Cheap toys for Baby???.........

HappySad

When you do have some money you can try out your local charity shops. Also you can swap toys with your mum friends. You can ask around all your friends and family for toys that their children have out grown. Also the NCT run nearly new sales thoughout the UK.. http://www.nctpregnancyandbabycare.com/events.asp?show=nns

The library is free and your child should be able to join with her own library card and get board books out. My son from baby, loved looking at the pictures while I talked about them.

Recycle all those kitchen plastic containers and use them for rattles or say for pouring water in the bath.

Your borough might have a toy library which is just like a normal library except you borrow toys. The one I go to is just £5 to join and you can borrow two toys for two weeks. You pay the membership fee only once.

pdoff

re. bath toys - my 3 yr old son has loads as i love charity shops & car boots, but his favourite bath toys are the measuring jug i use to rinse his hair & an empty baby shampoo bottle he can squirt water with! he also likes the plastic razor from the veet bladeless razor kit so he can pretend to shave like daddy.

ummiesbump

put some sparkle bits, sequins and glitter in a drinks bottle, fill with water and glue the lid on - they children love it and older ones like to make them themselves. You can also add food colouring or make different 'dry' bottles with different things in like corks, feathers, bits of paper or material, rice, peas etc. great for exploring. black food colouring and silver glitter makes a fascinating one.

My daughter (turned one on Wednesday) loves to empty things, so try filling a small bucket with lots of her own little toys and it may take her 20 minutes to empty it and look at each thing. Only takes a second to put it back when they've finished. If you have a couple of containers with very different things in (say one plastic, 1 houshold items, 1 fabric) then you can do a quick changeover for a longer effect.

Gingham_Ribbon

My son wanted constant attention at that stage too. What helped us was sorting through his toys and giving away the ones he was too old for. We just kept a few that he did use then we rotated them. No strict order or anything, we had a box of stuff hidden away, one in his room and one downstairs and swapped them about. Then he was less bored with the toys he had. (We still do it.)

Toy swaps are a great idea if you know some other mums. And I don't know what we'd do without our library! He has loved his books from being days old. The board ones are great but if she's using them without direct supervision, the ones with flaps and things to pull will get ripped up!

And containers with bits and bobs to take out and put back in are a great idea. We had some cheap plastic tubs with lids that he spent ages playing with.

bobsa1

Try putting some plastic carrier bags inside another bag, plastic or you could make a drawstring one out of a bit of fabric, tie it to the back of a chair and let the baby sit in his bouncer and kick it. They love the noise. Also if you have any camera film posts these are good for stacking and rolling.

I also use to put my children in front of the washer when it was on & also turn the tv to black and white. they find it more interesting.

You could also make a couple of beanbags, just small hand size ones. They can be used for years!

getcarter

I went to car boot sales, lots of lovely toys going cheap, then I just rotated them - I tried not to get toys with batteries and wooden bricks were always my best buy!

ALI1973

There is a way to get a regular supply of different toys for FREE, check your local library for details of the TOY LIBRARY, most areas have one it is usually a big bus where you go and select toys which you then return a week or so later and get different ones.

I also toy swapped with other mums from my postnatal group, and of course welcomed friends childrens outgrown toys. Sometimes you cannot believe what some people would otherwise throw in the bin!

If you do have a few spare pounds ASDA do a good range of toys quite cheaply (some of the toys Ive seen in ELC for at least twice he ASDA cost), or there is always E-Bay!

HTH
Love Ali