Let's make toys with paper cups! Simple and fun handmade toys
Let me introduce some handmade toys using paper cups!
If “store-bought toys get boring quickly” or you “want to do crafting play with your child,” try making toys with easy-to-find paper cups.
We’ve gathered ideas that children of preschool and kindergarten age are sure to love, so have fun!
Paper cups, which we usually use for drinking, can move or even become musical instruments! They’ll surely make kids’ eyes sparkle with interest.
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Let's make toys with paper cups! Simple and fun handmade toys (11–20)
ghost
Make a ghost with a paper cup! Poke one hole near the bottom of the paper cup and insert a straw through it.
Next, draw a ghost face near the bottom of a plastic bag in your favorite color.
Slip the bag over the straw you just inserted, tape it so no air can escape, and tuck the part of the bag that sticks out into the paper cup.
Blow through the straw, and slooowly—here comes the paper cup ghost!
gun
This is a simple pop gun you can make with a paper cup! First, cut off the bottom of the paper cup.
Prepare one uninflated balloon and tie the mouth of the balloon.
Cut a small piece off the untied end, then attach that end to where the bottom of the cup used to be—that’s it! After that, put a ping-pong ball or similar inside and you can use it for target practice.
cracker
Let’s make a party popper you can use at birthday parties using a paper cup! Make a hole in the bottom of the paper cup, then cut eight evenly spaced slits around the rim and curl them slightly.
Thread a rubber band through a chopstick cut to about 2 cm, pass the rubber band through the hole you made in the cup, and wrap aluminum foil around the end of the rubber band to create the popper’s pull lever.
Finally, put cotton balls or origami confetti inside the cup, and when you pull the lever, your party popper is complete!
Magic Theater
Let’s make a picture that can be changed easily, again and again! On a white sheet of paper, draw your favorite animal or a person without adding any colors on purpose.
Next, on a clear plastic cup, draw several colorful designs using paints so they line up nicely with the drawing.
Then place the paper with your drawing inside the cup and align it with the patterns you like.
You’ll instantly have a wonderful picture where the character can change into different patterned clothes! Try making your own magical mini theater with this!
maracas
Make maracas out of paper cups that you can even use for performances! Cut a single drinking straw into pieces about 1 cm long and put all the pieces into a paper cup.
Place the mouth of another paper cup over the first cup’s mouth and tape them together to form the maraca shape.
After that, decorate the outside with stickers or drawings, and your maracas are complete!
Rocket
Turn a paper cup into a rocket! Make four small slits around the rim of a paper cup, and thread two rubber bands through the slits so they cross each other diagonally like an X.
Use tape to secure the rubber bands so they don’t come off.
Then draw your favorite design on the paper cup.
Prepare another paper cup, place the decorated cup over it, and when you let go, it will launch like a rocket!
Let’s make toys with paper cups! Simple and fun handmade toys (21–30)
Moving wobbly ghost
A cute little ghost whose tongue moves up and down and is totally addictive.
You can make it easily with everyday materials.
First, draw the ghost’s face on a paper cup and cut out the mouth with a craft knife.
Prepare some red construction paper, cut a strip slightly narrower than the mouth, and round off one end to make the tongue.
Take another paper cup, tape the tongue to it, and fold the tongue upward.
Place the cup with the cutout mouth over the top, then thread the tongue through the mouth, and you’re done.
When you raise and lower the cups, the ghost’s tongue moves up and down, giving it an adorably lifelike expression.
