
Transparent Toys
You can be a toymaker too! Using safe and inexpensive materials, create an entertaining toy for your baby in two minutes or less.
Learning Goals:
- Be Curious
- Come Up with New Ideas and Try Them Out
Materials Required:
- Recycled transparent containers (e.g. empty and clean juice bottles or food containers)
- Variety of natural materials (e.g. sticks, flowers, acorns, leaves, bark)
- Water, food coloring, glitter
- Hot glue or packing tape
Instructions:
- Save empty, clear containers and clean them out. Juice bottles or any kind of clear food containers will work well.
- Choose a material to place inside. A few ideas to get started:
- Build a “nature bottle” with different kind of sticks, leaves, or flowers
- Build a “color bottle” with water and food coloring
- Build a “sound bottle” with jingle bells or beads
- Secure the lid tightly with hot glue or packing tape.
- Watch as your baby shakes the bottle and observes what’s inside.
Tips for Adults:
- Involve older siblings by asking them to help you decide what to put in the bottles and to make them with you.
- Change out the toys by emptying the containers and filling them with something new, which will keep your baby interested in investigating what’s inside.
- Talk about the colors you see and sounds you hear with your baby. Narrate out loud what you see them doing while they’re playing with the toys.