Homemade Toys

Our curriculum provides many lessons where we make homemade toys, books, and activities with parents. Parents are often encouraged and excited to make these for their children and often comment that their child enjoys these toys more than their expensive store bought toys. Recent research has been done on popular baby/children's toys and products tested have some discouraging findings, and parents are surprised to learn that the expensive electronic toys are not necessarily what they seem. I have shared the information about television, baby DVDs, toys with sound, battery operated toys (and other toys that are not open ended) as well as other toy related research. Parents note that their child usually likes the box the toy came in better than the toy itself. I encourage parents that when they do purchase toys, to buy toys that will grow with their child and are open ended. This past month my parents and I have made many different things. We have made a feed the clown box (encouraging problem solving and motor skills), a "shake rattle and roll" rattle ( a rolling rattle that encourages crawling), a tracking toy (encourages tracking), chips in a can (for motor development and problem solving skills), a face stabile (babies are attracted to simple patterns and contrast), a bat mobile (to encourage gross motor development, hand eye coordination, and problem solving skills), a pat mat (for tummy time) and many baggie books. Parents appreciate these opportunities to learn inexpensive, or free, ways to make developmentally appropriate toys for their children, and I really enjoy making these with parents! JT