Handmade Visual Aids for babies of 8-36 months old. Tips from our Readers

How to make developing toys from the things at hand for a small baby? A reader of our blog has shared her ideas with us:

What to Do with Diapers?

The pictures on the diapers are very bright. You can make a game using them. To do it, cut the picture out from the diaper, collect two pictures of each type, stick them on (colour) cardboard, laminate the cardboard (or cover it with sticky tape) and cut it into pieces. The game is ready! So far, with a tot of 18-24 months old, we are just looking for the pair pictures. You can also gradually add more pairs of pictures into the game and when the child is older you can already follow certain rules in the game.

I also use pictures from diapers when sewing toys and developing books.

Our tot used to crawl up to the package with diapers, rustled with it, said something in his own language. So, I took the picture of a baby from that package and sewed it to the mat in the form of a plane. An idea for the future: the picture fades in some time; that is why it is better to place it under a transparent film of plastic.

You can also make a game “Windows”. Children like to open windows and see “who is living there”. You will need: a box (where there have been sweets before, for example), scissors, pictures (any – with animals) and glue. Insert the parts of the box one into the other. Stick the pictures to the lower part and cut windows in the upper part. I used a shoe box. The child was super excited! Our daughter quickly learnt who lives where. So, I made a loose leaf with more pictures of animals.

What to Do with Advertising Booklets?

I also made similar pair pictures “who eats what”. Different food can be drawn or cut out from advertising booklets.

Advertising booklets, packages left after juice and cereals can be used to make developing albums for the baby. The pictures in each album refer to one and the same subject: in the forest, furniture, dishes, babies, what is made of what (iron, plastic, rubber, etc.) It is very handy to use magnet sheets instead of ordinary photo-albums.

One more idea: cut out food products, clothes, toys, etc. from packages, magazines or booklets. Stick them to cardboard. A game “Store” is almost ready for a toddler of 24 (mon). Take a bag, a purse with coins and go to the “Store” together with your little one. On the way, let’s count what we should buy: 2 apples, milk, bread. In such a way, we are also training our memory.

And What about Packages Left after Cereals?

Such packages which are very bright are handy to use for puzzles. The number of parts depends on the child’s age. First, my toddler made pictures from 2 parts, then from 3. Now we are moving to 4 elements (my daughter is 2 years old now). The cut can be horizontal, vertical, on the bias and to your liking.

What to Use the Photo-camera for?

When our daughter was born, we were presented with a photo-camera. When I was walking with the baby, I was taking pictures of everything around. (I looked a bit funny, I know: I was running from the lamppost to the parking lot and construction site ). Some of the pictures were printed out and placed into a photo-album. The only disadvantage of such albums is that pages are torn out quickly by the toddler’s hands. We have already had to revive one of them. The topics of the albums I have made were the following: geometry, colours, world around, relatives, domestic and wild animals, herbarium (leaves).

I used other photos (I have more than 500 pics) for computer presentations. Among them, there is a fairy-tale about Marry and bears, a story on how wild strawberry grows, etc.

Can anything else be invented with pictures and photos? Any ideas?

Dariya (the author of the blogs «Bukhtelka» and «Marry’s Mother»)

Next time you will learn about a handy way of keeping children’s books.

Illustrations to the Article:

Photos by the author