Comments on: 11 cheap (and free) toys from Simple Mom

By: Vanderbilt Wife

Vanderbilt Wife — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 16:02:44 +0000

We were at a friends’ house this weekend and realized we had nothing for our 6-month-old to play with while we played a card game with the adults. Amazing how contented she was with an old rubbermaid container! Soon she’ll be thrilled with those pots and pans and a wooden spoon.

By: Chuk Gleason

Chuk Gleason — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 23:34:40 +0000

For very young babies, that are still putting things in their mouths, get an envelope made out of Tyvek; the bigger the better. They can put it in the mouth, it doesn’t mush like real paper does, it rattles when they shake it – both our kids had loads of fun with them. And cheap!!

By: zoz

zoz — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 03:58:52 +0000

Please *do not* reuse egg cartons! Salmonella bacteria can live on egg cartons for months, and can easily be transferred from hand to mouth.

By: Andamom

Andamom — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 03:43:18 +0000

I’ve got a toddler myself (as well as a teenager but that’s another story)… Many weeks, we participate in the Weekly Project at Unplugyourkids.com which provides a topic and we look around our home for objects that will help us take part.

I’ve done a few posting myself on similar topics, but really – kids don’t need much but can always benefit from creativity. Less is more.

By: Another Deb

Another Deb — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 02:58:12 +0000

I neglected to mention on the pipe insulation roller coasters: use marbles down the U-shaped inside groove.

An old box of seashells from my classroom became a favorite toy of visiting children. They love to sort them and match up the halves.

I love the magazine origami idea!

This article has brought back so many memories!

My aunts and grandmothers taught us to weave potholders, crochet with yarn scraps, knit and embroider. I remember being 6 years old and embroidering on a tea towel and (how geeky am I?) knitting at lunchtime in 4th grade!

Someone gave me a shoebox full of used stamps and I was in heaven for years with my “stamp collection”. A package of gourd seeds started my lifeling love of gardening. Some scraps of lace trim became doll hats.

It’s amazing that these crafty habits have stayed with me and expanded into my woodcraft, plumbing, home repair and cooking skills.

I guess I’ll go scrapbook a memory!

By: Alice

Alice — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 19:43:35 +0000

These are great ideas. Just remember that you need to know your kid, depending on age and habits your kid might do some interesting “volume” experiments with those beans and his ears/nose!

By: Shana

Shana — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 19:23:51 +0000

When I was little my dad built us a sandbox on our back patio. I don’t think I ever spent much time digging or building in it, but I had a BLAST sorting the grains of sand into inidividual color piles.

I spent hours sorting sand, m&ms, skittles, jellybeans… when we got a little older my grandma had us sort the m&ms and skittles into color piles and then draw bar graphs about them, later on, dad taught us about percentages after we sorted and counted the candy. Who knew a little sugary goodness could be so entertaining and educational!

By: Susan

Susan — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 18:41:59 +0000

To color macaroni for stringing:
Put food coloring and rubbing alcohol in a wide-mouthed jar and mix. Add large-elbow macaroni and shake until the food coloring is absorbed.
Pour out the excess liquid and spread the pasta newspaper to dry in a well-ventilated area (away from open flame too!).
My mom was a preschool teacher, and she did this for her students. They string it on yarn for necklaces, toys, whatever, and it encourages small-motor development.

By: Sharon

Sharon — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 18:38:24 +0000

I gave my niece a box full of 4×4 hemmed pieces of fabric- silky, stretchy, fleece, all colors, for Xmas one year, and they were her favorite playthings for years (and now belong to her toddler bro and sis). Those cloths were forts, costumes, doll clothes, curtains, puppet theaters, rivers, beds…you name it. Never wore out, never got boring, and only cost a few dollars each.
My other sister’s in-laws give her kids clunky plastic “Elmo reads” books, and other one-use toys (never clay, or paints, or tools) and their rooms are STREWN knee deep in endless clutter of the “stuff” that Grammy and Paw-Paw give them…while the kids are off playing with dirt, and sticks and 99 cent store paints and paper…

I read somewhere that studies have shown that the more “specific use” a toy is (my favorite example: Teddy Ruxbin- tapes wear out and he’s too clunky to cuddle) the faster a child bores of it and discards it.

By: Lori

Lori — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 17:24:17 +0000

All GREAT ideas.

By: Toblerone

Toblerone — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 16:52:29 +0000

Thanks for linking to my article!

@Another Deb – What a fun idea – I’ve never thought of pipe insulation as a toy before.

@Robin – I love that quote. I’m writing that down as I soon as I hit ’submit.’

By: mb

mb — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 14:58:32 +0000

My mom used to save all our egg cartons. She would open them and nest them in each other while storing them. These then became our building blocks. My brother and I would break out the egg cartons to make forts, rooms or whatever our imaginations would come up with.

By: Kris

Kris — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 14:57:34 +0000

Some of our 13-month-old’s favorite toys have been empty oatmeal cartons, wooden mixing spoons and measuring cups, a coffee scoop, newspaper, his hairbrush, and old remotes with the batteries removed.

By: Farmwife

Farmwife — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 14:49:35 +0000

Rocks! My 7 yr old is fascinated with rocks — all different shapes, sizes, colors. They are endlessly sorted into different piles, glued onto boards and paper, and sometimes I find trails of them outside, leading to little surprise stashes

By: C

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 14:46:39 +0000

My 22 month old just discovered the joy of imaginary cream cheese, thanks to my husband. Hurray for imagination!

By: adora

adora — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 14:00:52 +0000

In fact, they use the “pouring beans” to teach young kids about math in Montessori schools. Get clear plastic containers in different shapes and sizes. Mark the “full” and “half” at each cups with sharpie, so kids will learn that equal volume can end in different height.

When they master the single bean, try getting different sizes beans (mung beans, kidney beans). So they will learn how 2 of the half parts might combine into only 3/4 parts. It is a Chemistry thing.

BTW, my 3 year old niece loves boxes. Just plain carton boxes. They are free at any groceries stores. Origami using old magazines always work well too.

By: Danny

Danny — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 13:40:55 +0000

… and then there’s the box that the toy came in, which is almost always more fun than the toy itself.

Perhaps my most vivid memory from preschool was when the teachers gave us a paintbrush and a pail of water. (Actually, the “pail” may have been an old used milk carton.) We preschoolers then went outside and “painted” the school. I think we could have done that for hours if they let us…

By: robin

robin — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 13:13:48 +0000

“The best toys are 90% kid and 10% toy.”

My daughter loves nothing better than a stick, a pile of pebbles and some dirt to dig in.

By: Maggie

Maggie — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 12:57:33 +0000

we like egg cartons too. I give them a container (usually cleaned out sour cream container) full of various buttons and they like to sort them into the egg cartons – by size, color or whatever suits their fancy.

We were recently doing some outside painting and gave our 3yo twins a bucket full of water and two cheap brushes and showed them how to ‘paint’ the deck. They had hours of fun with that one.

By: becoming minimalist

becoming minimalist — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 12:51:39 +0000

we have been removing many of our childrens’ toys out of our home and they don’t seem to mind. through the process, i have found that my children’s favorite toy is…me.

there is nothing that they enjoy more than an afternoon with mom or dad – toys or not. it really is the simple things in life that bring the most joy.