Fun Homemade Bank Toy

I'm always looking for creative and cheap ways to make learning fun and keep my 2 year old (Mavid) entertained. This post and a lot of my future blog posts will be about this subject.

Mavid, (like most toddlers I'm sure) loves playing with money. That is, he loves the idea of putting coins into a piggy bank and sliding credit cards like mama does at the store. I don't think he really understands what money is, but he wants to do what the grown ups do.

I have a bunch of old gift cards (and some of those fake credit cards you get in the mail with credit card application spam) laying around, that I let my son play with. I showed him how to slide them in the cracks of the cabinets like he's swiping them in the machine (just like mama does!). It was a fun activity that moderately entertained, until he started sliding them INTO the drawers and then whining for me to get them out... then it started driving me a little crazy (especially when he would slide them into the garbage and say "uh-oh..").

I devised a plan to better entertain him, and to keep me from having to fish credit cards out of the garbage. I had an empty square tin with a plastic lid, that used to house instant mocha coffee powder. I decided to re-purpose it into a "credit card" and "coin" deposit box for my son to play with. I cut a thin strip the length of the credit cards in the lid on one side, and on the other side a smaller strip for putting "coins" into. To make the coins I used a combo of foam circles I cut out, and some little plastic caps I had laying around.

Now he can play piggy bank to his heart's content, because it's easy for him to open it up, dump them all out and start over, without mama's help!

This project was a hit! It kept him busy for a good 20 min, and it's something I can bring out any time and it reliably holds his attention. It's also a very portable, and independent activity that helps with his dexterity. Most of all I love that it was completely FREE and super simple.

If you're interested in making this toy, here is what you will need:

• Some sort of container, preferably with a plastic lid that is easy for a toddler to remove / put back on 
• Scissors
• Foam or plastic to make coins (I used a 1" circle punch to cut them out quickly, but you can just use scissors if you don't have one)
• Old Credit cards or gift cards (you could technically fabricate the credit cards as well if you don't have any laying around)

I used a marker and traced the long edge of the credit card to determine the length of the strip I needed to cut. My son likes when it's a tight fit and he has to kind of push the cards in rather than them just falling in, but if your child doesn't like that you can make it a little longer. I cut a 2nd strip for the coins even though they would fit in the bigger slot, I figured it would be fun for him to sort them. In the future I will probably decorate it so it isn't such an eye-sore.

Hope your kiddos get as much enjoyment out of this as mine did :)