Play based learning doesn’t have to be expensive or complicated. And much of the packaging for the food we buy can be repurposed for creating some simple learning materials. Yogurt cups are a perfect example of this.
I began saving these when Graham was about six months old. I’d throw a stack of them into our diaper bag and we’d have some lightweight building blocks to stack whenever we needed them. (Well, at that point I would stack them and Graham would knock them down. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.)
I’ve become a bit of a Chobani purist simply because I’m so grateful for the thought behind their packaging. This post might even read as a sort of “Ode to Chobani”. But they are easily my favorite brand of yogurt cups to utilize for reuse and recycled play for a few reasons:
- First and most important, the label is perforated. It peels right off the cup and gives you a completely blank slate with minimal effort. No painting. No sticky goop left behind. Just simple white cups.
- They stack into one another, so they don’t take up a lot of space.
- They come in a variety of shapes and sizes.
After becoming hooked on their yogurt, we discovered the Chobani probiotic drinks and loved them. So we started saving those bottles too. They don’t have the nice stackability feature, but they do add a neat architectural element when added to the others and used as building blocks.
There are endless possibilities for how to use these in play based learning, but some of our favorites so far have been:
- Building Blocks
- Counting Cups—We made some super simple counting cups that I love. It was a matter of putting the number stickers in the bottom of the cup. So you can make a set in about a minute! We use them to count out Cheerios or other small snacks, pom poms, cars, rocks, animal figurines, acorns, etc. .
- Bowling Pins—We made some mini bowling pins out of a few of the yogurt drink bottles. They could be decorated with all sorts of stickers and washi tape. We just did some simple numbers so that we could also use them for counting as well.
- Color Sorting—I originally made some color sorting jars from old Oui yogurt jars with balloons stretched over the bottoms, which I loved. The problem we had with them was—they’re glass. I’m not opposed to using glass with children in certain instances and I was hopeful Graham could handle it safely, but it just became something I had to keep saying, “No.” “Be gentle.” “These are fragile.” and when we’re in spaces I can control, I try to create spaces where the answer is more often, “Yes”. All that to say, I tried the same balloon approach, but they wouldn’t stay on the plastic cups. I attempted to paint them, but had trouble with the paint scratching off. So I cut out a circle from a paint sample and glued it to the inside of the bottom of the yogurt cup and that’s been working well for us. We’ve used them to do color sorting with painted pasta or poms poms or any sort of colorful loose parts we’ve had laying around.
- Bath Toys/Water and Sensory Play—We’ve kept a few of these in the bathtub for quite awhile as well. They make sweet little boats. They’re perfect for practicing scooping and pouring. We haven’t yet gotten around to it, but I have intentions of hammering a few holes in some to use in water and sensory play.
- Miscellany—These cups are such a perfect size. We keep a stash with our arts and craft supplies and use them for paint cups. We used them to hold sprinkles for cookie decorating at Christmas time. We use them for snack cups and drawer organization. They’re handy little things.
Eventually, we had as many yogurt cups as we needed, so we started buying the larger containers and scooping out our portions into reusable containers. And the large containers are wonderful as well! We use them to group together some of the like materials—for example with color sorting, they hold the painted pasta and the cups for sorting.
I’m always looking for new ways to use these, so I would love to hear from you if you have any other creative reuse ideas for yogurt containers. And I hope you’ve found some helpful suggestions here for play based learning with your toddler!
