Homemade Toys: Texture Cards

I made these texture cards for J sometime around 10 months to bring with us on plane trips.  I reserved them for those special trips, stored in a ziploc, so that they would keep their novelty.  J loved them.  He has since mostly lost interest in them at 23 months (though he does still like the one with buttons).  But they definitely served their purpose.   The cards are made of cardstock.  They survived pretty well, though I can see the benefit to laminating them (it would have to be done before the texture was added I guess).  You could even use thick cardboard to make them stronger.  There have been a few that have found their home in the trash. 

In choosing textures, I basically went through the house and found interesting textures (that would be fairly easy to attach to the cardstock… I was is a rush!).  I really didn’t get very creative with my textures, but J was still entertained! You’ll notice quiet a few cards with puffy stickers and foam stickers (especially easy to make!), buttons, sponge, styrofoam, post it tabs, duct tape flaps (I created windows and placed a sticker behind the window), fabric, clear plastic, net, …  The only one I can remember that isn’t pictured is the velcro card.  J still really likes this card too since it is interactive (he could remove and replace the velcro pieces).  It’s somewhere around the house, I just can’t find it for the picture!

The back side of the texture cards don’t look so pretty.  I covered a lot of the back sides with packing tape or duct tape.  In hind site, I could’ve created duct tape flaps on the back of all the cards so that they would be double sided. 

To create prettier cards, you could cut larger pieces of the cardstock, attach the texture, fold the card in half and glue them shut. 

Age attempted:  about 10 months -17 months

Teachable moments:  discuss what’s special about each texture/surface :)  (smooth, shiny, bumpy, squishy, crinkly, …)

Try Again?  At 23 months, I’ll soon be trying more advanced texture cards and make a game out of it (similar to this activity on Children’s Learning Activities)

Homemade Toy – Stringing Sponges

In one of my trips through the dollar store, in search of cheap, light weight “toys” to keep my toddler busy on planes, I came up with this version of stringing beads. 

I bought a couple packages of sponge curlers (the kind some of us slept in when we were little).  They came in black and pink in our dollar store.  I took them home and sliced some in thirds, some in half, and kept others the full length.  I keep them in a small wipee box with some pipe cleaners.  The sponges are perfect to string on the pipe cleaners.  I think it’s a little easier for them use the pipe cleaners than regular string, making this activity possible at a younger age.  Wealso make jewelry with them or link them together to create a chain (thought J needs a lot of help with that).

23 months

This makes a good plane/travel activity because it keeps them occupied for awhile, it reuses the same materials from other plane activities (so you have to pack less), and it’s lightweight.  The disadvantage is that the sponges can be decidedly fun to throw around on the plane (but at least they don’t hurt if they hit you and they’re cheap, so it’s not terrible if some are lost).  This works well for J now at 23 months; our first experience with this plane activity (at 14 months) didn’t go as well.   

Age attempted:  14 months (too young for on the plane), better by 18 months and good at it by 23 months

Teachable Moments:  We’ve worked on the meaning of push and pull with this.  You can make patterns with the different colors, practice counting by assigning a different number of sponge beads for each pipe cleaner

Try Again?  This is usually an activity I either bring on the plane or have in the hotel; it is saved for those events to keep it’s novelty but still gets used fairly often

1 Year Old’s Busy Box

I thought I would share a recent gift I prepared for my one year old niece.  I called it her “Busy Box” and included some homemade activities that she can enjoy both now and over the next few months.  She is the third child so her house is already overflowing with store-bought toys and they really need little more.  So I thought a little creativity was in order.  Afterall, toddlers LOVE to play with anything that isn’t technically a toy anyway!  Many of these activities were J’s favorites at the same age (the ones with stars) and I threw in a few extra… 

The box itself was a simple photo box.  I wanted it to be small enough to hide away (some activities will need adult supervision) and cute enough to be displayed if wanted.  This also meant activities needed to fit inside the box itself.  I finally decided on…

1. Pipe Cleaners in a Bottle **

All toddlers love a good game of In and Out.  This is just one more way to get some practice!  I used an old container of Puffs from J’s baby days, decorated the outside and punched holes in the lid.  I filled the bottle with colorful pipe cleaners.  It’s also a good idea to fold and twist the pipe cleaners in half to make them sturdier.  As a pretoddler it will be easiest to simply remove the lid completely and let her take the pipe cleaners in and out but as she gets older, simply add the lid and the activity becomes more advanced.  If I could’ve found my colorful Sharpies/reinforcement stickers, I would’ve given each hole a specific color.  This allows one more difficulty by trying to match the colored pipe cleaners to the corresponding colored hole in the lid. 

Another option is to use colorful straws, but I chose pipe cleaners since they’re so versatile.  She could also use them to make shapes, letters, jewelry,…  Oh and this makes a GREAT plane activity. 

2.  Colorful Flowers

Again and In and Out game, or just a way to focus on colors.  I used colorful foam to make the flowers and added a tin flower pot.

3.  You’ve Got Mail

I cut out envelopes, stamped and addressed each one with recognizable family names.  I intended to create my old mailbox with a box, but decided to go with this cute store-bought mailbox instead.  She can learn to open and close the mailbox, of course play the In and Out game with the mail (do you see a trend?), and when she gets old enough for name recognition she can play mailman and pass out the mail to the intended recipient. 

4.  Clothespin Drop

I bought some of the old clothespins (without the spring) and gave each one a different colored tip.  She can play the In and Out game (yes, again!), try to drop the clothespins in the tin flower pot and hear the nice clangy sound they make, and when she’s much older can fit the clothespins around the tin edge since they fit perfectly.

5.  Half-Dozen Eggs **

I mentioned this activity in an earlier post.  It was such a winner when J was younger, that it had to win a spot in E’s Busy Box.  It takes literally no work, just an egg carton and some plastic eggs.  ** I also meant to add puff balls inside each egg, but of course forgot. 

6.  Cupcake Magnetic Puzzle

This was made completely out of the colorful foam.  The muffin tins and cherries are glued down but the cupcakes themselves can be removed, rearranged and replaced (because of the magnetic backing).  Since she is so young, cupcakes work great.  Any color cupcake will fit on any muffin tin.  

This is an activity where a parent needs to be nearby since it includes magnets.

7.  Photo cards **

I printed and laminated family photos.  This is a great way for her to learn each family member (they’ve recently moved away from home) and I’ve never known a toddler that didn’t enjoy playing with pictures! 

7.  Colorful Dice

I threw this in last minute since J has a set and enjoys them.  I found these at Michaels.  For now, it’s just something to toss around (they are rubber so they bounce), but eventually it’s a way to practice counting. 

Homemade Toy: Fabric Colors and Texture Box for Babies

I gathered a collection of fabric swatches with vibrant colors and a wide range of textures, stuffed them in a wipee box and let J at it.  We could talk about the different textures/colors as he pulled them out or he could just have fun emptying and filling the box. 

Age? Started around 8 months

Try Again?  This was just a toy always available to him for a few months; It probably lost it’s intrigue after a few months

Homemade Toy: Family Photo Magnets

Much of our family live far away so J doesn’t get consistent interaction with them.  It is very important to me that J know his relatives and develop relationships with them as he gets older.  The first step to me was knowing who was who in his family.  At 10 months, I made some photo magnets for him to play with.  I printed pictures of each family member, put a sticky magnet on the back and then lamenated both together (so he couldn’t peel the magnet off the back).  He has loved them since the first day I put them up.  He often played with these while I cooked dinner (convenient for me since he was close by).  He quickly learned who was in each photo.  When we were plannning a visit to see certain family (or before family came to visit us), I emphasized their photos. 

Age Attempted: 10 months; this is an toy/activity he still plays with at 22 months. 

Teachable Moments:  Family members (or other important people in baby’s life)

Try Again?  This toy rests permanently on the refrigerator door, used often

Homemade Toy: Endless Scarf

You know that magic trick where the scarf just keeps coming?  Apparently magicians need to be using this trick on infants.  They love it. 

Tie a bunch of scarves/rags/fabric pieces together and stuff them in an empty tissue box (or wipee box is even better since it encourages them to open and close the lid).  At first, let a little hang out of the box to encourage them to pull. 

Age?  I think he first did this around 8 months

Try Again?  This just became a toy always available to him.  It lasted a couple months.