Saturday, August 15, 2009

natural baby.

last Christmas my sister-in-law tammy decided we should have a homemade Christmas. we were all supposed to make our gifts for each other. tammy was already making a lot of gifts for her three kids, and i was pretty inspired after seeing them. she is one crafty lady! it amazes me that she can figure her way around a sewing machine just by trial and error. you can also save money by using materials you already have around the house.

i've never been one to like most of the toys that are out there for kids. you know the lights, the sounds, all the gizmos. i like simple things. i'm one of those that believe that if your kid never has it, they won't know what they're missing. :) that is until they go to a friend's house, and come back complaining that they want _______. i know i did that a few times in my childhood.

i guess i just want them to explore the world around them. get outside. it's that whole "why can't you register for sticks and rocks on a baby registry?" that ua said that keeps coming back to me.

i also was thinking about some of the wooden toys grandpa had made. nothing like stacking sandwiches and hamburgers.

so i started checking out the natural toys. just to have a few on hand. got to get something in that beautiful toy chest bean's grandpa made.

here are a few of the things we've found or been gifted. just wanted to share, maybe pass on some inspiration.



1. ma found these balls in an antique shop.
2. ma made this plush beach ball. she's not much of a sewer either. i was proud!
3. cherry rattle from nova natural.
4. krista sent the pink bunny. also from nova natural.
5. rattle also courtesy of ma from fat brain toys.
6. rainbow stacker was from krista. another from noval natural.
7. i made this ribbon clutch. i used a link we got from the shower, ribbon i had in my craft room and some of grandma vandercar's old buttons. i heard this type of toy is good for church. no noise, and if you only have it out on sundays it won't get old too fast. i'm planning on making another with a bunch of colorful button strands.

also in the works is an alphabet book made with fabric. aunt steph made a sensory and interactive book for luke when he was little and i can still remember the way the flowers smelled and how the buttons on the shirt felt.

can you tell i'm looking for ways to pass the time until she arrives?

there are a bunch of great websites out there. of course etsy is at the top of the list. you can find a lot of neat things.

one more bigger project i'm hoping we can do is something like this. i'm hoping james can get something together with the tools he has and i can make some toys to hang off of it. (this one is from oompa)

now let's hope bean gets as excited as i do! :)

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Just be careful with things they can choke on.

(IE; make sure those buttons are on there good!!)
:)
Ed

krista/ralf said...

i can't tell you how excited i was to find the rainbow stacker.. i still love playing with that when i babysit kiddos. :) and i do hope she loves her bunny as much as i did! i almost got you that cherry chew toy too!!!

krista/ralf said...

oops. cherry rattle i meant. there were teethers on the site too. i looked at a ton of things. so hard to decide!

Ms. Bean said...

Those are so cool. I can't remember if I told you, but my parents had a homemade toy store when I was little. My dad made wooden toys like trains and hobby horses (is that what they're called?), and my mom made sensory workbooks, felt Bible scenes, and stuffed animals. I'll check to see if my grandma has any of her old patterns hanging around and send them to you.

Thanks for bringing back some great memories with this post!

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...