Could we make a list of make-at-home toys? - Page 5

[sunanthem]

Originally Posted by Hannahsmummy

What a great thread! Thanks so much for all the ideas, we are definitely going to make gifts for friends this Christmas.

I've really just started making toys for my daughter but so far she's got a muslin doll, a felt cat, lots of fairy wool people and I have just started a sock monkey.
Together we have made beanbags and a cardboard dollhouse.

Here's the felt cat, she's called 'Chat Rose'
http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f3...m/chatrose.jpg

Hannahssmummy; I would love to see pics of your fairy wool people since thats what I'm making right now; would love to see how others make theirs.

[utopia760]

subbing!

[CallMeKelly]

Crayon rolls, chalkboard take-alongs (as already mentioned... I didn't use any pattern for mine just tuck it together) http://dragynf1ye.blogspot.com/2007/...ake-along.html

Capes/costumes
http://dragynf1ye.blogspot.com/2007/...nute-cape.html

What kind of paints do thw wood toy people use?

[msp]

great thread!

suscribing

[mariag]

KariM- thanks for the feedback, I didn't use high quality felt, and I may have overstuffed....I'll give it another go.

Maria

[kaeleighsmama]

subbing! such wonderful wonderful ideas everyone has...:

[Miss Information]

If you do a google search, you can find a 1980 McCall's Holiday pattern 7274 for fabric fruits and vegetables as part of a Thanksgiving cornucopia. It has a pumpkin, peas in a pod, grapes, pear, apple, ear of corn, squash, pumpkin, and a beet (and maybe 1 or two other's I might be forgetting). I have made the pumpkin, ear of corn, and pear from it. You don't have to use felt for the food. in fact I use different textured/pattern fabrics and they've turned out well. I have to take some pix to post, but I've been having fun. I accidently stumbled across this pattern at a garage sale and paid 10cents for it. It was uncut (except for the apple).

http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t...vegetables.jpg


I designed my own hamburger and used a mix of fabrics - dark brown courderoy for the burger, thick cream colored wool felt for the insides of the bun, and a mustardy yellow almost terrycloth-like material for the outsides of the bun.

http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t.../hamburger.jpg

Basically, I've trolled the fabric stores remnant sections and gotten some crazy good finds for cheap.

And some of my most favorite things aren't traditional toys at all. I've made things like wonder bottles (may also be called discovery bottles) like the I-spy bottles with rice and small toys, also glitter, food coloring and water; corn syrup, food coloring, with and without sequins; food coloring and water and sequins; one with different colored buttons.

http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t.../playroom3.jpg

Also, I like to incorporate homemade montessori inspired sensory things. I have film canisters filled with different materials (salt, rice, beans, buttons, coins, small safety pins, etc) and did them in pairs to make a sound matching game.

http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t...soundboxes.jpg

I have a box of about 16 different pairs of textured fabrics: fuzzy ones, furry ones, slick ones, rough ones, irridescent ones, crinkly ones - mylar wrapping paper). You can use them to teach texture words or use with a blindfold to have the dc pair them up.

http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t.../fabricbox.jpg
http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t...ricsquares.jpg

Then the natural stuff like shells and stones (both polished and unpolished) are big hits here.

[mariag]

kc mommmy, what a good idea...I think I will experiment with other fabrics and see what happens. Also I'll be on the lookout for that pattern.

[Miss Information]

I have some other ideas -

I have a craft book called Creating Cool Kids Stuff. I have yet to do any of the projects in it, but they have ideas for making puppets - with the animal pattern you can make a lion, zebra, a cat and a mouse. And there is a human pattern you can make a boy and a girl (with braids, even). And a doorway puppet theater. Frog shaped bean bags and lily pads to throw them onto; ladybug bean bags and a stepping stone floor mat for an indoor hopscotch game. A fishing game, a tee-pee and a bunch of other ideas (though some incorporate not environmentally friendly pvc). I bet you can use wood dowels instead.

****
If you have a Joann's fabric store near you, they have an awesome idea to make a fabric tic-tac-toe game in their summer craft brochure for kids. It's made like a quilt - 3 squares by 3 squares, I'm guessing about 3 in x 3 in, then bound with two borders - the inner one is maybe an inch or so long, the actual binding is about 1/2". The playing pieces are basic flower shapes sewn
with embroidery floss.

This is the one I made...

http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t.../tictactoe.jpg

***
Also, you can make tangram or pentomino puzzles really easily. Look up printable tangrams and printable pentominoes. You can make them out of cardstock, or cardboard, or even go a step further and make them out of wood. I'm planning on making the tangrams out of wood (eventually, they are just cut out of cardboard now), and the pentominoes on magnetic paper.
****

Speaking of magnets, you can recycle the junk mail magnets by gluing pictures of things or people on them (even family members) and using them on a magnet board.

****

If you like the Little Critters character, you can make a paper doll for him here:

http://www.dltk-teach.com/books/littlecritter/index.htm

You can make them on printable magnet sheets, or cardstock and laminate them with self-stick laminating sheets. Then I just used tape to stick them together, but I think I'm going to re-do them with magnetic paper.

****
Check you craft store (especially Hobby Lobby), you may find child size wooden plates you can finish yourself. I'm in the process of getting rid of plastic toys in favor of more natural ones, and I don't want to spend a whole lot of money to do so. These ones I found were 99 cents a piece. Of course, wooden utensils from any store are fairly cheap, but I have yet to find a really inexpensive option for wooden children's flatware. I think I want to use a simple beeswax polish on them to protect the wood.

Now, if I can just finish all the ideas I have....

[sarasprings]

We're making my 5yo son a canvas map of our town, like the one a pp had a pic of. I'm not sure about my little one who will be almost two. We may regift some bark blocks we made for DS1.

[MaShroom]

Omg. I'm on creativity overload.:

I have a 1970's book full of kids crafts that I've got to find to throw some more ideas in this thread. Using the book as inspiration, I'm working on a caterpillar for my nephew right now. Anyone my age will remember the caterpillars made from crocheted, knitted or quilted rounds strung together (like a loaf of bread) with elastic. This is a really fun project with all of the great yarns out now. I'll post a pic when I'm done with it.

I thought of another thing I did for a friend's dd for her b-day one year. I took black pipe cleaners (body) large wooden beads of all shades (heads) and felt (clothing, hat, scarf) and wool (hair) and made rainbow dolls. There was one for every color of the rainbow and representing every ethnicity and I made a rainbow striped drawstring bag to keep them in. They were a total hit, she loved them.

I just took the pipe cleaners and twisted them around until I had a solid body, bent the ends out for feet and hands. Hot glued pipecleaners into the bead for the head. Cut out two pcs of felt for the shirt, two for the pants and whipstitched them together around the body. Took a little strip of felt, hotglued it around the neck to cover where the head is attached. Hotglued colored wool to the head and used a little triangle of felt to make a little elf style hat which was hotglued to the wig. I think the whole thing cost less than $10 to make and it wasn't terribly time consuming either. There are obviously a lot of variations on this too.

[HerthElde]

As I'm watching them play, I just thought of one:
Cloth shopping bags for their "store"

[amydawnsmommy]

Thanks for these wonderful ideas!

Originally Posted by mehndi mama

wool balls
photo album (my youngest stole his grandma's because he loved looking at the pictures so much!)
blocks
wooden animals
lacing cards
patchwork ball

For older kids:
bendie dolls
handmade clothing
dollhouse furniture
personalized stationery
craft kits (put them together yourself)

For grandparents/greats/aunts/uncles:
photo refrigerator magnets

[EStraiton]

subbing

[mariag]

ok, I feel bad I never contribute so a couple ideas of things I have done at home.

this may sound odd but I took a large box and made a stove/sink/oven combo and then another box and made a fridge. I covered them in brown craft paper and reinforced all the edges and moving parts with clear tape to make them a little sturdier. They have been played with for over a year and are still going strong. I'll try to get some pics up so you can see them...

mail carrier set
-old blue shirt (draw on "logo")
-collected envelopes from all the mail over several weeks and saved return envelopes from all our bills since we pay them online
-saved two small cardboard boxes
-collected square and round stickers from ads, dollar store...
-two black markers
-made "address book" of his families using pics then writing info below
-made mail carrier bag by turning a brown paper bag inside out, attaching a strap made from brown paper reinforced with tape
-put it all in a box and ds spends hours writing, delivering and collecting letters and packages

I'll try to do more soon

[Taryn237]

I convinced DH to make the play kitchen for Christmas! Yay!

[2 in August]

Originally Posted by sunanthem

The other day we made our own water color paints, I got this idea from the free waldorf preschool curriculum where they have many toys kids can help make in the spring curriculum.
To make the paints save tops from water or soda bottles, I didnt have enough so I used jar lids and I like the bigger paint size better anyway.
Mix 2 tbsps of baking soda with 2 tbsp of vinegar. After it fizzes, add 2 tbsps. of cornstarch and one teaspoon of light corn syrup. Drop in a few drops of food coloring to each paint and mix.
Let them dry a few days to a week. You can also glue the caps to a cut out piece of cardboard.

Do you think I could put these paints in the cups of a styrofoam egg carton? I was thinking that I could make the different paints and then stick a couple brushes in and make little paint kits. This would be a great way to recycle the egg cartons and perfect presents for dd's friends.

[amydawnsmommy]

Originally Posted by mariag

ok, I feel bad I never contribute so a couple ideas of things I have done at home.

this may sound odd but I took a large box and made a stove/sink/oven combo and then another box and made a fridge. I covered them in brown craft paper and reinforced all the edges and moving parts with clear tape to make them a little sturdier. They have been played with for over a year and are still going strong. I'll try to get some pics up so you can see them...

mail carrier set
-old blue shirt (draw on "logo")
-collected envelopes from all the mail over several weeks and saved return envelopes from all our bills since we pay them online
-saved two small cardboard boxes
-collected square and round stickers from ads, dollar store...
-two black markers
-made "address book" of his families using pics then writing info below
-made mail carrier bag by turning a brown paper bag inside out, attaching a strap made from brown paper reinforced with tape
-put it all in a box and ds spends hours writing, delivering and collecting letters and packages

I'll try to do more soon

Wow!!! You have done so many great things for your kids!!!
That is so great!!! Wow!!! Did you have fun making those toys? Wow!!! Kudos to you. You've probably saved yourself a ton of money and had fun creating these items with your kids!!

Thanks for the inspiration!

[Miss Information]

Oh, yeah, I forgot the mail thing...

I've saved postcards from dh and MIL and laminated them with self stick laminating sheets (to protect them from sticky hands). On the one side is the picture, on the other they can see the words that are written to them.

Dd and I made garages for her cars out of boxes too. She decorated the outsides and I cut little doors out of them.

[SneakyPie]

My sister's stepson is just turning 6 and is big into superheroes, hidey spots, and being outdoors. So we're trying to figure out a way to build him a superhero secret lair - basically a collapsible playhouse, but with a "super" theme. We're not sure if we're going to go with sewn canvas over a dowel frame, or go all out with hinged-together pieces of plywood painted w/exterior paint. If anyone has good base-material ideas, post away. We're pretty good with decoration but construction is a little more challenging.