Cheap as chips (Inexpensive Home Made Toys and Activity Ideas)

Member Name: adam171275

Product:	Inexpensive Home Made Toys and Activity Ideas
Date:	30/05/09 (122 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: cheap, fun and great for developing their skills

Disadvantages: none

I know from when I was a child and looking at my two children now the most fun they have is from the least inexpensive stuff available. I have a 6-year-old daughter and a 20-month-old son. When I look at the amount of toys they both have it makes me feel rather guilty. I can honestly say that for the amount of money we have spent on them it is ridiculous and to be honest a complete waste of money. Here are a few things that my children love to do which barely costs a penny!


Saucepans


I can say for sure that at the moment my son has a complete obsession with saucepans at the moment. From the moment he wakes till the time he goes to bed they are out. He cannot simply settle with one pan he has to have the whole lot. Whilst I admit they are not great for our saucepans, they truly keep him entertained for hours. He moves them from one spot to another; they even go out in the garden, weather permitted. He likes to put stuff in them, this can be what he is eating, water and even mud and leaves. Whilst a lot of you may say I wouldn't let him put mud in my pans, I say why not? They can be washed and he is entertained. Whilst playing with the pans he is using:

His fine motor skills, by holding the pans and putting stuff in them like his food etc and holding on to spoons, which he uses to stir them up.

Cognitive development, by exploring what is around him and solving how to put the lid on a pan or move it from one place to another.

Simple as it seems but something so little can develop a child so much, the other thing I keep saying to myself is he is going to be a top class chef!


Pom Poms


Now I don't know if anyone remembers making these at school when they were young but I can, and to be honest I can admit to it now but I loved it. I can't remember how the idea came up but my wife decided she was going to make pom poms with my daughter. I have to say that I had a big flashback, but couldn't remember how to make them so we had to google it to check it out. This is how you make the:

You need
Card
Wool
Scissors
That is it, simple; you may say where do you buy wool from now, as it's a thing of the past really. We went to our local poundstrectcher and got some various colours and it was so cheap (around a £1 a ball) but I'm sure other places will still sell it cheaply.

You get some card cut out two circles around 5cm circumference, then cut out a smaller circle in the middle, around 2cm diameter. Then all you do is tie the wool on and wrap it round till there is no hole in the middle of the circular card. The once the wool is full you cut round the wool round the edge of the circle. The last bit is quite tricky as you need to tie some wool between both circles, I would advise parents to do this part otherwise it will end in tears. Once you have done this it is complete! You can trim it up to make it look tidier. If you really want to make something spectacular you can alternate different colours of wool to create different patterns, but this is only for the most experienced of pom pom makers! My little girl absolutely loved making these, I think she made around 4, I think we even had a few people on the street where we live making them, how sad is that? Laugh if you must but it did entertain for barely a quid. This was great for her fine motor skills.


Water

As you probably know most children love water, even though most parents hate it as it ends up everywhere! What my lad loves to do is have the sink filled with water; he will grab his stool and play with it for ages. He likes to put all different things in it from toothbrushes to plastic bottles. You do have to watch them from a safety aspect, plus otherwise it can literally end up all over the floor. My daughter still loves to play with water too and bath time for them both can last at least half an hour, and that even before they have been washed! This again helps their fine motor skills by putting the water in to different objects such as bottles and it can also help their cognitive skills by the figuring out how much water will go in each object. I have to add here that when they are being bathed together it helps their social skills, as it is the one and only time they really play together well, helping each other and sharing!


Hunt the object

As it is the UK we are used to the bad weather, so indoor play is often the only option. My little girl had her friends around and my wife suggested we play hunt the object as this was a gem she played when young. This game will cost you zilch, all you need is a simple object to hide, for example a small toy figure. One-person starts they have to hide the object in a room downstairs whist the others aren't looking. Once hidden the idea is that the first to find the object wins and gets to hide it next. Whilst searching the person who hid it can give clues by saying who is the hottest or coldest. Hot meaning closer and cold meaning not. It sounds stupid but they loved this game and played it for ages. This is great for their social skills as they are taking it in turns and working together, truly a great rainy day game.


Role-play

These games are great for developing any Childs social skills. Games can be shops, teachers or doctors for example. My little girl and her friends love to play shops. They set it up in the kitchen by getting out all our food cupboards contents and setting them up like a shop. They get her play till down, grab all our change and off they go. The only thing I hate about this is they never seem to want to put all the stuff back!
My lad's favourite role-play is doctors, he gets his doctor's case out (which cost a fiver) and my wife and I have to take it in turns to be the patient. I will add here that as he is only 20 months we often have the tools rammed in our ears and eyes! This is great for his speech and language, as we will encourage him to name parts of the body whilst playing by being very repetitive. He now can show you where his tummy is, eyes are etc.


Consequences

This is a game I played when younger all you need is a pen and paper. You need at least 4 people to play, the more the better. The idea is you are telling a basic story which comprises of six parts:
A man
A woman
Where they met
What he said to her
What she said to him
What the ending was
Each player has a piece of paper they start off what the man was called, they then pass it to the next player who puts what the woman was called. You keep passing the paper round till the story is finished. Then at the end you read out the story, I guarantee you that this will give you some great laughs.
This can obviously only be played with children who can read and write. It is great for their social skills, cognitive skills and fine motor skills. They will be reading and writing and making it fun at the same time. Most parents will know that when getting children to do some reading and writing is very taxing, so this is a great fun way to do it.


Here are some other brief and inexpensive toys and activities to keep your little ones entertained:

Baking
Painting
Play dough
Hide and seek
Gluing and sticking
Colouring
Dens
Picnics
Ball games
Skipping


Hope these give you some ideas to entertain your little ones!

Summary: great and simple