Here are some ideas on dog toys you can make at home without spending a lot of money. For safety, always remember to supervise your dog at playtime.
Crunchy Dog Toy
Take any piece of fabric like terry cloth, fold it in half and sew up the two sides. Turn it inside out and stuff with some grocery bags. Then, just sew up remaining side. Dogs love this toy because it makes a crunchy noise.
Tennis Ball Toys
Cut a small hole in a tennis ball and add a few bells to inside of ball. Seal the opening with a glue gun and allow too dry. When it is completely dry, insert ball into a sock. Then just tie a knot in the sock to keep ball in there.
Another idea is to drill a hole all the way through the middle of a tennis ball. Then take a rope and string it through the tennis ball to make a tug of war toy
Bottle on a Rope
Tie a rope to an empty plastic soda bottle. For a smaller dog, tie a rope to a plastic water bottle. Your playful dog will have hours of fun dragging it around.
Used Stuffed Animals
Soft stuffed animals can be recycled to give to your dog. Just remember to remove any plastic eyes that could be chewed or swallowed.
Sock Toy
One of the easiest toys to make is to just take a large men’s tube sock and make a knot right in the middle. Another variation of the sock toy is to stuff the sock with newspaper and tie it at the end. Lastly, you could also take a small plastic bottle and add some dried beans inside. Then put it at the end of a sock, tying a knot in the sock to keep it in place.
Peanut Butter Toy
Take the cardboard core of a paper towel or toilet paper roll and put some peanut butter in it. Just push the end edges together, and your dog will have fun trying to get the peanut butter out.
Wet Toys
Some dogs just love the water. Mine in particular loves playing in puddles and gets very excited from biting the water that is coming out of the hose. An ice cube is a great toy because they like to try to pick it up and slide it across the floor. In addition, dogs love bobbing for balls. Just fill up their water bowl, drop a few balls in and they will have fun getting all the balls.
Here are some fun cat toys you can make at home. It is important to remember that some of these toys will require supervision. Cats have been known to swallow small items and even long ribbons. I have used all of these toys for my own cats with no incidents, but it is best to use your judgment when considering what toys will be safe in your household.
Rattle Toy
Take an old film canister or any small plastic bottle or container. Put a few bells and catnip into the container. Punch a few small holes into container, so that the cat will be able to smell the catnip. Cut a strip of adhesive felt to cover the body of the container and circles for the edges. Cats go crazy for this toy.
String of Balls
Tie three or four metal or plastic cat balls together to create a long string of balls. Use ribbon or string and leave extra string at each end.
Pantyhose Catnip Toy
Recycle your used pantyhose to make a catnip toy. Cut off the feet, add some catnip and then tie it off. You can also add some ribbon at the knot for extra fun.
Crunchy Noise Toy
Take a piece of fabric, fold it in half and then sew the two sides. Turn it inside out and stuff it with cut to size plastic grocery bag material inside. If you don’t like to sew, you can use an old baby mitten instead. Just tie off the end with a ribbon.
Rope on a Doorknob
This is currently the most popular cat toy in my house! I tied a long rope onto a doorknob a few weeks ago and the cats have fun playing with it every day.
Noisy bottle Toy
Take an old film canister or prescription bottle and put a coin or button inside so that it will make noise. Before you put the lid back on, you can put glue around the top edge to prevent lid from ever coming back off.
Fishing for Cats
Tie a string to a stick, so that it looks like a fishing pole. On other end of string, tie on a few feathers. Then, go fishing for cats.
Paper Cat Toys
The easiest cat toy to make is simply crumple up a piece of paper into a ball. Cat’s love this and will have fun with it for hours. The best size for your cat is usually about 1 ½ inches in diameter.
Cats also like exploring large brown paper grocery bags turned on their side and cardboard boxes. Make a cat home out of a big cardboard box, just cut out an entrance and a window.
Hope all of you cat lovers out there have fun with these ideas!
