DIY Toys for your Baby

We all know that small kids are synonymous with toys that make their childhood fun and interesting. Be it a day, night, festival, or any occasion, they simply don’t care except the toys which are their dear possessions. We all loved toys in our childhood and have several memories related to them. Today, if we go out and look around, there are tons of variety of toys available and we cannot afford it all the time. Because every time these little ones want something new to explore!

So, here are some DIY Toys that are easy to make and also enable learning experience for your babies:

Colorful Sensory Bottles or Calming Jars

Calming Jars or Sensory Bottles are one of the easiest DIYs to make toys at home. They are useful toys to calm down children when they are a bit annoyed or crying. Calming Jars are helpful for any age group to soothe and relax, be it a child or adult who is going through stress on anxiety. It helps an individual to meditate, self regulate their emotions and calm themselves.

Material Required: Clear pet bottles, water beads, glitters, water pom poms, sequins, gems, water, small toys (easily get inside the bottle), baby oil, food coloring (optional)

How to make:

• Take any mini pet bottles available and remove all the labels on it.
• Fill the bottle half with water.
• Add half a cup of baby oil in it.
• Add colorful items (beads, pom poms, glitters, small toys, etc.) of your choice in the bottle.
• Then add a few drops of food color to it which is completely optional.
• Close the bottle with its cap tightly.
• Now, let your child lightly swirl the jar and enjoy his/her new toy.

Caterpillar Soft Toy

Soft Toys are the most-loved plaything by kids which are really soft and fluffy. It comes in different shapes and sizes according to every age group of the children. Here, we will learn how to make easy caterpillar toys at home.

Material Required: Mid-calf socks or adult socks, cotton for stuffing, pipe cleaner, tiny elastic rubber bands, plastic eyes for toys, glue

How to make:

• Insert a good amount of cotton to make a huge ball in the sock to make the head of the caterpillar.
• Make as many balls in the descending order according to the size of the sock. This means the head should be bigger followed by other balls slightly smaller to one after them.
• After every stuffing of the ball, tie them with a rubber band to hold everything in place.
• Leave the little end of the sock to give it a shape of the tail.
• Wrap the pipe cleaner over the first rubber band secured to tie the ball, twist their ends into a spiral shape to give the shape of the caterpillar antennae.
• Stick the eyes with glue at the front of the ball (toe of the socks).
• Finally, you can surprise your little one with this amazing DIY.

Musical Shakers

Babies and toddlers love different types of sounds, music, visuals to explore around themselves and for that purpose musical shakers are the best kind of toys. It helps in their brain development to become faster and familiar with sounds. It will enable learning experience for your cutie.

Material Required: Plastic bottle, colorful ribbons, colorful pom poms, rice grains or pasta shells, screwdriver

How to make:

• Take a plastic bottle (prefer good quality of plastic) and remove labels from it.
• Insert colorful pom poms into the bottle.
• Add the rice grains that will make noise when the bottle will be shaken. Prefer plain white grains so it will not detract from the colors.
• Make a small hole with the screwdriver in the middle of the cap. The size of the hole should be big enough to thread the ribbons through it.
• Now, take different colored ribbons and pass it through the hole of the cap. Further, tie the rainbow ribbons in a tight and thick knot so that it can be secured into the cap and not pass out from it.
• Finally, secure the bottle with the cap tightly and you’re good to go.

Rattle Drum

Rattle Drums is another favorite thing of toddlers to explore sound.

Material Required: Two cardboard circles, stickers, unsharpened pencil, two beads/buttons, scissors, glue, paint colors, paint brush, small pieces of cardboard squares (6, same size), string/yarn, cello tape

How to make:

• Take the two cardboard circles and paint them with your favorite color.
• Paste your favorite stickers (Star-shaped, heart-shaped, etc.) on two of them to make it look attractive.
• Tape a piece of string/yarn in the middle of both the circles. Keep in mind that there should be equal lengths of strings on each side.
• Further, take a piece of square cardboard and paste it in the middle of the circle with the help of glue. Set the ridges in a way that they are perpendicular to the string.
• Now fix the pencil in the middle of the cardboard piece by placing one end of the pencil in the center with glue.
• Then, layer another piece of cardboard square onto the first one and stick it on the top of the pencil.
• Now place the other two squares on each side of your pencil. To level them equally place one more onto another on both sides.
• Smear glue on the squares and the other circle and place it on the top. Let everything dry.
• Then knot the beads/buttons to each side of the drum. Triple knot them, to secure them tightly. The strings should not be too long and beads should hang on each side evenly.
• It’s the time to twirl your drum once everything dries up.
• Woohoo, you’re so creative!

Note: Please make sure to watch your baby while playing with toys, especially with the ones having little objects attached to them for safety purposes.

Hence, you got some amazing ideas for easy DIYs, now try them and play with them along with your little one!