My mom (and probably a million other people) made these with juice can lids to drop into the container. Justin loved that when he was younger. I decided that TB might as well. We don't have juice can lids, but I have a can opener that opens the lids with a smooth edge so I am slowly saving up lids. In the meantime, I am having him drop in clothespins. He loves it. We also have some used gift cards and similar credit card sized cards that I have him drop in as well. I have a lid designed for clothespins, one for cards/can lids, and another that has a slot for clothespins AND a slot for cards/can lids. Pretty exciting stuff. Makelearningfun.com has what they call clink cans or clank cans (I forgot which). You choose a story and they have clip art to go along with the story that you tape or glue on the can lid so the child can drop the lid in as you read the story. I think that at least for now Ryan would rather just drop things in, get them out, and start over again.I love the clothespins that I found here in Namibia. They don't pinch very hard. I don't know how functional they are for things other than kids playing. You can pinch your fingers with them and it doesn't hurt. Of course leave it to Ryan to put it in his mouth backwards, get his tongue between the parts you pinch, and bite down on it. I was impressed that he could manage to hurt himself. Leave it to him. Now to find more things that he can drop into the can. At some point I plan on covering the outside with a piece of scrapbook paper so it looks a bit nicer. I might make Justin one too and use plain card stock so he can decorate it however he wants.
