I have read in several books as well as here about various items around the house that can be used or recycled as toys for @ 16 month year old toddlers. Based on these recommendations, we have used shaving cream tops, milk cartons, tupperware, measuring spoons, paper towel holders, cereal boxes etc. as toys...
I would be interested in helping to derive a list of other simple household items that can safely be used as toys for young toddlers.
A. Thanks to all for your great ideas. Your ideas have spawned more creativity in our household.
B. My LO loves his "real toys" -- boxes, plastic containers etc. from real life items. He enjoys pretending and playing.
Try cleaning out small juice or soda bottles and place rice in them for homemade rattles/morracas. Or even old bread crumb cans can be clean and the lid have holes or different shapes cut out of the lid and the child can use that for different activities.
Good luck.
S.
Funnels - especially in the bath
my kids love to bang pans when they get access, although that isn't an everyday occurance because it drives Mommy crazy.
Save diaper boxes and wipes boxes too, my kids think sitting in them, wearing them as hats, and pushing other toys around in them is great fun. Tissue boxes become shoes. Gosh, I'm sure if it's simple enough and safe, they'll play with anything!
Sharon you are so right and J. you are so awesome for doing all this! Not only are you creating safe toys out of everyday household items but you are helping the environment! Buy not buying so many toys from the store that they will simply break, lose parts to and eventually grow out of so you'll have to thrown them away or donate them.... you are creating toys that once had one purpose and now have another that puts a smile on a child's face face and mother earth's :-) how stinky cool! and we all know that you can spend $200 on some toy and they end up playing with the stinking box it came in for hours before they remember a toy ever came in it! You are reduce reuse and recycling.. now the trees are hugging you back!!! Greatness! continue having fun!!!
Steph
Use a plastic bottle that has a lid big enough to NOT be a choking hazard (for example, don't use a water bottle, but a gatoraid one might be OK if the lid is large)... Fill it with water and glitter, or water and large beads, or water with a few drops of food coloring and a few tablespoons of cooking oil.... be creative---- then glue the lid on with Elmers glue and allow your child to shake them and roll them on the floor and watch the liquid inside. Be sure to supervise and take it away when you aren't there supervising in case the lid comes off.
That age loves to fill and dump-- so any container with a large opening and any objects large enough to not be a choking hazard--- containers like plastic buckets (stock up when they go on sale after Easter), tupperware, even soft containers like a canvas grocery bag... then fill with toys, balls, plastic spoons, metal spoons, tupperware lids, whatever you find around the house
An empty bottle with rice inside acts like a shaker and seems to be a lot of interest to my 20 month old. Also empty shampoo bottles in the bath , they fill them up and squeeze them out.
Wipe boxes, different colored tops to milk and water bottles for matching and stacking, oatmeal containers, boxes of any size, straws, strawberry plastic containers, butter rounds, yogurt containers, babyfood jars and rectangle plastic ones, Juice Plus containers, spice bottles, tops to laundry detergent, plastic lemon squeezers, dish soap bottles, vitamin bottles......the list can go on for days.
I can remember my cousin and I at grandma's house taking out all the pots and banging on them with wooden spoons. Metal mixing bowls work well also.
Used to love using the empty dish soap bottles in the bath.
The crystal light containers. For older kids, I use the little tubs that the powder come in for painting time. I squeeze a small amount of paint into each one, we also use them for mixing colors.
The plastic tubs (of course they were much better before the stupid pop idea) for baby wipes. The make good storage containers or stack them up like large blocks.
When I was little one Christmas we got a new dishwasher and the neighbors got a new refrigerator (back in the days before the sliced up the boxes). The neighborhood kids made a cool fort.
We have lots of toys at our house - we have found, though, that our kids are just as happy playing with things around the house as they are with their other toys.
Some of their favorites:
- the drawer in the kitchen with the plastic ware
- my metal mixing bowls and a plastic spoon
- old toilet paper/paper towel rolls (our son is big into pirates)
- old boxes (my husband and I both have received hundreds over the years for work) to make forts out of
- plastic cups/empty shampoo containers in the bath
We recycle, but I'm not huge on the environmental movement. I have a degree in Biology and am committed to the preservation of our environment, but the toy manufacturers are gong to make just as many toys regardless if I'm buying them or not.
The best thing to do with old toys is to donate them to shelters, day cares, Good Will, churches. As long as they pose no safety hazzard, kids of all ages will play with good ones.
Take a plastic soda bottle and remove label. Fill bottle with pastina or cous cous and about 20 small items that can fit through the top (i.e., feather, push pin, safety pin, craft jewel, button, small bead, etc.) Make sure they are disperse throughout, not in one lump. Lay these items out first and take a photo of them. After all the pastina and items are in the bottle (leave about 1-2 inches at the top for movement) glue the top on and shake. Kids can look for the items in the photo by manipulating the bottle, shaking, rolling it. Make sure to put one very small item in that is very difficult to find. You can laminate the photo with extra firm laminate and punch a hole in it and tie it to the bottle. Its lots of fun. A friend of mine had one she had bought at The Discovery Store. She paid about $30 and mine cost about $4.
