Home Made Toys

When it comes to home made toys, you have a lot of options. The younger they are, the easier it is to entertainment them with cheap homemade toys. Really, a toy is anything that someone can spend time playing with. Since kids have such active imaginations, you can turn something as simple as a box into a home made toy. The older they get, the more intricate the toys have to be, so if you are still trying to make toys at home to save money as your child gets older, you will have to put a little extra work into it.

Depending on the age and personality of your child, making homemade toys may not be worth your while. At some point, your child is simply not going to fancy the toys you make, and at that point you have no choice but to start buying them, if you want your children to have toys. Before that happens though, save money early buy making as many toys as you can while your kids still find them entertaining.

Home Made Toy Ideas

1. Egg cartons make for great material to cut up and glue back together in various shapes. The project itself is half of the fun. Chopping them up to make ants, caterpillars, mountains, etc are just a few examples of what you can do. Decorating them adds another project. All you need are craft supplies.
2. Beans, rice and sand can be a homemade toy all on their own. Add a few bowls of different shapes and sizes and your kids can be entertained for hours pouring them back and forth into the different containers. Could be a nasty clean up though!
3. Get a toilet paper roll or paper towel tube and decorate them with crayon, marker or paint. Sometimes you don't even have to do that! You can also fill the roll with small rocks, beans, or sand, and seal both ends. Bam! Homemade toy musical instrument.
4. Find some old but clean socks, get some crafting supplies, and make some home made toy hand puppets.
5. Wash out old food containers such as soda bottles, juice bottles, catsup, or mustard, or any other plastic bottles. Make sure they are very clean, and you can pretend to play house or grocery store. You can use plastic tupperware for this too.
6. You can make books by drawing on blank paper, then punching holes in the sides of it then getting yarn, string, or ribbon to tie it together. Then you can use your imaginations and make so many different stories up out of 1 book you have made.
7. If you have card board boxes and craft supplies you can do so many different things with that too. You can make a fort, space ship, car, boat or anything else you think of. You may not even need the craft supplies. Children love boxes.
8. Gather up blankets, pillows, chairs, and tables. Hang blankets over chairs and tables. Put pillows inside. Homemade toy fort anyone?
9. Regular pots and pans, any kind of wooden spoon, plastic utensils or if you are supervising you can give them metal utensils and now you have your very own home made toy rock band. Let them bang the pots and pans with the utensils or their hands if they want to make a tambourine.

Tips on Making Homemade Toys

When you make homemade toys, get your children involved in the project whenever possible. This presents additional quality time with you and your child, gives them more ownership of the home made toy, and makes them enjoy it more. It also teaches work ethic and builds your relationship, which teaches discipline. Store bought toys are great, but while the child can still be entertained by home made toys, getting them involved in making the toys and playing with them saves money, teaches them valuable lessons, and makes your job as a parent easier!