How to turn a $10 toy into a $100 toy without buying more plastic
Kids tire quickly of their toys and regular upgrades are required to hold their attention which can be expensive and frankly not so great for our Mother Earth.
The red plastic car park at the centre of this construction cost $10 and was a total winner for about a week but then he stopped using it. So the upgrade had been on my mind for some time when I came across this pipe at the side of the road.
After giving it a bit of a clean and making the sharp edges safe with card board & gaffer tape I put on my creative hat.
Sabrina provided some old clothes and we all went to work decorating it.
The great thing about the new design is that it can be adjusted every day, giving it a constantly evolving feeling.
Some days we launch the cars into water, which he loves!
The new design also features a custom made adjustable rain covered parking area at the back 😉
All we used was a cardboard box, gaffer tape, old clothes, stickers and acrylic paint.
His existing toys create the optional add ons.
Perspecive
A long time ago I did voluntary work in a township in South Africa and saw how the children had so much fun with nothing more than a pile of sticks. I learned a valuable lesson watching those kids. A lesson I am able to carry forward in the way I teach Esteban about the world.
It is amazing to watch him playing with his upgraded toy day after day now.
So simple, yet so effective.
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Feeling satisfied being able to evolve the toy thanks to the innate creativity, reuse, and recycling it's a real achievement: congratulations for having learned the African lesson and to give to your children what you have learned!
I love your posts and, in order to stay better in touch, I added @samstonehill to my fan base.
I am very grateful to you and your family... a warm hug to all of you from @amico! ;)
Hey there! Thanks very much for the warm hug and fan base addition :)
Always great to meet a fellow soul surfer 🏄🏻
You deserve my gratitude for what and how you do in your life, dear Sam! _/|\_
Last night I was reading the first episode of your mismanagement account theft ... 'evening I will continue, to understand how it was resolved for the best.
Bye bye! ;)
Such a privilege for your kids to live the simple life instead of swiping on iPad before they can even talk.
haha! Yes indeed. However...he knows very well how to use the ipad. And my laptop! If he is screaming for it I give it to him. He screams loud.
My job is to provide toys and games which prevent him from thinking about the world of YouTube.
Though as time goes on I can see how even YouTube is just another form of education. There can be no question where he learned colours, numbers & numerous words... without any help from us.
In the end there is a healthy balance between screen time and playing. Not much different to the balance I must maintain in my own life ;)
This is sooo creative and a great fun for children! I also used to recycle things.
Seems logical to recycle stuff hey! If only I was permitted I would keep all plastic and cardboard to recycle into something at a later date. Space begins to become a problem after a while however ;)
Sometimes the simplest options are the best options. Ever watch kids at Christmas when they get oodles of goodies? They play with them a few days and then it is back to the old favourites. Homemade is the best especially when the kids get to help in the project!
Funny you should mention the Christmas thing. Esteban had his 3rd birthday last week and during his present opening it became immediately evident that he was not appreciating the gifts as much after the third, so we packed them away and gave him two per day. This worked better and he at least spent one day focused on each thing.
We did the same thing at Easter with the ridiculous quantity of eggs he acquired!
I wonder, is it sensory overload for a child's brain to receive so many gifts at once?
Creativity helps so much here! It's quite effective in deed, I remember when I was young and a slight add on made all the difference.
Absolutely. I am pulling on the best bits from my own childhood :)
As the years went by, the add ons became ever more complex, eventually involving batteries & flashing LEDs. A great way to learn the basics of electronics.
Shortly after that I was able to get my hands on a BBC mirco computer and then the fun really began!
No idea what a BBC micro is. I'm assuming some sort of chip that controls the power of the LED? I'm shooting an arrow in the dark hoping I'm right lol
haha! Not quite. It was one of the first mass produced computers which used a language called Basic. Even as a child I was able to learn it and had produced hundreds of games before I was age ten.
Though then I discovered magic... and my life suddenly went in a different direction!
Kids are easy to please and their genuine attitude of loving new things is adorable. Play will help him be creative and to help him look at things in a different through your innovation will make him appreciate what he has and enhance his imagination too.
The time I spend with him seems to have the same effect on me. We are enhancing our creativity and imagination together :)
That's the best part of it all. It's a learning process for everyone involved.
they always seem to have just as much fun with the box as with whatever is inside.
Boxes are super exciting to them hey. Even Luna loves them. Put the cars in, takes the cars out. Move the box... and repeat!
if you want him to really loose his mind give him a stack of paper cups
Thanks! A fab idea :)
I put them on a high shelf but he still took most of them somehow. Keeps stealing paper clips and business cards too. I have to take back the paper clips though, I caught him trying to stick one in an outlet and there is really nothing safe about a pointy thick piece of wire.
That is looking pretty awsome and lots a fun:)
He's still playing with it a week later so that's a good sign ;)
definitly and one he stop it will be time for a new upgrate:D
Many thanks ;)
You are very creative :) My Son would love that one!
His father also loves to do DIY, I remember my son asking us to buy him a garage that he saw in the mall for his cars but that was so expensive. So his father made one for him, and our kid really loved it :)