Toddler Game: Garbage Truck Pickups!

I think that if there was a channel on tv where all you saw were garbage trucks driving around, picking up garbage, crushing garbage, and dumping garbage, many kids would absolutely love watching that all day. ( Not that I would recommend that. :)) It just seems like garbage trucks are such an attraction for little kids.

Well here’s an activity where your toddler can play a fun game of picking up garbage around the house. You’ll need a box ( I used a saltines cracker box and turned inside out), some markers, and a few plastic cups.  

Take the box and draw on it with a marker to show where you want to cut the backend so that you can put the garbage in. (The garbage is going to be in the plastic cups).

So we drew some basic lines on the side of the box. Then cut the back leaving the top intact so that you can lift up the top back corner.

We were going to use the toilet paper tubes to add some wheels, but then decided not to since we could push the box along the run without them on. Now take a few plastic cups and fill them with some scrap paper and put them in a couple different rooms in the house. Then let your toddler be the driver of the truck and push it from room to room. When he finds a room with a cup of garbage, he can lift open the back of his new garbage truck and pour the garbage in. Then put the cup back and move on to the next room! How fun!

Tips/Suggestions:

• Show your toddler how to do it first. Then let him/her do it.
• Add a little fun and see if your toddler can make the noises that a garbage truck makes!
• If you want to be creative, decorate your garbage truck with stickers, paints, or paper!

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