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 (21–30)
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!
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.
A turtle that runs on rubber power!
Moving toys are appealing no matter how old you are, and they’re especially popular with lower-grade elementary school kids.
This is a paper cup turtle craft that zooms forward using rubber-band power hidden in its shell.
First, cut slits halfway down a paper cup and fold them in to make the legs.
The remaining part becomes the body.
For the face, stick round stickers on as eyes to make it cute.
Take a used AA battery, wrap a rubber band around it, attach kite string with cellophane tape, and set the mechanism inside the turtle’s shell.
Even though it’s a turtle, it moves surprisingly fast and with big motions—so much fun!
Rubber Band Crane Game
It’s a game where several people hold a tool made by connecting rubber bands and strings, and thread a paper cup through its end to operate it like a crane.
Participants pull the strings together, lifting the paper cup while keeping their balance.
Placing the cup in a target spot or stacking it is challenging, requiring cooperation and concentration.
It can be enjoyed by large groups, making it great for parties and school events, and it also helps spark communication.
Although it’s made from simple, everyday materials, it’s captivating and works as a hands-on crafting game—an engaging and appealing idea.
Snug Little Caterpillar
Let me introduce the Peekaboo Caterpillar that pops out when it sticks with a magnet.
Have the children help by threading pipe cleaners through the holes you make in the decorative balls with an awl.
They can create an original look by choosing the color order of the decorative balls, too.
Cut a plastic wrap tube into different lengths to make cylinders, then cover the outside with construction paper.
Stand the tubes upright on the construction paper, arrange them, and use glue to attach and secure them so they won’t fall over.
Put a magnet into a “Pita” pen (a magnetic pen) to finish—and you’re done! Give it a try!
