Welcome to Close the Loop's Monthly Newsletter Issue 12 - January 2002 A Newsletter for Friends of www.close-the-loop.com _____________________________ In this issue: 1. Homemade Toys: Why Nothing Can Beat a Paper Pinwheel 2. Everything Is Cool As Can Be In a Peaceful World 3. Voluntary Simple Living Sites 4. Marketplace: Exceptional Products 5. Propose an Article _____________________________ 1. Homemade Toys: Why Nothing Can Beat a Paper Pinwheel Reprinted with permission by the Author: Jennifer Soalt Homemade toys can be divided into three basic categories: toys created by children, toys adults teach children to make; and toys adults make for children. All three types are valuable for different reasons, and are by no means mutually exclusive or unconnected. For example, toys that parents make for their children might be the inspiration the children need to design playthings of their own creation. Toys Created by Children Toys invented by children themselves are usually more open-ended than commercial toys. Child-created toys are as protean as the child's imagination. The old refrigerator box may be a house one day, a boat the next day, and a train the day after that. When I was eight, a friend and I used old shoe boxes and other odds and ends to build a school for dollhouse people. We were very concerned about getting every detail of our miniature school just right. We had spool desks and matchbox chairs, as well as tiny illustrated books and doll-sized pencils made from the broken tips of regular pencils. We spent hours planning and debating each new part of the school. It is difficult to imagine children lavishing such care and thoughtfulness on a premade toy schoolhouse they pulled out of a box. Children tend to cherish the toys they have created by themselves because the toys are the product of their own ideas and initiative. Parents need not, and indeed should not, direct this kind of independent toymaking. But parents can facilitate their children's explorations by providing them with an array of common materials found around the home, such as boxes, egg and milk cartons, yogurt containers, fabric scraps, plastic jugs, buttons, string, pipe cleaners, and clothespins. Toys Adults Teach Children to Make The toys that parents show their children how to make are often classic toys they themselves played with as children: newspaper hats, sock puppets, walnut shell boats, dollhouses, pinwheels. Many of these traditional toys are unavailable in stores or are manufactured in such a way that they lose their simplicity and charm. When children make toys with an adult, they frequently become curious about how the toys work. I showed a five year old how to make a kazoo out of a cardboard tube, wax paper, and a rubber band. She was delighted by the kazoo's high-pitched noise, but she was also interested in taking the kazoo apart and putting it together again to find out how it made such a weird sound. If I had given her a store-bought kazoo, she would have been less likely to consider how it worked because she would never have seen the process by which it was constructed. My class's interest in what makes kites fly is another example of the way toymaking can spark children's curiosity about how things work. Teaching children how to make a toy can be a memorable and meaningful way to spend time with them. Long after I have forgotten various wagons and bikes I owned as a child, I remember a go-cart my father taught me how to build. The go-cart was important not only because it was fun to build and ride, but also because I had worked on it with my father and knew that he had once had a similar go-cart. Toys Adults Make for Children Like the toys parents show their children how to make, the toys parents make for their children take on special meaning for the whole family. The doll a mother gradually sews for her child becomes a tangible expression of love. The child, in turn, may care for the handmade doll more than a store-bought one because she senses the doll's connection to her mother. Some Classic Toys Easily Made at Home Dramatic Play: doll, puppet, mask, hat, costume Things That Fly and Float: kite, boomerang, plane, boat Sounds of All Sorts: drum, rattle, whistle, kazoo Dwellings: tent, treehouse, dollhouse and furniture Odds and Ends: blocks, yo-yo, Jacob's ladder, hand loom _____________________________ 2. Everything Is Cool As Can Be In a Peaceful World "Everything is cool as can be in a peaceful world. It's what you do and not what you say. If you're not part of the future then get out of the way." John Mellencamp - "Peaceful World" Hear the song...click here! (requires windows media player) Greensense is another very good website for information on meaningful work, coping, jobs, small business tools, etc, please visit: www.greensense.com/Gr_work.htm#greendream _____________________________ 3. Voluntary Simple Living Websites "We've experienced having stuff, and it is not working. We have to come up with a new definition of success. Our definition in this culture is that more is always better. . . . My definition is waking up in the morning and feeling excited about the day. It's living in balance; having work you love, friends you see, and time in nature." - Cecil Andrews The Simple Living Network is committed to working closely with and supporting a number of key organizations in the "voluntary simplicity" movement. www.simpleliving.net The New Road Map Foundation (NRM) provides people with practical tools and Innovative approaches for managing and mastering basic life challenges. An all-volunteer organization, NRM promotes service as a route to personal health and social revitalization. www.newroadmap.org/ The Institute for Earth Education. The Institute for Earth Education (IEE) is the world's alternative to agency- and Industry-sponsored supplemental environmental education. IEE Is a non-profit, volunteer organization made up of an International network of Individuals and member organization. www.eartheducation.org/ Seeds of Simplicity. Seeds of Simplicity is a national, nonprofit membership organization working to help mainstream and symbolize voluntary simplicity as an authentic social and environmental Issue. www.seedsofsimplicity.org/ Simple Living Journal is a quarterly publication that Inspires and supports people to simplify their lives. www.simpleliving.net/slj/ The Circles of Learning: Cecil Andrews is a community educator who provides workshops and presentations designed to bring more meaning and exuberance to people's individual and community lives. www.cecileandrews.com/ The Northwest Earth Institute (NWEI) develops programs that motivate and educate individuals and organizations to protect the earth. www.nwei.org/ _____________________________ 4. Marketplace: Exceptional Products Close the Loop has about 100 earth-friendly items on our website. We still offer an excellent rubber mulch for superior shock absorbency in playgrounds. More information available at www.close-the-loop.com/tirechips.html . To view all of our products, including promotional pens, plastics, please visit www.close-the-loop.com _____________________________ 5. Propose an article If you have an informative article that you would like us to feature in an upcoming newsletter, please email your article to closetheloop@msn.com . If we use your article, a link to your web site will be featured as well. As always, we are interested in any comments or feedback and would love to hear from you! _____________________________ -- Close the Loop, LLC |
Welcome to Close the Loop's Monthly Newsletter Issue 12 - January 2002 A Newsletter for Friends of www.close-the-loop.com _____________________________ In this issue: 1. Homemade Toys: Why Nothing Can Beat a Paper Pinwheel 2. Everything Is Cool As Can Be In a Peaceful World 3. Voluntary Simple Living Sites 4. Marketplace: Exceptional Products 5. Propose an Article _____________________________ 1. Homemade Toys: Why Nothing Can Beat a Paper Pinwheel Reprinted with permission by the Author: Jennifer Soalt Homemade toys can be divided into three basic categories: toys created by children, toys adults teach children to make; and toys adults make for children. All three types are valuable for different reasons, and are by no means mutually exclusive or unconnected. For example, toys that parents make for their children might be the inspiration the children need to design playthings of their own creation. Toys Created by Children Toys invented by children themselves are usually more open-ended than commercial toys. Child-created toys are as protean as the child's imagination. The old refrigerator box may be a house one day, a boat the next day, and a train the day after that. When I was eight, a friend and I used old shoe boxes and other odds and ends to build a school for dollhouse people. We were very concerned about getting every detail of our miniature school just right. We had spool desks and matchbox chairs, as well as tiny illustrated books and doll-sized pencils made from the broken tips of regular pencils. We spent hours planning and debating each new part of the school. It is difficult to imagine children lavishing such care and thoughtfulness on a premade toy schoolhouse they pulled out of a box. Children tend to cherish the toys they have created by themselves because the toys are the product of their own ideas and initiative. Parents need not, and indeed should not, direct this kind of independent toymaking. But parents can facilitate their children's explorations by providing them with an array of common materials found around the home, such as boxes, egg and milk cartons, yogurt containers, fabric scraps, plastic jugs, buttons, string, pipe cleaners, and clothespins. Toys Adults Teach Children to Make The toys that parents show their children how to make are often classic toys they themselves played with as children: newspaper hats, sock puppets, walnut shell boats, dollhouses, pinwheels. Many of these traditional toys are unavailable in stores or are manufactured in such a way that they lose their simplicity and charm. When children make toys with an adult, they frequently become curious about how the toys work. I showed a five year old how to make a kazoo out of a cardboard tube, wax paper, and a rubber band. She was delighted by the kazoo's high-pitched noise, but she was also interested in taking the kazoo apart and putting it together again to find out how it made such a weird sound. If I had given her a store-bought kazoo, she would have been less likely to consider how it worked because she would never have seen the process by which it was constructed. My class's interest in what makes kites fly is another example of the way toymaking can spark children's curiosity about how things work. Teaching children how to make a toy can be a memorable and meaningful way to spend time with them. Long after I have forgotten various wagons and bikes I owned as a child, I remember a go-cart my father taught me how to build. The go-cart was important not only because it was fun to build and ride, but also because I had worked on it with my father and knew that he had once had a similar go-cart. Toys Adults Make for Children Like the toys parents show their children how to make, the toys parents make for their children take on special meaning for the whole family. The doll a mother gradually sews for her child becomes a tangible expression of love. The child, in turn, may care for the handmade doll more than a store-bought one because she senses the doll's connection to her mother. Some Classic Toys Easily Made at Home Dramatic Play: doll, puppet, mask, hat, costume Things That Fly and Float: kite, boomerang, plane, boat Sounds of All Sorts: drum, rattle, whistle, kazoo Dwellings: tent, treehouse, dollhouse and furniture Odds and Ends: blocks, yo-yo, Jacob's ladder, hand loom _____________________________ 2. Everything Is Cool As Can Be In a Peaceful World "Everything is cool as can be in a peaceful world. It's what you do and not what you say. If you're not part of the future then get out of the way." John Mellencamp - "Peaceful World" Hear the song...click here! (requires windows media player) Greensense is another very good website for information on meaningful work, coping, jobs, small business tools, etc, please visit: www.greensense.com/Gr_work.htm#greendream _____________________________ 3. Voluntary Simple Living Websites "We've experienced having stuff, and it is not working. We have to come up with a new definition of success. Our definition in this culture is that more is always better. . . . My definition is waking up in the morning and feeling excited about the day. It's living in balance; having work you love, friends you see, and time in nature." - Cecil Andrews The Simple Living Network is committed to working closely with and supporting a number of key organizations in the "voluntary simplicity" movement. www.simpleliving.net The New Road Map Foundation (NRM) provides people with practical tools and Innovative approaches for managing and mastering basic life challenges. An all-volunteer organization, NRM promotes service as a route to personal health and social revitalization. www.newroadmap.org/ The Institute for Earth Education. The Institute for Earth Education (IEE) is the world's alternative to agency- and Industry-sponsored supplemental environmental education. IEE Is a non-profit, volunteer organization made up of an International network of Individuals and member organization. www.eartheducation.org/ Seeds of Simplicity. Seeds of Simplicity is a national, nonprofit membership organization working to help mainstream and symbolize voluntary simplicity as an authentic social and environmental Issue. www.seedsofsimplicity.org/ Simple Living Journal is a quarterly publication that Inspires and supports people to simplify their lives. www.simpleliving.net/slj/ The Circles of Learning: Cecil Andrews is a community educator who provides workshops and presentations designed to bring more meaning and exuberance to people's individual and community lives. www.cecileandrews.com/ The Northwest Earth Institute (NWEI) develops programs that motivate and educate individuals and organizations to protect the earth. www.nwei.org/ _____________________________ 4. Marketplace: Exceptional Products Close the Loop has about 100 earth-friendly items on our website. We still offer an excellent rubber mulch for superior shock absorbency in playgrounds. More information available at www.close-the-loop.com/tirechips.html . To view all of our products, including promotional pens, plastics, please visit www.close-the-loop.com _____________________________ 5. Propose an article If you have an informative article that you would like us to feature in an upcoming newsletter, please email your article to closetheloop@msn.com . If we use your article, a link to your web site will be featured as well. As always, we are interested in any comments or feedback and would love to hear from you! _____________________________ -- Close the Loop, LLC |
