7/10/2010

wood toys for wee ones (and a giveaway)


Imaginationkids, an Artisans Gallery team member, is one of those shops that catches your eye and never gives it back. A year and a half ago, a little girl sitting on my knee spotted Erin's rainbow stacker toy online, and we had our own version a few weeks later. It's still a very important part of creative play at our house.


It is used as a rainbow, tunnel, set of building blocks, doll hats, pieces for color matching games, gnome homes, playground equipment for toy babies, and much more.

Along with the rainbow stacker, Erin creates modern, colorful wooden toys that are wonderful learning tools for imaginative, open-ended play. Mister Rogers once said that the most important work of childhood is play, and I think he's absolutely right (clearly, so does Imaginationkids!).

We have recently embarked upon a series of collaborations together, pairing our SewnNatural work with her wooden pieces to create textured, multi-sensory sets. Our matryoshka nesting dolls quilt is paired with a handcrafted wooden dolls teether. A wood swan teether travels to families along with our organic bamboo swan appliqued blanket. Our newest collaboration is our version of a modern woodland fairy: a gingham dress paired with a toadstool magic wand.


Working together on these projects has been a joy and we look forward to many more projects before the holidays arrive.

Oh, and Imaginationkids is giving away a double set of beautiful wooden toys on our blog here - come visit for your chance to win a large sun stacker (pictured above) and a large rolling hedgehog toy!

5 comments:

p said...

i love that these wood toys are so earthy and natural. simple. uncomplicated and REAL. congrats on the collaborations!

Waterrose said...

What cute toys and how lovely that they inspire imagination! Got to get those wheels turning for future artisans!

YooLa said...

Adorable toys with wonderful aesthetic, when my kids were young i used to "hunt" such items ! Thanks for sharing :)

anakim said...

Wonderful toys! congrats on the collaborations and thanks for the post.

Victoria Webb said...

These are such great toys for kids - they teach them to be creative and imaginative. It's great to see the 'paired' ideas with SewnNatural's clothing, brilliant!