Great Homemade Toys

My kids and I were at a friend's place for the weekend and I totally forgot to bring along their toys. For a moment I panicked - how in the world was I supposed to keep them busy? My friend did not have any toys lying around as she had yet to start a family. Then, a bright idea struck us. We could use stuff lying around the house and turn them into imaginative playthings for the kids. That would be an easy and inexpensive way to keep them entertained. This is what we came up with:

Paper:
Paper is a fantastic invention! Kids and paper go really well together. Most kids I know love coloring, painting and drawing away. Just give your young ones a bunch of markers, color pencils, crayons and paints, and watch them create their own little masterpieces.

Paper Toys:
You can also fold paper in various ways to create simple or complex models. There’s a great resource on the internet called The Toy Maker at http://www.thetoymaker.com which gives you ideas and premade paper craft ideas which you can print out.

Home Made Playdough:
Playdough is great fun, especially if you’re a little kid. Even though I’m not a kid, I still love the feel of this stuff! Your kids can be kept busy with playdough which is easy and safe to make at home. Here’s a simple recipe.

Plastic containers:
Clean plastic containers make great toys. Babies and toddlers love nesting containers, placing things inside, and throwing them around. Just make sure that the containers are the appropriate size and weight, are not too small and don’t have sharp edges.

Clothes and accessories you don’t need:
Little girls enjoy role playing, and they just love carrying momma’s purse and wearing her shoes! You can fill up a small laundry hamper with your older scarfs, purses, necklaces etc and make this a mini role playing station for your little ones.

Cooking toys:
My little daughter loves helping out whenever I make pies and pastries. A little rolling pin is perfect for your little chef to practice her pastry rolling skills! Now, she loves imitating me as I conjure up all those delicacies.