After numerous requests to use my expensive camera I start thinking how to make toy camera for my 5-year old camera girl. Taking pictures is a big part of our lives. Whether you are a blogger and take 1500 pictures a day or you are a parent who is obsessed with the growth and amazingness of your child and also take 500 pictures of your child… eating blueberries.

So if you are one of those people you definitely have been asked for a camera from your child. And sometimes we do give our $500 cameras to sloppy, greasy little hands in exchange for a cry-free moment.

How about making a toy camera that is totally much more fun than yours? (well, at least for some time).

There are some toy camera versions outhere, like toy camera from cardboard, toy camera from felt, toy camera from a wooden block.

I didn’t have any of these materials on hand. But we needed a camera badly.

As always, my eyes scrolling down to our recycling bin. Where else would I find treasures like that?

Packaging foam (not sure how it is called, but it the one you find in your bigger packages). I liked it because it was soft enough for us to make a hole without scissors or any other tools.

So here is a short tutorial for How to make a toy camera

What you need:

• piece of foam
• plastic bottle (for the lens, because every camera has to have one)
• some plastic bottle tops or some “button-kinda looking thingies” (for the buttons)
• an old play necklace for the camera’s strap
• some paint and brushes (if you want to decorate the camera)

What to do

• Make the lens by taking the plastic bottle (cut the edges off) and pushing it through the foam piece. (since the foam is soft enough, it should go through easy).

• Attach the plastic lids by firmly squeezing into the foam piece. Make one in the front to serve as a flash, couple on top for video and picture options and one on the back for a review button. Add the cap on the lens and you are almost done.
• If you wish, you guys can decorate the camera with some colors and add the neck strap (which at the end we didn’t want to do it anymore).

What we loved most about playtivity – How to make Toy Camera!

1. My daughter felt strong responsibility for the toy (because she helped making it and of course she have seen me being over-protective of my camera).
2. We had a chance to talk and learn few things about camera lens and what it does to the pictures or videos. We learned if we change the bottle (lens) we get different view.

 This post is a part of Recycle and Create project where bloggers create from recycled materials. This month is – Styrofoam.

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