Making toys for children with recycled products from your home

POP BOTTLE ROLLER

This toy is great for babies who are sitting up on their own or just learning to crawl. The point of this toy is for it to roll around and make noise.

Here is what you need to get started:

2 empty 2 liter pop bottles (cleaned and with the labels removed)

A bag of gumballs (or you can use unpopped popcorn or beans- but they are not a brightly colored)

clear packing tape

Once you have all of your items gathered you need to cut the tops off of the pop bottles (cut off the curved part at the top). Then take the bag of gumballs and dump the desired amount (probably about 50 gumballs) into one of the pop bottles. Then you just push the two pop bottles together so that the gumballs are trapped inside. To finish it off just use the packing tape to close the seam where the two bottles meet and there you have it! Put it on the floor in front of your baby and watch them roll it around and laugh at the noise!

COFFEE CAN DRUM

This one is just as easy as it sounds! When you're done with your coffee can, just clean it out, put the lid back on and give it to your child to beat to their hearts content!

This can also be made into another kind of noise maker - just add beans or popcorn, or even more gumballs and when your child shakes it they will love the noise! Just make sure to glue or tape the lid on it you put stuff inside...we don't want to create a choking hazard!

WATER BOTTLE SHAKER

Do you have left over beans or popcorn from the earlier projects? Just throwm them into a cleaned (and de-labeled) water bottle, glue the lid on and give to your child to shake away. You can add color by putting in glitter or other small objects you find around the house. Just make sure the lid will not come off....we do not want anyone choking!