Before I Was a Daycare Provider...

[iheartkids]

I would throw away everything. Probably things the normal person wouldn't throw away. But now I see odds and ends of things in a new light and love getting creative ideas with it. My latest idea...old lids from rubbermaid totes. I have a whole box of mismatch lids from totes that I don't even know what happened to them. I had them sitting out to toss out when today I had a great idea. I got playdoh out for a couple kids today and instead of getting them all situated at the table with it I layed down a couple of the lids for them to sit on and they sat on the floor so nice playing with the playdoh. From then I got another idea and we made paths with the lids to walk on, made a stage for the kids to stand and jump up and down on. If they break them I don't care but at least I'm finally getting some use out of these things that have been taking up room in my storage room!
Anybody else with great ideas with odds and ends of things around the house?

[blueclouds29]

I took those huge formula can and even the Puffs containers and put slits in the lids. I collected milk tops cause they were big enough for the kids not to choke on. The kids would put the tops through the slits of the container. They love it! Now they just fill them up with toys and shake them.
I also used a couple of the containers to do marble painting. I put a peice of paper in it, paint, a marble (or small ball, ping pong ball) put the lid on the kids shook and rolled the can. Also fun!!

[BigMama]

Yes, I do this too and am afraid I will become a hoarder because I can see a potential toy/learning material out of everything! ::

[daycare]

i save the big yogurt containers....

Let me show you what we did with them,among many other things we use them for.

BRB gonna snap a shot

[dave4him]

I keep this in mind everytime i throw stuff away... i guess i need a good project book that tells me what to save first

[daycare]

I am not very crafty, but we had tons of yogurt buckets and scrap construction paper.

this is what we ended up with..

It was part of our math center.

used the clothes pins to attach to the buckets. In the pic they are full of junk, sorry...

[erinalexmom]

Thats cute daycare! You could even glue different color feathers to the clothespins so that they would be making a "tail" for the turkey

[daycare]

Thats cute daycare! You could even glue different color feathers to the clothespins so that they would be making a "tail" for the turkey

i tried that with a few, but the kids could not open and close the clothes pins with them on.

Maybe I should try painting the clothes pins..

We also use these for painting. cups for water, the lids for the paint. the kids keep the markers and crayons in them too...

I have so many of them its not even funny.....BUT we always seem to need them

[iheartkids]

I saved formula cans for the longest time for storage containers for craft items, but they are pretty bulky to store. I like the yogurt containers better cause then at least you can stack them inside each other until you find a use for them!

[Blackcat31]

I save the little containers baby food comes in and use them for making my own single serve Jello cups or yogurt cups or anything single serve for snack time.

I buy in bulk and then divide into the little plastic containers.

[Sunchimes]

I saved all of the plastic containers and lids from baby food. No idea why, but I saved them. For Halloween, I baked a cake in a jelly roll pan, to make a thin cake. I cut pieces to fit into the containers, put a dab of frosting, another piece of cake, then more frosting and sprinkles. I put on the lids and put them in paper bags with a couple of pieces of candy and a little jar of bubbles, put on a label that said Happy Halloween from Our Names (so that the parents would know where the homemade things came from). I gave them to the kids I knew when they came to our door. They loved them!

[e.j.]

I reuse baby food plastic containers and single-serve applesauce containers for glue when we are working on craft projects. Each kid gets a cup with some glue in it and a Q-tip to apply it.

TP and paper towel rolls are good for various crafts.

I also use the round plastic caps from gallon milk lids to make matching games for the kids. I buy 2 sets of the same stickers. Each sticker is placed on a lid. The kids have to find the matching stickers. To make it more challenging for the older kids, I turn the lids upside down so the stickers aren't visable. The kids play "Concentration". They pick two lids to turn right-side up. If the pictures don't match, the lids are returned to their original positions. If they do match, the child keeps the lids. Once all of the stickers/lids are matched up, the kid with the most lids wins the game.

[erinalexmom]

excelent idea e.j.!I will definitly be making a concentration games as soon as I can get enough lids! I had doen the same thing on index cards but I was alwasy so worried about them bending up the cards. Awsome! thanks!

[e.j.]

excelent idea e.j.!I will definitly be making a concentration games as soon as I can get enough lids! I had doen the same thing on index cards but I was alwasy so worried about them bending up the cards. Awsome! thanks!

You're welcome! My kids love playing Concentration and you can use it to teach the alphabet, numbers, shapes, colors, animals, etc - just depends on what stickers you choose to use.

Also, I use the board from an old checkerboard game because the squares are just the right size for the lids and the kids can see where the lids should go back. Otherwise, the lids tend not to go back from where they were taken and it's harder to remember where they last saw the sticker they're looking for. (Hopefully, that makes sense!)

[DCMom]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who saves all this stuff!

TP/Paper towel rolls~we just made turkeys out of them yesterday, older girls make cuff bracelets out of them with spare craft items.

Juice Can lids~Memory game, money when I write amounts on them, lots of different games.

Ice cream pails/lids~Clean up buckets, craft storage, frisbees. I just give them to the kids and they use at will.

Baby food containers and lids~paint cups, individual servings of bulk food like yougurt and applesauce, dice shakers for math games, small craft items, etc

Formula cans~these make great drums! The smaller size make great pen/marker holders for me and the kids.

Pop Bottles (16oz)~lots of sensory bottle ideas on the internet.

Oh my, I need another room to save all the things I want to save!