Knocking Down Cup Towers {Baby Playtime}

My baby is growing up way too fast and is on the move. Lately we've been trying to find more activities that he can do with his big siblings.

Today I am sharing a simple cup tower game that my 5-year-old had fun putting together for his baby brother (who is currently 10.5 months old).

Materials we used:

plastic ball and 8-10 plastic cups

How we played:

To start off, my 5-year-old set up a bunch of plastic cup towers while my baby did a little pillow obstacle course (shared with us by Hands On: As We Grow).

My son knows his brother well, and knew that the taller the tower... the more excited his baby brother would be to knock it down. He also knows that the baby loves balls... so he snuck a ball inside one of the cups to entice him to knock it down.

Once we started playing this knock down game I had the hardest time keeping the baby away from the towers as my son would build because he thought it was SO FUN to knock them down.

It was adorable how much fun my oldest was having with the baby. They wanted to play again and again and again.

The baby also had fun bouncing the ball out of his plastic cup and just following the ball around the room.

Not only was this game a fun sibling bonding activity, it was also great for visual tracking (as the baby tried to follow the ball around), hand-eye coordination (hands coming in contact with a target), and building gross motor skills (crawling, hitting, swinging arms, throwing the ball, and banging the ball and cup together).

One of the key parts of baby playtime is following your baby's lead. My son and I just set up the cup towers as a playtime option and then we watched to see how the baby wanted to interact with the fun materials. We didn't make him play in any particular way. We just enjoyed connecting with him and talking with him about what he was doing and what was happening while we played!