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Natural Family Living: Get creative with kids' toys
By Teresa Youngblood
Children's play is children's work, they say, and if we find a kernel of truth in that, then we might reconsider kids' playthings. Toy manufacturers and mainstream parenting magazines may extol the brain-boosting potential of flashing lights, lurid colors, and electronic sounds, but there is great value to be found in simple, inexpensive toys lovingly created from natural materials or found in our everyday lives.
Shells; large, smooth stones; pine cones and needles; pieces of sanded wood; large, whole pecan and walnut shells; cotton bolls; and feathers can all be collected in your travels or even in the backyard and will help to create fantastical other worlds of play for older children.
With very basic sewing skills, you can make a knot doll from a soft, large piece of cloth. Receiving blankets work well for this purpose; they are often made of soft cotton, and many new parents have lots of them.
Fabric scraps can be made into bean bags, cut into strips and tied together to make "rope," sewn together as book pages, or simply thrown in a basket for whatever play-pretend purpose a young mind can muster.
Wool balls, puppets, and other toys can be made with felt or wool batting and felting needles.
Origami and paper airplanes are great fun, and can make use of junk mail or other paper to be recycled.
An old rug or large piece of canvas could be painted with a hopscotch, foursquare, or circle for playing marbles or jacks.
Big, medium, and small boxes can all be used as building blocks, forts, containers, and canvases for chalk art or finger paint. Cardboard tubing, too, is fun to use as a telescope, megaphone, walking stick, drumstick, or whacking stick.
Spoons, brooms, pans, laundry baskets, grocery bags and other household items are ideal for children who like imitative play - nothing is as good as the real thing!
Homemade or found playthings encourage creativity and illustrate the lesson that we must make our entertainment choices with great care and consideration for the earth and our fellow creatures. Making or collecting these toys together creates happy memories and positive associations that no toy corporation could hope to inspire.
For more information on making your own dolls and toys, see Freya Jaffke's Toymaking with Children. Wool batting and felting needles can be bought locally at Wooly Bully at 439 West Gaines Street.
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