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Giraffes Can’t Dance DIY Light Box

November 4, 2015 by Emma Edwards 12 Comments

Adam has recently fell in love with Giraffes Can’t Dance by Giles Andreae. As soon as I introduced the book to Adam he started moving and he hasn’t stopped dancing since! So for Day 4 of our 30 Day Simple Play At Home challenge I decided to create a Giraffes Can’t Dance DIY Light Box in homage to the book.

Adventures of Adam Giraffes Can't Dance DIY Light Box(This post contains affiliate links)

As the focus of our challenge is simple play, I created two DIY light boxes within a couple of minutes. To be fair, the longest part was trying to find lids that fitted our lunchboxes. I took two plastic boxes and placed a sheet of tracing paper on the bottom of each tub. I laid battery operated fairy lights on top of the tracing paper, closed the lid and turned the box upside down. In an instant I had made two DIY light boxes.

Adventures of Adam Giraffe light play
After the success of our Light Reflections Sensory Play I decided to reuse our plastic light cubes I had purchased from B&M. These mood light cubes change colour frequently and were only £2.99 for three cubes. Amazon also sell similar cubes.

Adventures of Adam DIY light box

I had the perfect accompaniment to our light box play. As soon as I saw the Giraffe cocktail stirrers on Amazon I knew they would be perfect for a light box activity. I purchased 50 giraffes which came in four colours so you can expect several giraffe activities coming up on the blog!

Adventures of Adam Giraffes Can't Dance play activity with giraffe cocktail stirrers

Day 4 of our 30 Day Simple Play At Home challenge is focused on bedroom play. This was the first time Adam has actually played in his bedroom. Due to his sleep difficulties we have purposely made Adam’s bedroom a place where he only goes at nightime to sleep. His bedroom is minimalist with no toys inside. He does however have a sensory play room and toys in every other room. So todays activity was an unusual experience.

Adventures of Adam Easy to make light boxes

We took all of our light boxes and light cubes upstairs. As the clocks have gone back it is dark earlier now so with the curtains drawn it was pitch black in Adams bedroom. We turned on the battery operated fairy lights and the light cubes and instantly the giraffes had a stage to dance on. Next we needed music. Luckily Adam’s Personalised Music Player from I Just Love It came in very handy, especially as the rabbits ears light up too. We certainly had a disco ready for the giraffes.

Adventures of Adam Personalised music player for toddlers

Adam adored his Giraffes Can’t Dance DIY Light Box. The light boxes provided enough light to play by and illuminated the neon giraffe stirrers. The activity was great for developing Adam’s fine motor skills whilst getting the plastic giraffes to stand up. The activity also required perseverance as the giraffes didn’t always stay upright.

Adam had a wonderful time getting the giraffes to dance along to his Personalised Music Player. He loved the independence of choosing his own song.

Daddy joined in the fun and the boys made the giraffes jump from light cube to light cube whilst they danced. They tried to keep the same rhythm together in between getting the giraffes to hug.

Adventures of Adam Giraffes can't dance toddler play activity

Our Giraffes Can’t Dance DIY Light Box was a huge hit and I can see it becoming a regular activity in our house. Adam certainly demonstrated that giraffes can certainly dance!

Equipment:

* Giraffes Can’t Dance

* Plastic boxes

* Tracing paper

* Battery operated fairy lights

* Giraffe cocktail stirrers

* Plastic light cubes from B&M. Amazon also sell similar cubes.

* Personalised Music Player (optional) from I Just Love It – you can read our review here.

 

Want to know more about our 30 Day Simple Play At Home challenge? Click here to find out what room we are focusing on which day.

Adventures of Adam 30 Day Simple Play At Home Challenge

For more bedroom play ideas click here:

Bedroom play activities

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Filed Under: Independent Play Activity, Play Activities, Super Quick Play Activities Tagged With: Animal themed play, Book themed play, Cupboard Resources, DIY activities, Fine Motor Activities, Independent Play Activities, Night time activity, Non-messy activity, Sensory Play Activities, Super quick set up, Toddler play

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Meals and Makes says

    November 10, 2015 at 9:24 am

    This is such a good idea! especially for the dark autumn/ winter evenings. I always liked the idea of a light box but have not wanted to use the cash (or the space). This is a neat solution that can be easily tidied away. #toddlerapprovedtuesday

    Reply
    • Emma Edwards says

      November 10, 2015 at 11:28 am

      This is definitely a cheaper alternative to a light box!

      Reply
  2. Coombe Mill - Fiona Cambouropoulos says

    November 10, 2015 at 10:02 am

    A great idea, I love the connection with the book and the visual side to this. Well done indeed. #ToddlerApprovedTuesday

    Reply
    • Emma Edwards says

      November 10, 2015 at 1:41 pm

      We love the visual side of light play!

      Reply
  3. helen gandy says

    November 10, 2015 at 10:18 am

    This is awesome!!! I bet it looks so effective!! Great post, I love the giraffe’s. Popping over form #toddlerapprovedtuesday x

    Reply
    • Emma Edwards says

      November 10, 2015 at 11:27 am

      Thank you. It is such a great story!

      Reply
  4. leandra says

    November 10, 2015 at 1:30 pm

    This looks really good, I love light boxes they are so great for stimulating little ones. I also love the story Giraffes can’t dance.

    Thanks for linking up with #toddlerapprovedtuesday this week x

    Reply
    • Emma Edwards says

      November 10, 2015 at 1:37 pm

      Can’t wait for more light play activities – I love the winter months for that sole purpose!

      Reply
  5. Jenny Eaves says

    November 14, 2015 at 8:57 am

    I love this! Great find with giraffe cocktail stirrers, they work brilliantly with the lights, going to have a look at them as my boys loves Giraffes Can’t Dance too. Thanks for sharing! #toddlerapproved 🙂 x

    Reply
    • Emma Edwards says

      December 1, 2015 at 2:09 pm

      We shall be thinking of many more adventures for our giraffes!

      Reply
  6. Becky at PinksCharming says

    November 16, 2015 at 9:22 pm

    Ah this is such a great idea! We love this book (but my eldest Ava hates the word ‘boogie’ as it’s like ‘bogie’ so she’s gone off it a bit!) I think this activity would change her mind though. Becky x #ToddlerApprovedTuesday 

    Reply
    • Emma Edwards says

      December 1, 2015 at 2:10 pm

      Love how children can go off a book because of a word 🙂

      Reply

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Welcome!

Emma and Adam

During a difficult pregnancy suffering from Hyperemesis Gravidarum (HG) Emma vowed to make every day an adventure once she had recovered. Adventures of Adam is the outcome of completing a 100 day play challenge with Adam as part of that promise. Emma has a section dedicated to HG friendly play activities so that Mums can still be part of their children’s play whilst they are ill.

To learn more about Emma and Adam click here.


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