Kids are amazing, smart, intuitive, and can be downright destructive on their possessions. In the last 5 or so years, my wife and I have had to become creative and resourceful to repair broken items from our kids. If you are like us, we want to squeeze the life from most of our toys to make sure they last forever. My wife and I try our best to make sure that most of the toys we purchase are meant to last, and they are made of quality components. However, we have moments during Holiday and Christmas Season that some of those gifts do not last too long, and they end up breaking way too early for their effectiveness.
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Supplies You Should Own
- Duct Tape (Various Colors)
- Screwdriver Set
- Scotch Tape
- Craft Glue
- Glue Stick and Gun
- Needle and Thread
- Packing Tape
Most of the above-mentioned supplies are helpful for most general repairs. I will try to work through more normal types of repairs and give a few examples. For the most part, we try to research the better toys that have a longer lifespan and limit the moving parts.
How to Repair Books
I have seen my kids grab some of their books and end up shaking the book. It almost did not matter if it was from the binding or a page, it does not matter to them. For the avid bibliophile, or enthusiasts like my house, we cringe and try to rescue these treasured possessions before something even worse happens. For book bindings of soft cover books, tape over the corners first before doing length wise for the tape. I would recommend using packing tape because it is clear, and give more hardiness to the book. Board books are interesting that if the cover comes off, you can dab or place a thin line of hot glue through the binding, and then use a similar color of duct tape. If your book is a treasured item that was passed onto you by a family member, I would suggest using a clear cover that librarians use for their paperback books.
Stuffed Animals, Dolls, and Fabric Toys
These plush favorite toys often come apart and it is stuff to see the face of your child. For these toys, try to locate all of the missing pieces and stuffing that was in it, put it back in the animal. You could do a ladder stitch over the hole and bring it back to life. Also, if an appendage falls off, try to replicate the pattern from the other appendages and try to resew back over the same seam. It will not be perfect to do this repair, but it will hold back some of the tears.
How to Fix Broken Pieces
This part is a little tougher because toys come in different fabrics, plastics, and shapes. For plastic toys, craft glue is great at putting pieces back together, but will need to go out of reach to let the glue fully cure. If you overdo the glue, you can get a razor blade or a utility knife blade to scrape the excess glue. In order to prevent over gluing, you can use cotton swabs, tooth picks or wipe off the excess after two minutes to replenish the glued part.
As an example, I have a recent repair that I did on my son’s rocket set. He was given a toy that shoots foam rockets into the air, and it’s pretty cool. I have fun with it myself because the rockets shoot about 60 feet in the air for me. Anyway, some of the fins on rocket fly off the tubing because of normal wear. Fortunately, this is definitely a repairable part. I mean, I was recently repairing some fins to my target arrows and I thought that it is easily fixable.
For this repair, I got craft glue, toothpicks and the parts. Most of the pieces are relatively clean and free of debris. Since this is foam, I know it will not be perfect but is suitable for the project. Anyway, I dabbed the toothpick into the glue, rolled it over the tub and the fin. I connected both pieces and held onto them for a little bit. I had some excess glue, and used a clean toothpick to remove those pieces. To finish, I waited about 10-15 minutes before they were somewhat glued on.
Electronic Repair
This type of repair is… interesting. More often than not, little speakers die, batteries die, and connections come loose. For the average parent, you will have the ability to get a screwdriver for the battery socket and replace the part. Otherwise, most of the other pieces are specialized within the toy and are almost doomed to break. Every now and then, I will see a toy that is almost cringeworthy with the sounds that a child’s crying might sound more soothing. Fret not, if you are a daring parent and want to attempt this type of repair, there are some things you could do. When connections come loose, you will need to find a solder and place lead over the connections. If you touch the chips and components too much, greasy fingers may alter the overall sound and not come out the same.
If you have an remote-controlled toy, most of the cheap cars, trucks, drones, and planes are super small and specialized. If you are willing to pay the extra money, some of the better models will have an after-market repair shop that could replace solenoids, axels, and tires on these toys. Since I told you this, you might get a kick out of how much power they have.
To conclude, I went over a couple of small repairs and ideas that I have used and what has worked for my wife and I to make these repairs. For your kids’ toys, at what point would you say the toy is beyond repair and goes into the trash? What is the most complicated toy you successfully repaired? Have you done any repair that have lasted beyond the normal life expectancy? Leave a comment in our Facebook, because we would like to hear other successful stories. Do not forget to like and subscribe to our updates on our social media. When you like and subscribe, you will see regular updates from us and you get to see more articles .
