three ways: sticky fun with masking tape

As a working mama, I often feel guilty about the time that I am away from my babies and try my best to make the most of the moments we are able to spend together at home.

It's always extra fun when we're able to do something new together - but without having to leave home (since I'm usually rushing home from work), spend too much money, or make a huge mess that will be exhausting to clean up. 

In my experience, masking tape activities fit the bill perfectly. These activities all seem novel and exciting, since they're being created before the children's very eyes and since they always end up taking up so much space. The kids also love being able to add their own toys to the activity. 

There are lots of suggestions online for how tape can be used in teaching and playing with little ones, but here are three that we have personally tried. All three are super simple, and only require some masking tape, the toys we already have lying around, and ourselves. 

Activity 1: Hopscotch 

Perfect for ages 2-4

Making a simple hopscotch pattern on the floor was super easy and only took a few minutes. B & W were 3 and 1 at the time, and both enjoyed walking/jumping from number to number. Bobo quickly invited his bus and backhoe loader to join the fun, too.  

Hopscotch

Activity 2: Tape Roads 

Perfect for ages 1-4 

I love making tape roads for the babies because we have so many vehicles of every kind in our home! This works best when I really make the roads stretch all across the living room. It's great fun watching the kids zip and zoom with their cars of choice while learning to 'share the road' with other vehicles and pedestrians too, of course! 

Tape Road

Activity 3: Shape Match

Perfect for ages 1-2

This was something simple I did with Bobo (then 2) when he was sick with the flu and stuck at home. We had to play quietly because his baby sister was still a newborn and slept a lot! He loved his shapes and colors at the time, so I made big shapes on the floor with masking tape, and had him match the shapes on the floor with the shapes from his shapesorter. 

Shape Match

I hope our positive experiences with masking tape inspire you to have some sticky and inexpensive fun with your little ones, too! Oh, and my little ones always love to help clean up - for them, the best part may well be peeling the masking tape from the floor at the end :)