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.