Repurposing and Reusing Infant Toys

December 27, 2018 /
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We’ve finally gotten to that stage where most of the infant toys are not being used any longer – sure we’ll still shake our sillies out or start a marching band with the shakers or the rattles, but it’s pretty much time to go for the rest of it. Except that I hate the idea of throwing out all this stuff! I’ll donate some of it, but I always like to have some toys around for all ages whether for future fosters or just entertaining when we have friends with kids over.  Rather than just putting them all in storage and wasting lots of money on new toys – I’ve been finding ways to make them more appropriate to the three toddlers I now have roaming about my house in search of new things to test their limits with.

1.

The first one is a pretty easy one – I feel like just about every baby I know has one of these Oballs or a similar toy nowadays. I used some play scarves and stuffed them inside (sometimes weaving them around for a real challenge) and the kids had a blast working on taking them out and then playing peek-a-boo, using them as blankets, balling them up and throwing them in the air or just stuffing them back in to pull out again!  I love our play scarves and we do lots with them, but you can make this without spending a dime just by using an old scarf you don’t wear, baby clothes that don’t fit anymore or any spare scrap of fabric!

2.

What about all those spit up/burp cloths? I feel like they are something every newborn gets as a gift and they are a lifesaver in the early feeding/spit up days, but what to do with all of them now? They aren’t really something most people want second hand:

“Here my baby only threw up on this about a thousand times”

“uhhh no thanks?”

And I’ll admit there’s something a little sentimental about a few of them, so I quickly turned them into new toys! I sewed one into a little sleeping bag for Elmo – and let me tell you this really required no sewing skills. I used my memory of middle school “home-ec” here as I am not a sewer. Just folded it in half, sewed up two of the sides (just to close the seams) and left the top open, then turned it inside out to show it to my kids!  The excitement never ends – they sing Elmo to sleep, walk around rocking him in his sleeping bag,  lay him down and tell everyone to shush. It was such a hit I did the same thing with a smaller one, but then stuffed it and sewed the last side closed to make him a pillow! My next project is going to be making a couple of little mattresses, pillows and blankets for this bunk bed I fixed up and painted so they can put even more of their stuffed animals to bed.

3.

By now my toddlers have pretty much mastered the ring stacker – but that doesn’t mean we don’t still use it! We’ve repurposed it for a little ringtoss and tried to stack the rings as blocks rather than on the stand.They even make really great spinning tops that babies and toddlers alike will love! We often use the rings as hidden pieces that they can find around the room or dig out of our sensory table in order to complete it. These kinds of games are great practice for following directions!

They also make for a really great (but challenging) game of catch the bubbles – see if you can get the bubbles to get stuck in the middle or pass through without popping! If you spread the bubbles on big plate or tray the rings can even be used as a bubble wand (we like this one for outdoor fun).

4.

I’m sure we’re not the only one who has those classic baby board books that have been ripped up or otherwise destroyed – this one Baby Woof Woof was one of all my kids favorites and survived a lot of abuse from three babies/toddlers.  When it finally split in half I knew I had to do something with it so we turned it into our new favorite block! I just separated the pages that were still intact and hot glued the sides together one at a time to create the block. The hardest part was getting it to stay even and not getting the glue all over myself). Waiting out a few more books and we’ll have our own stacking set! This particular book makes an extra fun block because each page had a little door that opened so we can open to see what’s inside!

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