Playing = Brain Building for your toddler!  

Here are some easy, inexpensive games to try at home.

- Paint without brushes.  Let your child be creative with art by using unusual objects to paint with. Try painting with sponges, the wheels of a toy car, dipping a plastic basket in paint, or using a paint-covered leaf.

- Transform a box.  Ask your local appliance store if you can have one of their large boxes.  Take it home and cut a door and a few windows out.  You can decorate the box in different ways to transform it into:  a castle, a house, a barn, a doghouse, a hospital, a lemonade stand.  The possibilities are endless.

- Make some mystery boxes.  Cut a hand-sized hole in the top of 5-7 shoe boxes.  Inside each box put a common household object that your child is familiar with:  a mitten, some dry pasta, a crayon, a spoon, etc.  Let your child put his hand in each box (without looking) and guess what is inside.  Ask him:  "What does it feel like?  Is it soft or hard?  Do you feel round edges or square edges?"  Then let him lift the top to see if he is right!