Household items that are good toys

[Mom2Miri]

I'm sure this topic must have been discussed before but I couldn't find the old threads...

I'm wondering what household items people have found to be good toys (safe ones too). So far Mirielle loves water bottles, ribbons, rubbermaid containers, the drawstrings of my pants(!), paper cups, and anything shiny.

Would love your ideas.

Helen & Mirielle 2/25/03

[KUvsOU]

My son loves remote controls so we eventually gave him an old one from which we had removed the batteries. We also gave him an old baseball hat which he loves playing with and putting on his head. He also is a big fan of wooden spoons and rubbermaid containers.

Shawna
Mom of Cade 6/16/02

[jd11365]

Someone here once mentioned using a laundry basket flipped upside down for a beginning walker to use and slide around the house with support...love that idea!

Jamie :-)
Mommy to Kayla
5-1-03

[Marisa6826]

Measuring cups!! Also wooden spoons, empty soda bottles, old magazines (although I think Sophie is part goat since she likes to eat paper).

Another favourite toy for some reason is the sticky back lint roller. She also likes the wipes boxes.

The strangest thing yet has to be the plastic doorstop I have from The Container Store. It looks like a giant version of the old beer can pulltops.

-m

[C99]

Nate loves the doorstopper on the back of our bedroom door. I don't know how to describe it, but it's a tightly woven metal coil with a plastic cap on one end and it makes a funny noise when you hit it.

Magazines and Gladware containers are all the rage here too. Oh, and if I let him, Nate would play with all of our shoes!

[elvisfan]

>Nate loves the doorstopper on the back of our bedroom door. I
>don't know how to describe it, but it's a tightly woven metal
>coil with a plastic cap on one end and it makes a funny noise
>when you hit it.
>
>Magazines and Gladware containers are all the rage here too.
>Oh, and if I let him, Nate would play with all of our shoes!
My dd loves the doorstop,too. That and the remote.........

[22tango]

I've used an empty box as a push toy (put a towel inside to weight it down if it slides too fast). I've also put dried beans inside a tight sealing tupperware-type container to make a musical shaker! Water bottles (esp if there's some water she can see sloshing around) are a favorite too. I always put old discardable magazines & junkmail catalogs ontop of my own magazines (on the shelf) so she can freely tear through those without ruining mine.

[LucyG]

All of the dog toys are favorites here, unfortunately! I looked over yesterday and DD had rolled to the dog bed and was gnawing happily on a Nylabone!

Also, the little cups that Dannon la creme yogurt comes in are a big hit. We use them as toys, as water scoops in the tub, etc. I have been saving them, and realized yesterday that we have around 30. Time to stop that, maybe??

The biggest favorite is probably DD's hairbrush. It has a knobby handle, and she LOVES the thing.

[amp]

Yes Marisa, Goat hybrid here too. He is obsessed with newspaper, magazines and catalogs. One day I let him play with one, thinking what harm could it do. Later, long after I'd taken it away, I wondered how he got a big yellowish brown bruise on his face. He didn't....it was ink! And the catalog was destroyed!

[Mom2Miri]

It's the other way around here. Our dog has just discovered Mirielle's toys. I knew it was inevitable...

Helen & Mirielle 2/25/03

[mharling]

Spatula, newspaper, regular paper, keyboard. Can't think of others right now, but I'm sure there are more!

Mary & Lane 4/6/03
http://www.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=67b0de21b3524e54e42d - New 10/3

[Marisa6826]

We have BIG problems with Willy trying to get Sophie's toys. He figured out how to get the stackable rings off the post! I swear that when I yelled at him he looked at me and almost said, " Mommy, we share in this house!" :P

Now if I could just get Sophie to stay away from his chew hooves! BLECH!!!

-m

[vikivoly]

My mom has these terribly ugly orange knitted coasters that DD just loves.

Others are the remote control, her shoes (especially the laces), anything with a string, her hairbrush, and magazines.

Tell me again why she has so many toys?! :o

[momma_boo]

Whenever we go out to eat, we always ask for extra spoons. She loves to chew on them (probably b/c it's cold and feels good on her gums) and she has a blast banging on the table.

She also loves magazines and newspapers. One of the first times she started playing with a newspaper, she had a blast lifting up each sheet. After 5 minutes, her fingers were all black.

With election season coming around, Sarah has a blast with the election mailings we get everyday.

[yyzmom]

My mom used to give my oldest brother a box of kleenex to play with when she needed to get some rest (she had twins when my brother was 14months old). She said it would usually take him an hour to get through the box and the best part about it was it was quiet.

[August Mom]

Water bottles are fun. DS used to like to shake them with water inside. Now, he likes to take off and replace the cap of an empty bottle. This amuses him for quite a while. Tupperware, plastic colander, spoons, cookie tin, hair brush, hair pick, comb, shoes and a duster with a telescopic handle are all hits around here. Also, boxes and junk mail are good distractions.

[Denyse]

Brett loves to play with plastic spatulas, spoons, ladles and other similar things. Also bowls, cups-any dishes that we use. He loves playing with the laundry basket, boxes and wipes containers. His favorite, though, is the plastic spaghetti scoop thingy (Sort of like a ladle with tines.) We scratch his back with it and he laughs and rubs his own back with it! It's a hoot!

He also loves any kind of water bottles. I give them to him empty and with water. But they are also great for adding a variety of things into to create "sensory shakers." We add anything that will fit and will either make a noise or be interesting to look at. Beads, beans, jingle bells, ribbon, powdered sugar, pasta, etc. I've also added beads, glitter, sequins, food coloring, etc to water in them. He likes watching the items swirl around. Or add clear hair gel and beads and shake vigorously. It kind of suspends them. Very cool. One last variation is to put in about 1/2 water, whatever color you want, and then add cooking oil, not quite filling it up. It separates. If you shake it, it will mix together but left alone, will immediately begin to separate. Pretty cool. Just make sure the cap is on super tight. Brett loves his! I had to buy prune juice for him recently and got one of those really small 4 oz ones that Gerber makes. Now that it's empty, I washed it and put rice in it to make a baby-sized sensory shaker. He loves it!


Just wanted to add to those of you whose children love their doorstops...My little brother loved them too! But please be very careful. Some of them have caps that can come off and that's an easy choking hazard.