Free DIY Toddler Toys

I'm cheap, especially on the subject of toys.  Sometimes, it's just really hard to know if your kid is going to love that thing they want at the store.  I'm sure we have all been burned on this before.

My son is almost 2, so these are toys for toddlers.

1. Cars through a tube.

You do need to have some cars on hand for this one, but we seem to collect them without much trouble.  If you really can't find any you can afford, then ask someone who has older boys if you can have or borrow two or three cars.  This could also work with other toys you have around -- small bouncy balls, small plastic figures, etc.

The tube is a photo tube we got in the mail when we ordered a large print from Snapfish.  I like it because it is sturdy and has caps -- so, we can clean up by stashing all the cars inside the tube.  But, a wrapping paper or toilet paper tube could work, too.

Putting cars through a tube is about 800% more fun than playing with cars when you do not have a tube.  It's a tunnel, a slide, or a thing to look through depending on the mood.  Also great fun at the park, where you can half-bury it in the sand or dirt, or just stuff it full of mulch.

2. Pennies into the slot.

My son loves to put money into the piggy bank, so I made him this toy so we could do it whenever he wanted, instead of whenever we had change on hand.  Technically, this toy requires some pennies, but consider it a 10 cent deposit, since you can have them back later.

I used a container we got at the grocery store with some bulk raisins, so technically we did pay for it.  But, they have them there for free, and if your grocery store doesn't have these, you could also use a cheap tupperware or cardboard box. I used a kitchen knife to score the top on both sides and then popped out the slit in the top.

3. Color matching game.

I got this idea from Pinterest.  That user got really cute Disney color cards and them modge-podged them onto cardstock.  I could not find cute Disney paint.  I went to Home Depot and was planning to get some of the paint chip/sample cards and cut them up, glue them to cards, etc.  BUT, when I got there, it turns out that they have these fancy extra large color-saturated paint cards that are perfectly fine to use all by themselves, no gluing or anything.  Just get two of each main color: red, orange, yellow, etc.  Yes, they all have the name of the color written on the back, but I figure by the time my son can read this game will be long gone anyway.

The best part is, he has gotten excited about naming all the colors since we started playing this last week, so he is learning at the same time.  Yay!

4. Stacking cups.

These cups were left over from a party we had last year when we catered in some food from a BBQ place.  Any plastic or paper cups will work; they do not even need to be the same size (although, if you want clean up to be neat and tidy, it helps).  We have others from an annual beer festival, and a few from nearby restaurants ... if you don't have anything on hand, ask around.  At my old job, the kitchen cabinets were full of these from business lunches and no one ever remembered to use them.

Simply begin stacking them into a pyramid and your child will be drawn to the need to kick it or smash it to the ground.  If they get bored of that, let them stack them up and you can smash them down.  Endless fun.

What I Learned About How My Kid Eats

1. You don't have to buy baby food in jars, or in pouches, or in anything.  You can make your own.

2.  You don't even have to make your own.  Baby-led weaning is way easier and lazier.  Mush up a banana, avocado, or baked sweet potato if you want to give it a try.

3. If he likes something right now, he might not like it later.  Avocados, we had fun, maybe we'll see you again someday.  Ditto, sweet potatoes.

4. Some fast food places have actual child-friendly halfway healthy food.  Whataburger is not one of these places.  I don't even think the one we stopped at on our way back from the beach had milk.  We never really eat at these places, especially with the baby, so I had no idea how bad it was going to be.

5. The day you buy a five pound crate of oranges is the day your kid refuses to eat them.

6. Most kids need to try a food twenty or thirty times before they will decide they like it.

7. Getting food into his mouth, even if he spits it right out again, is a victory.

8. Someone else's snacks are always better than your snacks.  See also "someone else's toys."

9. If my kid won't eat anything, I take the exact same stuff to the park and he'll eat it with gusto.

10. Having a good eater is kind of like having a good sleeper.  They are rare and often exaggerated and if you have one of them, you probably feel like bragging ... even though you probably didn't have much to do with it yourself.

My "Open Door" Policy

My husband has a thing about "stuff."  He hates it.  He doesn't like things that are without function and he especially hates things that are made just to sit on a shelf.  Every Christmas, my mother complains about this.  But I have grown into it.  There is something to be said for a house that picks up easily, where there is room for everything you have, simply because you don't have that much stuff.

Having a kid, though, seems to fly directly in the face of this.  Kids need a lot of stuff.  The stuff they need is constantly evolving.  When you find cool stuff for your kid, you want to keep it around in case you need it again, like maybe if you have another kid someday.

Much to my husband's chagrin, I'm sure, I decided pretty early on to have an "open door" policy about kid stuff. Meaning, if you have something to get rid of, I will take it off your hands.  I tell most of my friends about this if it ever comes up in conversation.  "Even Barbies?" a good friend of mine asked.  I have a little boy who does not seem like the kind of kid who is going to be into Barbies -- but I said yes anyway.

I'm glad I did.  The Barbies came in a bag with some clothes her own son had outgrown, some books, a child-sized mop and broom, and a red plastic fire fighter hat.  Score!  Maybe if I had turned down the Barbies, we would have gotten all this other stuff anyway, but maybe it was just easier to put everything in a bag together and give it to one person.  She had mentioned she had some clothes, but the broom, the mop, and the hat were all extras.  Extra awesome, if you ask me.

My open door policy doesn't mean I keep everything.  I couldn't.  Our house is already full without taking in spare Barbies that need a home, or jeans with holes in the knees, or the 12-month-old santa suit I found in the back of the closet not too long ago.  I don't know who gave that to us, but someone will think it is awesome, right?

I give away a lot of the extra stuff that doesn't fit with what we need.  I tend to keep the clothes I think we will grow into, and toys that look like they will be a hit (somewhere, I have a playmobile dollhouse that I am only marginally convinced will ever get any action, but I keep hoping).  I belong to a few local mommy listservs and I have a wide circle of friends with kids, so I feel like I can almost always re-home something if I need to.  Right now there are two large boxes of infant clothes in the living room, ready to ship out; and this morning I gave some worn out pants to a crafty friend of mine because she said she likes to convert them into shorts.

Getting Some Help

The kiddo helped me clean the bathroom today.  Ok, "helped" as in: he stayed out of my way and quiet until I was finished.  But it was great anyway.  How did I do it?  I put a few trains in the bathtub and he was so tickled to play with them there.  Must remember this for the future ... the same toys in a new place sometimes are like a new toys altogether.

Review: Crayola Outdoor Colored Bubbles

It appears that I entered a contest on Facebook and won a bottle of new Crayola Outdoor Colored Bubbles. They arrived at my door yesterday.  Now, I'm not one to sneeze at free stuff for my kid, but I did find it hilarious that the box came with a set of instructions AND A LETTER that repeated the instructions, in case you were planning to skip reading one of them.  Just so you know, this product is for outdoor use only!!  It might stain stuff!!

Also, it's supposed to be used by children over 3, so this review will basically be off-label use.  My kid is not even 2.

My child loves bubbles.  Most kids think they are fascinating.  The best bubble purchase I ever made was a bottle of "unspillable" bubbles that I found on clearance at Target for less than fifty cents.  The kiddo can play with it and drop it and whatever, and usually only a tiny dribble gets on his hands.  Of course, once he shakes it up real well, the bubbles don't exactly work, but I don't care.  He's happy just trying to eat the bubble wand, you know? (Unspillable on the left, Crayola Colored Bubbles on the right:)

But with these colored bubbles, I made sure I was the one in control because the stuff is the color of grape juice.  It's the same consistancy, too; it's like playing with a bottle of grape juice.  The minute I opened it, I had a feeling of panic -- I just felt like I needed to do something about the giant, crazy stain risk I was taking as it dripped all over the back patio.  Maybe it won't really stain; per the instructions (both sets), it will wash out of most clothing, but you might have to pre-treat it and you probably don't want it on your light clothes.

I feel like the instructions should say something like "for bathtime only, when everyone in naked."  Because really, you're going to spill this stuff.  It's going to happen.  It's going to get one your shoes.  Here it is dripped all over the floor.

However, after a few minutes, it faded to nothing.

The bubbles, yes, came out purple as intended.  And ... I don't know, I was not that impressed.  They are still see-through bubbles, just with a purple tint to them.  They look like regular bubbles, just a tiny bit more purple and A LOT MORE MESSY.  You know how when you spill regular bubbles you don't care because it's basically soap?  This stuff is not going to make you happy.

My vote is still for the unspillable bubbles.

The Water Table ...

The water table became a jungle gym today, so after removing my child (and a few other children) from the edge of it for the fiftieth time, I took off the legs.

Now it is some kind of zany wading pool with a slide for all the matchbox cars.  I'm not sure if you can see that very well in the picture, but the kiddo sure crammed as many of them in there as he could.

The Benefits of Being Lazy. I mean Waiting.

The question of toys bothers me. My son is not in daycare/school/whatever you call it, and so the only educational or creative stimulation he gets is what I can give him. We play outside a lot, where I feel like learning will happen with or without fun toys, and we go to playgroups with other kids, but sometimes when I see something cool, I feel the "I want it" desire well up. Good toys teach all kinds of thing -- just think about blocks and musical instruments and sand boxes and water tables and, and, and, that's kind of the problem. There are only 8 bazillion really awesome toys in the world. And at times, I have wanted them all.

There is also the question of time and as a first time mom, this one really gets me. How long will toy X be fun and interesting and cool? Sometimes, it's only for a few months (tummy time mat, anyone?) And when your child finds an interest, you just can't always know if it will be something that lasts. Even when I can ask him, I doubt I'll ever get the right answer to the question of, say, whether or not we should get a piano. So, what do you do? Blow wads of cash on everything he finds exciting and craigslist all the duds?

Well, I am here to talk about the benefits of lazily waiting around. Don’t buy your kid everything.  The first rule of thumb is to only buy them stuff you know they will like.  Wait until you’ve seen them love it at someone else’s house two or three times; then figure out if you really need your own.  Case in point, this cart from Ikea.

Finn loves it and I am not bringing him his very own and he will be ok.  Personally, I am tired of having it rammed into my ankles.  The second rule of thumb – make friends with your neighbors.  And third, let everyone know you have an open door policy to accept anything they want to get rid of.

We don’t know everyone on our block; we don’t have time.  But just from the folks living right next to us we have scored countless freebies.  We always talk about having everyone over for a party or for dinner or something as a thank you, and it’s never happened; but we still get stuff from them.  Sometimes it’s plants for the garden, veggies that will go bad when someone leaves on vacation, that kind of thing.  And sometimes, gloriously, it’s toys.

Sandbox: it was old and gross and muddy and they were going to throw it away; we cleaned it up (hosed it down and left it out in the sun to dry) and bought some new sand.

Little Tykes car: they were tired of tripping over it, and they threw in some baseball bats, balls, and buckets.  OMG the buckets are a huge hit.  That one came out of left field, I was unaware of the wonder of buckets.

One of these things that was a death trap on our driveway.  I gave it to another friend.  You’ve got to spread the free stuff around.

And we have a small pile of crap that my son has picked out of their goodwill bag, which they keep in the carport and let him rummage through.

The sandbox and the car are two items I desperately wanted to buy for my kid about six months before they showed up in our yard for free. The sandbox, I figured, would be so educational, great for sensory play. The car, well, he just loved it every time we saw it at someone else’s house. I didn’t realize that these two items are everywhere. Everyone has one; no one is going to drive across town to buy one from you for five bucks off craigslist. Likewise, if you’ve ever caught yourself looking at a Bumbo chair in the store Stop Do Not Buy It.  Even if you don’t really know anyone with kids, there are so many of those things kicking around the world that you will be able to find one, probably for free.  They, like so many other things created for our kids, just hang around and hang around.

I'm pro-laziness.  Sometimes it pays off.

Handy Guide to Taking Bluebonnet Pictures

It's a tradition I knew nothing about until I had a baby.  In central Texas, in the spring, you're supposed to find a patch of wildflowers, of bluebonnets specifically, and take pictures of your adorable child sitting in the middle of them.  It was like the day I learned what brisket was or that you shouldn't pronounce the "e" on the end of Guadalupe Street, or that in July, you can scald yourself with the seat belt buckle if you aren't careful getting into a hot car.

Facebook is lousy with these bluebonnet pictures.  Seasoned parents know where to go.  And you might get some help if you ask around, but really, the best patches are secret.  Some of them are hard to get to, some of them aren't there every year, and if you procrastinate even a weekend or two, you will miss your chance for a whole year.  These pictures, especially for the parents of small children, are guerilla missions into the wild.  So, here are some tips:

1. Start a little before spring break.  Don't know when spring break is because you are blissfully unaware of the local school schedule?  It's probably sometime in March, so aim for finding your own special spot of flowers around the beginning of the month.  By April, sometimes the grass grows so tall that you can't see the bluebonnets anymore.

2. Wildflowers grow in sunny, untended areas.  You'll see them along the highway because they are left there on purpose instead of being mowed down, but do yourself a favor and DO NOT STOP on the shoulder, shuffle your kids onto an embankment during rush hour and try to get a few pictures.

Instead, as March rolls around, take the long way home a few times.  Drive on the street next to the highway, or on the far side of town.  The flowers will be mowed down in parks and yards and grassy hills next to commercial buildings.  You are looking for a flat space, maybe, where a new building might go sometime soon.  Look for the corners where people put up election signs or "Land for Lease" signs.  If you've ever thought to yourself, "Someone could drop a dead body out there and no one would ever find it," that's a pretty good place to start looking.

If all else fails, the Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center in Austin always has a spot specially created.  You have to pay admission, but it's always there.

3. Keep your camera in the car for a few weeks.  The time might hit you when you least expect it.

4. If you find a good spot, hit it early in the day before everyone has spilled all over their clothes.  Plus, it will be cooler and since you might have to take a walk to get to the right place, you'll be glad.

5. Wear shoes.  I've never run into a snake while snapping wildflower pictures, but I've seen lizards and snakes just seem inevitable.

Toddler Chores (18 months)

I hate to admit this, but sometimes at our house, we run out of things to do.  By this I mean, we run out of things the toddler can do, or is willing to do, or will allow me to do (I, of course, have a list of about twenty things that need to be done and it's always getting bigger).  Search the interwebs, and there are lots and lots of "chores for little hands" etc.  But they all start around the age of 2.  So what do you do before that?  My kid is only 1.5 -- with a little bit of effort, I've discovered that he can still help around the house.

Our favorites:
1. Putting dirty clothes into the hamper.  Please excuse me if this list seems to be mostly "put this thing in something else."  It is his favorite activity.
2. Putting clothes into the dryer.  Our dryer is a front loader with the door that opens down like an oven door, so if I put the wet clothes from the washer on the door, he can push them into the dryer.  Mostly.

3. Picking up toys and putting them in the toy box.  Sometimes, this devolves into "put three things in, take everything out."  But that's ok, too.  The point of chores sometimes is not to actually get anything done.
4. Picking up trash outside.  If most of the garbage on our street wasn't super yicky (most of it is old fast food wrappers, blech), I believe my son would cheerfully clean the whole block.  He also loves to do this at the park.  I am trying to be less squeamish about it.
5.  Putting leaves onto the compost pile.  This one is super fun, because it's outside and a little dirty (but safe dirt, not like someone's old oozy food wrappers, shudder).  I show him the pile of leaves and do a couple handfuls as an example, and then I sit down and hang out for fifteen minutes until he gets bored.
6. Wiping down surfaces with a rag.  This is purely experimental right now -- I filled an old windex bottle with water and let him practice spraying things.  He mostly sprayed his mouth, which filled him with delight.  And then he wasn't very interested in wiping anything up.  But, we're going to keep trying.  If you want to try this, you can start with a damp diaper wipe and see what happens.  I'm planning to get those little fingers dusting some hard-to-reach crevices one of these days.
7. Turning on and off the lights.  Maybe your kid is content to walk around on his own two feet all the time; mine still has moments when he wants mommy to carry him.  And, sometimes wrangling him in my arms is the only way I get his diaper changed (sad but true).  So, when he is in my arms, I always ask if he will turn on the lights in whatever room we enter and turn them off when we leave.  He loves it.

As I said above, the point of chores with very little kids isn't that they are actually helping you.  If they do get anything done, the active supervision and constant re-stating of the goal pretty much wipes out any actual progress.  But my son really does love to help -- he beams with pride when he can get his dirty socks into the hamper and he truly believes it is his job to put the clothes in the dryer.  It is great fun to see him participate in how we run our house.

Metro Rail Ride Downtown -- a $2 Date with your kid

Looking at Austin's MetroRail commuter train, you could be forgiven for thinking it is lame.  I mean, it only goes from a parking lot in the middle of suburbia to downtown; there is little, if anything, within walking distance of the stops until you hit the end of the line; and it doesn't even operate on the weekends, when you might actually want to go downtown.  It seems strictly created for the few people who live in the suburbs and need a ride to their 9 to 5 jobs.  Not me and my kid, surely.

But! It is secretly an awesome outing.  It is cheap -- $1 each way and kids under 6 ride for free.  A lot of things that are free for babies have a cut off age that is a lot younger than 6, so this is a bargain.  We make a habit of parking at the Crestview station.  It is about a twenty minute train ride to the downtown station, which isn't too long for the little ones.  There is plenty of free parking and the area is green, sunny, and delightfully deserted in the middle of the day.  When your kid runs off screaming because he thinks he sees a bus around the corner on Lamar, you can dump whatever you're carrying and dash after him him. Or maybe my kid is the only one who does this.  He really loves buses.

For those who are similarly inclined, there are many buses to watch from the windows of the train.  They gather at the MLK and Plaza Saltillo stations to whisk more businessy-minded people off to their Important Things. My kid was very excited to see them, all in a row, like he was visiting bus heaven.  That reminds me, I need to do another post on Bus Heaven; I know where it is if anyone has been wondering.  Downtown, of course, is loaded with buses -- and activity of every kind.  Standing on the corner of Cesar Chavez and Trinity is probably thrilling enough for some kids (and completely free).

If you need a little more than just watching traffic to satisfy you, we've discovered a few other things that are within a pretty close walk.  Strolling down Trinity past Cesar Chavez takes you to the Lady Bird Lake hike and bike trail.  The Austin Rowing Club is not far to the left, and if you visit one of the docks nearby, you can probably see people rowing and crew teams practicing.  And, for a while at least, you can still see a cow statue hidden under the Congress Avenue bridge.  The Four Seasons is right there as well, and on the hillside looking out over the lake they have chairs, rocks to climb on, and hammocks.  If you hang out there, one of the sweet waiters from the cafe might come out and ask you if you want breakfast.  You could do worse than buying a coffee to go, because he will probably bring it to you on a fancy tray loaded with hotel coffee luxuries.  And then you can sip it from a hammock.  There are worse ways to spend a morning.

Walking over to Congress and 2nd, there are a few food trucks in an empty lot.  The coffee truck is open for breakfast and the others, Snap Pod and a kebab truck, are open for lunch.  If you have a kid who runs into traffic, it's not the calmest place to go for a snack, but hey, maybe you have a kid who likes to sit on your lap.  And if you do, and someday you notice me staring at you from the curb with the vise-like grip on my child, um, I'm just a little jealous.

A few more blocks away is the Austin Children's Museum.  They have story time at 11am, 1pm, and 3pm.  Plus, of course, plenty of things to climb on, play with, and explore.  I keep hearing complaints about this museum, because apparently other towns have better ones.  But there is have a book corner and an aquarium and this thing that you can put golf balls in and watch them roll down a slide.  We don't really need much more than that these days.

If you keep going, you can reach City Hall.  If you go now, you can visit the Occupy Austin protest -- it's mostly kid friendly.  I heard some swear words and shouting, but didn't see anything terrible when I took my kid a few weeks back.  When the protesters are gone, there are often other public events, like free music, on the plaza outside.

Yes, buying coffee or lunch or a museum entry makes the day a little more expensive, but you really can have lots of fun just walking around for free.  If you wind up missing the train and can't wait an hour for the next one (yes, it really takes an hour for the next one), you can simply catch the #1 bus all the way back to the Crestview station.

If you go, you'll need:

• snacks and water for the kiddos -- it's hard to find a place to buy cheerios by the convention center.
• a stroller or sling or baby-carrying-device
• $2 -- the machines even take credit cards and bus passes, so maybe you don't even need that
• good walking shoes for mom/dad

More info:

http://www.capmetro.org/

Photos courtesy Lucky Locavore