A Different Way to Play

DEBRA LYNN DADD and SARAH BALDWIN continue their conversation on non-toxic toys, including storybooks, seasonal toys, play silk, and other organic materials for art and craft that are available on Sarah’s website, www.bellalunatoys.com

Q I remember some years ago when I first started discovering these toys, my husband and I bought different toys just because we wanted to have the shapes of different things. At that time he was trading futures for pork bellies, and I bought him a little pig. He just loved it because he loves anything that’s wood. Even though he’s not a child, he still appreciates the smell and touch and feel of wood.

I was looking at your website, and there are so many different and interesting things. I’d like us to talk about some of these different toys, how children play with them, and how they give children a different view of the world. The page I’m on right now is about children’s books, and I see that they revolve around the seasons. The book talks about children engaged in springtime activities, like playing with new-born lambs, planting a garden, decorating Easter eggs, watching baby birds, and things like that.

Yes, the series you’re looking at is a set of four board books for toddlers. Just as I was talking before about the simplicity of toys, there is simplicity in these books too. They have no words, just as Waldorf dolls have no faces. A child and parent can look together at these pictures of children doing seasonal things, like dyeing Easter eggs in spring, and walking through a mud puddle or jumping in leaves in the autumn book. So this will help children with their own language. As a toddler is developing his or her vocabulary they can make up the words; they can make up their own stories as they go through these books.

Q And the stories could be different every time they are told, whether the parent is telling the story or the child is telling the story.

Exactly.