Traditional Toys for Children

Via Citizen Matters

If you are a parent who wants her child to do activities that require her to think and use her imagination, you’ve probably scoured the market for suitable craft kits. Yes, there’s a lot of stuff available but after a point, most seem similar, with instructions that are often hard for kids to follow.

It was the search for safe activities and crafts for their kids to do, that drove sisters Anu Parthasarathy and Rupa Vijendran to launch craft kits for children that are not only easy to make but also introduce them to traditional techniques like Channapatna woodwork, terracotta art and so on.

Anu Parthasarathy and Rupa Vijendran, founders, Redbug Kreative Kits. Pic: Reshmi Chakraborthy.

Called Redbug Kreative Kits, the sisters’ aim is to use natural, eco-friendly materials that would also introduce kids to traditional crafts and give them a fun and entertaining activity to do.

Sounds like a tall order? It actually is not. The kits are really simple and aimed at children in the six-plus age group, though even my four-year-old son had a good time assembling his little toy wagon made of shiny Channapatna wooden parts.

Working mostly with eco-friendly vegetable dye pieces made by Channapatna artisans, Anu and Rupa also have craft kits that use traditional hand-dyed and block printed fabric as well as terracotta material. Their plan is to introduce more traditional products as they go along.
Anu says the kits work well not only in keeping children occupied but also as a family activity. “Children don’t appreciate culture or concepts like ‘environment-friendly’ and ‘organic’ until they try for themselves,” she says, pointing out how her daughter now knows you can use turmeric to make the colour yellow.

Read the entire article here. You an also visit the website to see their work.Also read:Traditional GamesTraditional Indian Games in BangalorePsst: Tara Books also has a book titled ‘Toys and Tales with Everyday Materials‘