Children, especially those who are younger, know how to pick up any toy and, thanks to their imagination, have fun with it for hours. So why do we have to offer them only store-bought toys? We can take plastic, cardboard and packaging paper and other elements that can be recycled at home and with them make the best toys.
The possibilities are endless in this regard, and best of all, we can make recycled toys with the help of our children. In this way, they will have fun while making them and once finished they will value much more the fact that they have made these toys.
If you want some ideas for recycled toys and how to make them, do not miss all these proposals that we make below.
HOW TO MAKE A GIANT DOMINO
Making a giant domino can be a great idea to make a nice recycled toy that children will have hours of fun with.
To make this giant domino you will need:
- Cardboard box like a cereal box
- Gold round stickers
- White cardstock and one black card
- Glue
- Rule
- Pair of scissors
- Tail
STEPS
The cereal box will be our template when creating the giant domino. All you have to do is place the box on the white cardboard, and go over the outline with a pencil. Then cut out with scissors.
We do the same on the black cardboard so that the outline that you cut out serves for the back of your dominoes. So you have to glue the two cards.
Now on the white part, you have to draw a horizontal line that you must cover with a piece of black cardboard. In the centre, you will stick one of the round stickers.
Now, cut out black circles (about 4 cm) and paste them on the card that you have created.
Once the first tab is created, you will have to do the rest.
HOW TO MAKE A CARDBOARD BOX TRAIN
Another recycled toy that we want to explain to you what a fun train with cardboard boxes looks like. It is quite simple to do and also, of course, we recommend that the smallest of the house help you.
To make a train of cardboard boxes you need these materials:
- Cardboard boxes
- Carton of a kitchen roll
- Acrylic colours
- String
STEPS
First of all, you have to have several shoe boxes and they must be enough to form the carriages of our train. You can leave them covered or leave them open so that children can place toys inside their train.
The first thing is to take the boxes and make a small hole on each side so that through each hole you can pass a rope and this makes the boxes stay together.
Now we will have to build our locomotive. To do this, you can take another shoebox and the central cardboard of a kitchen roll, which will be placed on top and will be used for the locomotive’s chimney; cut off the excess cardboard so that you can later attach the wheels (with cans or plugs) and paint in acrylic colours (which work best on cardboard).
Now you will have to finish joining the locomotive to the rest of the boxes, for this, you must make a hole in the back and also pass the rope that you will knot so that it does not come off.
CARDBOARD ROLL BINOCULARS
We continue to see how we can make toys with recycled materials, and one of the simplest to make is undoubtedly a pair of binoculars with rolls of heels.
To do this, you just need a couple of cardboard toilet paper rolls or kitchen paper rolls (which you will have to cut out) and join them with a little glue or if you prefer, with a little adhesive tape. In addition, you must make small holes on the sides to pass some rope so that the children can hang them.
If your children are very young, it will serve you as it is but if you want binoculars that are more elaborate, you can try placing two magnifying lenses on one of the ends of the cartons, so that when looking through them, they can see better and even bigger.
HOW TO MAKE A RECYCLED ROBOT
Making a recycled robot is something that we can get from all kinds of elements, such as containers, cardboard or plastic bottles, that we can have at home so that if you want to be able to surprise your children with this fun recycled toy attentive to all Steps.
To make a recycled robot you need:
- Tomato cans (large and small).
- Canes or straws
- Cardboard rolls of aluminium foil or greaseproof paper
- Hot silicone
STEPS
It will be good that we start with legs and feet. In this way, the two rolls will be used to form the legs and the cans can be used for the feet. You can hot glue the cartons inside the cans or if the cans are small, they can be glued on top. Once glued, they will tend to give the toy stability, making it maintain the correct balance, this will give life to the bottom of the robot.
The next step will be the creation of the head, to do this a detergent cap will serve, preferably those equipped with a dispenser, which we can place and stick on top of another can, which will serve as a body. Now we must also glue the legs to that can.
We are missing the arms, which will be created thanks to the use of straws, which have to be cut and attached diagonally, to the body can. The last step will be to colour the body of the newly created robot, with the colours that we like the most.
HOW TO MAKE A KAWAII DOLL
If you are a lover of Japanese culture and especially its popular culture of drawings and animation, you will know what kawaii characters are like that have become fashionable and that we can also make with recycled materials.
To make a kawaii doll in a simple way you need:
- A bottle of fruit juice or wine
- Expanded polystyrene ball
- wool
- raffia
- coloured pencils
- string
- fabric scraps
- Cork
- potato knife
- glue or double-sided tape
STEPS
First, remove any paper or labels from the bottle and start fixing the doll’s head. To do this, simply glue the cork on the lid. Now take a ball of expanded polystyrene and with the help of a knife, you have to make a hole in which the cork can enter. Glue everything with glue or double-sided tape, the important thing is that the cap is fixed inside the polystyrene ball.
Now you just have to finish your head decorating it with a kawaii doll face. For this, you will use light pink, while the eyes, the nose and the mouth can be drawn with coloured pencils, especially the very large eyes. For the hair, we can place a strip of fabric 7 cm long and 2 cm wide, in which you will have to glue the raffia and the wool threads. Glue the wig thus obtained on the polystyrene head.
Our doll begins to take shape, so let’s go to the arms. You can get them using simple strings. The length of the arms will be adjusted according to the size of the bottle to respect the proportions. Place the rope about 3 cm below the mouth of the bottle and tie it around the neck. You are almost done, you just have to dress the doll. With the fabric scraps, you will make the dress, glueing some patchwork pieces to the bottle.
In this part of the work, you can unleash your imagination and create what suits you best and use the colours and fabrics that you prefer. That’s it, your little kawaii doll is ready to be displayed or to make room for your recycled doll collection.
The ideas for making toys reusing plastic, especially from plastic bottles of shampoos, soda, soap, yoghurt, milk and others, are many and varied. Plastic boats of all sizes and colours are easily attached to create endless toys and different objects to make, from cars, trucks, aeroplanes, helicopters, robots, masks and many more. Here you have a variety so that you can start coming up with your own ideas.