Because everyone knows that handmade toys are the most fun!
Kids get a bad rap when it comes to toys–everyone acts like all kids want are the noisiest, crappiest, most plastic-iest pieces of expensive junk currently on the market–but every kid I’ve ever known has been absolutely thrilled to play with handmade toys.
And why wouldn’t they? If you’re making a toy for a kid, then you probably know them pretty well, so you know what they’re going to like, from favorite colors to favorite storybook characters. Kids LOVE getting toys that fit their interests, and you can customize a handmade toy far more than you can a store-bought one. Handmade toys also tend to be made from different materials than mass-market toys, whether that’s cotton fabric instead of cheap polyester or wood instead of plastic. Kids have got to get tired of playing with nothing but plastic and polyester all the time!
That won’t be a problem with this list of some of my favorite handmade toy projects. I love to sew, so all these special toys can be made with hand-stitching or on a sewing machine. Customize each of these projects as needed to use your favorite materials and techniques, and to fit with your favorite little person’s favorite colors and textures. They’re going to love their new toy!
Toys to Throw and Catch
I genuinely don’t know what it is about bean bags–maybe the heft? Being able to feel the beans inside?–but I have never met a little kid who wasn’t obsessed with handmade bean bags. Little kids absolutely LOVE these things! You can make them sets in their favorite colors, or rainbow colors, stenciled with letters or numbers for sneaky literacy/numeracy enrichment, or if you’ve feeling ambitious, you can hand the kid some fabric markers and let them make their own decorations.
Stuffed balls are also super fun for kids to play with! Pentagons make a proper ball, while a puzzle ball has lots of handholds for the littlest kids.
Honorable mention goes to this parachute toy, which is throwable, catchable, AND squeezable!
Doll Clothes
If you’ve got a kid who loves dolls, then handmaking this category alone will save you a billion dollars… although it won’t save you any time, because sewing doll clothes is addictive and you will absolutely find yourself spending too much time sewing your kid too many doll clothes. Ask me how I know, ahem!
Anyway, there are tons of free patterns for doll clothes online, and a ton of other ways to DIY cute doll clothes without having to rely on a pattern!
Pocket Toys
Want a kid to entertain themselves at a restaurant or in a long line without relying on a screen? Teeny pocket toys are the way to go! One pocket kitty can take a kid on a lot of boredom-busting adventures–with two pocket kitties, they can also have drama!
And if your kid’s looking for even more drama, give them a pocket cat AND a pocket mouse!
Stuffies
Kids LOVE stuffies, and to be fair, there are a LOT of store-bought stuffies to choose from (and even more in the thrift stores). But nothing can replace a handmade stuffie that exactly fits a kid’s specific interests, whether it’s a giant Loch Ness monster or a teddy made from a favorite T-shirt. Or if your kid’s a real character, maybe it’s a supersized pretzel!
Dress-Up Clothes
Dress-up clothes are definitely toys! And they’re some of the best toys, at that, with so much scope for the imagination (and lots of sneaky fine-motor and practical life skills practice). A kid who loves superheroes would love their very own cape–although it turns out that you DO have to make sure they know they can’t simply fly out of treetops and off of roofs when they wear it!
Alternatively, perhaps your child is actually royalty. If that’s the case, they need a crown!
Giant Pillows
The whole trend of children’s modular furniture made of pillows is after my time (thank goodness, because I know myself well enough to know that my wallet would have suffered), but I know my way around a giant floor pillow and its potential for fun. This big sprocket pillows can be sprawled on or stacked. Giant star pillows are also stackable, and if you want to recreate that modular look, check out these mattress-edge cushions.
P.S. What’s the coolest handmade toy you’ve ever seen? Tell us about it in the Comments!
