Just over a month ago my parent came to visit. No visit from the grandparents is complete without presents, at least in my experience. Parents (myself included) can be a little picky about toys and gifts for their kids and often for good reason. Those little people are always putting things in their mouths, so parents want to make sure that the toys are BPA free, non-toxic and age appropriate. But sometimes the list goes beyond safety. People can have preferences about toys with TV/Disney characters, noise, plastic versus more environmentally friendly materials, the quantity of toys, the quality of toys and the list goes on. No judgement here. Parenting is a tough gig. I personally have a preference for handmade versus mass manufactured toys, but that same preference stretches to furniture, coffee mugs, cookies, socks… It’s no surprise that I also want my kiddies to be surrounded by handmade objects. That being said, I am happy when anyone is thoughtful enough to remember my kids and send them gifts of any kind. Variety is a good thing too.
So when Grandma and Grandpa arrived with their bag of tricks imagine my delight when these little guys came out.
My mother is a maker and these are her creations. They are made of birch wood, non-toxic paint, and real felt (not that recycled pop bottle stuff from the dollar store that I use). But most importantly because they are made by my mom for her grandchildren they are made with LOVE and that is much more important that anything else.
PS. Mom I sent you a pic on Pinterest of a rocket and some astronaut peg dolls. Hint, Hint.
Below are some of the toys I made for my kiddies. Click on the pictures to link to the blog posts.
Making A Life 