Homemade Toys for Babies

AnnaLicious_2

Does anyone have advice on homemade toys for babies? For example, my 4 month old loves a empty diet coke bottle I filled with dried pasta and rice. And in the car, she loves smacking her feet on a half-empty wipe pack - she loves crinkling noises.

When she's sitting up, I have been recommended shoe boxes with things like corn flakes, cotton wool and dried pasta for texture. And also smashing up jelly with her hands.

Any recommendations until she's sitting up? If there's a thread on here already, could someone kindly direct me? Thanks!

elfen

Have you got a mat she can go on - a babygym? Or could you make a simple one...get a fleecy blanket, fold it over a few times....get/make a thing to go over, and hang different things on it...rattle...bell....crinkly thing

onlyroz

My kids love things like old telephones or tv hand-sets.

Bufger

jingling car keys always work, just make sure they dont have any small keys on them and dont let them put them in their mouth (this is a challenge in itself).

Mrs_Toast

Do you have a Children's Centre near you? My local one is very inventive with homemade toys and I get a lot of great ideas from them. They have natural sponges for texture and often make a den out of two mats and a blanket. My DS loves this especially as rattles sound different inside it. They also have lots of tubes or bottles filled with all sorts of things, balls, feathers, glitter as well as pasta.

Hope this helps.:)

Bitsy_Beans

You may or may not have heard of something called Treasure Baskets - these are generally used by children who can sit unaided and it's a variety of materials from the home that have a sensory experience.
Some suggestions on what to put into the basket on the link attached:
http://www.netmums.com/things/Treasure_baskets.1950/

Hope that gives you some inspiration

Curious_George_2

its not a toy, but it will save you a few quid on teethers...(as she looks about the right age to start wanting to gnaw on things)
get the smallest thinnest muslin cloth you have and tie a knot in each corner, its a great teether as they can really bite hard on the knots, the drool gets soaked up by the cloth and they are very easy to wash (and replace with a new one)

skintchick

My DD is 9 months so a bit older but things she has are:

a laminated set of house details (we are house hunting) which she chews and 'reads' and loves more than any of her real toys! :rotfl:

a large biscuit/cake/chocolates tin to hit with her hands, sometimes I give her a wooden spoon to use with this

various plastic bowls to stack up (just bowls I use for cooking, you could use tupperware) and to also put things in and take out of

balled-up baby socks. She loves to play with these and chew them

small plastic bottle with beans in as a shaker/rattle (seal up well though)

PLastic gift cards (like credit cards, what they give you instead of vouchers for shops these days) which she chews and looks at

my purse

Oh and you mentioned giving her things like pasta, but be careful of giving her dried pasta etc in case she put sit in her mouth and swallows it - always supervise her (although I'm sure you do!)

Not all of these will be suitable right now but maybe for the future.

onlyroz

skintchick wrote: »

my purse

Yes, the times I've had my credit cards scattered over the floor :eek:
My daughter has a thing for shoes (which she'll wander off with and hide behind the sofa) and coats (which she'll drag off and snuggle up into). Her favourite toy is daddy's computer keyboard - he turns off the monitor when it's not in use and she'll tap away causing all sorts of havoc with it :rotfl: Needless to say, she doesn't get anywhere near my laptop

Indie_Kid

onlyroz wrote: »

Her favourite toy is daddy's computer keyboard - he turns off the monitor when it's not in use and she'll tap away causing all sorts of havoc with it :rotfl: Needless to say, she doesn't get anywhere near my laptop

I was at a friends' house and we were doing stuff on my laptop. He picked up his 4 year old and sat him on his lap. My laptop just happened to be in front of the 4 year old. He then went to hit it like it was a drum.:rotfl:My friends' response ot that was "no, we don't do that" and put him back on the floor.

A cardbox box? (which is always better than the toy the box came in:p)

pigpen

Mine loved crisp packets.

Careful with dry pasta.. some of it is coated in unpasteurised egg and it may not be entirely healthy!

A glittery handbag was a fave in here..

a shoelace with things threaded on it.. bells, keys, curtain rings without hooks!.. all sorts.

Spoons.. they are the most interesting of items!!

Shoes and hats.. or maybe I just have odd children lol