# Putting things in heat vents!!!!



## abc123xyz (Aug 28, 2007)

My 13 month old son has discovered the intriguing art of taking snack and dropping them down the heat vents. How do I stop this??? I can't shut off the vents...it's freezing outside! I looked down the one in my kitchen and it is covered in banana chips!!! I couldn't be mad at him because it is so funny honestly....what child thinks to do that? And why was I so busy making cut out cookies for my mother in law's church event tonight that I neglected to notice he was doing this?? it's my fault really for not keeping more attention focused on him but still...What can I do about it???!!! Just scold him each time? I need to go dig them out or my house is going to start smelling like bananas!!! HA HA!!! Okay, well any ideas would be great!


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## MamieCole (Jun 1, 2007)

My DS went through a phase of doing the same thing...except instead of food he put puzzle pieces and magnetic letters from the fridge into the vents. Not sure what kind of vents you have, but if they are metal, chances are they are removeable. If so, you can take some thin batting, (the flat kind used for making little quilts) cut it the size of the rectangle on the underneath side of your vent, then just put it in place. This allows for the air to get through but prevents your LO from dropping things in. It works like a charm for us. If you'd like me to take a pic for you just lemme know.


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## Mom2Brody (Dec 20, 2007)

Another thought...if the cover is removable, and you don't have any batting handy, you could cut a piece of window screen that you could probably get at any hardware store and put that under the cover. It would catch pretty much everything but sand....


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## riaketty (Jul 26, 2007)

DD did the same thing. Our covers are removable and we just put a small basket wedged a foot or so down and then let her do it. Once she realized the toys wern't going to magically come back up and that mom and dad wern't going to get them for her, she stopped. Then we just lifted up the basket.


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## Drummer's Wife (Jun 5, 2005)

my toddler tries to do this too but luckily the only vents he can get to are upstairs since the rest are in the ceiling. I just try to keep him downstairs unless i am right there.

He does, however, also try to stick whatever he can in the central vac holes which are in every room along the walls. frustrating, but it's a toddler thing. They love seeing what fits into what. Can you redirect to a shape sorter, containers with lids to drop balls into, etc...


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## kirstenb (Oct 4, 2007)

The vent in our upstairs hall is filled with Q-Tips. Sometimes I see him trying to get some pennies in there. That's the only vent in his reach and he seems to gravitate towards it. We don't turn the heat on ever so I don't worry about it too much... but I'll have to check to see if I can remove the cover. Glad DS isn't the only one who finds this fun!


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## abc123xyz (Aug 28, 2007)

GREAT IDEAS!!! Thanks so much! I am going to get the stuff to do that tomorrow. Like I said, it's my fault really for not paying much attention to the situation today and I kinda think it's funny and smart too!!! BUt I need to stop it somehow and those ideas are great! I probably can't do batting as we don't have any craft stores are a Walmart that sells it here but I can get screen from Lowes tomorrow!!! Thanks so much again!!!


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## knowerofnada (Dec 4, 2006)

Ha....sorry no advice, but it reminded me of when my dd's small toys started slowly dsiappearing, the one day I caught her dropping them in one of the surround sound stereo speakers, which has a small hole in the center. I picked it up and sure nough, there was all kinds of rattling & rolling going on inside. I took me about an hour to get out a dozen small balls and whatnots....it was like an awful manipulative puzzle, to get them dead centered where the hole was so they would drop out....fun times.


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## Drummer's Wife (Jun 5, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *knowerofnada* 
Ha....sorry no advice, but it reminded me of when my dd's small toys started slowly dsiappearing, the one day I caught her dropping them in one of the surround sound stereo speakers, which has a small hole in the center. I picked it up and sure nough, there was all kinds of rattling & rolling going on inside. I took me about an hour to get out a dozen small balls and whatnots....it was like an awful manipulative puzzle, to get them dead centered where the hole was so they would drop out....fun times.


yup, same exact thing here. small balls and cars, whatever he could fit in the speaker... also, he loves to put stuff into the hole cut out of DH's bass drum. At least that is much easier to get the toys out of. If there's an opening, I think toddlers figure it's gotta be to fit _something_ in it!


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