What is it about children that invite us to spend money on them? Is it that we see they are cute at everything, so everything is fair game? Is it that we want them to have the best so we better make sure that they have the newest and most recent and most expensive? Is it that we feel they’ll resent us if we don’t give them the brightest newest, most hip toy for holidays or birthdays?

When did we forget that children are imagination incarnate? They are the physical form of make-believe. Their minds are rich. We really don’t need to buy them things to help enrich their minds, we only need to provide a rich environment, and enriched minds will develop on their own. Here are 20 ways that your child’s imagaination can help you save money:

1. Crayons and paper. Scrap paper, newspaper, color books. A place to color and something to color on. You don’t even need to buy new crayons every year; just save the old stuff.

2. Books. Books with lots of pictures. Books with lots of words. Books with lots of pages. And frankly, books and magazines are a bargain.

3. Some buckets and shovels. If you need to, a sandbox, but usually a pile of dirt or some rocks will work.

4. A bathtub of water with cups, which are easy to clean, unlike squeeze toys which can mold. When they get bigger, get them a puddle of mud as a preview to the bathtub.

5. Car seats. There are hundreds of places you can take your kids for an enriched experience: the park, the store, the waterfront, or a handful of other free places.

6. Hand-me-downs. Kids love to dress up. It doesn’t matter how well or unwell they fit. Just something that isn’t their regular clothes. Hats, bags, shoes, t-shirts.

7. A kid-sized chair. Keep it near where you are and your kids will mimic your every move. They’ll pay bills, knit, chat on the phone, read the paper.

8. A cardboard box. It’s a boat, a raft, a house, a farm, a car, a truck, a wagon…it’s a cardboard box. The possibilities are limitless.

9. Sidewalk chalk. Drawing, outlining themselves, hopscotch.

10. A ball, or two. Never underestimate the power of a ball, especially if it bounces.

11. Stuff to bang, shake, or smack together. Pots, drums, boxes, empty butter tubs; containers with beans or rice, a vitamin bottle with pennies; sticks, empty dvd boxes, cups. As they get older, maybe an instrument is the expanded horizon.

12. Friends. Neighbors, siblings, cousins. Meet up at the park with other moms. Watch the magic happen.

13. A bicycle. Going places — even around the yard — develops a sense of independence: where can I take myself today?

14. Toys that require assembly. Tinker Toys, Legos, Lincoln Logs, Omagles, Hot Wheels tracks, Erector Sets.

15. The world of cause and effect. Blocks, marble tracks, dominoes. Experimenting with changing the stimuli and learning to observe the effect is a natural curiosity.

16. A large fabric cover. Draped over any part of the house, a fabric cover has the versatility of playhouse to sail, tent to dragon’s lair — or even the dragon’s belly.

17. A deck of cards. Matching, memory, math; skill, chance, bluffs, risk. Solitaire, friend games, family games. A good deck of cards never wears thin.

18. Food. Didn’t your mother ever tell you not to play with your food? What about stringing cereal loops on licorice strings before eating them? Putting berries or olives on fingertips? Rolling cookie dough and dissecting it with cookie cutters?

19. Action or non-action figures. Dolls and stuffed animals. You don’t need all the props; phones, skates, wardrobes, weapons, these are tools from the imagination.

20. A pet. If you can’t do a dog or a cat, look into a newt, a fish, a mouse, or an ant farm. Not just about responsibility, but biology, and companionship. Pets often get “imaginary friend” status, with speech, preferences, desires and even mischievousness.

We multipurpose our “grown-up” things. We are careful to buy only what we will use, and avoid storing what we will not. This simple list will help to keep kids’ toy boxes from becoming a place of forgotten toys, and will develop their creative minds into frugal thinkers, just like ours.

Image courtesy of Bitter Girl