DIY Stroller Toy Bar

Henry recently graduated from his bucket car seat to the kind that stays in the car, meaning that it was time to pull out the "Big Boy Stroller Seat". We have the Uppa Baby Stroller system and have absolutely loved it. It has travelled with us everywhere and been extremely versatile. However, I had forgotten about Andrew's obsession with chewing on the bar that crosses over the seat, that is until Henry started doing the same thing! The bar was looking completely gross, and after digging a bunch of little black pieces of foam from is mouth and I knew I needed a solution!

I decided to sew a cover for the bar that would work for attaching a few toys. I started by measuring two pieces of fabric that were long enough to cover the bar and wide enough to wrap around, adding an inch to the width for a seam allowance. I placed the two pieces right side together and sewed around the perimeter, leaving a small opening to turn it right side out. To close the opening, I tucked the raw edge in and added a finishing stitch to the end. I did this on the other end as well, just for the sake of symmetry.

Then, I folded the cover in half and pinned the edges together. To add the ribbon loops for attaching toys, I cut three pieces of ribbon, folded them in half and tucked the looped end inside of the folded cover. I pinned these in place and sewed along the length of the cover, making one long tube. 

I then turned the whole cover right side out and was done! This tube fit snugly over the stroller seat bar and completely covered the mess from Andrew's teeth!

They toys attached easily and now he won't be able to toss them from the stroller! I think this idea would work for quite a few strollers. It took about twenty minutes to sew and was made from scraps material... gotta love a free project!

Rotating toys...

I was recently reading an article about how to select toys for your children to maximize creativity and minimize spending. The overall message was to select simple toys with fewer buttons, noises and automated parts. Ones that the child has to manipulate rather than push a button and sit by to passively watch the magic happen. Additionally, it was recommended to reduce the number of options your child has at any time, so that they will play with the toys for longer periods and in different ways, rather than getting distracted by something new every few minutes. This made a lot of sense to me, as I see that Andrew rarely plays for any length of time with one toy. I also find that he overlooks toys that are in his play area because they are buried too deep. I decided to try out a toy rotation system like the article described.


We have a fairly small living area on our main floor, and we attempt to contain his toys to this shelf. As you can see it is stuffed to it's limit!

 

I started by removing all of the toys from the shelf and spreading them out on the floor... I couldn't believe how many toys were hiding in this small space! 

I selected a single toy or small group of toys for each cubby/basket on the shelf and organized the remaining toys into small baskets in a large storage tote. For toys with small parts I used fabric drawstring bags. I think that these baskets and bags will make the rotation of toys a much easier process when it's time for a change. 

We were left with a much more manageable number of toys in our play area. Andrew has been having fun playing with overlooked toys and I know he will be excited to see some of his favourites make another appearance in a week or two!