Homemade Toys

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.