Finding Everyday Items to Use as Toys and Learning Items

For this months topic I was thinking about how often children find random household objects to play with throughout the day. Most children I know have used pots and pans to form their own band, or made a collection from various items outside. Using these types of creative play in the classroom or home childcare setting can help the child expand his or her imagination. It also can bring forth concept of cause and effect! Some other useful items include paper cups and string. Paper cups can be great to stack (and knock over!), sort objects or practice pouring different textures. A long piece of string can be tied to a door knob to be used as a Limbo stick, a ‘challenge’ to jump over or even used as a hang glider for a small toy! As students of the cdaclass.org program, you may still be on your journey to being a full time educator. You may not have a huge budget for your classroom either, but you can certainly find creative ways to use these low-budget items!