Handmade Toys

As this months Creative Challenge topic is 'Children' I thought it would be fun to take a look at some handmade children's toys. With all the problems that have happened in the last few years with mass produced kids toys I think a lot more people feel happier buying toys from people they know have lovingly handmade the toys themselves from safe materials than from the large companies that only seem to be concerned with churning out huge numbers of toys as cheaply as they can.Huzzah for crochet Giraffe! Reeneegurumi's created this tiny masterpiece.I would have adored to own this critter as a child. I was always intrigued by these long necked creatures that towered above my wee short self.

These kitties from temporalmillionaire are just so cute. They are not just your average cat these are Travel Kitties! Imagine the excitement and fun that a child could have taking their kitty everywhere with them.

Puppets are another of my life long loves. I adore this blue and green glove puppet monster from TheHookery. Puppets feed children's imagination. Jim Henson is one of the people responsible for my puppet love.

Diamond Isle Treasures' spinning top made from reclaimed hardwood reminds me of battles with spinning tops that me and my sister used to have. We would spend hours twizzling those tops and seeing who's was the last standing.

Lullaby Lily's tiny knitted cat appeals to me on three levels. It's a cat (I love cats), it's purple (one of my favourite colours) and it created from pure hand spun wool (yes I have a fibre fetish). He's just so scrummy!

Toys in the high street shops today all seem to be so plastic and uninspiring. Once upon a time toy shops used to thrill me, but now they just make me sigh and wonder who designed the toys within them and more importantly why did they create them. More often than not the answer to the second question is they made them as merchandising for a TV show or film. I find that too limiting and stagnant. Children need to be led away from the TV screen and back to books and toys that fire their imagination. Well that's what I think anyway.

Written by Lynne of the PiratePixieCrew and Hyperloop Hoops