Homemade Toys for Kids from Junk

Kids love toys. They want a new one every day. They may be obsessed with one today, and won't even look at it after a week. This means that you have to provide them with some new toy almost every day. As a parent granting this wish can be financial suicide.

Or is it? What if you could make a new toy with your child every day? Something new that the kid would enjoy playing with for a day. Plus one that you would not mind being broken, and could even be recycled into a new toy or two a couple of days from today? Sounds good doesn't it?

Here's how you can do it. Get hold of all the junk that is lying around the house. Sort out stuff that can be potentially dangerous and actually junk it. (See you can do some spring cleaning as well.) Now take a look at all the safe stuff that you have gathered. What can you make with it?

Remember not all of it needs to be used all at once. Dump them all in a carton and keep that in your kids room. You can take a couple of things out each day and model them into a toy for the day. Have your kid give you suggestions and help with the shaping of the toy. Here are a few suggestions for common homemade toys.

Recycled bottle Jeep or a Car

Use old bottle caps for the wheels. Use some sharp object to run holes through the center and slip a stick through them. Then make a frame work with the sticks so that you have the base. Now use another cap for the seat. You can also use wooden ice cream spoons to shape up the vehicle. Also cut up a transparent bottle for the vehicle's windscreen. You can use old birthday streams to make the vehicle look more colorful. Or simply use a small carton to fashion out the rest of the vehicle. Have paints and brushes handy for the child to paint it up.

Vegetable Stencils

Use potatoes and a blunt craft knife to fashion out letters and designs. You can use lady's finger or any other sturdy vegetable like carrots or radish as well. Once you have about 6 or 8 of them ready set out a paper and paints . Make sure you cover the surfaces with newspaper or some other protective material. Now have the kids dip the vegetable stencils in the paint and place them on the paper to print the patterns that they like best. This can be a messy affair so don't forget to have enough water and soap waiting at the end of play.

Russian Doll Cans

Do you remember those cute little dolls that fit right into one another? You can make them at home. Take cans of different sizes which fit into each another. They can be plastic bottles of different sizes as well, if you can't find metal cans. Now cut out paper that would cover them up. Don't paste them yet. Hand out these papers to the kids and give them some old magazines to cut out figures from. Now paste the figures on these papers and decorate the sides as you wish. Paste them onto the cans. Now place them inside one after the other. Invent a story about the figures as you open each can to display the next figure.