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11 May 2009
Play silks on a budget
When buying toys for Sunnyboy I've tried to put an emphasis on natural and open-ended toys, and something I thought he would enjoy was playing with silk. I found several companies selling beautiful play silks but (like many Waldorf inspired toys) they were expensive and even buying plain silks to dye was more than we could afford. So instead I looked for secondhand square silk scarves in charity shops and was able to get Sunnyboy a whole collection of 'play silks' for a fraction of the price. The silk scarves pictured here cost less than £5 in total and have been used in many different ways for imaginative and creative play.
Click here to see the play, crafts and learning ideas blog link-ups we share at.
Click here to see the play, crafts and learning ideas blog link-ups we share at.
I love, love, love getting a child's imagination in motion with basic toys like this. They really float and waft when you toss them, and they shimmer when you run through the house/apartment/yard/park.
ReplyDeleteLove how you are able to get just what you need (or make it) at such affordable prices. Your child is growing up with such a great bunch of values modeled and taught!
Fabulous idea!
ReplyDeleteGreat idea! I'll have to check out our local thrift store.
ReplyDeleteI have wanted those for ages but way too expensive.I will pay a visit to the charity shops as well :) Thanks for the idea.
ReplyDeleteI've thought about those, I'll have to keep an eye out for silk scarves! =)
ReplyDeleteI don't know why I never thought of this, but I love the idea! I bet Sunnyboy loves his play silks!
ReplyDeleteA friend of mine cut up her satin & silk lingerie and her son used it as his blankie, only he called it his 'silkie'. It was so cute to hear that little 's' when it came out more like 'thilkie"!
ReplyDeleteGreat idea for the kiddos!
How wonderfully inventive and so would be the play of any child whose imagination is put into motion by so much color.
ReplyDeleteI love this frugal way of collecting silk for Sunnyboy to play with. Oh he should have lots of fun with them.
ReplyDeleteSharinskishe
my mother often has people buy clothes at a great discount at her shop and make other items out of it
ReplyDeleteawesome idea...thanks for sharing...hugs and smiles Gl♥ria
ReplyDeleteThank you for the award. Sorry for not commenting sooner - I've been off the computer for a few weeks.
ReplyDeleteI've gotten some amazing silks from the opp shops. One is nearly 3 metres and it's shades of blues and greens for $5. I also use dyed muslin. It works just as well and it's cheap. :)
I am so into improvising. I even make some of my daughter's Montessori inspired toys/games. Sorting can be fun with a bag of old buttons for example.
ReplyDeleteCharity shops rock! They are really recycling if you really think about it.
Great idea! You could even sew them together to make one of those parachute things that you hold the conners and raise it up for someone to run under...I hope you know what I mean!?!
ReplyDeleteCute idea but not nearly as cute as that boy! He is so precious...
ReplyDeleteMy 9 year old still plays with silks! They never see to grow out of them!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great and creative idea. I'm all for toys that encourage the creativity and imagination of a child.
ReplyDeleteAren't you the clever one! What a great idea! Now he can learn to juggle, as I have heard that scarves are the easiest thing to juggle. You couldn't prove it by me, though!
ReplyDelete:-)
I know that having the fabrics be silk is important to Waldorf mamas, but I did things a bit differently.
ReplyDeleteOur local fabric chain store has a discount section and sometimes (about four times a year) that discount section is 70% off. When that happens, I go in and buy yard-long sections of different fabrics.
I try to make them as interesting as possible. Silky, shimmery, smooth, rough, thick, thin, see-through, glittery, dark and light and florescent and pastel colors... It's resulted in a big box of play fabric that my girls love to explore in and use in so many different ways.
This is a great idea. I've always admired the play silks as well, but have been put off by the price.
ReplyDeleteThanks.
Jamie
What a great idea-- thanks! =)
ReplyDeleteHappy WFMW!
what a nice collection you put together!!
ReplyDeletewe absolutely love our playsilks in our house. so much fun!!
Cam, that's funny and sweet!
ReplyDeleteSarah, I agree completely there's no reason why children should only play with silk fabrics, (although I do prefer these silk scarves to the polyester scarves that are more commonly available in the charity shops here). We have other fabrics in Sunnyboy's dressing up box and I hope to get hold of more. The more textures, colours, shapes and sizes of materials the better!
very nifty.
ReplyDeleteI can't tell you how often I got in trouble with playing with my mom's silk scarfs that she treasured.. I always loved the texture, feel of silk! cool! Sorry I haven't been here in a while. It's been a challenge to blog lately...
ReplyDeleteThats a fabulous idea! Thakns for playin galong in thrifty thursday!
ReplyDeleteI never thought about playing silks and I know my boys would LOVE them!! Great post! Thanks!!
ReplyDeleteThinking outside the box saves TONS of money! Good job!
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful idea! I've been looking for playsilks but I just cannot afford $10 per silk. Thanks for the great idea!!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the nice blog comments you left me :) You have such a great collection of silk scarves! I'm a music teacher, and when I was working on my masters I took a class in Dalcroze Eurhythmics. The class often used silk scarves as we moved to the music. It was fun, even for adults!!
ReplyDelete