{"id":26236,"date":"2013-06-11T09:00:58","date_gmt":"2013-06-11T13:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thehappyhousewife.com\/home-management\/?p=26236"},"modified":"2014-01-27T16:52:01","modified_gmt":"2014-01-27T21:52:01","slug":"10-household-items-that-make-great-toys","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thehappyhousewife.com\/home-management\/10-household-items-that-make-great-toys\/","title":{"rendered":"10 Household Items That Make Great Toys"},"content":{"rendered":"

by contributing writer\u00a0Kristen<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Have you ever attended a child’s birthday party where the child is more interested in the box and the wrapping paper than the actual toy they received? \u00a0Through my years of experience as a babysitter, nanny, and now a mom, \u00a0I have found that kids have almost more fun when they play pretend with items found around the house rather than expensive toys.<\/p>\n

\"plastic<\/a><\/p>\n

Encouraging your kids to play with items around the house saves money, cuts down on clutter, and teaches them to be resourceful.<\/p>\n

10 Household Items that Make Great Toys<\/h2>\n

1. Flashlights<\/h3>\n

Flashlights make great toys! \u00a0They can be used to play explorer, detective, camping, and other games associated with imaginary play. \u00a0If your kids are looking for an activity, hand them a few flashlights and help them come up with a scenario for playtime. \u00a0Flashlights are items that most people have around the house anyway. \u00a0For some reason, kids love using real items when they play.<\/p>\n

2. Laundry Baskets<\/h3>\n

Laundry baskets can be incorporated into play in a variety of ways. \u00a0With some imagination included, they can be turned into boats, cars, pirate ships or trains. \u00a0Kids can also turn them into beds for their stuffed animals or dolls. \u00a0 You can also play a game of basketball and try to toss balls or stuffed animals into your laundry baskets! \u00a0I am sure there are many more games that kids can play with laundry baskets.<\/p>\n

3. Plastic Containers with Lids<\/h3>\n

When my toddler visits his grandparents house, he usually spends most of his time playing in Grandma’s \u00a0Tupperware drawer. \u00a0He loves stacking all the different sized containers and matching them up with the lids. \u00a0A drawer of plastic containers can entertain a small child for hours! \u00a0These also make great bath or sand toys! \u00a0The only downside of turning plastic containers into toys is that you will need wash them all before using them again for food storage.<\/p>\n

4. Old Remote Controls and Cell Phones<\/h3>\n

Little kids love pressing buttons and being able to use items like the ones mom and dad have. \u00a0When you are done with an old remote control or cell phone, take the batteries out and let your kids play with them! \u00a0You may find that they prefer these old electronics over their plastic toy versions.<\/p>\n

\"Blankets\"<\/a><\/p>\n

5. Pillows and Blankets<\/h3>\n

Looking for a fun activity on a rainy day? \u00a0Let your kids take out pillows and blankets and instruct them to build a fort! \u00a0Then all you have to do is watch their imaginations run wild!<\/p>\n

6. Masking Tape<\/h3>\n

Masking tape might just entertain your kids for hours! \u00a0They can make tape balls, race tracks, and create much more! \u00a0You may want to stick with tape that will come off easily. \u00a0Giving your kids masking tape should be a supervised activity.<\/p>\n

7. Old Clothes<\/h3>\n

Old clothes can be saved and used for dress up! \u00a0Use some of your old clothes and make a Dress Up Box. \u00a0Make sure to include hats, old costume jewelry, and other accessories as well! \u00a0If you sew, you can try to re-purpose some of your old items to fit your kids. I promise that they will have just as fun wearing these old items as they would wearing a store bought costume!<\/p>\n

8. Pots and Pans<\/h3>\n

Pots and pans are such a classic children’s toy that I had to include this on the list. \u00a0Kids have hours of fun playing with pots and pans. \u00a0They make all sorts of fun sounds! \u00a0And don’t even get me started on how fun the lids are! \u00a0Playing with pots and pans is a great sensory activity for little kids. Bigger kids can also use pots and pans to play kitchen.<\/p>\n

9. Old Food Containers<\/h3>\n

Old food containers, such as an empty cardboard cereal box or an old milk jug can make great toys! \u00a0Kids love putting things into different containers. \u00a0Also, old food boxes can be used to stock a child’s play kitchen. \u00a0 You can create crafts with many of these items, and you may be surprised the other things your kids come up with! \u00a0The best part about these food containers, is that you can just recycle them after your kids get tired of playing with them.<\/p>\n

\"boxes\"<\/a><\/p>\n

10. Cardboard Boxes<\/h3>\n

Spending a day playing in a cardboard box should be a rite of passage for any person going through childhood. \u00a0Kids like to crawl in them, make forts and tunnels, \u00a0turn them into cars, boats, doll houses, \u00a0and play kitchens. \u00a0They can use them to play hide and seek, use them to play games, make costumes out of them, and more! \u00a0If you purchase something that has a large cardboard box, keep it out for a few days and let your kids play in it. \u00a0They will have so much fun!<\/p>\n

I am sure there are many other items around the house that your kids use as toys. \u00a0I think you will be surprised once you realize how few toys your kids actually need. \u00a0Using regular household items as toys is a great way to encourage creativity!<\/p>\n

More projects from Kristen<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by contributing writer\u00a0Kristen Have you ever attended a child’s birthday party where the child is more interested in the box and the wrapping paper than the actual toy they received? \u00a0Through my years of experience as a babysitter, nanny, and now a mom, \u00a0I have found that kids have almost more fun when they play […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26265,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wprm-recipe-roundup-name":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-description":"","_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[2554],"class_list":{"0":"post-26236","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tips-and-tricks","8":"tag-home-management","9":"entry"},"yoast_head":"\n10 Household Items That Make Great Toys - The Happy Housewife\u2122 :: Home Management<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/thehappyhousewife.com\/home-management\/10-household-items-that-make-great-toys\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"10 Household Items That Make Great Toys - The Happy Housewife\u2122 :: Home Management\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"by contributing writer\u00a0Kristen Have you ever attended a child’s birthday party where the child is more interested in the box and the wrapping paper than the actual toy they received? \u00a0Through my years of experience as a babysitter, nanny, and now a mom, \u00a0I have found that kids have almost more fun when they play […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/thehappyhousewife.com\/home-management\/10-household-items-that-make-great-toys\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Happy Housewife\u2122 :: Home Management\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TheHappyHousewife\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-06-11T13:00:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-01-27T21:52:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/thehappyhousewife.com\/home-management\/files\/2013\/05\/thisone.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"3648\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"2736\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@tonihanderson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@tonihanderson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\">\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Toni Herrbach\">\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\">\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\">\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thehappyhousewife.com\/home-management\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thehappyhousewife.com\/home-management\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thehappyhousewife.com\/home-management\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thehappyhousewife.com\/home-management\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thehappyhousewife.com\/home-management\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26236"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/thehappyhousewife.com\/home-management\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26236\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26394,"href":"https:\/\/thehappyhousewife.com\/home-management\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26236\/revisions\/26394"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thehappyhousewife.com\/home-management\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thehappyhousewife.com\/home-management\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thehappyhousewife.com\/home-management\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thehappyhousewife.com\/home-management\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}