Creative Toys

My son has taught me that nothing can stop a child's imagination.

We've probably all heard that toys which do everything for the child are used for a short time and then set aside, because they don't require much imagination. An example is those Lego sets that are designed to create one specific kind of object. To the contrary, open-ended toys that allow the imagination to flourish have stood the test of time--think of Etch-A-Sketch, Tinker Toys, Lincoln Logs and plain old wooden blocks, just to name a few.

This is all easy to understand intellectually, but until I had a little boy, I never knew the extent of it! Sometimes I complain about not having enough money for the latest toy, but most of the time, I'm glad of it. You've heard of the expression "necessity is the mother of invention." We're living proof, and it's turned out to be a real blessing. When Thomas the Tank Engine trains proved to be too numerous and too expensive a passion to sustain beyond the initial burst of birthday gifts, we started making our own out of Sculpey clay. I'd make them with little holes in either end for a wire to go in, and after adding a paint job and a face to each one, we'd connect them up and have a great time. At first I was the craftsperson, but soon my son was busy making the most adorable little lumpy, misshapen train cars and having the time of his life playing with them.

When construction vehicles were his favorite thing, we'd often want a toy that just was not being made, such as an old-fashioned steam shovel or an auger driller. Have no fear! There's nothing that a little duct tape, cardboard and wire cannot achieve. We'd just modify our existing vehicles with whatever attachment was deemed necessary, and it would become his new favorite. And it's been like this right along.

Now that he's almost five, the trend shows no signs of abating. He's a homeschooler and I've always stayed home with him, and he's never watched cartoons on TV (even PBS. We prefer video), which means he's been blissfully shielded from the high pressure applied to children by Madison Avenue to buy the latest toy, gadget or character. Our philosophy has always been, if we like a character from a book we've read, then we'll either make the character ourselves or pick it up at a yard sale. There is NO running to Wal Mart or Target for the latest mountain of Dora The Explorer or Bob the Builder merchandise. (We assembled a nice collection of Bob The Builder vehicles through the yard sale method, and I am certainly glad we did it that way...he played with them faithfully for a short period of time, and they now collect dust. Good thing they each cost no more than 50 cents!)

Anyway, all this is just my way of explaining today's photo. What you see is my son with his hand-sewn Giant Clam. Sea creatures are all the rage with him now, and sometimes you just cannot find an octopus, jellyfish or giant clam at the toy store. Nor, at regular store prices, would I want to! I sewed the jellyfish and octopus by hand, but when he asked for a giant clam that's where I drew the line. I dragged out the sewing machine I got for free from Freecycle (www.freecycle.org), figured out how to work it, and using free fabric and rick-rack trim from the Holden Recycling and Resource Center (Holden, MA), I fashioned this lovely stuffed Giant Clam toy for him. Frankly, I don't know which one of us was more thrilled.

Today, he spent the day making little beige mollusk animals (i.e. basically blobs) out of modeling clay to go inside all of his univalve seashells so that they look like live creatures. He's pretty passionate about mollusks right now. At night when we read books, he sits with a blob of clay in his hands and makes creature after creature depending on what animal we're reading about. He's rarely without a clump of modeling clay these days. Last night he made barnacles. Real-looking "goose barnacles."

Who needs Toys R Us?