As a foster carer or parent, providing enriching play experiences for children doesn’t have to be expensive or require specialist toys. Simple household items can be repurposed into open-ended toys that let children engage in imaginative play and build key developmental skills. With just a little creativity, you can upcycle things around your home into fun DIY toys for children of all ages.
Get Crafty with Cardboard Boxes
Cardboard boxes of all sizes offer endless play potential. Help younger children transform boxes into cars, rockets, robots, or whatever their imagination dreams up by letting them colour, paint and decorate the boxes. Older children can engineer elaborate structures by taping boxes together or use scissors to cut windows, shapes or holes to customise their cardboard creation. Supervise as needed for safety.
Build with Recycled Containers
Plastic food containers, lids, bottles, jars, paper towel tubes, egg cartons and more become construction materials. Let your children stack containers and tubes to build towers and sculptures or thread lids onto poles to make bead mazes. Mix and match materials for open-ended building fun that boosts creativity. You might even want to get together with other foster carers and children from Orange Grove Foster Care, asking them to donate materials for the activity.
DIY Sensory Bins from Household Items
Fill plastic bins or shallow boxes with dry pantry staples like rice, pasta, beans or sand to create engaging sensory play for infants and toddlers under close supervision. Add plastic funnels, cups and spoons for scooping and pouring practice. For older children, provide craft supplies like pom poms to sort and pattern make.
Design Den Building Areas
Provide sheets, blankets, scarves, and clothespins for children to construct cosy forts and dens. The open-ended setup lets them develop spatial awareness and cooperation skills with siblings or housemates as they engineer their dens.
Get Dramatic with Dress-Ups
Keep a box or trunk of donated clothes like jackets, hats, bags, and jewellery for children to roleplay and engage their dramatic flair. Let them rummage through the dress-up box to create costumes, characters, and skits. Add props like torches or old phones to inspire imaginative narratives. Dress-up play builds self-expression, storytelling abilities, and social skills.
Craft Your Own Musical Instruments
Make your own shakers, drums, and strum sticks for a homemade band. Fill empty containers with beans, pasta, pebbles or buttons then seal to make shakers. Stretch rubber bands around an empty tissue box or coffee container to craft guitars for strumming. Provide wooden spoons and pot lids for banging out rhythms. Making instruments lets children explore sound and melody creation through open-ended musical play.
Get Sporty with Everyday Items
An old sheet becomes a parachute for group games. Crumpled paper gets tossed into laundry baskets for basket toss challenges. Use sofa cushions for rock climbing practice or holding competitions. Open-ended play with household items builds physical abilities, cooperation skills, and sportsmanship.
With everyday household items, foster carers and parents can fashion an array of open-ended DIY toys that nurture children’s development through hands-on play. Simple materials inspire endless creativity and imagination without costing a fortune. Making toys together also builds bonds and is an enriching activity for the whole family.
