24 “Other” things to do with a ShamWOW cloth

We know by now you have all seen the Shamwow infomercials and more than likely you have bought your very own pack of shamwows or if you are a little thrifty – some generic imported brand from a discount store. We all know Shamwow’s can soak up a glass of red wine, a bowl of Coca Cola and even soak up dog urine in one quick press, press, press. But have you ever thought about what else your Shamwow is good for? We have found a bunch of projects that upcycle this very absorbent German technology designed cloth and turned it into fun craft projects.

1. Reusable Sanitary Pad (*Tutorial here)

2. Breast Nursing Pads (*Free Tutorial Here)

3. Diaper Inserts for cloth Nappies

4. Shoe insert for sweaty bettys

5. Coaster

6. Fashionable Sweat band (Free tutorial here)

7. Lining for water bottle bag to absorb condensation.

8. Pet towel mitt. (Free Tutorial Here)

9. Kids bath toy soap mitt (Turtle Pattern Here)

11. Cleaning mitt for dusting or Car Washing. (Tutorial Here)

12. Sew a beach bag you can dry yourself with (Suitable Tutorial Here)

13. Wrist band made from scraps. ( Free Tutorial here)

14. Absorbent Place mat (Elephant Pattern Here)

15. Kid’s mop up Sponge. (Lizard Pattern Here)

16. Bath mat, braid into a mat (Rag rugs here)

17. Inner hat band for summer hat.

18. Fridge mop up place a piece on the bottom shelf and in the door shelves.

19. Baby mattress protector

20.Chair arm protector

21. Inside a pillow case to absorb sleepers drool.

22. Make reusable Baby wipes (Recipe Here)

23. Make a Baby bib

24. Make an Absorbent Apron (*Free Pattern Here)

*Note some tutorials require you to substitute the material for the shamwow we have provided them as basic patterns for you to use as a guide.

Learning numbers actually involves a few different skills, from recognizing the shape of the number and knowing the word that goes with it to understanding one to one correspondence for counting and what order the numbers go in.

A lot of this is learned best through play and activities that get kids counting and tracing and otherwise interacting with numbers. These activities can help.

I specifically mentioned tracing above because of these number formation rhymes cards from Teaching Mama, which can be used in lots of ways to practice making the shapes of the numbers, including tracing, lining up items on the number shapes (and counting them!), using playdough to shape the numbers and so on. Each number has a little rhyme to help you remember how to make it, which is cute.

And speaking of playdough, you can find lots of playdough number mats with different themes for kids to use as they learn about numbers. Preschool Play and Learn, for example, has these cute apple themed ones that also teach one to one correspondence as you learn the numbers and count to 10.

Or use these tree-themed ones from Live Over Cs to form the numbers, count out items on a ten frame and place the correct number of items in the tree to match the number (do this with playdough, little buttons or whatever manipulatives you have on hand). Your little builders will also love these Duplo number mats from Life Over Cs, which allow you to shape the number out of blocks and count out the number of blocks that corresponds to each number.

I also love these mats from The Savvy Sparrow that include the number and the word you can trace with playdough or marker, showing how to count the number on your fingers, a tens frame and a number line.

Finger plays and counting songs are lots of fun for little ones, too, and Childhood 101 has a great collection of songs and rhymes having to do with numbers (as well as printable song cards you can use with them.

This cardboard roll number chain form Hands On As We Grow would be a fun addition to singing number songs or to use in other play and counting games. And we all love something easy to make with stuff we already have.

Older kids who already know the order of numbers can also use these connect the dot number printables from Fun Learning for Kids. Or use the shapes for playdough mats or to practice tracing even for kids who don’t know all the numbers in order yet.

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