Blogger / 11 November, 2024 / Nanny Anita

Ring Pull Activity For Babies

Finding things to do with babies can be tricky.  Let’s face it, they don’t do much, and most of what they do do involves the mouth.  From about 6 months old they do start to explore more as they become mobile.  This ring pull is a good one to do with babies once they are able to sit unaided or with a little bit of help.

Make sure you follow my activities for babies board on Pinterest for more ideas.  Don’t forget to save the pin for later.

To make your own ring pull for babies you will need:

• Wooden rings*
• Ribbon
• Cardboard
• Paint (optional)

*Like the ones you get on curtain rails.  Amazon sell them without any metal parts that you would need to attach the curtain to it.

Make 2 lines of holes in your cardboard for the ribbon to go through.  Each hole should be a pair.

This step is completely optional, but as I am that little bit extra and like things to be “show ready,” you can blame that on my Norland training and working for Disney, I painted all my rings and the cardboard.  I very much doubt the paint that I am using is actually taste safe, but for this activity I am making sure that she doesn’t put any of the rings in her mouth.

Attach one end of the ribbon to one of the rings and thread it through the pair of holes.  Then tie it to the other ring.  You may need to play around with the length of ribbon to get it the perfect length.  You don’t want it to be too long, or they baby wont really see the effect of pulling on one of the rings.  To attach the ribbon to the rings I used the constrictor knot, which is extremely hard to undo.  However, please make sure that you are always checking that your ribbons and rings are secure before you let your little one play with it.

Once done fix your pull ring board to something.  I tied mine to NB’s (this is my new baba I look after) cot.

The point of this activity is for your little one to pull on one of the rings, this makes the corresponding ring move up.  It is a terrific way to help start developing those muscles needed for sitting and the fine motor skills needed for grasping.  It also helps develop the idea of cause and effect.  This activity kept NB engaged for a while and it was one that she did come back to later.

As I mentioned earlier, I stopped her from putting the rings into her mouth every time she tried.  This was for a couple of reasons 1 – the paint is not taste safe.  2 – NB started to actively try to pull them when she realised, she wasn’t allowed to eat them.  3 – you may have noticed that two of them are not rings on mine, they are balls.  I ran out of rings, so these could become a chocking hazard.  When I get more rings, I will switch them out.

If you enjoyed this ring pull for babies, be sure to check out my sensory board and DIY musical instruments.

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