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Welcome to my Blog

I am a grandmother to 4 little girls. I blog about the things I make for them, review patterns, provide tutorials on how I've dealt with techniques or problems, which I hope may help others, and give links to the (mostly) free patterns I use. Every so often, I do a 'Best of..' post listing the best free patterns I've found under specific headings - babies, girls, boys etc. Enjoy the Blog!

Sunday 18 November 2018

Sewn toys and play things for babies and toddlers

Over the last few years, I've collected many ideas for toys you can sew for babies and toddlers, almost all are free. Many I have used! Now, I thought it was time I shared them on the blog. First, here are some links to other articles on the blog that have ideas and some 'How to's.

A Sounds bag, or Sensory bag - particularly useful for a child just learning to talk:



Ideas for a baby gym, including a crinkly snake:



Ideas for baby shower presents, including some toys and play things:




There are lots of other toy ideas and tutorials on my blog if you do a search. In particular, there are several articles on Quiet Books / Play Books, Dolls' Clothes, and Finger Puppets.

Below the jump, I will share links that I have found while doing my own research.
Note Craftsy / Bluprint links may now be defunct - I will try and find other links.
First, the caveats. I have not tested all of these ideas. But I do know that you should be careful when making toys for children. Home-made toys should never be used unsupervised, as they will not have undergone the usual vigorous safety testing applied to toys you buy in the shop. For example, they may not be fire safe. You should also be very careful with designs that use small magnets. (Personally I wouldn't use them at all for small children.) If children swallow magnets, this can be VERY dangerous, in that the magnets can cause obstruction, or can close up vital pathways in the intestines, for example.) Felt is an incredibly easy to use material for making toys and quiet books, but it isn't a great idea to let it get sucked (as babies are wont to do) - most types are not washable. And be careful with stuffing and filling material, especially if it may be able to escape. One great design uses polystyrene balls inside - I would NOT give this to a small child who could eat or inhale the balls. Watch out for any attachments, as to whether a child could get tangled, or put a loose piece in its mouth. I take no responsibility for what you do - you just need to think, and be sensible. Thank you for listening!

At the end, I'll give you further links for even more ideas. But first, I'll start with specific types of toy. There is some repetition on different sites, but web sites sometimes come and go. I haven't, by and large, included any stuffed animals. There are plenty of tutorials for these on Pinterest and You Tube, it would seem superfluous for me to add to that.

Balls, rattles and cot toys

Patchwork ball by Handmadiya. Soft ball from hexagons and pentagons. It doesn't say on the site how many you need, but it's 12 pentagons and 20 hexagons - I've researched it!. There are five hexagons round each pentagon, and round each hexagon, it's alternate hexagons and pentagons. This also makes the classic football (soccer ball), so you could give a toddler his or her first (soft) football! You can (as I have done) download some templates from the internet. You need to make sure the sides are the same length. I may get round to doing my own tutorial eventually.


Fabric ball, three different sizes. You could insert a squeaker, or bell, which you can buy on the internet. I've found that bells are best included in something like an empty Kinder egg, or the stuffing can muffle the bell sound.

Possibly the easiest fabric ball I have found, made of pentagons, from While She Naps.




Baby blocks from Sew Like my Mom - these look super cute, and could be educational, or just fun to squish.

Baby blocks, with rattle inserts, from While She Naps.

Stacking blocks, 

A lovely Crinkle Toy, by So Sew Easy. 



Another crinkle toy, which might double as a teething ring if you choose the wooden ring carefully.

Some very cute baby rattles by Stitched By Crystal for Make-it, Love-it - a bunny, a cat and a mouse.

Another interesting idea for baby rattles, made from socks! By Craftuts.


Here are a couple of useful links, for UK suppliers of rattle inserts, squeakers, whistles, tc. First, Odds and Oxlets: Their web site also has a nice video of the noises the inserts make. (Web site not currently working - try Amazon or ebay instead.) Secondly, a primarily teddy bear making web site, which has growlers, bells etc.

Other fun toys for play

A free teddy bear pattern I've used, from Verbena Simple Living. I used it to make a teddy bear head rattle for a play gym - didn't get round to making the body, and as the kids got older, they thought its just having a head was a bit weird! But they were happy to bash it as babies.



This link is for a nice idea for a stacking toy(Link not working. There is something similar available on Etsy for £7.25, or you can get it free from SewMag, to which you have to register).

A caterpillar tutorial is available from Sew Mag (a bit slow to load). This isn't the pattern I used, I made my own many years ago, but a very similar idea to mine,shown below:



This one from Abby Glassenberg Design througCraftsy is not free, but a lovely idea - a caterpillar that turns into a butterfly!

For a slightly older child, a fishing game from Tipjunkie.

Again, for an older child, this I spy fabric matching game from Cottage MamaA great idea for making matching game with 20 fabric squares (10 pairs)

If you want girlie stuff, there are several versions of a doll carry cot or basket. This one  from Juniperberry. is a straight basket, without a hood. This design, from Dana of Made Every Day, is NOT free, but it does have a hood, and looks very cute, so it's definitely worth a look.

I made my own, but it was more fiddly than I expected! Here's my design for a carrycot, including my template, which is of course free.




You can also easily make doll / stuffed toy carriers. Here's one from Little Punkin Pie, and another from All Free Sewing. There are heaps of clothes for dolls - several on my blog.

The All Free Sewing site also has links to many other ideas (some less girlie!) For example, play food made out of fabric, several tools belts for holding toy carpentry tools (or whatever you want to hold), and throwing bean bags for garden play (perhaps even indoor play!)

And remember to check out my posts on finger puppets, here and here.

Games

I suppose you could say it comes into the games category, but there are lots of games, indoor and out, that you can play with bean bagsSee my post on that. 


You can also make a great snakes and ladders board, or, for a different take on board games, there is this lovely one called Showers or Flowers from Imagine Our Life.

(Picture from the Imagine our life web site)

More recently, I found this brilliant idea from Dianne Mackenzie on Facebook, for a memory game. (Find the pairs.) She found some really nice dinosaur fabric, cut out little dinosaurs, and attached them to felt squares. I've also found a great fabric with jungle animals. Lacking a single fabric with a variety of different pictures, you could obviously use scraps from several different fabrics. .






Quiet Books 

I've done a number of posts myself on Quiet Books, and there's now this link to help you find all of them..



But there are also some very useful links for ideas and free patterns. My favourite (in the sense I've used it more than any other) is the Imagine our Life web site.

Here's another link from Thread Riding Hood for a free  12-page book tutorial. 

And a very useful web site with links to all sorts of Quiet Book ideas. 

Mobiles

Lots of ideas  on Babble.


Baby Gyms and playmats

Probably the most beautiful DIY sewn playmat I've seen is this one from Giddy Aunt on Community Baby Centre. It has all the letters of the alphabet (though I would have used lower case myself). It is truly stunning, an heirloom project.

A slightly different approach comes from Happy Baby. Their web site seems to be no longer available, but I noted when I found it that it is for a crib gym made from a pool noodle, covered pool in a fabric patchwork, With clips and rings sewn on so that different toys can be attached from time to time. However, you wouldn't be able to leave it in the cot just tied on like this, I would say tying it on with string would not be the safest thing to do. But it's a clever idea.

For more ideas on how to make play mats and play gyms cheaply and simply, look at my posts. 


Toddler Backpacks

My favourite toddler backpack pattern is this one from Indietutes. (Probably because it's so easy!) I make it with double-sided ready quilted fabric, and the link to the blog post for mine is here. The first one I made, that is written up in the post, started life as a Sounds bag, for which easy access was the most important feature. However, once it started to be used to transport toys, especially out of the home, I added a zip so it could be closed, so as to keep the toys in it. Here's another one zipped up.


.

However, if you want an alternative, try this from Soldeira. It's a Spanish web site but the important parts are also in English. 

Teepees

A teepee is a wonderful thing for small children. I made this one while the oldest was just learning to crawl. Now all four of my grandchildren still play in it, with ages ranging from 5 down to 15 months. So we have certainly got some use out of it, both in the garden and inside the house.


teepee is 

Mine was made pretty much following this pattern and tutorial from Pink Toes and Power Tools. This makes a Teepee with a 5 foot sq footprint. We used green garden stakes to form the frame. My post on how I made mine is here



Baby Swings

OK, just another reminder about safety. I take no responsibility here  - these are just ideas you may like - use them if you wish. I haven't, so far.

A baby swing / bouncer type thing from Sassy Housewife
And this, from A Beautiful Mess, appears to be virtually identical.


Finally - you're going to need somewhere to put all this stuff, right? So how about......

Nursery Storage

These are some ideas I've collected.

Collapsible Patchwork Storage boxes from Sew Desu Ne

A diaper stacker - but could be used for other things

And another one, ditto, from The Crafting Nook
Storage Buckets from Melly Sews

Or,  you could buy a cheap mesh hanging organiser from IKEA and sew some fabric to make it prettier / personalise it!

Or you could make a themed bag to hold loose toys together. Here's one idea, for Mr Potato Head bits, but you could try others. I've found great Superheroes material, which would make a great tote for holding superheroes and accessories. Stitch a couple of fat quarters together, add some handles, and you're done!




Still not got enough ideas for sewn toys and play things?

Then look these other web sites for even more ideas!


All Free Sewing

DIY & Crafts

Happy Hooligans

So Sew Easy

Threadistry

Sewpin.

Peekaboo

Sewpin

And here is a lovely idea I found originally on Facebook. It's for a play kitchen, (Link no longer works, try the others below). It is based on a cover for a dining chair. This picture is from a Hungarian web site called the Plum Quilting Blog. As far as I can see, the instructions work


The Whoot
Craft Ideas 2 live 4
Gamazbik
Kids Play Groundset

I've also seen a smiliar idea for a capentrer's work bench.




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