We’ve all been there.
You buy an expensive educational toy for your kid’s birthday hoping that it will excite, stimulate, and educate their young minds. Only to see them open the gift, toss it aside, and reach straight for the shining wrapping paper or the box.
But before you start questioning your sanity on spending a small fortune for your kid’s birthday when you could have just bought wrapping paper, hear us out.
Multiple studies show that playing with everyday objects — such as discarded boxes and wrapping paper — has proven time and again as the best learning aids for children.
In fact, the American Academy of Pediatrics mentions how the best learning toys for young minds are always the simple ones, i.e., household objects. And this is why early learning centres like Gowrie NSW use simple objects to engage children in loose parts play.
So here are a few cheap, no-fuss, everyday household objects that can help your children in terms of problem-solving, language development, empathy, creativity, teamwork, and logic.
Use a Shaker Bottle to Help Develop Your Child’s Neck Muscles & Hearing
The best way to stimulate your kid’s hearing and build their neck muscles is to use a water bottle filled with pasta or beans.
You can shake the bottle from side to side, encouraging your child to look in different directions. As your child grows older, you can switch to plastic containers that they can shake themselves.
Use Everyday Objects to Teach Your Child Maths
When your child reaches a certain age, say a year or two, it’s time to introduce them to basic maths. And using household objects is an easy and fun-filled way to do it.
You can make a cake out of mud or snow. Better yet, bake a real cake. Then have your child count the candles or sticks they insert into their ‘’tasty’’ dessert.
Make sure that your child is always having fun, which is incredibly important to encourage them to embrace — rather than fear — maths. In case things start getting dull, here are some fun activities to do with your child.
Use Colorful Objects to Stimulate Your Child’s Sensory Skills (Touch & Vision)
You can stuff some squares of colorful fabric into a container and let your child pick them out. Make sure you use varying textures and colors to stimulate their sense of vision and touch.
Help your child build an indoor fort out of old blankets and sheets.
You can use spare sheets, blankets, and towels lying around your home to help your child build a fort in the living room.
Have your meals and snacks there with your kid and ask their opinion on what else you could do in your fort. You can also use the blankets, sheets, and towels outside as parachutes to throw around balls.
This will help your child work on their creativity and imagination skills.
Build Towers or Telephones Using Plastic or Paper Cups
You can use cups as building blocks and make your kids stack them on top of each other to see how tall of a tower they can build.
You can also take a walk down your memory lane and help your kids make imaginary telephones using two cups and a piece of string passing through the bottom of each cup.
This is an easy way to improve your child’s gross motor and comparison skills.
Encourage your Child to Engage in Water and Sand Activities
Sand play is a wonderful learning opportunity for your child in terms of their scientific learning, self-confidence, and physical development. Your child will scoop, dig, and pour sand, which can also help improve their muscle coordination.
The next best activity to sand play for your kids is water play. Encouraging your kids to experiment with water in a safe environment is fantastic for enhancing their physical strength and improving hand-eye coordination.
And getting your kids to engage in these activities in a team is a great way for them to learn about teamwork and develop their social skills.
Incorporate Flashlights into your Play Sessions with Your Kids
You’ll be surprised to learn how handy a flashlight can be in helping your child improve their imagination and motor skills.
For starters, you can use a flashlight for your very own puppet show by using it to make hand puppets on your bedroom wall. You can also use a flashlight to ‘’tag’’ outside — just use the light beam to tag each other.
And that’s not all. You can also use flashlights to launch your kids into a discussion about why shadows are created and what their shadow looks like.
All it takes is a little bit of imagination and some planning to turn various household items into fun, educational toys for your kids.
Just remember to keep promoting an attitude of delight and fascination, especially during problem-solving activities with your kids. We recommend getting yourself familiar with the stages of play your child goes through so you can plan activities fit for their age.
A Word of Caution: Make sure all these activities are done under an adult’s supervision. Also, refrain from using sharp objects or objects that pose a choking hazard for young children!