Every catalog I receive with kids toys has a kitchen set and little plastic or cardboard "food." Kids love playing with this stuff because it helps them model their world, to experience grocery shopping and cooking - things they see their parents and other adults doing all the time. So here is my (borrowed) super duper idea: Instead of compacting and recycling your empty food containers clean and reuse them for your kids to play with!
Empty cereal box? Make sure there are no crumbs in the bottom, close and tape it shut. I wouldn't suggest the cans unless you use a safety can opener that breaks the seal to there are no sharp edges - though I find it hard to get the lid back on. They could use the plastic strawberry containers and put blocks in to represent the fruit. Give them some pots and pans and wooden spoons to "cook" with. You could also give them an old shirt or jacket that would have been in the rag bag to use as a chef coat!
You don't need a fancy kitchen set for them to use imaginative play, a table, chair, even the couch can become the stove or table. My son even turns his puzzle holder into a restaurant counter where he asks what we would like for breakfast then turns around and makes it - representing the food with his puzzle pieces and blocks.
Kids don't need fancy toys to explore their world. All they need are some household items and their imagination!
What creative ways do your kids reuse items that otherwise would have been destine for the trash?
2 comments:
I am a greenie, and I see my 5 year old catching on the hobby of re-using items. One thing she is happy to do it give her toys to the less fortunate. She was born at 34 weeks and we stayed at the Ronald McDonald house and we were so thankful for what they had to provide us. We talked about that with my DD and she is always happy to go over to the drop box or house to leave her toys for the kiddos, I always take my magazines. She also loves to reuse cereal boxes to organize her room, so she says! She also likes for me to make her purses out of anything (kites and chip bags).
It's wonderful that your daughter is willing to part with her toys for boys and girls who are less fortunate. I really need to work with my older son on that. We participate in a "child adoption" through our church every Christmas to provide a family or two clothes and toys for their children. I had never even though about Ronald McDonald House! Love the purse idea as well!
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