How to Make Your Own Preschool Toys

Assess your skills. If you are handy in the workshop or with a sewing machine there are all sorts of toys you can make, such as a wooden barn, stuffed animals or a ring-toss game.

Sew some soft toys. Buy two inexpensive towels with a picture of an animal on them. Cut out the animals, turn them face-to-face, and stitch them together. Cut up the remaining towel and use it for stuffing.

Use household items to make toys. A coat hanger or craft wire can be twisted into a bubble wand. Add 2 tbsp. of glycerine and 4 tbsp. of dishing liquid to a cup of water, and you have a toy that will keep the preschoolers engrossed for the afternoon. Cover an empty coffee tin with a piece of leather, attach it with a tight elastic, and you have a drum. If the preschoolers want drumsticks, hand them a couple of chopsticks.

Make toys with paper. As well as the standard paper airplane that kids love to make fly, try a paper-bag volleyball. Fill a medium-size paper bag with newspaper, tie it in the middle with a piece of elastic cord and secure it between two posts. The preschoolers can bounce the ball back and forth to each other.

Cut out some building blocks. Kids love to build things with blocks. Get some 2-by-2-inch and some 4-by-4-inch cuts from the lumberyard, and cut them into block-size pieces. Paint them bright colors and the preschoolers will have a toy they can play with for years.

Paint -- or glue -- a picture on a piece of wood. Use a marker to outline where you are going to cut the pieces of the wooden jigsaw puzzle.