1. Dried Beans
These get used in a variety of imaginative ways at our house - usually involved in cargo for a truck of some sort.
2. Shells
When on vacation in North Carolina last year, we collected a tub of shells, cleaned them, and put them in a large glass jar in the living room. These transform well into houses, paths or roads, or yes, as more cargo for trucks.
3. Rocks
Rocks also reside in a large glass jar and can be stacked as a stone wall or made into a village of some sort.
4. Sticks
My Elijah especially loves sticks and can play with one stick for literally an hour. It becomes a magic wand, a dragon, a fishing pole, etc. We encourage stick play to happen mainly outdoors, but I'm a softie on this and tend to bend the rules now and then.
5. Pinecones and acorns
In the past we have had these items available in jars as well, and they can be good for imaginative play.
I started to find that they didn't hold up as well and the play sometimes became how many pinecones I can break apart and leave for Mom to clean up. So we limit these to outdoors mostly. Nuts in their hardened shells might be a good indoor alternative.
6. Boxes
Boxes aren't a natural item, but definitely reside in the cheap or free category. Pretty much every cardboard box we have in our lives--a delivery from Amazon, a cereal box, a oats container--gets snatched and transformed into some type of creation. Boxes can be stacked, made into sculptures, mailboxes, or just shoved under your bed (as our youngest loves to do.)
Toys don't need to be expensive to be inspiring.
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