Toddlers are curious, into everything and learning quickly. Often they become bored with their usual toys quickly and what is a cash strapped mom supposed to do? Come up with no cost activities using items you have on hand! For this activity all you need is an empty egg carton, tweezers and some cotton balls. Put the cotton balls in the lid of the egg carton and show your child how to pick them up with the tweezers and put them in the egg holders.

At around 2 and a half, my son loved this one. He was past the stage of wanting to put everything in his mouth by this point, so if your child isn’t yet you may want to wait a little longer on this activity. As a bonus it also helps your child learn the fine motor skill of squeezing with their fingers.