How to stimulate your baby's development with home made toys

The following DIY toys were made by Vicky Ellison with bits and pieces she found in her household and garage. They are really easy to make and provide hours of fun for your baby / toddler to explore a particular developmental stage.

1) Glitter Bottle
Basically just an empty drinks bottle filled with a colourful liquid (diluted dish washing liquid is quite cool) and some glitter. Is great for young babies to explore how the glitter moves inside the bottle and reflects the light. Make sure the bottle is well closed and doesn't leak (not suitable for toddlers who have worked out how to open bottles).
 

2) Rattle Bag
This little toy is made from fruit bags and bottle caps - lots of colours and shapes. Great for babies to rattle and explore shapes - having the net bag around the bottle caps prevents babies from putting the caps in their mouths.
 

 

3) Tissue Tin
Use an old tin with a plastic lid (e.g. instant coffee tends to come in these) and cut a wide slit in at the top. You can then fill the tin with lots of old pieces of fabric, cloth tissues, handkerchiefs etc which are knotted together to make a line. Your baby can now pull the cloths through the opening at the top ... one by one. When they are all done you just put them back in the tin and the game starts from scratch. Much easier than putting paper towells or wipes back in the box ...

4) Roll-Around Bottle
You can make this simple toy to drag around the floor by cutting 2 big drinks bottles in half and using the top end of both of them. Put some interesting shapes inside thread a shoe lace through the bottle tops on either end and seal in the middle with tape. You can now knot a few shoe laces together to make a leash that your baby or toddler can drag around the room.

-Stefan