Homemade Toys for Toddlers - Cheap and SimpleCardboard Boxes Some fantastic homemade toys can be created from large cardboard boxes, as big as you can find. - cut windows in one and turn it into a house Keys Older babies and children love bunches of keys. Take 7 or 8 large old keys and boil them for 15 minutes to sterilize them. Then put them on a safe key ring – one that is solidly made and doesn’t have any small parts that might come off. Your baby will love playing shaking it about and banging it. Your toddler will find all kinds of interesting games to play with it. Old Handbag Find an old handbag, fabric or leather, and fill it with a collection of interesting bits and pieces. For a baby or young toddler you could put in things that are interesting shapes, have different textures or make a noise such as a ball, a collection of lids from jars, a squeaky toy, some shiny paper, a small cardboard box with some rice or peas sealed inside it, a piece of fur fabric. For an older toddler you could put in the sort of things you have in your handbag. A bunch of keys, a notepad and pencil, an old purse with some old coins and play banknotes, a hairbrush or comb, a book they have not seen before. Squirty Bottles On a hot day there is nothing like playing about with water. Old, well cleaned, washing up liquid bottles or spray cleaner bottles are perfect for creating homemade toys. Fill them with water and let your toddler have fun. She can squirt and spray himself, and you if you’ll let her. You can also create targets for her to hit with the stream of water. Kitchen Utensils Have toddler level cupboard in your kitchen which is full safe, fun kitchen utensils. You can include plastic cups and boxes, pots and pans, wooden and metal spoons, old yoghurt pots, margarine tubs, plastic bottles, etc. This will keep a baby or toddler quiet for quite a long time and let you get on with the washing up in peace. Household chores Children love to be included in what you are doing. Whenever you can, let your toddler join in with you when you are doing your housework. You can give him a cloth and let him wipe whatever he can reach in the bathroom. He will love to stand on a stool next to you at the sink and play with the bubbles while you are doing the washing up. He can help you put the washing in and take it out of the washing machine. You can even show him the right buttons to push to turn it on! These are just a few ideas for homemade toys. Look around at what you have in your house. Watch what your toddler likes to do. Put the two together and you are sure to come up with many more cheap, easy and stressfree ways to keep your child busy and happy.
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