7 Free Toys Your Kids Will Love More Than Expensive Gifts
Want to get your kids some toys they’ll truly love?
Kids like what is fun more than what is expensive. They might beg for the latest high-tech gadget, but in the end, they’ll drop it like a hot rock for something that engages their imagination and creativity.
As parents, we often spend way too much on Christmas and other holidays especially when it comes to our kids. Hopefully, this list will serve as a reminder that this really isn’t necessary.
The Free Toys Kids Really Love to Play With
This list is one part childhood nostalgia and one part reality check. It is fun remembering all the good times I had as a kid playing with these items, but is also a reminder that we don’t have to go broke trying to give our kid a good life.
Don’t you remember having great fun with some of the free toys on this list? Are you going to rob your kids of all those wonderful memories by buying into the sales pitch for a bunch of stuff that will just clutter up their closet? Don’t do it!
The seven free toys that kids love more than expensive gifts:
1. A Big Cardboard Box
Kids love boxes and the bigger, the better! I’ve not only witnessed my daughters playing for hours in a big box, I can remember doing so myself as a kid. Cardboard boxes are wonderful fun. They become clubhouses, vehicles, spaceships and anything else a child’s imagination can conjure up!
2. A Super-Hero Cape Made From an Old Pillow Case or Bath Towel
Who doesn’t wish they were Superman?!? The transformation for kids comes as easily as giving them an old pillow case or towel. A cape was all I needed as a kid to immediately become my favorite super-hero. I can remember zooming through the house with a towel safety pinned around my neck. Now that’s a good time!
3. A Balloon
Businesses are always giving away free balloons. My girls can entertain themselves for a long while with this simple toy. The keep-it-in-the-air game has got to be their favorite. In fact, we played a game of it just last night. The house fills with hoots, hollers and giggles when a good balloon is on the loose.
4. Two Sticks
I’m not sure why it takes two, but it seems like it always does. With two sticks you can have a mock sword fight or you can draw in the dirt or use them as pretend hiking sticks. Kids love sticks. They are the universal toy. Of course, a good stick can also always work as a substitute bat in a pinch. I used many a stick to guide other sticks down our creek when I was a boy. There is nothing better than a stick boat making it through the rapids!
5. Fort Made From Sheets or Blankets
My girls love setting up their own private fort with sheets or blankets draped over a couple of chairs. I guess this setup serves about the same purpose as a good, old cardboard box. However, there is something more exotic and magical about a tent-like fort. Set one up this afternoon and see if your kids don’t love you for it!
6. Empty Paper Towel Tubes
An empty paper towel tube is a great toy. With one you can become a trumpet player in a band or a scientist gazing at the stars through their telescope. Of course, it isn’t just paper towel tubes that make great toys. You can also take two empty toilet paper tubes, tape them together and they become a pair of binoculars for exploring the jungle!
7. Paper Airplane
I can’t even count the hours I spent as a boy making and flying paper airplanes. We would see how far they would go or how many loops they could do. We would start with one design and then modify it in an attempt to get more performance. This toy is not only fun, but also teaches youngsters about the principles of aerodynamics and the best part is that it doesn’t cost a dime!
Give Your Child a Real Gift – Give Them a Free Toy
What would childhood have been without all these great free toys? Some of my favorite memories come from playing with these things. I’ve also witnessed my girls having some great fun with them too. Don’t waste a fortune! Give your kids the toys that will spark their imaginations and that they’ll remember for a lifetime!
What free toy did you enjoy the most?
Photo by Arkansas ShutterBug
Jeff,
What’s up with the payday loan links? Selling out?
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Kevin – Just trying to support the site. My readers are smart enough to decide for themselves what to click.
Great ideas that I, 35 years ago enjoyed, and my kids now enjoy. Wrap it and give though – and look at the horror on their faces that a towel, carboard tube or box is a “gift”. Leave them laying around – presto – fun is getting created.
How to make it a gift rather than being an accident? That is the challenge.
David – You are right that our kids probably wouldn’t appreciate these under the tree, but it does serve as a reminder that fun can be had even without spending a fortune.
Cereal boxes. You can make a fort, a row of GIANT dominoes, a tower, etc. I still play with these…
Molly – I love the idea of using cereal boxes as giant dominoes. That does sound like fun!
I agree that these are good ideas. My kids played with these when they were toddlers/preschoolers. What I need are ideas for kids 11-18 years!! That age is very difficult.
Kelli – My suggestions probably do have an age limit. My girls haven’t quite reached the preteen and up years so I don’t have any experience there. However, I think the principle still applies. We all like things that engage our creativity and imagination. You just might have to be sneakier about ways to engage your older children in such activities.
yes children of small age gets happy with those gifts like paper airplane or balloon but it gets difficult when thinking to give children of 11-18 yrs age some gifts which they really would like to have.
My favorite free toy was my imagination. Which usually got a lot of action when my mom locked us out of the house during the summer when we wanted to watch TV. Back then I thought she was pretty mean…now I see she was pretty smart.
Jason of Kim & Jason´s last blog ..What I Thought About While Shoveling Snow
Jason – Isn’t it funny how are opinion of our parents and their wisdom improves as we grow older? A strong imagination is a powerful tool!
My kids love boxes and sheets for tents. We make telescopes to spy with out of the paper towel tubes. Doesn’t take much to make them happy really. Just get them away from the commercial junk and they will have fun.
We have an infant so we’re always getting huge boxes of diapers. The empty box is the perfect size for our toddler son to jump in and pretend it’s a car/plane/train and have our oldest push him around.
FFB´s last blog ..Saving At The Supermarket Is FUN!
Kids always have more fun with the box than they do with the actual toy, an empty box drives the imagination mad.