Homemade toys and free activities for children

Why are homemade toys good?

Homemade toys and activities help children learn and develop, because they can stimulate curiosity, creativity and imagination. They’re also great for building your relationship with your child, and they’re a lot of fun.

There are plenty of everyday things around your home that you can use for toys, games, activities and open-ended play. For example, young children usually love putting on and taking off the lids of containers, and older children often enjoy playing make-believe with old sheets and towels.

Play is the main way babies and young children learn. It’s a good idea to let your child take the lead with play, because children learn best when they’re interested in a play activity or toy.

Safe homemade toys are good toys

Make sure that the homemade toys your child plays with are safe to use.

For example, they should be:

• non-toxic
• unbreakable
• too big to be choking hazards.

Also, they shouldn’t have sharp edges.

Newborn toys and play activities

To learn and develop, your newborn baby needs warm interactions with you, more than toys.

Here are ideas for things to do and play with at home with your newborn:

• Talking and singing – your baby loves the sound of your voice, as well as your cuddles and eye contact. These activities stimulate your baby’s brain, help your baby learn, and build your relationship, all at the same time.
• Being outside – when the weather is good, your baby can feel the wind, hear the sound of birds, and smell new outdoor scents like the scent of flowers.
• Splashing in shallow water or in the bath – always keep your hands on your baby when they’re around water. Babies can drown in only a couple of centimetres of water.
• Listening to gentle music – this can soothe your baby. It can also help to make bath time relaxing and calm, especially if you follow up with a gentle massage.

Baby cues can help you know when your baby is happy to play or when they’ve had enough and want a rest. When you watch how your baby responds to different toys and play activities, you can get a good sense of what your baby enjoys and is interested in.

Baby toys and play activities

Once your baby starts to move around more, they might enjoy toys for more active play – especially with you.

For example, your baby will love to crawl all over you or grasp and shake objects to try out new movement skills. All young children need time for quiet play too, so watch for cues that your baby needs some downtime.

These DIY play ideas are free and easy for you and your baby:

• Make time for one-on-one play every day – for example, talking with your baby or counting your baby’s toes. You can make this part of routine activities like nappy-changing.
• Blow raspberries on your baby’s tummy and tickle their little toes.
• Fill an emptied, washed and dried container with rice, pasta, peas, dried pulses or even old buttons (make sure the lid is secure to avoid choking hazards). Let your baby shake the container to hear the noise it makes.
• Sing songs and nursery rhymes from your own or other cultures and languages. Babies really love these when you repeat actions like clapping hands or doing twinkling star fingers.
• Read books as part of your baby’s daily routine – for example, before bedtime. You can borrow books for free from your local library.
• Make a drum using upside-down boxes, pots or plastic tubs. Give your child a wooden spoon to bang the drum with.

Toddler toys and play activities

Toddler play is often about experimenting, observing, trying out ideas and figuring out how things work. For example, your child probably loves to ‘post’ things – often behind the couch or between car seats.

You could try these make-at-home play ideas for your toddler:

• Give your toddler pegs and a peg container. Your toddler will happily move pegs in and out of the container – over and over and over again!
• Cut pieces of cardboard into small envelopes and decorate them. You could also make a ‘post box’ by cutting slits into the front of an old ice-cream container or cardboard box.
• Make playdough and roll it into balls, pancakes, sausages and other shapes – whatever your toddler likes. Your toddler can also just squelch the playdough between their fingers.
• Put together a box of old clothes for dress-ups or pretend play. You could also make costumes out of household bits and pieces, like cardboard boxes, foil, fabric scraps and so on.
• Make a treasure box. This is a simple box or container filled with everyday items and natural materials, like different sized and textured balls or scraps of paper, shells or leaves. Your toddler will have fun discovering what’s inside.
• Go for outdoor play in the backyard, local playground, beach or park.

Find more ideas for homemade toys and free activities in our article on creative activities for toddler learning and development.

Preschooler toys and play activities

You could try these ideas with your child. They’re fun and will also help with your child’s fine motor skills and gross motor skills:

• Show your child how to stuff scrunched up paper or material scraps into old stockings to make creatures like snakes or caterpillars.
• Give your child a container or cardboard box and show them how to clip pegs around the edges or sort the pegs by colours.
• Make sock puppets with old socks. Sew on buttons or paste other bits of material for eyes, nose and hair.
• Give your child old cardboard boxes to turn into cars, cubbyhouses, shop counters, kitchen stoves and more.
• Get your child started on collage with paper, glue and things to stick. This might be things like pictures cut out of catalogues, scraps of paper, ribbon or fabric, natural materials and so on.
• Set up a ball run with your child. This involves making ramps and routes for balls out of cardboard or other household items.
• Visit the local park or take a walk in your local neighbourhood. You could even turn this into a nature walk, listening walk or treasure hunt.
• Play simple word-spotting games, counting games and memory games.

Check out our article on creative activities for preschooler learning and development. It has a lot of ideas for using everyday objects to make fun new homemade toys.

Toys and play activities for kids aged 5-8 years

Keep your child stimulated with these simple toy and activity ideas:

• Find some big, old boxes and see what your child can do with them. They could be a boat, rocket ship or hide-out. You could ask your local supermarket or electrical retailer if they have boxes you could take home.
• Cook with your child – start with simple family favourites.
• Let your child invite a friend over for a short playdate.
• Turn old sheets into a tent by draping them over the backs of chairs, or make a cubbyhouse by draping a sheet over the edges of the table.
• Let your child help you with small household chores and tasks. Children often enjoy collecting the mail, helping to fold clean washing or watering the garden.
• Encourage your child to do activities that solve everyday problems. For example, your child could make a small basket for house keys so the keys don’t get lost.
• Play word games. For example, make up silly rhymes and riddles.
• Make a family story book with your child, using family photos and drawings.