Felt Toys
Materials
·
Nails (thin for sewing thread and thicker for embroidery
thread)and pins
·
Scissors
·
Two layers of felt (light blue and grey in the picture), big
enough for your template
·
Smaller felt pieces for eyes, nose and decorations
·
Colored embroidery thread for mouth and decorations
·
Sewing thread in colors matching your fabric
·
Fabric marker
·
A wooden chopstick (for turning the fabric)
·
Filling (can use synthetic cotton like the stuff you usually
find in pillows)
·
Template for your toy
Instructions:
·
Place
the template on the felt and trace the design, marking where you’ll leave an
opening to turn the fabric inside out (The opening should be of an inch, more
or less).
·
Put
the other felt piece under the one you’ve traced onto, and pin in place.
·
Start
sewing the one side of the opening all around till you meet the other side. Do
some backstitches at the beginning and the end to secure the thread.
·
Trim
off all the excess fabric.
·
Turn the fabric inside out through the opening.
·
Fill up the toy but not fully, just so its easier to sew and
work with
·
Prepare
the face pieces: two discs for the eyes, triangles for nose and teeth/mouth,
for example
·
Trace the face onto the toy and try out different things
before you sew it on
·
Glue/pin the face pieces on.
·
Then hand sew all the face pieces on.
·
Embroider the face if required.
·
Add any additional decorations as required
·
Then add in the rest of the stuffing and stitch up the
opening with a slipstitch and secure with some back stitches.
How to use it:
Can be used by both genders and ages below 10. Because they
are so cheap to make, you can make a few of them that the child can play with
and make up games with them. They can also all go with a theme like “the farm”
and can be educational. They are also very safe because they are soft and can
be thrown and won’t make a mess. Little children can also chew on them and it
won’t cause them any harm.
Play Dough
Materials:
·
1 cup table salt
·
1 ½ cups flour
·
4 tablespoons olive oil
·
4 teaspoons cream of tartar
·
¾ cup water
·
Food colouring
Instructions:
·
Measure out your ingredients and put them all in a big bowl.
·
Now grab a ball of it and make an indent with your finger. Drop a
few drops of food coloring in the indent. Carefully fold the dough over and
over until the color is well blended.
·
Put your colors into airtight containers to store them.
How to use
it:
Other than just
squishing, toddler love to flatten out and cut play dough and press things into
it. Use spoons, cookie cutters, sticks etc (get creative).
Rag Doll
Materials:
·
Template for rag doll
·
Sturdy fabric
·
Stuffing (can use wool, cotton, rice etc)
·
Facial decorations
Instructions:
·
First, cut out your pattern pieces, 2 head, 2 body, 4 arms and 4
legs. You can use the free doll pattern above or you can draw your own directly
onto your fabric.
·
Next, sew both head circles to the body panel and sew the arms and
legs pieces together, with right sides facing each other. Then turn the arms
and legs right side out.
·
Stuff the legs and the arms with your stuffing of choice. The
amount you use is up to you, whether you want a softer, more floppy doll or a
firm doll. Reshape from the outside by rolling the legs or arm tubes between
your hands.
·
Now place one head & body panel right side up and pin and then
sew on the doll arms.
·
Do the same thing with the legs on the bottom, point the feet towards
the head and sew the open leg edges to the right side of the fabric.
·
You need to fold up your arms and legs to get them out of the way.
You can use pins, safety pins or even tape to tape the arms down.
·
Lay your second head & body panel right side down on top of
the folded up legs and arms. Pin the outer edges all the way around except for
the very top of the head.
·
Sew all around the edge (except for the top of the head) sewing
right through the ends of each arm and leg where you've already sewn, where
they attach to the body.
·
Turn your doll right side out through the top of the head that you
left unsewn. You should now have a flat doll with arms and legs securely
attached! Stuff the body and the head through the hole in the head.
·
You can now stitch the top of the head shut. If you plan to add
hair it doesn't need to be perfect as it will be covered up.
·
Cut several same size pieces of yarn.
·
Stitch the yarn down on the center part line, starting at the
front and continue all the way down the back of the head. Use thick embroidery
floss and make sure to pull tight and sew on very securely.
·
Now it’s time to do the face, you can paint it, sew it or stick it
on.
How to use it:
Little girls love their rag dolls and will have it from the
time they are born till the outgrow it and it becomes uncool. It is something
that they can use their imagination with and play. You can also add clothes to
the doll and even sew some pets or accessories for it. When they are young it
will be something for them to cuddle and later on it will become their best
friend and they can use it to play with other children who also have dollies.
Sock Puppets
Materials:
·
Sock
·
Scissors
·
Cardboard
·
Fabric
·
Glue/ glue gun
·
Decorations
Instructions:
·
Put the sock on your hand so that your fingers and thumb are in
the toe and the back of your wrist is in the heel.
·
To make room for your puppet's mouth, make a slit in the sock
between your thumb and fingers.
·
Cut an oval 3 inches across and 5 inches long...make that 2 ovals,
one of cardboard and one of fabric.
·
Glue
the fabric oval to the cardboard oval with white glue
·
After
the glue has begun to dry, fold them in half the short way
·
Sew
folded oval into your sock. Finally, your puppet can talk
·
Now the fun begins! What your puppet becomes depends on you. Think
eyes, hair, ears, hats, moustaches, beards, eyebrows, noses, collars, neckties,
shirts and dresses.
How to use it:
A puppet
can be used for many things like a puppet show, just playing with it on your
hand, parents can entertain little kids with it etc. all you need to do is
place the puppet on your hand and put your fingers in the mouth part and then
just use your imagination and have fun with it.
Recycled Baby Blocks
Materials:
·
Old food packaging, toilet rolls etc.
·
Old wrapping or decorative paper
·
Glue
·
Scissors
·
Tape
·
Pencil
Instructions:
·
First,
prep your boxes. Make sure they are all clean and dry and if you are using
cardboard milk cartons cut the tops off. For plain boxes with the ends still
intact you can just tape the ends shut.
·
You
can insert them inside one another to create extra sturdy boxes. Especially
with milk cartons, this is an easy way to have all ends closed. Bend the edges
of one carton or box and insert inside of the other one.
·
Now
simply trace your carton, cut out and glue! You can use different papers for
each side or one large piece of paper that "wraps" the box like a
present.
·
Toilet
paper rolls, if you want to cover the open circular ends, trace the circle of
your toilet paper roll and then draw a larger circle around it.
·
Cut
out the larger circles and cut notches all the way around the circle up to the
smaller circle and then bend them up to create a cap for the toilet paper
rolls.
·
Position
the cap on the toilet paper roll and then tape on.
·
Finally,
glue down your wallpaper all the way around the tube. Use rubber bands to keep
it closed while drying.
How to use it:
These recycled
building blocks are nice because they will be sturdy enough to last a very long
time and they are a large size for little children to practice stacking yet
they are very lightweight and easy to handle. Kids love to play with boxes and
these ones are just more special and are a much cheaper version to the ones in
the shop and you can have fun making them. All the child has to do is just have
fun and stack them on top of one another, and then hit them down, they can
really have fun with them and it doesn’t matter if they mess them or they break
one.
Fishing Game
Materials:
·
Cardboard / sheet cork
·
Crayons
·
Paperclips
·
2 or 3 pencil-sized sticks
·
String
·
Tub that is blue
·
Punch
·
magnets
Instructions:
·
Cut out the fish from cardboard or sheet cork and get the children
to colour them in with the crayons.
·
Punch the fish in the place where the eye would sit.
·
Attach a magnet to the back of the fish (make sure it is
still light enough for it to be lifted up).
·
Use the paperclips as hooks by bending down the large end of
the paperclip.
·
Attach string to the “hook” and the other end to the
pencil-sized stick.
·
Throw the fish into the tub.
How to
play:
Have about
2-3 kids surrounding the tub and tell them that they need to catch as many fish
as they can. Using the “rods” they need to place the magnet over the fish in
order to catch it. Let them compete
against one another and see who can get the most and have a winner at the end.
Can be played many time over and the kids won’t get tired of it.
Big Bubbles
Materials:
For the
wire ring:
·
either craft wire or a wire coat hanger
·
straws and string
For the
bubbles:
·
1 cup water
·
2 tablespoons glycerine
·
4 tablespoons dishwashing liquid
Instructions:
·
Make a huge circle and then twist the rest of the wire upon
itself so that no points are sticking out. (especially for little children)
·
Make the circle as big as you want the bubble to be.
·
Or for a safer option you can tie two straws together with
string.
·
Mix all the bubble ingredients together and place in a
container. (better to let it settle for about an hour)
How to use
it:
Just dip
the wand into the bubble solution and either blow the bubble out or sway the
wand back and forth and watch the bubble come out. The other option which is
even cheaper is to just use your hands to make the bubbles and the kids will
love getting their hands involved. Kids love bubbles so this is a cheap and
easy way to make them yourself
Tin Can Telephone
Materials:
·
2 metal cans (clean and dry)
·
10-12 foot long piece of small diameter string
Instructions:
·
Punch a small hole into the bottom of each tin can, just big
enough for the string to go through.
·
From the
outside, insert one end of the string into the hole in one can. Tie a couple of
knots in the end of the string so that it will not slip back through when
pulled tight. Do the same with the other end of the string using the other can.
How to use
it:
With one person holding each can, stretch the
string so that it is tight. One person talking into one can sends vibrations
through the tightened string to the other can. The person with their ear to the
other can will be able to hear what was said. Kids will have so much fun with
this because it is crazy how it works and will be an interactive toy because
someone needs to play with them.
Tin can stilts
Materials:
·
2 large cans with a wide base (smaller cans will make it
harder to for them to walk on)
·
Hammer
·
Nail
·
Strong string
Instructions:
·
With the
nail, hammer two holes on opposite sides of the bottom of the cans.
·
Thread the
string trough the holes of the can.
·
Tie knot inside
the cans to secure (make sure the string is at the right length for the kid to
hold.
How to use:
The kids
must put each foot on one of the cans and walk around using the strings to hold
onto. This is very good for teaching a child balance, and it is a fun way of
doing it. It of course can only be used from age 2 so that injury is avoided.
Memory Caps
Materials:
·
52 bottle caps
·
Glue
·
Printer and paper
·
Scissors
Instructions:
·
Pick the
Letters that you want below. Print out the templates twice as you are going to
be playing a matching game in which you need 2 of every letter.
·
To attach
the letters to the bottle caps, either glue them to the top or simple insert
them inside the cap
How to
play:
Make sure
that you mix up all the caps and place them all on the opposite side to the
letter. Then place them in neat rows. Players take turns to turn over the caps
and try match up the caps with the same letters. If the person gets a match
then they keep them in a pile by them and get another turn. If there isn’t a
match then they must turn over the caps and put them back where they were. The
person with the most at the end will win. This is probably more suitable for
older children but for younger ones you can just print out some pictures to
stick on the bottle caps. It’s a good way to start introducing a child to the
alphabet and also to numbers, shapes and animals.
Hobby Horse
Materials:
·
Old broomstick
·
Sock
·
Buttons
·
Felt
·
Wool
·
Glue
·
String
·
Ribbon
Instructions:
·
Stuff a large white sock with cotton as full as possible from
heel to toe.
·
Push a discarded broomstick all the way to the heel and pack
cotton around it to make the neck. Then tie it on securely with string.
·
Add two black buttons for eyes, and sew in place two small
pieces of felt for ears.
·
Make a bridle by sewing or gluing on buttons and gluing brightly
colored ribbon on the face.
·
Then braid a long strip of yarn for the reins, and fasten this
across the toe of the sock.
· Cut
plenty of yarn in 6-inch strips for a heavy mane, and glue or sew this in place
along the seam of the sock.
How to use
it:
A lovely
toy for both genders and from 2 years up. All the child has to do is pretend
like it is a real horse and ride it while run or jumping around the house. It
is also useful for imagination and will occupy the child for many hours. It
also very useful for getting rid of an old broom.
So what do I do instead?
• Drink:
• Physical activity:
• Supplements:
