Because I have yet to get those tall drawer storage bins to better organize my office(Christmas present maybe? I'm hinting away at J :}), essentially we have a lot of random craft items floating around the house. Usually they make their way outside my office by the wee ones sneaking the cool things they see and taking them into the living room, bedrooms, playroom, you name it!
The last few months, my 2 year old has been on a counting kick. Counting 1-10 all day every day. I think to myself, "this is great!" but then I think, "yeahhhh he doesn't know what the numbers look like" and anytime he does see numbers he just starts pointing to any of them and counts away.
So essentially, I thought it would be helpful for him if I could construct some small thing to help put a written number and also a value to show that it progresses as the numbers get higher to 10.
And after searching for the floating crafts, I got together some pipe cleaners, post its, and some beads! Voila!
List:
Pipe Cleaners
Post Its/Foam Stock/or just plain paper/you decide what you want :]
Beads
Tape 
I placed a bead on each pipe cleaner for the value of the number represented.
I then took my post its and folded them into a quarter and wrote my number, then taped it securely to the top of the pipe cleaner.
There does need to be a stopper or some tie off at the end to prevent your little one from pulling the beads off which could turn into a choking hazard depending on your child's age and development.
I just took the pipe cleaner in half and twisted it up from the end, it seemed to work for us.
Now, he loves playing with them! It's practically a treat for him! I never thought I'd see a 2 year old get so excited to see his number pipes! Hey, anything to keep him from wasting all of our band aids!(he's on a good one right now, loves to get into the band aids and open them all up and put them all over his body! I had to actually hide our band aids! HAHa
