Zero cost to you or the planet

Let your toddler play with these environmentally conscious, inexpensive ‘toys’.

You don’t have to spend a fortune on toys and games to keep your child busy. You also don’t need to support toy manufacturers that use harmful materials, processes and labour practices. Why not give your child an environmentally friendly toy that teaches her something, while at the same time does some good for the world we live in? Here are some interesting and easy ways to turn household objects into entertaining toys and games for your child.

AROUND THE HOUSE 1. MINI GARDENS

Create a mini ecosystem with a big flat dish or a foil tray as the container for a miniature garden. Let your toddler fill it with soil. Decorate it with pebbles, twigs, grass and whatever else you can find. A jam jar lid sunk into the soil makes a great pond.

2. PAPER BALLS

Help your child crunch up pages of old magazines to make paper balls. Babies like the crackly noise this makes. Toddlers can throw them around to their heart’s content without breaking anything. Preschoolers can practise aiming at targets.

3. TUBE TALES

Reaching the end of the roll doesn’t mean you should throw the cardboard tube out. The cardboard rolls from toilet paper, kitchen roll and wrapping paper give hours of fun. Your baby will love watching things disappear and reappear by experimenting with rolling things through them, or shouting down them. Cardboard tubes also make perfect fancy dress accessories for your toddler’s make-believe games. Swords, telescopes or elephant trunks can easily be made from cardboard tubes – the possibilities are endless!

4. OBSTACLE COURSE

Create an adventure in your garden or lounge by setting up an obstacle course. Let your crawler climb over cushions and pillows. Help her move from stepping stone to stepping stone, crawl through a cardboard box, or balance on a bench.

5. WATER

Nothing entertains a baby or toddler as much as water. A plastic basin makes a wonderful baby paddling pool and will give your toddler hours of fun as she practises pouring and splashing. Let her dip a bucket or watering can in it and water the garden. Make paper boats to float in it. Just remember, safety first – stay close by at all times!

6. PLAYFUL PAPER

Old news can still tell many stories. Fold old newspaper into paper boats, and take them down to a pond for some fun. There are great instructions on YouTube, or trawl the rest of the internet for some other fun origami projects.

8. HOUSY HOUSY

Making a house from pushed-together furniture and draped blankets is an all-time favourite activity. Provide the necessary sheets, cushions and so on, and make sure the whole thing is stable!

9. ONCE THE SHOE FITS

You needn’t throw away old shoe boxes. They make great “bricks” with which little ones can build. Just tape the lids on, add a bit of paint, and you could make a completely recycled little house for your child. Shoe boxes also make great miniature beds for dolls and stuffed toys.