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Make Toys out of Trash

18 August 2010 2,699 views 6 Comments

by heather

Need a few minutes fuss-free? Here's a quick toy you can whip up in thirty seconds using recycled cardboard: a cardboard cell phone. I posted the tutorial over at Make and Takes. These pretend phones kept my sons busy for hours. You can make many toys out of regular cardboard; these simple toys will inspire your child's imagination and give them lots of room for pretend play. Other toys to make out of cardboard: tools, kitchen appliances, playhouses, or even figurines to play with. [how to make cardboard cell phone]

Project Estimate:

Recycled cardboard box, on hand
Pen, on hand
Heavy duty scissors, on hand

Total: FREE

Additional Resources:

Photo by Arnold Gold, NHRegister.com

Old Man Makes Cardboard Toys at New Haven Register -- I thought this was the coolest story! Check out what this man makes with cardboard. His toys are amazing and he seems like such a precious guy.
Cardboard Lego Playhouse at Make and Takes: I made this playhouse out of a yogurt box for Make & Takes - super easy and fun!

6 Comments »

Sophia said:

Considering how much my kids like cell phones, I bet this would be a hit with them! Thanks for the idea!

# 18 August 2010 at 2:51 pm

Mich L. said:

Oh, totally brilliant! Such cuteness, and I know my nephews would go nuts playing with these.

# 18 August 2010 at 11:40 pm

Amy said:

You can make cat toys for cheap too! My friends kittens love to play with a wire coathanger that has been stretched out, with a few balled-up pieces of crinkly paper skewered on like beads. They go nuts!

# 21 August 2010 at 1:43 pm

Dee said:

OMG! I can not believe this! It is awesome! However, I can not let my 5 year old see this!! She is obsessed with boxes!! She has a small stash of them in the garage and wants to get some big boxes and make a huge train out of them! I guess I will need to look around on here more so I can ‘step outside the box’ and let her get her creativity on with the boxes! She is so crafty!!!

# 22 August 2010 at 4:34 am

erisgrrrl said:

We use trash for toys ALL THE TIME! I love it!!

Nearly every cereal box, mayonaise jar, fruit pint and yogurt container gets washed out and added to my son’s “kitchen” – so much so that we don’t even buy him toy food unless it’s completely fabulous!

We also make “accessories” for his zombies, stuffed animals and dress-up outfits.

Yesterday he took an old graham cracker box and turned it into a house for his felt zombies to live in! Today he had me cut out scrap paper into zombie crowns and we made a zombie pool out of a box from clementines and some blue shorts we were going to donate to Salvation Army! I love this kind of thing and applaud EVERY parent who does this sort of thing for their kids! It’s so much more open and instills such better values than just snapping stuff up off the shelves! :D

# 22 August 2010 at 11:20 am