If you have been around Ben or I much since we became parents, you will know that we have tried really hard to not buy a lot of the stuff society says you must for a baby/kid. Instead we have borrowed or bought used just about everything we have used for Mikayla. Even our cloth diapers! We have also been very adamant that we did not want a lot of toys laying around the house when simple items we already have on hand do the trick just fine.
Pots and pans for example. They make a great toy and Mikayla will enjoy them for hours.
A couple of weeks ago we got a huge box in the mail filled with Styrofoam peanuts (I can’t remember what else was in the box). Mikayla had a blast playing with the peanuts. She played with them all week long until they basically deflated and had to be tossed. It was her “go to” toy of the week. My friend who is teaching me to sew brought her kids over the same week and they all three had fun playing in the peanuts. At one point I looked over and they were all in the box playing. Priceless…and free!
At the beginning of summer I made a water toy for Mikayla. I basically took a big tub, filled it with sand toys and for less than 5-10 bucks I had a water table. Do you know how much these cost in the store? Mikayla loves it and I didn’t have to spend hardly any money. I could have done it even cheaper if I had used measuring cups, basters, brushes, spoons, etc that I already had on hand.
Here recently Mikayla has really been into sticking straws through plastic lids. This is practical in only two situations. One, you have a cup with plastic lid and straw. Two, the cup is empty (it gets pretty messy otherwise). Today I got a bright idea to fashion a toy from an empty tube container (similar to what Crystal Light comes in or Pringles can) and pipe cleaners. I took a hole punch and punched several holes in the plastic lid. Then I pushed pipe cleaners through to resemble straws. Perfect…until Mikayla started playing with it. The pipe cleaners only stayed straight for a few seconds. I quickly had to rethink my plan. If only I had straws laying around the house. I decided to try out chopsticks. Voila! They fit perfectly into the holes and were sturdy. If you had straws they would work better and the toy would be more independent. As is, I made sure to keep a close eye on her so she didn’t poke something she wasn’t supposed to. She had a blast taking the chopsticks out of the hole and putting them back in. Total cost of the toy, less than $2 (chopsticks were free from previous outings at Japanese restaurants).
What other DIY toys have you crafted?
[…] water table and a fine motor toy where she stuck chopsticks in holes. You can read about them here. Then a few weeks ago I made playdough. I thought a fall sensory tub would be the next […]