A toy with endless possibilities

Leaving plenty of time for Christmas planning and shopping, Shannon asked our opinion on "The Toys Worth Buying". Here's a frugal toy from our home that might be considered mostly for boys (but girls who like Legos would also enjoy) and is mostly used outside (but, hey, if you want to bring it inside, no problem!)

Lukas gave us the idea for this toy, because he was always playing with leftover pieces of sprinkler piping...you know, the leftover pieces that you're looking for when a sprinkler breaks and you have to make a repair, but you can't find the pieces because your child has absconded with them for his own creation and enjoyment.

So instead of wondering if we would have enough pipe pieces in storage, we purposefully bought Lukas a set of his own sprinkler pipe pieces. You can buy a 10' piece of schedule 40 white pipe for about $5, cut it into pieces with a pipe cutter (if you don't already have a pipe cutter, this will cost about $10), and then buy 10-20 fitting pieces for $0.10 each: straight connectors, elbox, Ts, Ys, etc. There are so many different kinds of pipe fittings, that the possibilities are endless. (It goes without saying that we don't give Lukas the pipe glue, so the pipes come apart at the end of playtime!) Natalie and Konrad also get into the action with the pipe set.

Here are a few pics of Lukas using his pipe set (he's made many creations with them, but these are the only pictures I could quickly find). Lukas stores his in a real toolbox (less than $10) in the garage.

Plastic sprinkler pipes as toys works for me! Visit Rocks in My Dryer for more toy ideas.