As we are spending weeks at home, consuming and producing waste have become more significant. Lots of us have been using different excuses against separate waste collection, but I think it is time to change this way of thinking and stop postponing recyclation. It is a good time to start buying and consuming more consciously and take more care of our environment.
We recommend to live with the opportunities of reusing products at the times when the toy stores are closed and we encourage you to discover the world of hand-made toys to ease the waste problem of our planet.
When we take a look at the objects that we are about to put in the trash, we can find exciting toy ideas that can bring fun to the whole family.
As a beginner recycler, we can feel that making a toy requires too much energy, but success will come to fruition. Furthermore, this activity can be shared with other family members – reassuring quality time and contributing to togetherness.
Ideas for egg cartons
Toys to improve skills – colours, shapes, sequencing, fine motor skills
You will need an egg carton, some bottle lids, some markers or paints and some small objects (e.g. buttons, lego pieces, paper balls).
First, decorate your egg carton with markers, try to use only one colour to each cup, so they will not be disturbing. Then, draw tables with 2×5 cells and place or draw different objects into the cells. When ready, the point of the game is to fill the egg cups with the objects – in the same order as it is shown on the paper.
Make cars, dragons, ladybugs or caterpillars
One of the best features of egg cartons is that they are easy to cut and to decorate. Cut out the little cups of the carton and glue them together upside down, shaping a long line. If you prefer, you can also use a string to attach them. Paint them with the colours of the wanted animal and draw a face on the first cup. You can also add ear scoops or little sticks to form the antenna of the creatures.
You can also make cute animals using just 1-1 cups of the egg carton. Children can decorate the cups with markers or paint to create bears, ladybugs, bees or even penguins. You just want to paint them with accurate colours. When the paint has dried, you can draw a face for them and you can attach wings, antennas or ears on the animals.
If you paint the egg carton green in a closed position, you can easily make a dragon. Glue eyes, teeth and a red tongue between the top and bottom, stick little spikes on the back out of paper, and your dragon is ready. 🙂
Ideas for plastic bottles
Games to improve ability skills
Cut the top third of a plastic bottle and stick tape on the edge to make it safe. You can decorate the bottle with paints or ribbons. Tie a 30-40 cm long string under the lid which has an attached lid or ball on the other side. Try to catch the swinging ball with the mouth of the bottle. The winner is who catches it more times. 🙂
Collect 10 bottles, fill them with some rice or dry beans and place them on the floor in the shape of a pyramid. Look for a small but quite heavy ball and the family bowling competition can start right away! If you want to make it harder, you can glue shapes or numbers on the bottles and find out different challenges. (For example this time turn over only the bottles with the yellow triangle.)
You can also make a car sticking 4 bottle lids on the sides of a bottle horizontally. You can cut out or draw windows and doors. Handy moms and dads can also prepare turning wheels, you just need to punch the bottle in 4 places, place two skewers in the holes and glue the wheels on them where they belong.
Ideas for toilet paper rolls
Colour some toilet paper rolls, glue them lying on the inner side of a top of a shoebox in different directions and try to throw little balls in them. Take the box top in your hands and move it to make the balls roll along the tubes. Children at preschool age can complete different challenges, for example you can set an order for the ball telling which rolls to get in first and last.
It can also be fun to build big castles, zoos or towns using toilet paper rolls. If you colour them and then cut 2 cm wide holes, they become attachable to each other.
As you can see, toys can be made almost out of anything, be creative when you look at your used objects. Are they really useless in the future? Think about what tools you have and what you can create out of them. Most children are more than happy to be creative, find out new ways of usage, or make new toys.
We wish you a pleasant and conscious time,
This article is translated by Anita Nagy.
Click here for the Hungarian version.