The Completed Sweet Wrapper Butterfly

This requires a little imagination, but the final kitten toy is meant to look a little like a butterfly! Kittens have a love of pretty much anything on a string, but this colourful butterfly made from sweet wrappers will easily grab their attention. The idea with the sweet wrapper butterfly is that you drag it along the floor or through the air, and your kitten will go mad trying to catch it!

Sweet Wrappers and String

Firstly, you need to twist the ends of the sweet wrappers at one end. This will make it easier to tie them on to the string.

Twisted Sweet Wrappers

Then, tie each of the sweet wrappers on to the string at one end. Just a simple granny-knot will do fine, it doesn’t need to be particularly robust.

First Knot

Do this for all of the sweet wrappers until you have 2 wrappers on each side to create something that (just about) looks like a butterfly.

The Completed Sweet Wrapper Butterfly

That’s it for this very simple and fun kitten toy. As a little bit of variety, offer your kitten the plain end of the string rather than the butterfly itself.

If you’re lucky enough to have a kitten, you know that they’re a whole lot of fun. But kittens can also wreak havoc if they get bored!

I love having my own kitten, and I’ve been making my own kitten toys to keep the bundle of mischief occupied. It’s amazing how much fun a kitten can have with a simple home-made toy.

Just by using recycled materials from around your home, you can make your own cheap DIY kitten toys to keep your feline friend happy and well-exercised!

I hope you find my kitten toy ideas to be lots of fun. I know that I have!

Tomato Stalk and Cotton - Untied

The realistic spider made from a tomato stalk is something my Dad taught me. Many cats and kittens will happily hunt butterflies, flies and house spiders. However, by making your own reaslitic-looking spider, you don’t need to worry about damaging nature’s insect population.

I actually had to re-make this toy as Leia ate the last one! I wasn’t looking and she managed to find the toy on my desk and eat it!

Tomato Stalk and Cotton - Tied

All you need to do is to cut off the top of a tomato stalk, and tie a length of cotton thread around the stalk. If you drag the stalk along the carpet, you’ll notice it crawls just like a spider. The dark thread just makes the thread a little harder to see, making it more realistic for the kitten to play with.

Tomato Stalk and Cotton - with Leia

I warn you now, this toy will not last very long! You’ll get about 10 to 15 minutes play before your kitten shreds it. However, they will love you for it, so keep some spare tomato stalks and cotton ready to make some more.

Old Broken Shoe Laces - Untied

If you think about it, both cats and kittens just love shoe laces, wires or anything that vaguely resembles string. I break shoe laces pretty often (probably because I like my shoes nice and tight), so I thought that Leia might appreciate having her own laces to play with. So rather than have Leia attack my foot when I’m on my way out, I turned some old broken shoe laces into a toy.

Old Shoe Laces Tied

As simple as it may be, just tying some old shoe laces into a T or X shape will keep the kittens amused for a while. Leia got bored of a single shoe lace pretty quickly, but seems fascinated with the T shaped spider thing I created, perhaps because of the way it moves when she flings it into the air.

As an added bonus, if you ensure you have a long end on the shoe lace toy, you can dangle the lace in front of your kitten so that your kitten plays with you rather than on their own. As your kitten gets older, you’ll find they appreciate playing with you more than they do playing on their own.

The Humble Toilet Roll Tube

On initial impressions, using a toilet roll tube might appear to be a joke! However, I accidentally discovered that kittens love playing with a toilet roll tube. I quite often find Leia chasing the toilet roll up and down the stairs for hours!

I’ve found that if you throw an object, kittens get very curious and will chase after almost anything. So when you’ve finished with your toilet roll, throw it around your lounge, dining room or garden in front of the kitten. Their curiosity will draw them to it, and after a while they’ll start batting it around with their paws.

Chocolate Coin Wrappers

This idea is all about turning Chocolate Coin Wrappers into a small ball that your kitten can play with for hours (until the ball gets lost!).

Kittens seem to be drawn to bright and shiny objects. This might not be much of a surprise if you think about how companies spend a fortune on bright and shiny packaging to get us to buy their products.

Leia seemed to be fascinated with the chocolate coin wrappers when I had some recently. So all I did was roll a few of them into a ball and throw it on the floor for her. She was amused for a good few hours chasing the ball around the floor.

Chocolate Coin Wrappers - Rolled Up

Since the ball is so small, she did manage to lose it very quickly though (probably underneath the sofa). Thankfully there are usually enough wrappers to make a couple of balls.