Ideas for play if you're fed up with prefab toys

[Sanne Panne]

Our kids (1 and 3) have a very short attention span with toys, especially the 3 year old. Nothing new so far I guess.

The biggest hit of this summer has been a pampers box turned into a robot "head" using scissors, paint and egg boxes.

What other things are nice to keep (like empty toilet rolls, old t-shirts etc) and what can you do with them?

I think a mum on this forum even has a blog about a similar topic, would love to find the link back but would be extremely appreciative of individual ideas in this thread as well.

Masking tape makes a nice hopscotch court on a wooden floor. You can make a zoo/aquarium by sticking cuttings in a shoe box. You can make a sailing boat with cocktail sticks, pieces of paper and food trays. But that's about all I remember from 30+ years ago...

Thanks!

[sparkle]

Make snakes out of egg boxes- cut around the egg cup bits, paint/ put upside down so flat bit is at the top and piece hole through the sides, put string through them all like making a necklace, maybe some stick on eyes for the front... hope that makes sense. It worked really well in our house, and you can add more egg box bits as the weeks go by and make it as long as you like!

make your own playdough- really simple- think we do something like 2 cups of plain flour, 1 cup salt, 2 teaspoons cream of tartar, 1-2 tablespoons cooking oil, 1 cup boiling water. lasts for ages in an air tight cup.

cornflour gloop- as nappy lady suggested- so much fun!- don't think it really matters how much water to cornflour you use, then add colour

we also make this slime which is like the slime you can buy- doensn't leave fingers sticky and can be easily wiped up. can look up the recipe if anyone interested? Includes pva and also borax (Which by itself is an irritant, but is fine all mixed in- you can buy it from a j farmer)

those big cardboard crates they store the fruit in at Sainsburys are great for using as cars/ boats to move around on the floor

making a den with bed sheets and tables and chairs

making hats/ crowns out of old cereal boxes

[anna_r]

Great thread.

Heres one we did last week: Make necklaces and bracelets out of pasta shapes and bits of string. Can paint them first. Look for fun pasta shapes in different supermarkets. I bought cool little round ones that look like wheels which are good for this.

Also potato stamps. New potatoes are good. Adult cuts out hearts/diamonds etc then just let loose with paint in a plastic lid.

[born&brED]

Great ideas!

Today my 20 month old and I have been using the cardboard tube (very thick and sturdy) from a roll of carpet to send dried pasta, rice, lentils etc whizzing down into a box at the other end. Also scoops (like ones you get in washing powder), funnels (half a squash bottle), cups, tubes and toy diggers in the dried-up water tray with the pasta etc.

While the weather's still nice, make the most of messy play out doors - shaving foam, jelly, cooked and coloured spaghetti, bubbles and corn flour 'gloop' are all great in trays (try a flat 'builders tray' - ones they use for cement). Add plastic bugs, brushes, sticks, scoops, jars, wheels etc and you may even get to put your feet up fpr a while - if you resist joining in yourself, of course!

Sanne Panne - I don't know if this is the blog you had in mind, but there is a local mum who has this blog - it's absolutely excellent for play ideas from birth to 5+. All the ideas are easy to carry out, cheap and usually using things already in the home. Most posts are usefully categorised under headings. I'll also really recommend this to nannies, childminders and nursery workers as each post links to areas of the EYFS. Enjoy!

[AliM]

When the weather's good we put our old baby bath outside, partly filled with water, couple of drops of food colouring and a bit of washing up liquid and they splash around for hours.

We have also had success with a mini "assault course" in the garden; couple of chairs covered with a sheet to climb underneath, hop or jump over some sticks or bits of paper, run 3 times round the tree, pick up a ball and throw it in to the waste paper basket.

[darlin']

Ah thanks Born&BrED for mentioning my blog! There are some fab ideas already listed in all the answers above, love them!

I write mainly about the play ideas and activities that I do with my 1 and nearly 3 year old at home. I was a reception teacher in ED so probably taught some of your kiddies a few years ago. Nowadays I have to keep myself from going mental and because my nearly 3 year old sounds *exactly* like yours Sanne Panne- interested in toys for all of 20 mins!

Hope some of the ideas can be helpful, but please know this is not all we do all day every day and we still have all the usual strops, tantrums and tv days (ummm, a lot!)

x

[Pickle]

On nice days my two love "painting" the house/playhouse/bikes/deck - I just give them a bucket of water and some paint brushes, it keeps them entertained for ages.

[Sanne Panne]

Thanks so much, loving all the replies, thanks all for the great ideas and yes darlin's was the blog I was referring to!

Pickle, we just spent a week in Holland at my parents' house where everything is always allowed and one morning I was having breakfast while my 3yo "washed" the massive back window with a dustpan brush with mud ("it's water mum, there's just a bit of sand in the wheelbarrow too"). My 79 year old dad said it was all good as "he had to clean the windows next week anyway". Liar. Aaaahhh grandparents' houses where everything is allowed... :)