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…
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.
2. Toilet roll spider stick puppets. We loved them.
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.
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.
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.
6. Glitter sponge cakes, this craft went down a treat – a post I did for Easy Peasy Kids.
7. Make some Bush Critters with natural items, blu-tack and googly eyes. So cheap and fun.
8. Easy magic wands – we made these for a play date craft.
9. Egg carton black cat costume. This was for Halloween but my daughter loves pretending to be a black cat any time.
10. Milk bottle cap spinning tops. Miss K had fun with these.
11. Paper scrap crowns, design, make, wear, play.
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.
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.
14. She ordered me to go away and made it by herself just last week – a flying fairy car by Miss K.
15. Turn scourers and duct tape into a sponge boat for the bath or outdoor play.
16. Paper plate froggy puppets. Who doesn’t love a good paper plate craft?
17. Help the kids design and then play their own cereal box board game.
18. Toilet roll and duct tape shakers. They sound great and you can make them in less than 10 minutes.
19. Cupcake case purse. Dreamed up by Miss R and also includes some paper play money to put inside it. Cute!
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!
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