Trash to Treasure: DIY toys

My little guy is a busy kid, so I'm always looking for ways to entertain him and keep him out of trouble.  Here are some fun toys we've "repurposed" from things we would have otherwise thrown away.

This has been a favorite for a while.  I think we started around 8 months and he is still interested in this at 18 months.  It is just a plastic baby wipes container and a collection of caps.  We saved the caps from milk jugs and other bottled drinks.  It helps to have a family member or friends save caps for you if they shop at a different store or buy a different brand.  This will help you get a greater variety of colors.  This is a totally free toy (made from stuff you'd usually toss) and what I really love about it is that as my little guy grows we can adapt how we play.  In the beginning it was just a tool for practicing fine motor skills.  Now we talk about the colors of the caps and count them as they are dropped through the slot.  As he gets older I plan to use a marker to write letters, numbers, and maybe even sight words on the caps.

Update: we are now practicing our letters and numbers!  I also made a set of caps with the letters of his name so we can practice recognizing and spelling his name.

Here's another favorite at our house.  When we have boxes to recycle, we use a little packing tape to reinforce them, and then let our son play with them like big blocks.  He likes to stack them up and knock them down.

As the boxes wear out we put them in the recycling bin and bring in new ones.  Our collection is constantly rotating!