• Crafts & Activities
    • DIY Toys
    • Holiday Crafts
    • General Crafts
    • Art ideas
    • Gift ideas
    • Learning and science
    • Play
    • Recipes
    • Nature
  • Printables
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy / Disclosure
  • Shop
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter

The Craft Train

Crafty ideas for kids and parents

You are here: Home / Crafts and Activities / DIY Toys / 20 Ways to Craft & Play

20 Ways to Craft & Play

February 13, 2014 By Kate Leave a Comment

This post may contain affiliate links. I may receive commissions for purchases made through links in this post at no cost to you.

FacebookPin

Picture

 
I love a good kids craft that can be played with afterwards, don’t you? There’s something very rewarding about making your own toys. It’s true that things made from toilet rolls, boxes, bottle caps and cans tend not to last as long as good quality store-bought toys (note that I said good quality) but I find that the store bought toys usually lose their novelty value quickly anyway and just become more clutter on the shelf. Plus, kids get a huge sense of achievement and have a unique one-of-a-kind item that they made themselves (usually with a bit of help from Mum). We here at The Craft Train love crafting for play so much that I have rounded up 20 of our favourite projects to share with you. I have included among them the crafts that my kids have played with most of all. Hopefully you’ll find something that spikes your kiddo’s interests somewhere in there…

Picture

 
1. This cardboard box castle was made about a year ago and has been played with so much by both my kids. This is a real winner as far as play value goes, they still have it in their bedroom but after a year’s solid play it’s starting to look pretty shabby and we have some new boxes lined up for more castle-making fun soon. Yep, we’re making them again.

Picture

 
2. Toilet roll spider stick puppets. We loved them.

Picture

 
3. Clay cookies. These were actually magnets gone wrong, but we had fun anyway and the girls got a few toy tea parties out of them before the sprinkles spoiled and they went in the bin.

Picture

 
4. Cardboard rainbow angel wings. Sure it’s a Christmas craft, but pretend play can be fun all year round. The girls’ two sets of wings are in their dress up box and still get played with regularly.

Picture

 
5. You may have seen my fancy-looking red and blue version of this egg carton train floating around on Pinterest, it’s one of our most popular pins. This is a picture of the adorable one my then-3 year old made with some help from me. The kids played with these and stored them in with their wooden train set for at least six months before they got stomped on, broken and tossed in the recycling.

Picture

 
6. Glitter sponge cakes, this craft went down a treat – a post I did for Easy Peasy Kids.

Picture

 
7. Make some Bush Critters with natural items, blu-tack and googly eyes. So cheap and fun.

Picture

 
8. Easy magic wands – we made these for a play date craft.

Picture

 
9. Egg carton black cat costume. This was for Halloween but my daughter loves pretending to be a black cat any time. 

Picture

 
10. Milk bottle cap spinning tops. Miss K had fun with these.

Picture

 
11. Paper scrap crowns, design, make, wear, play.

Picture

 
12. Our bushfire-inspired egg carton fire truck. I made this for the kids when bushfires devastated the street my parents live in. It’s a hard thing for little kids to understand but playing with firetrucks while you are hearing them screaming up the highway somehow helps a little.

Picture

 
13. Tin Can Golf. Complete with obstacles made from recycled cracker boxes, it’s entirely possible I had more fun than the kids playing with this one.

Picture

 
14. She ordered me to go away and made it by herself just last week – a flying fairy car by Miss K.

Picture

 
15. Turn scourers and duct tape into a sponge boat for the bath or outdoor play.

Picture

 
16. Paper plate froggy puppets. Who doesn’t love a good paper plate craft?

Picture

 
17. Help the kids design and then play their own cereal box board game.

Picture

 
18. Toilet roll and duct tape shakers. They sound great and you can make them in less than 10 minutes.

Picture

 
19. Cupcake case purse. Dreamed up by Miss R and also includes some paper play money to put inside it. Cute!

Picture

 
20. Last but definitely not least are our balloon puppies. Another Miss R invention, it is hard to say just how much my kids adored these little pups. Miss R even insisted on taking hers to pre-school the next day. She was extremely proud of ‘Magic’, as she named her. Go on, make one!
Thanks for visiting The Craft Train. If you liked this post you might like to follow our blog! You can follow through any of the social media links below or via bloglovin or instagram.
 

 

 
FacebookPin
Glitter Lid Suncatcher Mobile
Ipad Photography – Fun Tips for Kids

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Spring animal bundle

Spring animal paper crafts for kids

Dinosaur crafts ebook

12 paper plate dinosaur crafts for kids

Australian animal crafts

Australian paper plate animals – easy craft templates for kids
  • Kate GronoKate GronoCrazy Craft Fanatic

    I’m basically a big kid who never grew up and still loves to muck around with paint, glitter, glue and toilet rolls. With the crafts shared here on this website I’m hoping to give other parents and carers inspiration to get crafty with their kids at home – make our projects, or use them as a source of inspiration to spark ideas of your own. When it comes to crafting no rules apply!

NEWSLETTER SUBSCRIPTION

Copyright © 2023 · Pretty Creative On Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in