How to Easily Make Dramatic Play Toys Out of Garbage!

Before you waste your money on a set of paper and cardboard food toys, consider making your own out of garbage! Rather you have zero time or lots of free time, there are many free ways to stock up a kiddo's grocery store or play kitchen.

First things first, put yourself in a kid's shoes by asking yourself, what would make this package look or feel realistic from a child’s perspective? Creativity is key here. There are countless ways to repurpose recyclables.

Still stuck? Here are some ideas to get your wheels turning.

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Food Packaging to Startup Your Kids' Grocery Store

Here's a list of common food packaging that you can remember to put aside instead of chucking in the recycling bin. You definitely don't need all these items, just some ideas to get your kiddo's store up and running:

Full List of Grocery Items Featured:

• Milk jug (half gallon fits play fridges best)

• Creamer carton (quart size or smaller)

• Yogurt containers (32 oz.)

• Pints of ice cream (Ben & Jerry's; Haagen-Dazs)

• Any cardboard packaging

  • Crackers

  • Mini cereal boxes

  • Teddy Grahams

• Egg carton (6 pack)

• Individual juice boxes (empty)

• Plastic pasta sauce jar

• Plastic individual juice containers

• Peanut butter or sun butter jars

• Condiment bottles

  • Ketchup & mustard

  • Salad dressing

  • Squeezable jelly

• Baby food containers

• Plastic ice cream jars (Talenti)

• Seasoning bottles

• Topping containers

  • Sprinkles

  • Shredded cheese

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Overview of Grocery Categories by Amount of Prep

• Quick Start Items:

  • Small Items with Opaque Packaging

• Low Prep Items:

  • Cardboard & Paper Packaging

  • Transparent Plastic Bottles & Containers

• Items that Require Moderate Prep:

  • Transparent Plastic Bottles & Containers

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✨ Quick Start: Small Grocery Items in Opaque Packaging

If you don’t have much time to spare and are looking for quick ways to create a grocery store, start by saving small items that come in opaque (non-see through) packaging.

List of Small Grocery Items in Opaque Packaging

• Milk jug (half gallon fits play fridges best)

• Creamer carton (quart size or smaller)

• Yogurt containers (32 oz.)

• Pints of ice cream (Ben & Jerry's; Haagen-Dazs)

What You'll Need:

• Gorilla Glue

Instructions for Upcyling Small Grocery Items in Opaque Packaging

1. After washing out the packaging and letting it dry, all that is required is that you use glue to attach the lid.

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✨ Low Prep: Cardboard & Paper Packaging

Cardboard is king when it comes to imaginative play, even when it comes in small sizes. To make your toddler's cardboard items durable, you'll want to add some stuffing inside the boxes.

I know it's tempting to hand kids an empty box and say, "Here, go play with this!" But, by doing a few minutes of low prep work up front, you'll prevent the items from getting crushed under the wheels of a balance bike in two days.

List of Grocery Items to Use:

• Any cardboard packaging

  • Crackers

  • Mini cereal boxes

  • Cheddar bunnies

  • Teddy Grahams

• Egg carton (6 pack)

• Individual juice boxes (empty)

What You'll Need:

• Pillow stuffing, polyester fiber fill, or cotton fiber stuffing

• Packing tape

Instructions for Most Cardboard & Paper Packaging:

1. There are two options for stuffing these items: (a) look around the house for a pillow that you've always hated and repurpose the stuffing (b) purchase a pack of stuffing filler from the craft store or Amazon.

2. After filling up each item, secure the box with packaging tape.

Special Instructions for Juice Boxes:

1. Drink and save 6-8 juice boxes, rinse them out and leave to dry for a day.

2. Line up juice boxes in a row (the way you see them on the shelf of a grocery store) onto clear sticky con-tact paper. I found the contact paper to be helpful in securing the juice boxes in a set. This makes it a lot easier to tape them together using clear packing tape.

What to do with an empty egg carton?

If your kiddo happened to decorate any wooden or plastic Easter eggs, place a few in the carton, so they can be used in the pretend grocery store or play kitchen year round.

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🫙 Transparent Plastic Bottles & Containers

Transparent plastic bottles and containers make great grocery store props because they're super easy to make realistic again. With just a little paint and glue, you can extend the life span of recyclables and make toddlers feel like they're shopping at a real grocery store!

List of Transparent Plastic Bottles & Containers that Require Low Prep:

• Pasta sauce jar

• Individual juice containers

• Peanut butter or sun butter jar

• Condiment bottles

  • Ketchup & mustard

  • Salad dressing

  • Squeezable jelly

• Baby food containers

• Ice cream jar (Talenti)

What You'll Need:

• Acrylic paint

• Glue

Instructions for Low Prep Clear Plastic Containers:

1. Find a paint color that is similar to the contents of the container (ie: bright red for ketchup)

2. Pour a few drops of paint into the container and shake it up until the paint is evenly dispersed amongst the inside.

3. Glue the lid close!

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✨ Pretend Grocery Items that Require Moderate Prep:

Moving on to my favorite category, pretend grocery items that require moderate prep! Rest assured, these mini craft projects will be well worth the time and effort you put into making them, as you're sure to see little ones deeply engaged in their play.

Although some of these items are tedious to prepare, you can mindlessly work on them while binging Netflix. And if you need a show recommendation, check out The Black Doves starring Keira Knightley as a kickass spy and mom.

List of Pretend Grocery Items:

• Snack items

  • Oreo bite size cookies

• Seasoning bottles

  • Crushed pepper

• Topping containers

  • Sprinkles

  • Shredded cheese

  • Regular Sprinkles

  • Rainbow Nonpareils

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How to Upcycle Pretend Grocery Items with Moderate Prep Work:

Grocery Item	Example	Photo	Supplies	How to Upcycle
Snack Items	Oreo mini cookies		Small plastic circle lids or caps	Fill package with small circular lids (contact case lids, pouch caps, water bottle caps)
Seasoning Bottles	Crushed red pepper		Construction paper; hole puncher	Collect leftover hole punch dots from hundreds of red, orange, brown, and yellow construction paper
Topping Containers	Regular sprinkles		Dyed rice	Fill bottle with rainbow dyed rice
	Rainbow nonpareils		Floam	Mix various colors of floam together to. Then, stuff mixture inside bottle.
	Shredded cheese		Yarn	Cut up small strands of white and yellow yarn

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These simple recyclables are likely to be more memorable for your kid than cheap quality play food. Kiddos tend to mouth those products (which likely contain icky BPA) more than they do packaging- probably because they recognize that packaging is inedible. But, heads up, they will try to open the packages. So, do make sure you use lots of tape or glue to seal all contents properly.

What kind of toys will you make? Share your creative ideas for recyclables in the comments below! Can’t wait to hear what you come up with!

Sincerely,

Briesh

P.S. Stay Conscious + Curious!