Truly Rich Tip: Teach your children to "make" their own "toys"

Our almost 5-year old son has this current "passion" for Hot Wheels cars.

Blame it on the Christmas gifts he received last year (yep, he got them last year and is only "fascinated" by them now! hehe!)

So of course, now that he loves playing with these little cars (which are so pricey ha! Almost P200 each! Mygosh!), he always gets excited whenever we go to toy stores or the toy section of department stores and see Hot Wheels "tracks" like these:

So what's a frugal mom (in the vernacular: kuripot! haha!) like me to do? Well, instead of spending hundreds of pesos on toys like these (when we'd rather be investing in mutual funds and stocks, as we were taught in the free Wealth Academy lectures we attended last year), we encourage our son to "make" his own Hot Wheels "track sets."

As homeschoolers, we believe that doing this serves different purposes, besides the obvious (i.e. not spending money on unnecessary "luxuries"):

1. Our son uses his imagination to think of ways to make his own "track sets." He actually goes one step further by creating his own "stories" whenever he plays with his cars.

2. Our son is taught the value of money, i.e. of saving and spending it wisely, and not just using it up on toys. Hubby and I believe it is never too early to start teaching our children about money.

Here's Tim holding a Hot Wheels car he bought recently from his own savings - he "worked" to earn money, setting some aside for his savings, offerings to God (his "tithes") and his "Hot Wheels" fund. (This deserves another post altogether! haha!) What's his little sister Rysse doing? Umm.. being cute, as usual! hehe!

3. Our son  is taught the value of recycling waste materials, as he uses empty boxes, paper cups and other things to "make" his track sets.

4. Our son gets to practice his fine motor skills - in "constructing" the sets, he uses his hands/fingers a lot to cut off tape from the tape dispenser, place and tape things together, etc.

5. Our son gets a sense of fulfillment or accomplishment after making each "track set." We make sure we praise him too whenever he does one.

Tim: "I'm going to call Papa to see the new Hot Wheels set I made, Mama!"

So my tip for you parents/uncles/aunts/grandmas/grandpas out there? ;-) Encourage the kids in your household or family to "make" their own "toys!" You'll be surprised at how much fun they'll have and what "creations" they can come up with! Who knows, your kid might even "invent" something that's worth selling to other people - voila! Your kid becomes an instant entrepreneur/creative genius as a bonus!