5 more household items that make great toys
You don't have to spend up large on expensive toys! Christine Stride offers up 5 more safe household items that, with a little creativity, make great playthings.
PEGS Colourful, numerous and small enough to hold but not to swallow, pegs have a multitude of attractions for younger children. They're perfect for posting into a container, and tipping them out again; as pretend food in pots and pans; for making patterns with (pictured); for pegging together to make as long a 'snake' as you can; as toys' hair clips or 'earrings'; they're excellent for hanging paintings up to dry or to display them on a string in bedrooms. You could even get your little one to help hang up some washing on a clothes horse or mini washing line!
SHEETS Old sheets make great indoor or outdoor tents! Draw windows and a door on them or cut them out. If you’re really clever you can make an under the table house. Wrap them around your child to make a toga or cut them up to make a little ghost costume; drag your little sister/brother/toys along on them; make a pretend bed in the lounge and let the toys have a sleepover. Image: mamapapabubba.com
POTS & PANS These essential kitchen items double as excellent drumkits (with wooden spoons as drumsticks), and the lids make great cymbals for clashing together. Hang them up (pictured) and let your child experiment with the different tones each pot or lid makes. For something quieter, they can be used for pretend cooking - because kids prefer using real kitchen equipment rather than their toy stuff!
WOODEN SPOONS Excellent as drum sticks on a saucepan or a box; you can use them to tap in time to music or tap out a beat and get kids to repeat it back with their spoon; get crafty and draw faces on them (if you can find some cheap ones at a $2 shop or similar) and add scraps of material and string and beads to create people or animals. Stir up peg 'soup' or outdoor flower/ leaf/dirt/sand 'soup' in a saucepan, or see what happens when you stir flour and water together. They’re a good teething toy for those first few teeth too.
PLASTIC CUPS Great for stacking into towers, filling with water and pouring it out again standing at the sink, outside or in the bath. Freeze a small toy or bead or flower in a few cups and watch and feel them melt free. Use them for stashing things in, and, best of all, for drinking freshly squeezed orange juice or home-made lemonade from!
You don't have to spend up large on expensive toys! Christine Stride offers up 5 more safe household items that, with a little creativity, make great playthings.
