Hand Made With Love

When I was around about 4-5 years old we lived next door to an older gentleman who kept his carpentry tools in the garage and we would often see him out there with the door open on a sunny day.  In those days it wasn’t uncommon for children to wander into neighbour’s gardens and our parents didn’t have the same fears we have today, so we felt perfectly at ease to wander in and watch what he was doing.  He would often carve little toys for us – very simple boats and dolls etc.  They were really roughly carved, quite delightful and we treasured them as much as the fancy shop bought toys that we owned.

I notice with the children I know today that things haven’t changed much in this area.  The delight on their faces is evident when an adult takes the time to make something for them.  Children don’t have the same judgements about perfection that adults do and they are generally happy with whatever you create for them, even if it is a simple construction from a cardboard box, a piece of old rag made into dolls clothes or a roughly carved branch with a face drawn on it.  It is your personal attention and your gift that they welcome and appreciate.

Of course there are times when you want to buy something special and that is where our wooden toy shop comes into play.  When we select toys for our range we aim to keep them simple with the natural qualities of the wood still evident, and we hope that they will be complimented with more natural, unstructured and home made toys.  If our toys inspire you to have a go at making something similar yourself all the better – your children will enjoy the process as much as you.

The simplest of materials make for the best and most creative play.  An old sheet draped over a couple of chairs, or a piece of fabric tied round to make a cape or long flowing dress.  Pieces of bark fashioned into boats, a string of conkers into a snake or necklace.  It really is that simple.  I remember enjoying twisting pipe cleaners into shape to make complete doll families.

My husband has made a habit of taking a pocket knife out on walks, and this often comes into play to carve simple twig dolls and gnomes.  A doll can be crafted from a branch with two twigs representing the arms.  If it is thick enough a V can be cut into the long end of the branch to make legs.  A gnome is even simpler – just shave a point into one end of a stick to shape a hat and carve a dent for a face.  Once you get home these can be painted and the dolls can even be dressed from scraps of material fashioned into jackets and skirts.  Simple dolls house furniture can also be created from bark and off-cuts from logs.

My son and his friends have created a culture of making birthday cards and sometimes even gifts for each other.  These simple home made items add a truly personal aspect to birthday parties – and of course they don’t cost the earth!  I keep a pack of craft-makers white cards with envelopes in my desk draw which make perfect cards for all occasions (not just for the children).  These can be cut into shapes, painted, crayoned, collaged – you name it the options are endless.  I have a selection of block wax crayons which are perfect for creating soft pastel coloured backgrounds.

Just last week in Kindergarten I had the opportunity to create a simple leaving gift for one of our children.  When the gift was shown around the rest of the group, it was evident that the children loved it.  Very simply I cut a circle out of blue felt, stitched some contrasting wool around the edge to make a draw-string bag. I then embroidered on some simple fish shapes into one side and added a small wooden boat.  When the bag was opened up it became a boating lake.  This idea can be elaborated on to create a multitude of play scenes.  Our wooden animals make great additions, so do our Indian Camp, Riding Set, and Boat with Passengers.

Take some time to think of the children in your life, and plan ahead.  Whenever you are looking for something to engage a bored child, you can consider making gifts like the above with them in preparation for their friends birthdays.  Materials for making pompoms, wool dolls and friendship bracelets are easy to carry and making these can fill in time on holidays or long journeys.  Find some simple patterns for making rag dolls and teddy bears – pipe cleaners can be added to make them bendy.   Soft felt balls are easy to construct from coloured scraps of felt and wool stuffing.  A simple cloth drawstring bag makes a perfect gift filled with marbles, and even a puppet theatre can be created by putting together some cane sticks and calico, take a look at ours for inspiration.  These latter two can be personalized with our Fabric Crayons.  The key is to have a go, be prepared to make mistakes and learn alongside your children.

When considering birth gifts, there is nothing better than something that is personalized.  Babies really don’t need anything more than sleep, nourishment, and loving care, but their parents will appreciate your gift.  An idea I had for a new mum some years ago was a hand decorated box filled with cotton sleep suits, muslin squares and bibs.  Add to this a simple home made ‘comforter’ doll constructed from a square of soft fabric and sheep’s wool to stuff the head and you have a unique gift that is both practical and personal.  Another is to take a simple photo album and personalize it yourself, or string some large wooden beads onto a strong piece of cord to make a rattle or pram toy.  Once you start thinking along these lines you will find your creativity will flow and you will come up with lots more ideas of your own.

Take a look at our Crafts for Kids category for some instructions to get you started.  Or web-search for more elaborate ideas – there are plenty out there.  Here are a few books that I have found very helpful and a link to a great American site with lots of simple gift making ideas.

LINK:   http://www.makebabystuff.com

MY FAVOURITE BOOKS:
Creative Play For Your Baby – Christopher Clouder & Janni Nicol
First Book of Knitting for Children – Bonnie Gosse & Jill Allerton
Feltcraft – Petra Berger
Toymaking with Children – Freya Jaffke

All these books and many more are available from Floris Books

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