Recycled play - washi tape pots

We love washi tape and use it a lot in our junk modelling activities as it's so easy for the kids to tear and apply. It was after one of our modelling sessions that I thought of a quick way to upcycle some pots and create a fun toy to play with!

As a family with three boys we get through A LOT of yoghurt (it's my lazy go-to pudding), so I'd managed to collect lots of yoghurt pots to play with in the last few weeks.

In 5 minutes they went from plain old yoghurt pots to beautiful rainbow ones, ready to be played with, thanks to some good old washi tape.

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To make this fun recycled activity, you just need clean and dry yoghurt pots (any size as long as they're all the same), as well as your choice of washi tape.

We went for a rainbow of colours in the thicker size of tape, which is 1.5cm. Be careful of the size of the tape when buying as the thinner ones will take longer to cover the pots and tend to be a bit less sticky.

So now all you need for this fun toy is to wrap your washi tape around each of your pots until they are covered. You may need to overlap some of the tape to prevent it going over the edge at the bottom. Press down any ridges or folded bits to even out the surface.

Once you've covered your pots in washi tape they're ready to be played with!

I started by showing Mr 2 how the pots could be stacked on top of each other. This is what's know as 'modelling' - where you show playful curiosity to encourage your child to get stuck in!

He gave it a good try, but he wasn't too interested in stacking them into a pyramid to be honest. He really wanted to push them together and see how they fitted.

I find many of our activities don't quite pan out the way I intend, but I love following their lead. As long as they are having fun I'm happy! They'll still be learning in a playful way.

Mr 2 then started collecting up all the pots and stacking them together.

We looked at the different between what mummy made and what he made.

The washi tape had a surprising effect - it made them wedge in and stick together really easily, so he could make a long stack.

He stacked every single pot together and made a HUGE tower which he was really proud of.

We also made a lovely rainbow together and I used the opportunity to talk to him about the different colours. He is just starting to learn colours at the moment, he can't talk yet as he has delayed language but he definitely understands!

When Mr 6 got home he couldn't wait to get stuck in and had his own ideas about what he wanted to do. The activity changed into a bit of a magic trick! He put pompoms in three cups, shuffled them and asked me to guess which cup had the blue, green, yellow etc pompom in it.

That's why I love open-ended activities such as these; the way children interpret them is always so wonderfully creative and diverse.

Do you like making your own toys? Let me know what you've made!

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