Build and Break Toys to Learn
Kids Crafts Article by KarensVariety.com

Children love to learn and do things hands on. They love to make things and they love to take things apart. Their natural imagination and curiosity can be directed to a fun and educational way to learn.

Toys are expensive. What a better way to spend time with a child than to build something together. Just by using bits and pieces around the house, parents and children can accomplish wonders.

Buy your child a tool kit with a handle and put a few tools in to. When you build together, your child will be proud to show it off as he or she had helped make it and used their own tools. What you build and what tools your child can use is age related. Younger children will be more involved in gluing and generating ideas, older children can help by using tools.

We made many toys with our boys. We actually made Castle Greyskull for He-man. We used scrap wood, a large round drill attachment made holes in the sides. Small hinges and chain made a drawbridge. Pieces of wood were nailed together to make turrets. The only thing we purchased was a can of steely grey spray paint. Our Castle was larger and easier to play with than the expensive purchased Castle.

A doll house could be made in just the same way. Make doll accessories with your daughter. See the article on making a Bookcase Dollhouse. This could and should be a joint effort.

In the end, your child will learn skills, pride in his or her accomplishment, and have imaginative play with the finished product. You are parent, will have spent valuable quality time with your child. You will laugh together and have wonderful fun.

Just as children learn by building, they can also learn by breaking down toys into their parts to see how they work. A child's version of engineering and science. Lay ground rules and make sure that your child knows that once they have taken apart the toy they won't get it back. Be sure to supervise when children are younger as care needs to be taken; some toys will have sharp parts.

Buy toys at garage sales and let your child take them apart to see how they work. Once a toy is broken, ask your child to see if it can be repaired. Put your heads together and see what you can do.
Some toys are quite complicated and others are very simple.

Children are fascinated to see how toys that have movement actually work. Many toys such as Poppin Pals have a button you push which causes movement. Open up a toy that has movement (that will be the end of it so be sure you don't need it anymore). Let your child see the inner workings.

Cheaper toys often have elastic bands inside so when the elastic breaks, the toy no longer works.
Dolls with moving arms and legs have every small elastics inside.

Let your child discover the gears inside a toy. They will be fascinated to see how gears work.

Wind-up toys will fascinate your child. Take apart a bathtub toys that swims around the bathtub and discover how it works.

Before you throw out any toy, give your child the opportunity to see how it was assembled.

You will find your child will become more curious and expand his or her knowledge to learn about gears, batteries, levers and many other aspects of toy making. Follow up with a trip to the library where you will find books explaining your child's discoveries.

Remember, once your start down this road, there will be no end. Your child's curiosity, once lit, will remain. Over the years, expect to find bits and pieces of broken calculators, computer accessories, etc. around the house. Your child will always want to know what is inside and how it works!