Leave-Behind Trick : Add An Egg-Timer

A simple trick I use to add a twist to Ladybug Girl's leave behind activities is to place an egg timer on her activity tray.

It works because the timer makes the activity into more of a game - especially when it's not an activity she likes that much.

She's not a big lover of puzzles, even easy toddler puzzles like this.  This sat on her shelf for a week.
When I added the timer and note, it got done the next day.

The trick is to first make winning achievable (for my little Dove-personality daughter at least) by matching the difficulty level to the 3-minute timer.  The puzzles above were a set, which eventually became the final challenge to do all four puzzles in 3-minutes.

Same situation with her salt-tracing tray for practicing writing.  This was ignored until I put the timer.

This was a one-minute timer for to feel the sandpaper letters with her finger, then trace them on her salt tray.

This was a salt-tray variation for her to practice her name for 5 minutes.
Her yaya says she didn't use all 5 minutes though (the idea was for her to keep 'erasing' the tray).

The timers also come in handy for a visual tool so she can grasp the concept of time.  We use the 10-minute sand timer to countdown the final moments before bathtime, bedtime and end-of-iPad-time.  Her yaya also uses them when I'm not around, so they're always out on her playroom shelf.

I have this set, but frankly it's too pricey - an egg timer from national bookstore would work fine.

Sand timer set from Hobbes and Landes, Php1,500+

Sand timers are pretty useful for leave-behind activities - I have a feeling I'm just scratching the surface at all kinds of play with them, too.

Except boiling eggs.  I always thought it took 3-minutes to boil an egg (that's why they're called egg timers I thought!).  But we literally had an Easter egg emotional breakdown that shattered that notion.

Poor little egg didn't make it to Easter!