There’s no denying the fact that kids love toys.
And that’s not a bad thing. As a parent, you probably know that play is incredibly important to your child’s development and growth!
Still, there may be times when you’ve watched them play with a toy – one that doesn’t require much imagination – and wondered whether they were actually getting anything out of the interaction.
If you’ve gotten to this point, you might consider suggesting to your child that they make their own brand new toy. Fortunately, making your own toy is easier than you think!
Here, we’ll take a look at three toy- or game-building activities you can do with your child that will leave them excited and asking for more. As we discuss each, we’ll explain the materials needed, the process for making the project, and the educational benefits of each project.
Let’s get started.
Paper Towel Tube Airplane
Through this simple project, your child can build their own toy airplane to add to their toy collection.
Materials
For this project, you’ll need:
- A paper towel tube (or a toilet paper tube)
- Empty cereal boxes or thin cardboard
- Masking tape
- A paper cup
- Paint, markers, or crayons
- Scissors
- Card stock
- Extra decorations
Directions
- Have your child paint or color the paper towel tube and cardstock (and the cardboard, if using it)
- Help your child cut out wings and a tail from the cereal box or cardboard (Hint: You should do this beforehand, then have your child trace your patterns and cut out their pieces.)
- Roll the cardstock into a cone to be used as the nose of the plane. Help your child tape it to the front of the paper towel tube
- Parent: Make two slits on either side of the tube (for the wings), and one slit on top of the backside of the tube (for the tail)
- Help your child slide the wings and tail into the corresponding slits
- Now, your child can decorate the plane as they wish (ex: Streamers on the wings and tail, etc.)
Benefits
This activity will foster creativity in your child, as well as strengthen their ability to persevere through a multi-step project – withholding “fun” until they’ve completed the project.
While the toy obviously isn’t going to fly like a “real” plane, you can also use this opportunity to introduce your child to simple physics concepts (such as why putting a nose on the plane helps it fly).
Angry Birds Bowling/Carnival Game
Though Angry Birds isn’t nearly as popular as it once was, your kiddo will probably still get a kick out of making their very own real-life version of the game.
Materials
For this project, you’ll need:
- Paint (green, white, red/pink, yellow, black)
- 6-10 empty cans
- Card stock
- Large and small paint brushes
- Small red playground ball
Directions
- Use the large paint brush to paint the cans with a coat of green paint; let dry.
- Parent: Create circular tracer for eyes and mouth, triangular tracer for bird nose.
- Help child create faces on the cans to look like the “pigs” from the game. (Two eyes, snout, and open mouth). Allow them to be creative if they choose to do so.
- Trace the Angry Bird face on the red ball, again allowing your child to take the reins.
- Let the items dry for a full day before playing.
- To play, either set the cans up like bowling pins, or stack them in a pyramid shape, and let your kiddo have at it!
Benefits
This activity will strengthen your child’s fine motor skills and gross motor skills at different points of the process. When tracing, painting, and filling in the shapes on the cans and ball, your child will be working with fine motor skills. When actually playing the game, they’ll be working on their gross motor skills as they aim and throw the ball at the cans.
Additionally, your child will need to use patience during this project, as they will need to wait a day for the paint to dry before they’re able to play.
Homemade Rain Stick
All kids love making noise, right? Here, your child will create their very own musical instrument – and maybe conjure up some rain clouds in the process!
Materials
For this project, you’ll need:
- A thick tube of cardboard or plastic (like the kind posters are delivered in)
- A hammer
- Panel pins or very thin nails
- Beans, rice, beads, etc.
- A4 paper
- Glue
- Assorted decorations
Directions
- Parent: Hammer the pins/nails into the tube at random spots (you can allow your child to help, but use discretion)
- Have your child fill the tube with the beans (or whatever you chose to use), then seal the top
- Help your child glue the A4 paper around the tube. Make two layers to ensure the pins/nails aren’t poking out from the tube at all.
- After the glue dries, allow your child to decorate the outside of the tube however they like (Using markers or crayons, feathers, patterned paper, etc.)
- Show your child how to slowly turn the tube to “make it rain”
Benefits
Along with honing your child’s fine motor skills and harnessing their creativity, this project can add to your child’s understanding of the world of music. You can help your child create new rhythms, increase or decrease the tempo of the “rain” falling, and generally bring them to see that music is all around us.
Additionally, you can also use this activity as a springboard for learning about other cultures, and how different cultures make music in different ways. You can back up this understanding by teaching them about other parts of different cultures, such as cuisine.
Next Steps
If your little one enjoyed making their own toys at home, they’ll really get a kick out of some of the things we make at Camp Little Engineer. Through our week-long day camp, your child will not only have a ton of fun, but they’ll learn a lot about the world around them in the process.
Registration is currently open, so be sure to get them signed up for summer camp as soon as possible. Hope to see you soon!