls inside. Write letters or numbers on the balls, call out the letter or number you want your child to run and find. Set up teams to see how many balls they can collect in a set amount of time. Give your child a certain color to collect.
These are only a few ideas I have tried with this cheap tool. If you have more ideas, please share them with me @rachrunstx on Instagram!
The Teaching Nanny 
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