Reviewing Toys

Do I even need to introduce these toys? I think most of us can remember a time when we tried to make our own paper dolls and clothes for them and ended up wasting alot of paper, getting very frustrated and throwing it all away. Or was that just me?

I still love the more tradiational dolls that wear lace dresses like Polly Prat.

Legacy Pride has a whole range of traditional dolls, for a price.

However, since these are supposed to be for your children, they might find these modern celebrity dolls more entertaining. At StarDoll you can make your own paper Desperate Housewives, with a change of clothes, or make your own little Brad Pitt (remember it’s for your KIDS to play with!). It’s a bit odd but I would rather they be playing with these than whining to buy the latest Britney doll for more money that it’s worth.

paper dolls

Following my origami post, I went searching for more paper toys and came across Marilyn Scott Water’s site, The Toy Maker, and fell in love. The site is great for a number of reasons:

1) Her goal is “to help grownups and kids spend time together”. So she gets a star in my book.
2) All her designs are free to download.
3) Her designs work for a range of age groups.
4) The diversity of her designs is great. She has Time Out Cards, Father’s Day Badges, Otter Paper Dolls with extra clothes and more.

She also has a blog on Live Journal.

I remember around 4th grade all my friends and I turned into origami nuts. I think it started on a class trip to an art museum….Anyway, I was hooked and became an origami wizard. That being said over 15 years later, all I can remember how to do is make a swan. When Bea is older I do plan on getting reaquainted with the magic of paper folding and get her hooked.

Origami is great for kids because there is always more to learn. You can start off teaching them simple folds and eventaully, as they get older, move on to more and more complex designs. Eventually they can start following instructions themselves, and you can have five minutes to yourself to check you email and blog about how great your kids are at origami.

It’s also great for the budget. While beautiful origami paper can be very expensive, you can always use old newspapers, wrapping paper or just plain printer paper that won’t break the bank.

Here are some beginner folds that you can teach the little ones:

Easy Origami Boat

Easy Cup

Good Origami Sites:

Origami
Origami Club

Also, if you’re one of those people that does have money to burn, or fold in this case, check out Money Origami.