I don’t know about your kids, but mine are often happier playing with the box than the toy that was inside! It seems like simple toys are often the best, and, not surprisingly, it’s also often the most frugal.
(This picture was taken last year, of my older two kids playing pirates with a cardboard box. The box had held a skateboard, my second son’s birthday present.)
Here are 19 other frugal ideas for kids toys:
- Sidewalk chalk
- Bubbles (here are some recipes for the homemade stuff)
- Playdough
- Mud
- Plastic cups
- A bucket of water (for the plastic cups and mud above!)
- Tennis, basket or beach balls
- Balloons
- Paper and crayons
- A small doll or stuffed animal
- Large scraps of fabric or scarves
- Old clothes for dress up
- Mom’s leftover eyeliner for drawing scars or tattoos
- Tinkertoys, Lincoln Logs or wooden blocks (look at garage sales for good deals)
- A bike (although the purchase might not be that inexpensive, in terms of time spent playing versus cost, they are usually very frugal!)
- Small cars or things to push along the ground and go vroom
- Pots and pans to cook with
- Things for gardening (otherwise known as ‘digging in the dirt time’)
- Cardboard boxes (of course!)
These are all things that my three kids love to play with! What are your children’s favorite frugal toys?
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My kids play with most all these toys also. One thing my son can’t seem to get enough of is strings or small ropes. He plays for hours tying toys together with strings or ropes and hanging them on whatever he can find to hang them on.
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My cat loves the cardboard boxes, too! In fact, just this morning, I put it in a different place in the living room, and it was like a brand-new box all over again. Frugal fun extends to pets, too.
I couldn’t agree more with your ideas of cheap toys! My 10 y.o. son, who has no shortage of toys, LOVES to make things out of boxes of all sizes and shapes, cardboard paper towel and toilet paper rolls, and other items in the recycle bin!! He’s currently into pirates (again) and has made an entire fleet of ships outfitted with all the accessories, entirely out of recycled items. He’s make elaborate cities inspired by Walter Wick’s I Spy books and more ships, planes, etc. than I could count. We supply him with the tape and staples and let his imagination and creativity take over. Isn’t childhood grand?!
My parents passed down huge bins of playmobile and lego to my kids (collected over the years by my younger brothers). Now, neither of these things are cheap to buy initially of course, but they were free to us and are well loved and provide hours of entertainment. As much as I love to declutter, I plan on saving these bins to pass on later to my own grandchildren. My three year old really enjoys her play kitchen which I originally bought, second-hand, for $25 about 8 years ago (for her older sister). I definitely also agree that chalk and bubbles are fun, inexpensive, warm-weather entertainment.
I did not know I was so frugal! I gave my kids paint brushes and water and they painted our shed a lovely darker shade of brown. My boys also loved to make what they called “snake bread” it was a mixture of anything leftover that was ready to be thrown away. It could have been crackers or pudding it did not matter they loved stirring and it was going in the garage anyway. One last great fun thing that really worked for our boys, shaving cream. : )
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Kids are easy. Growing up, if you gave me a ball and string I would be happy for hours. Kids use their imaginations more and are entertained very easily, so no need to buy ridiculous expensive toys when the little things can satisfy.
The list you gave is pretty much what my daughter loves best. This week she wants to play with worms and her magnifying glasss. I found an inexpensive, unbreakable plastic magnifying glass at Christmas time, and she spends hours inspecting all sorts of things.
Like most kids, the best treasure you can give her is an empty cardboard box and some spare time alone to play with it!
I don’t have kids, but I have favorite frugal toys: paper miniatures. There are pages like junior general dot org with zillions of soldiers, cars, houses and the like, all available for download and printing
I love this post. I have 4 children with wide age ranges 1-13. In my experience the simpler the better. At our house we love, love balls, bikes and anything we can do outside. Inside we are fans of more balls, the play kitchen, board games, art supplies and making forts from blanket and pillows.
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my son is like that too. xD
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