Egg Carton Rubber Band Stretch

Last week on the blog I mentioned we would be reusing our egg cartons from the Painted Egg Carton Bead Sorting activity. Today is the day! So get those egg cartons out and let’s get started.

I have noticed myself reaching for low mess and easy to clean activities recently as we get into the swing of the school day shuffle. This new season in our family has definitely taken some adjustment and it dawned on me why I feel like I’m spinning in circles most days. My days often include a lot of task switching between mom work, PT work, blogging and social media work, school pickup, and household manager, which doesn’t leave a lot of brain power or energy for cleaning up giant messes.

This activity can be set up in under 30 seconds and is just as quick to clean up! Perfect for busy days and doesn’t skimp on the fun factor for the kids.

Here’s what you need

• Egg carton. We saved ours from the Painted Egg Carton Bead Sorting activity. I will note that some egg cartons work better than others for this activity, so you might have to use scissors if your wells have a lot of connection on the bottom.

• Rubber bands. I liked having different sizes and strengths, so this pack is perfect.

Set up

1 minute

1. Get out an egg carton.

2. Get out some rubber bands. I put ours in a small bowl just to keep them contained, but you could put them directly on the table or floor.

Clean up

1 minute

1. Collect all of the rubber bands. We keep ours in a resealable bag so they stay contained in our drawer.

2. Keep or recycle/throw away your egg carton. We have been using ours for more bead sorting and repeating this rubber band stretch activity.

We simply stretched the rubber bands on the bottom of the egg carton. This activity is a great way to practice hand strength which is wonderful for pre-writing skills. I also love that even in the worst-case scenario of all of the rubber bands spilling on the floor, this is still super easy to clean up! Just be cautious of any little ones who still like to put everything in their mouths.

Other variations could include:

• using a marker, crayon, paint, or dot sticker to color code and have your child match the rubber bands to the color on each well

• write numbers and have them stack accordingly.

• use this for addition or subtraction

This was a new activity for Vaila, so we kept it simple and spent a few minutes working on this task together. She could put most of the bands on easily, but some were very large and we started twisting and looping them. She needed help with most of the loops, but it was awesome to see her persist, and this gave us a natural opportunity to have a conversation about asking for help. I have always struggled with asking for help, so I’m very intentional in trying to model how I can ask for help and directly teaching my children how they can ask for help.

As a bonus, this activity is so easy to reset. Simply take the rubber bands off and start over! After we spent around 10 minutes working together, Vaila was proficent enough to be successful on her own and I was able to put the dishes away and start a load of laundry.

When Brinley is home, I can sometimes step out of the room for longer periods of time and fold clothes for 5 minutes or clean the bathroom. In the last few weeks when Vaila is working on an activity by herself, she needs a little prompting to stay on track. She also really enjoys the company and having me within earshot to have our mid-day chats. It has been fun getting to see her personality shine through a little bit more when she gets my undivided attention during Ellette’s naps.

I hope you enjoyed this quick set up and no mess activity just as much as I did. And if you are in a season where you can’t or don’t want to clean up a lot of messes or set up super elaborate activities, know that I’ve been there too. Our children can find a ton of enjoyment in very simple activities, and we might even save a little of our own sanity.

Don’t forget to share this post with friend who is looking for easy activities for kids. I know we could all use a moment of calm in our busy days!

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