Baby toys on a very tight budget - ideas please

[haloflo]

My DD is nearly 6 mo and I am feeling the pinch on maternity pay. What might she like to do at home which is free? If I do buy her some (cheap) toys what will last and last?

Asda do brilliant stacking cups and so cheap too, I can really recommend, they also have wind up frog and duck toys that are great in the bath, usually on an offer where you get 3 x toys for a fiver, well worth a trip to asda (it's not my favourite supermarket by a longshot but I've not found better, cheaper basic toys.

Definitely don't need to spend any money on a 6 month old. Large empty tissue boxes; plastic spoons; screwed up balls of paper; anything plastic that can't be swallowed - all of these could be free toys.

Also walking to a park and letting her lie/roll/crawl about on the grass. Or just walking around the park and letting her look at the green things.

A park with a sandpit: you can at the least hold her so her bare feet touch the sand.

Dancing with her to music on the radio.

Visiting friends and relatives so that she can spend time with people who aren't you and get used to strangers.

Ebay toys?

We got a set of stacking rings on a stick from Asda for 90p and theyve been played with pretty much every day since (DD is 10 months now)

My dd loved playing with plastic spoons and cups. I got a few from ikea then. A pack of brightly coloured cutlery set (of 18) for £1. Wooden spoons and plastic bowls, make knots in old scarves. Put some grains of rice or pasta in a small container for her to shake.

My guideline then for toys was anything that'll help develop her senses - bright colours to see, different textures to feel, jeans, wool, suede, leather etc, different sounds to hear.

I made the mistake with my ds1 by splashing out on expensive toys which he'd play with once and abandon but dd was very content with cheap and cheerful!

my kids favourite was a home made posting box. just a circle cut in the lid of a shoe box and then they could post something in it then take lid off and get it out and so on.

Had far more use than shop bought posting boxes as ic can be used at much younger age when they find it interesting to take lid off and find the object and much easier to get something in the hole

I'll second Freecycle - you can't get better than free IMO! I've given away stacks of baby clothes, toys, bottles, breast pumps, cot - basically anything I need to get rid of & can't/didn't sell on ebay.

In return I've had form people: one of the plastic ELC slides & red/yellow house for the garden, a play cooker, play food plus a little table & 3 chairs - didn't cost me a penny bar a few pounds petrol to collect them locally.

instead of stcking cups go to picnic section where 6 stacking beakers/bowls/plates can be used for teaset later on will be 99p not £3 for toys

car boot sales , NCT do nearly new sales too all children prefer mummy and daddy's stuff anyhow DD was about 9 months when she realised that real stuff is black/ chrome not pink/ green / blue/red plastic