Homemade Toys

[Number6]

I was thinking that we could compile a list of economical and fun toys for our children and good places to get materials to make them.

 

For example, Gina loves to destroy wiffleballs. I got a stainless steel choke chain and 8 wiffleballs for $3 at Wal-mart. Threaded the chain through the balls by making small cuts in the balls, and hung it in the cage.

Simple, but it works

[Caspersmum]

I like the idea of the thread, but what's a whiffle ball?! Sorry - I'm a stupid limey!

 

I got cheap plastic practice golf balls - they're light-weight plastic balls with holes in them. I also got some foam practice golf balls, which Casper loves to chew up - and the bits make the dust in my vacuum cleaner look very pretty!

 

Julia

[Number6]

Wiffle ball (smaller than a baseball w/ holes in it)

 

What I made

[Caspersmum]

Cool - they look really loke the golf balls I got, so I'll give it a go. If you're looking for a play stand, I made a cargo net for Casper - I put the 'recipe' on the site under another thread a few weeks ago if you're interested.

 

Julia

[Guest Monique]

We have a phone book hanging in a cage, untreated pine wood with holes drilled through it, crumpled paper sticking through the top or side of the cage, corn on the cob and carrots which they love to chew through but not necessarily eat the whole thing. They will chew through that in a day, though.

 

Great thread - give us some more ideas. With gas prices I can use the economical ideas!!!

 

Oh, I also have a soda bottle empty tied to the side of the cage and put a yummy nut (like almond in the shell) in it so they have to tip it upsidedown to get it out and not let it hit the cage floor when they do so.

[CeasarsDad]

Monique.. The phone book idea is priceless... Thanks.

[splint101]

@ Number6 - I had the same idea with the wiffle balls i just could net find some choke chain. But I think I know where I could find some this coming weekend. Will post a pic of mine when complete.

[judygram]

Monique how did you hang the phone book in the cage? Did you put a hole clear thru the book and run a chain thru or what? I have extra phone books and was going to throw them away but this idea is a great way to dispose of them.

[Number6]

OOH... *runs to get phone book from work

 

I'm going to get some chain and drill holes in the sides of Coke lids and hang them in the cage bunched together, Gina will keep herself occupied ripping the liners out of them.

[Guest Monique]

Yep - that is what I did with the phone book. Actually I think my daughter quickly sort of cut a whole through it with a knife just taking a chunk of pages at a time and it wasn't too hard. We didn't use any tool or anything like that. Then I tied a bit of string to the book and the other end of the string to a cage bar. I'm sure a chain would be better but I'm not quite that creative as of yet.

[Richardsmommy]

Or you could try draping it over a rope stretched from one end of the cage to the other...but he might pull that off.

 

Richard's phone book is sitting on top of his cage with 1/4 of it hanging off the side. He rips pages out and throws them on the floor.

 

I've also put entire rolls of toilet paper and paper towels in his cage...hanging from a rope...but he goes through that pretty quickly.

 

I also buy him cat toys with bells and dog toys with ropes. I make sure there aren't any dangerous pieces, though.

 

I like the bottle idea...ll'have to try that.

 

OH! I bought him a cheap bubble gum machine from walmart for $4.00...hoping I could teach him to work it, but the handle would be too difficult for him to turn. I put jelly beans in it since he LOVES jelly beans. But next I'm going to fill it up with that colorful food that smells fruitilicious enough to eat.

 

Richard gets bored with his own toys and heads for the knives and electrical cords. There's never a dull moment around here. But I did happen to find a parrot beany baby (named "Jabber") he likes to "fight" with.

[Richardsmommy]

OH! And he also likes to play with metal clips...like you see on keychains and hanging off mountain climbers.

[splint101]

Okay guys here is my toy that I made today....Because Max is 4 months old.....

 

[Number6]

That looks good, once he gets big enough, he'll start killing those balls. Gina seems to be able to recycle 1 every day and a half.

 

Old keys make good toys too.

[splint101]

Thx, had the idea when I got Max, but when I saw your post it made my life easier to go and look for what I need. Max has been playing with one of these balls since we got him and it's been more than a month now but yeah I think the more he develops he will start to tear them apart. B)

[judygram]

I like that toy you made, Splint101, that was very creative, makes me want to do one like it. My grey likes those balls with the bells in them. She can really tear them up.:laugh: