During my free time, I would think of ways how to create toys from what I already have which my son would enjoy as much (or even more!) than the toys which I purchase form the local toy stores.
Here are a few of my 'homemade with love' games!
1. Cups and water.
If you have plenty of small containers good enough to scoop a hand full or a cup full of water, these are the items you will need. I have food containers with I had lost their lids, or disposable yoghurt cup containers which are ever so colourful (very attractive for those little kiddies), old party paper cups which you were not able to use but don't plan to use it anymore because you would rather get new ones and also spoons.
Get a few of these items. Lay them on the ground. Fill a small basin/ pail of water as a source of water, maybe fill One Litre of water. (NOTE: Always watch your kids when they have a pail of water with them. You don't want them to have any misadventure/ drowning/ choking. It is not a fun thing to experience)
Then let the fun begin! The 'aim' is to fill up the small containers with water from the pail of water by scooping water from the pail to other containers using anyone of the containers. Usually I would show my son what I want him to do and he would follow my steps and then start to experiment on new 'techniques' to transfer water from the source to the tiny containers.
These activity enhances their hand eye coordination as they need these skills to succesfully pour the water into the containers. I know it sounds rather like a waste of time and has no purpose but I believe it is a chance for my kid to learn how water moves and flow from one container to the other, how certain containers could hold water better while some can't.
You can also add come natural food colouring to the water and turn it into a colour lesson as well =)
2. Homemade Play Doh!
Why need to buy Play Doh when you can make your own dough at home!
All you need is glutinous rice flour and water. Ratio: 2 cups glutinous rice flour, 1 cup water, a table spoon of oil. Mix well and tadah! Your edible, safe and natural dough for your kids to play!
You can add a few drops of natural colouring to create coloured doughs as the flour is white.
You can teach them how to make shapes, make alphabets, numbers or just free style and let them explore the texture of the dough.
One thing to remember is that your home made dough does not contain any preservatives so after your kids are done with the dough, it would be better to dispose it because it can start to harbour bacteria after a while and will go bad just like ordinary food.
Thinking of more ideas soon!
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