Toys are essential for development. Playing helps children acquire cognitive, social, emotional, and physical skills. However, buying new toys regularly can sometimes be expensive, and it’s not very sustainable. A fun alternative to buying toys, is to create toys made from plastic bottles and other recycled materials!
Toys made from plastic bottles will not only save your money, but they will also teach your little one about recycling and using their creativity to reuse materials that might otherwise end up in the trash, contributing to pollution.
It’s also important to highlight that open-ended toys allow children to use their imagination and creativity, giving them more freedom to explore and discover new things.
In this article, we will present some ideas for toys made from plastic bottles and activities you can do using these and other toys made from recyclable materials. For more toy ideas and playful activities, download the Kinedu app!
Ideas of toys made from plastic bottles
Airplane
- Use the PET plastic bottle as the body of the plane.
- Get a cereal box, or any other cardboard box you’d like to repurpose, and cut two triangles to make the wings and tail of the plane.
- Use popsicle sticks to make the propeller.
- Use hot glue or tape to put all the pieces together. You can cut two slits at each side of the bottle to insert the cardboard wings into the body of the plane, so they can feel more sturdy.
- Paint or decorate the plane however you like!
Whale or fish
- Use the plastic bottle as the body of the whale or fish.
- Get a cereal box, or any other cardboard box you’d like to repurpose, and cut two triangles to make the fins and tail of the whale. You can also do the eyes and mouth with recycled cardboard or paper! You can also use regular googly eyes.
- Use hot glue or tape to put all the pieces together.
Bowling
- Fill a few plastic bottles with water or sand and use them as bowling pins.
- You can decorate them with paint or markers if you like.
- Place the bottles in row and use a small ball to bowl and score points!
Rattle
- Fill the PET plastic bottle with seeds, rice, beans, beads or any other noisy object you want.
- You can also add bits of recycled paper or metallic wrappers to make it appealing and colorful.
- Seal the cap tightly with glue or tape, and now you have a rattle for kids to shake and create their own music!
Toy Cart
- You can use the bottle whole, or cut it in half to make the upper part of the car more like a convertible!
- Use some wooden sticks or straws to make the axis of the wheels, and glue them to the underside of the bottle. You can also make holes to the sides of the bottle and put the sticks across the body of the bottle.
- You can use bottle caps and glue them to the edges of the straws or sticks to make the wheels. You can also cut cardboard circles to make the wheels if you don’t have bottle caps.
- Decorate it however you like! You can make seats and a driving wheel out of cardboard or any recycled materials you can think of!
Plant Pot
- Cut the PET plastic bottle in half
- Poke some holes in the bottom part of the bottle and then decorate it.
- Use it as a plant pot and plant seedlings with the kids!
These are just some toy ideas that you can make at home, but the options are endless. Use your imagination and create your own toys made from plastic bottles!
Activities to play with toys made from plastic bottles
In addition to creating your own toys with PET bottles, here are some ideas on how to play with them to maximize their fun and educational potential!
Check out these playtime ideas:
Storytelling
Help children create stories with their recyclable toys. For example, ask them to make up a story about a whale or a toy car racing on an improvised track.
Educational games
Use the recyclable toys to teach children new skills. For example, you can teach them to count or identify colors by bowling, or boost soma language skills by singing with the bottle rattle.
Arts and crafts
Offer recycled materials to do arts and crafts, and let children come up with their own ideas! Use things like plastic bottles and other recyclable materials like cardboard boxes, shiny wrappers, old magazines, etc. For example, you can cut PET bottles into different shapes and use them to create a mosaic together.
Creating recyclable toys made from plastic bottles is an affordable and environmentally friendly way to provide children with new ways to play and learn. Moreover, playing with these toys can help children develop cognitive, social, emotional, and physical skills.
For more activity ideas that stimulate child development in all areas, be sure to download the Kinedu app now!
