A VOTE FOR HOMEMADE TOYS

Handmade toys and especially the cloth books are not just a kind of embroidery. The parts of the book could be taken off by zippers, buttons, snaps. That allows moving and playing with them while telling the story. That makes these books full of ideas and s great resource of entertainment, they make children invent new worlds of fancy adventures. The handmade books are hardly bought at any shop, the book you create will be the only one in the world, so it is worth trying to do it by yourself.

The touch of the soft cloth, dolls and animals, all the buttons, zippers, snaps bring the children very special feeling.

Paper books and cloth books have different charm. These cloth books are suitable for every child – for children with difficulties in education, children in early educational programmes, from babies to adults because you and your child set the level of the book.

The fun start with choosing the materials wuth your child and planning the book. Then step by step, stitch by stitch,you will create an unique book, special for your child, who will keep dear memoriesfor these shared moments.

The creation of a soft book is not easy. But you don’t need special education or skills, maybe just a little bit crafty hands. Once you and your child create a soft book it will not be closed and forgotten. Your chold will go back to it over and over again.

The cloth books are tough, durable, so you can share it within your friends’ children, neighborhood children, to have hours of fun.

Start with a simple pattern book, consisting of 2-4 pages. Choose bright and vivid colours, but not too colourful fabric for your décor, because too colourful pattern swallow the puppets and the elements of the book and they are not so distinguished.  If you can buy matrix cut elements like letters, flowers – don’t hesitate – these small things will save your time and make your book colourful.

“Two Buttons” is a one page book with a pcket for storing the removeable elements on the hind side. The book is very simple, the elements are quite large, it is easy t be sewn and it is proper for little toddlers. The target of the book is to help children recognize several animals, a boy’s face, a vehicle…or any other figures you decide to add. It helps little children find the eyes, mouth, nose… The book is useful for the motor skills of the child, because it practices do and undo buttons functions.

So have a nice time sewing this lovely book for your child!

Necessary materials:

-          Sturdy cotton fabric – 32/63 cm for the front and hind page

-          Felt pieces – different colours for the figures you intend to sew

-          Threads, needles, pins

-          Sewing machine could be very useful…

 

 

If you don’t have any idea of sewing, the following picture represents some basic stitches. You can print it and use it as a manual.

Let your children participate in the preparation of the book at all stages. Make your child cherish the things, the satisfaction he/she has created something is a great feeling.

STEP 1: Prepare the cover page and the hind page. You need a piece of fabric 32/63 cm, 30/30cm quilting fabric, and 30/30 cm simple fabric, which we will use for lining and it will serve as a pocket, where to store your removable parts after play.

Before you quilt this page you should sew the eyes and a nose of a fancy fox. Pose the eyes just undr the central horizontal line of your cover page fabric. Leave 9cm within the centers of the eyes.

 

STEP 2: Print all the patterns you intend to sew. These are some ideas you can use:

 

 

 

Cut the models, draw them on a piece of felt, cut the felt and sew it. If you don't have a sewing machine,  you should choose blanket stitch - it is sturdy and will make your toys durable to play it many years on.

INDEPENDENT CHILDREN

The Little Hungry Dinosaur

The theme about food is easy to be understood, so that story is quite proper and nteresting for toddlers. The story is simple, so children try to participate and perform the story by themselves. The most important thing for little children is to enjoy the story, so don’t make the story too long or too difficult.

Here we present just an idea how your soft book could look like. You can create your own food elements.

The back page of this soft book could be organized like a pocket where to store the removable parts.

Once upon a time there was such a big egg!

 

The mouth of the dinosaur is a pocket, where the narrator puts the food in.

The egg broke down and a little dinosaur hatched. His name was…

"Is there anything to eat?"- said the little dinosaur.

"There is an apple."  - and the narrator can show the apple and ask the child to guess what it is. And you put the delicious apple in the mouth of the dinoasaur, imitating the sounds of eating and exclaiming “Delicious!”
"Is there anything to eat?" - asks the baby-dinosaur.

"Yes, there is. An ice-cream". The narrator pretends to eat it, licking it, then put sit in the mouth of the dinosaur.

The narrator continues discribing the candy, the cake, and when the child guesses them, puts them into the mouth.

Finally an airplane comes around – imitate the sound of an engine…
"Oh, what is this? Is it food?"
The child usually shrieks "No, no, this is not for eating".

But the dinosaur swallows it – snap!

“Oh, is it a bird?”-he asks.
"No, this is an airplane! It is not for eating!  Why did you put it you mouth?"
Then the narrator makes a grim like she/he has a stomachache.

 

“Oh. My stomach is aching, aching, it hurts”- the dinosaur cries.

“What shall we do? Oh, yes, we’ll call the doctor.”

The narator pretends to dial a number:

“Hallo. Is this the doctor? Dear doctor, our little dinosau has a stomach ache. Would you come and see him?”

The doctor comes:

“What did you eat? Did you eat anything strange?”

“I was very hungry. I ate an apple, an icecream in a cone, a piece of cake, a candy, an airplane…”

“What, what? An apple, ice-cream , cake, and did you eat the wrap of the candy? Oh. And the plane. Planes are not food. That is why you have a stomach ache. I will make an injection.”

“No, no, I am afraid, no injection…”

“Don’t worry, it will not hurt…”

“When the doctor make the injection, you start taking out the food of the Dino’s mouth.”

“Oh, thank you doctor. I feel much better. No stomach ache”

“And don’t eat strange things! Don’t put strange things into your mouth. And don’t eat just candies and sweets!”

 

 

Interactive Cloth Books And Educational Toys for Children And Little Toddlers

Puppet Show Books And Role Playing

Quiet Books And Activity Books

Interactive cloth books require kids' participation in the reading and story telling. Our specially hand made for children books and felt toys give the kids hours of fun touching the characters, imitating animals sounds, role playing. The parents and children can present their own puppet show following the story of famous classic world-wide known fairy tales and stories. You can change the story, create new stories on your own.

Our soft books are homemade, they are designed to last and decorated with care Books can be hand washed, so they could be used over and  over again.

The big size of the books make the easier to be held by the little hands, they are light, and the removable parts bring the children a lot of joy to try new plays and games.

The soft books are made of natural fabrics – cotton, wool, silk and they are pleasant for touching and playing with.

They take the children to the old traditions of making toys, show the children what kind of toys their grandma and grandpa used, when there were not plastic toys.

Our books reveals simple stories, characters who present the ever lasting values like smile, friendship, being good.

Some of the projects, oriented to the most little kids present themes for the food – teach the children the good and not so good food, hygiene – washing your face, brushing your teeth and with all these we try to proclaim – children see, children do.

Children take the roles and live on those fables, showing their own attitude, choosing behavior, building new situations. Observing the play you can judge for your child development.

Building own stories give the kids develop conversational and social skills, encourages creativity and imagination.

 

Our cloth books emphasize on toddlers' speaking and expressing emotions. We encourage learning by playing and entertainment.

Story creation and interpretation build up language skills and enhance imagination.

We try to input in these interactive books different activities, enhancing motor skills.

Felt books have a lot of hands on activities like buttoning, snaps to snap, zipper to zip which will keep your child busy for hours. Certainly the children learn these living skills from the everyday activities, but usually it's more fun to do the buttons of your book friend or braid the hair of your book doll.

Many of the interactive soft books have educational elements – just basic, proper for toddlers- abacus up to 5, matching the shapes, matching the colours, counting. These simple tasks do not distract the kids from the main story, but make it more interesting.

The interactive books are proper for kids with some special needs – dyslexia, lack of concentration. These books attract the attention; children who think with pictures not with words will find it easier to absorb the plot watching it on a simple puppet show theatre.

The popular opinion the boys do not play with dolls is not valid for these soft interactive books. The heroes in our books allow your child to acquire values, which will help him grow up a good and responsible man.

 

We take our inspiration from the children’s needs - just creating toys and books for their imagination and senses.