Easy DIY! Introducing educational toys that can be easily made with 100-yen shop items and things around the house.
You want to provide toys that match your child’s development and changing interests, but buying new ones every time can get expensive, right?
If that sounds familiar, this is for you.
Here are some easy, handmade toy ideas you can try.
They use items from 100-yen shops and materials you likely already have at home, so they’re low-cost and beginner-friendly—another great bonus!
We’re focusing on how to make educational toys that build concentration, imagination, and fine motor skills.
Try incorporating them into playtime at home, as well as in daycare or kindergarten!
Easy DIY! Introducing educational toys you can make easily with 100-yen store items and things around you (1–10)
drop-in box toy
Let’s make a perfect drop-in toy for focusing attention on fingertip control using name tags that you attach to keys! Just remove the ring and the paper insert from the name tag, and you’re ready in no time.
Pinch the tag and drop it into a coin bank you can buy at a 100-yen shop.
If you decorate the tags with stickers or washi tape together with the kids, it will make them even more engaging.
You can use anything that can pass through the coin slot—like ice cream sticks or flower tags used for planters—so give it a try!
You can enjoy matching pictures too! A plastic bottle toy
Here’s an idea for a PET bottle toy that’s perfect for educational play.
First, prepare several plastic bottles.
Next, cut each bottle at about one-third from the top.
Then, insert a piece of thick paper with a character drawn on it into the open section.
Finally, stick a sticker of the same character on the bottle cap, and it’s complete.
Kids can enjoy opening and closing the caps and matching the character designs.
Using caps in different colors makes it look colorful and extra cute.
Perfect for button practice! Onigiri
Here’s an idea for felt rice balls that help kids practice buttoning! First, cut a rectangle from white felt and fold it.
Keeping the middle of the folded edge intact, cut it into a rice ball shape.
Make fillings like pickled plum or salmon and sew on snap buttons.
Sew matching snap buttons to the center of the rice ball’s inside as well.
Sew a two-hole button to the upper inside part of the rice ball, and make a slit on the opposite side.
Finally, glue a strip of seaweed cut from black felt to the outside, and you’re done! Attach your favorite filling and close the rice ball with the buttons to enjoy making onigiri.
Home planetarium
https://www.instagram.com/p/CeD4l9WpVA1/Turn your home into a planetarium! Here’s a toy that’s sure to get kids super excited.
First, cut black construction paper into a fan shape, then use a craft knife to cut out any shapes you like.
Using a craft punch makes it easier.
Next, stick colored cellophane over the cutout sections.
Once you’re done, roll the paper into a cone and tape it in place.
Finally, stack a paper cup with its bottom cut out and a paper plate with a hole cut to match the cup’s bottom onto a standing flashlight, then place the cone-shaped paper over the top—and you’re done! When you spin it, the many colorful shapes projected in the dark look like they’re moving, and it’s beautiful.
It’s a perfect toy for bedtime or indoor playtime!
Tongs knob
If you prepare a pool noodle, pom-poms, and a toy pair of tongs, you can play a tong-picking game.
Using the tongs to pick up the pom-poms helps develop fine motor skills.
It also allows kids to focus, making it perfect for quiet indoor play.
If you put the pom-poms into the holes of the pool noodle and pretend it’s a cake, you can play bakery pretend play too.
You might also choose the colors of the pool noodle and pom-poms with pretend play in mind.
In addition, pushing the pom-poms out of the pool noodle to clean up is a great activity in itself.
Sensory Mat Made with 100-Yen Store Materials!
A sensory mat is an item you can enjoy by touching it with your hands or feet! Prepare interlocking floor mats and attach items that offer interesting textures or sounds—like kitchen sponges, CD discs, squeaky pet toys, or mops—to each piece.
Then simply connect the mats so children can walk or crawl over them, and you’re done! It’s great because you can easily make it with everyday items.
If you assemble the pieces like a dice cube, it transforms into a toy for exploring touch with hands! Try using different combinations to suit your child.
sensory bottle
A sensory bottle is not only an item that stimulates sight with the slow movement of glittering materials, but also something children can play with by moving the bottle with their hands.
Choose a container with a smooth surface, such as an empty lactic acid bacteria drink bottle.
Fill it with cooled boiled water and liquid laundry starch (or clear glue), then add fun elements that move—like glitter, small beads, or rings—and it’s done! It’s fun to make many with different colors and themes.
To prevent leaks, secure the cap firmly with glue and tape.
Paku-Paku Bear
https://www.instagram.com/p/CWK66zuvZF7/Pakupaku Kuma-san: a bear face sewn onto a large piece of felt with a zipper for its mouth.
Next to the bear, items like rice balls, bread, eggs, and vegetables are attached with snap buttons.
You can unfasten them and feed them to the bear—it’s a toy, right? The actions of unbuttoning and buttoning seem helpful for developing fine motor skills, and seeing the bear eagerly eat everything might spark children’s interest in food, making them think, “I want to try the same thing,” or “I wonder what it tastes like?”
Fruit Concentration
https://www.instagram.com/p/Cu9Ue4sps3R/These are felt cards you can use to play Concentration (Memory)! You can choose any motifs you like—fruits, vehicles, animals, anything is fine.
However, since Concentration is a game where you match pairs of identical cards, be sure to make two cards of each design.
Cut felt into card shapes and either glue or sew the motifs onto them.
If you’re making everything out of felt, it’s efficient to layer the same fabric and cut two identical pieces at once to save time.
If you want to keep things simple, you could also use store-bought appliqués and just stick them on.
Educational play with a dish stand
https://www.instagram.com/reel/CQapjJep-I3/Here’s an idea for an educational toy using a dish rack sold at 100-yen shops.
Wrap the rack’s rods with vinyl tape or washi tape in various colors, and prepare some plastic chain links or rubber bands—you’ll be ready to play right away! Kids can match rings to the colors on the rods, or stretch rubber bands and hook them onto multiple rods—the ways to play are endless! It’s a charming toy packed with elements that will richly stimulate children’s senses, such as strengthening finger dexterity, developing the ability to align and fit rings onto rods, and fostering the skill to imagine and express shapes.