Why I Let My Baby Play With Garbage
It’s actually a pretty brilliant idea if I do say so myself, and I think I just did
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Why do I let my baby play with garbage? Well, that’s a great question. Let’s root around and answer it.
Toys are expensive. If I were to do a quick, rough estimate of our 18 month old son’s toy collection, I’d guess he has about maybe $1000 dollars or so worth of toys. We didn’t buy them all, many were gifts for holidays, birthday, baby shower (yes, he is still playing with many toys from his first days on the planet), some were passed onto us lovingly by friends and family, some we bought. He has an assortment of cars, wooden trains with blocks on them, a bunch of stuffed animals and even a couple baby dolls (I’ll talk about that another time), a crib for the dolls and animals, a bunch of balls in all different sizes, many books, lots of puzzles, instruments of all kinds, magnetic blocks, foam blocks, soft blocks, things that talk and light up, a fake lap top and cellphone, things with wheels that he pushes and lots of little hand toys that he tosses around the room with glee.
I think of all his toys, books are his favorite. He also loves a little piano that my dad / his Grandpa bought for him. He adores his flash cards that have words and colors on them, and he still plays with his foam blocks, one of our first toy purchases for him when he was just a few months old. He does seem to get bored with some toys faster than others, but those mentioned just above are his evergreen go-tos, the ones we take on road trips and that we make sure to mention to the sitter.
But I have recently discovered an unlimited, free source of toys for my son that he absolutely loves, maybe even more than some of his favorite more costly toys or beloved books.
Ready for this one? — Garbage. My son loves more than anything else, to play with garbage. And I love to let him, and I even enjoy playing with garbage with him.
Allow me to explain.
I noticed that many toys he especially loved playing with were not toys at all. He loves playing with our cell phones, the remote, some knick knacks we have kicking around the house, coasters, DVD cases and things of that nature. I also noticed that many of food containers and canisters we often buy are small, pretty, colorful, a good size for tiny hands, essentially indestructable and harmless for the baby to chew on or throw. So I began to save and clean them.
In a week or so, I had a brown paper bag full of yogurt containers, jar lids, cardboard items, water bottles, a metal tea canister, plastic fruit and snack pint boxes and more.
I even elaborated on some of the packaging. In one plastic bottle, I added fluffy soft craft balls for a fun pop of color. In one box, I added lentils and sealed it shut with packing tape. I noticed the small food containers stacked in a nice order, much like his stacking cups that I bought online, so I keep them together to help him play with them in that way.
I took the bag into his play area and took a few items out for him to peruse. Eureka! He was overjoyed. He took each item out, examined it, tossed it, put it back into the bag, combined pieces with others and had a grand old time. I got involved, picking up a lid and balancing it onto a paper towel cardboard roll. He had so much fun, 30 or so minutes went by, and then he cried when I started to sing the clean up song. When I put the toys back into the bag, he dumped them out on the floor again to play more.
That’s never happened with blocks or cars.
Other ideas to spiff up garbage toys are to add stickers, small bows, paint them and decorate them in other ways.
As these not-toys get worn or newer, better packaging comes into rotation, I can disappear the older, less interesting ones and swap new ones in for some of the less adored pieces. Eventually, he will have a great little set of not-toys. And if we need to get rid of them at any point, they can go straight into the recycling bin.
And don’t even get me started about the awesome cardboard box fort we made. It’s literally a box with a small muslin blanket on top, with his toy piano inside. I call it his piano cave, and when he’s not hanging out in there, the cat has become quite fond of it, as well. I will lie down felt or a small carpet on the bottom at some point, maybe cut a window and make a little curtain and elaborate on it as we go.
I normally peruse Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace and my various mom boards to find gently used cheap or free toys for my son when I see something I’d like to buy him before I go plunk down money to get it new. Sure, maybe I’m a little cheap but that cheapness also helps the planet and keeps funds available for his college account and other things he needs more.
I even recently found out about cork puppets which I’m very excited to read up on. It’s basically just puppets made of cork from bottles. Cool!
There’s even a cork festival somewhere overseas that looks fun. As you can imagine, I’ve been saving corks for the awesome set of puppets I’m going to make this kid. It gives me a good excuse to drink more wine.
When you go grocery shopping, keep an eye out for packaging that will make for a good toy — small containers, brightly colored plastics, wood boxes and tins make for great playthings. I’d advise against saving open tin cans, glass or anything that could pose a choking hazard. Also anything with sharp edges, such as cans or hard pointy plastic containers might just go in the trash. Since food packaging isn’t technically made for kids to play with, you’ll have to use your best judgment on what will and won’t work for your child.
But other than that, have fun and let your imagination be your guide. Please send your not-toy pictures to me on Twitter @OneAndDoneMom or on Facebook.com/OneAndDoneMom. I’d love to see what you come up with!
