Are you constantly looking for storage solutions to organise the many many many toys you have at home?

I am asking cos I am pretty much in this situation most of the time. If you know me personally, I am really not too bothered with toy organisation (or any organisation for the matter) as the kids will mess them up anyway. But my man likes his house well-kept so that forces me to pull up my socks up in this area. There are many good storage ideas around, but what I found most effective (and attainable for a lazy mama like me) is to reduce the number of stuff we have at home. Sounds pretty simple, right? But it takes discipline to not stock up too many stuff. It is especially difficult when it comes to the kids, which probably explains the number of toys we have at home. Apart from making house-keeping more manageable, buying lesser toys (especially plastic toys) is in fact better for our environment. In an effort to promote more sustainable play for kids, here’s sharing 5 play ideas that would keep your little ones, your wallets and our environment happy!

By the way, if you are wondering what are those fancy (non-english) titles below means, they are really not bad spelling (not that my vocab is any good), but product names from IKEA. I guess it is blatantly obvious that this is a sponsored post 🙂 But don’t close the window yet. The ideas here are really pretty cool, trust me. And, in all MumCraft style, they will save you money (as you know I am pretty much on a budget most of the time, unfortunately), and save our environment too (now that’s pretty neat,yay?).

BÄSTIS Hidden Message

Fancy a little guessing game? Here’s a little activity I prepared for the kids while they were napping. All done in 10 mins and I have time to laze around and have tea. All you need is paper, white crayon, paint and a lint roller.

On a white sheet of paper, write a message or a word (or draw something) with white crayon.

Give the paper to your child and get him to roll on some paint with a lint roller to uncover the message!

Seems like fun?! Now, don’t put your lint roller back on the shelf yet. Check out the next activity for more activity for more crafty use for your lint roller.

BÄSTIS Roller Stamp

I often save up the cardboard packaging from my purchases for various usage. I especially like to cut them out for fancy crafts like this easy gift wrap paper stamping project. You will need cardboard, a lint roller and some paints.

With a sharp scissor, cut out the shapes of your choice and stick them to the adhesive surface of the lint roller.

Dip some paint on the cardboard cut-outs.

And roll away to pretty patterns.

Fancy a quicker solution for a gift wrap? Why not try something more artsy?

Simply draw patterns on the lint roller with MÅLA paints and go with the flow for some amazing designs.

These paints are great for kids’ project as they do not require any mixing with water, the consistency of the paint is just nice ( not too drippy or thick) and the applicator makes it so easy to work with – just give it a good shake, unscrew the cap and squeeze!

Look at the fancy fluorescent colours!

SYRESATT VATTEN Plastic Bottle Cap Stamp

I got this bottle of drinking water at IKEA blindly not knowing that it was oxygenated water until the kids started fighting for it. No wonder the excitement over plain water la. That aside, the bottle seemed too good to be discharged and so I kept it for other usage. Bottle caps are great for homemade stamps and so I cut out cardboard and stick it to the cap with double sided tape. The bottle stamper is lots of fun for younger kids who may not know how to control a lint roller well enough.

With the MÅLA paints from IKEA, you can create many fancy designs for your stamps. Pretty neat, yay?

ISTAD Bag Painting

I have a love-hate relationship with zip lock bag. While it are great to have and I truly appreciate the convenience it brings, I often find it rather wasteful to throw away after use. So here’s a simple activity I got from Pinterest that is great for using up the used zip lock bags meaningfully.

Simply add some paint in the used bag and tape it to the table.

Now the toddler can have some fun mixing the paint together and see what colour it makes. Great way to teach colours, really. And so clean and manageable.

MÅLA Car Track

Don’t we all love the MÅLA Easel. Our easel has served us well for years, witnessing the ups and downs we had.

The black and white boards are both lotsa fun but sometimes we prefer to work with paints and colour pencils and that is when the MÅLA Drawing paper roll comes into the picture.

Instead of discharging the paper after use, why not consider rolling it up for more fun later?

Here’s a simple activity we did together some time back – a number race car track that is great for teaching kids their numbers. You can read up about it here.