Handmade Toys

I will put this up as a thread, though I have no ideas at the moment I leave it to others to start it off.

Right I will start this,

Get some wood offcuts from the local wood merchant/carpenter, cut them into block size, smooth off & paint, result- nice building blocks for tots to play with.

My children were really lucky because their dad was great at making new toys from bits and pieces. They had a series of houses, shops and a puppet theatre made from the cartons which fridges and other white goods are packed in. (We got the boxes from the supplier - we didn't have to keep buying fridges!!)

Have been inspired...

I have found an ideal bookcase to make a dolls house with, just need some money to get a few bits and pieces like the ply...I have lots of pieces of material and wallpaper. The only thing I am not sure on is what glue to use to stick these to a melamine bookcase??

But that will have to wait as I do need some pennies and I haven't got any...

But in the meantime...I have 2 bedside units, unused and unloved....lots of pretty paint...some more pretty material...and some time....so will be making them into a cooker and matching unit Just need to find some play food and a couple of pans cheap...they laready have plates etc that came with a tea set.

So wish me luck, hopefully it will turn out good!

For the pans, take a good look round you. Also charity shops often have that sort of thing for a pence.

Lots of patterns for play food,

Melamine, rough it up first, but not too sure which glue.

Or put fabric/paper onto a card base & stick card base to unit with double sided tape,easy to redecorate then.

I know of lots of crochet patterns for play food

I have problems where I can't follow patterns or any type of instructions, kind of a do not compute sort of thing But was told that Tesco's have a massive vbasket of play food for a fiver, so when I am next in there I will grab it....and charity shops here are awful! So expensive so will hold tight till carboots

Thanks!

hmmm, I wonder if I should make a few Ami fruit and veg for the marketplace..

Ami fruits would be delightful. My DW makes Ami foods, and other things, too. We have an octopus on the front dash of the van currently. He so often agrees with our opinions while driving, lol.

As for the laminate, try contact adhesive. The kind you apply to both surfaces individually, then when tacky, apply together. That's akin to how laminates go down in the first place, often times.

For older children, a whizzer.

Cut a circle of thick card about 3ins across, if you can use zig zag scissors so much the better.

Get kids to paint them.

When dry make 2 holes in the centre about an 1inch apart & thread a thin string through, try about 24ins join ends of string.

Put fingers through the loops twirl the string & then gently move the hands apart & then closer together so that the thing whirls around.

If the edges are zig zag then it will make a noise.

And here's one I made earlier for Chilli-head Jnr:



Left over MDF and some bits of an old door to make the ladders/steps. One of those red elastic bands the postman leaves everywhere inside the front tower provides friction to hold the portcullis/drawbridge.

That is fantastic, I bet he has fun with that

Cracking castle, lucky lucky Chjr

WOW!

Mrs C x

Fantastic build. I love it. Have you seen the spray paint that puts a faux marble stone finish on? I'd used it for one of the boys diorama for a school project before. Worked marvelously for the model.

That "finish" is just grey primer auto spray. I would have liked to have added some detailing, but Christmas was coming, and it was supposed to have been for his birthday ...

When I said "here's one I made earlier", I should confess this was quite a bit earlier - he's had it for a while now. If it isn't obvious, it is made to flat pack - the bits all slot together. Does only go together in one configuration though; if I were designing another I might try to make it have more then one "configuration" somehow, so that rebuilding it is part of the fun.

Lincoln Log style. I like it. One of the toys that got unbelievable milage through numerous kids was a box of building bricks. Not just any bricks though. These were the heaviest weight carboard blocks you could imagine, printed in faux stonework castle type, with some triangular tower cap pieces in red shingle thrown in the mix. A six year old could walk across a bridge made of these, I'm certain. Come to think of it, I believe I've seen it . Anyway, kids always love those castle building toys. Boys have wars, girls have princesses, sometimes the other way around, lol.

We were at Hobby store the other day, and L, now six and VERY Boy, was picking out doll house miniature furnitures. I asked if he was going to get the doll house to go with it. He got indignant, "No dad, they're for the castle!" If he REALLY wants some, we may have a new miniatures craft on our hands.

Apart from making them out of wood, for younger children try tin cans.

Go to a cafe or somewhere similar & ask if they have some large tins. We used catering tins, or tins that had Marvel milk in.

Turn tins upside down & protect the cut edge with gaffer tape or even a bycycle inner tube stuck on.

Drill 2 holes opposite to each other just below what is now the top.

Measure a length of strong string appropriate to the child & thread it through the holes so you have a long loop.

Tie off & hey presto stilts.

Cor that brings back memories!

Good though wern`t they?

Great! They lasted ages!

Take several plastic bottles, well washed,
put in some sand or stones or earth to make them stable,
seal the top.
A set of skittles.
Get the kids to make them, a double way of keeping them amused.

"Drum" snack/malted milk type tins ( like twiglets or similar) make really good money boxes when wiped out inside, painted on the outside ( Acrylics work best of all) and a slot cut in the plastic top

They also make good shakers with dried beans in & taped shut.

Take several plastic bottles as skittles, as per Pol's suggestion above.
Take toddler-sized child in wheeled babywalker.

hours of fun for toddler and adult alike.