Number of words: 730<\/p>\n\n\n\n
K Thilagarajan spent two days with an old coconut tree climber at Sholavandan learning to make a \u201cbug that buzzes\u201d. The 50-year-old school teacher from Madurai is a populariser of toys made from palm and coconut leaves. He travels across the State sharing with children the joys of making fans, fish, birds, rattles, flowers, animals\u2026 \u201cThe idea is to make children work with delicate material,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOnce they create something on their own, they will be inclined to give it away to someone else,\u201d he adds. \u201cThey will tend to listen, tell stories through the toys, and eventually, take over from me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The philosophy behind his toys is to engage little hands with something organic that also stimulates the mind. \u201cThey learn science through these toys,\u201d he explains. A bend here or a twist there can alter the entire design; a tiny fold can make an insect sing and a fan fly. Thilagarajan is a happy man when he sits surrounded by children, each engrossed in a toy of her own, forgetting his presence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It takes a toy of great value to suck a child completely into its world. The rainbow stacker does just that. Popularised by social media over the past few years, it consists of a set of wooden arches of various colours. It is open-ended \u2014 there are countless ways with which a child can use it. Woodbee Toys makes the stackers in beech wood with non-toxic colours. The company has a factory near Vellore and sells through its Instagram page woodbeetoys_official. \u201cWe started in November 2020 and have 45 toys with 15 more in the making,\u201d says K Suganya, who handles marketing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Woodbee\u2019s toy philosophy borrows from Waldorf\u2019s principle: their toys are simple and encourage free play. Toy designer K Kokila, who is Suganya\u2019s mother-in-law has also come up with her own ideas: their trilinks and math rods, for instance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cRun, or I will shoot!,\u201d calls out a little girl, charging out of a room with a toy gun; two boys are engaged in a dramatic plastic sword fight: scenes quite harmless in a typical household, one would think. But when did guns, knives, and swords find their way into children\u2019s toys? Should violence be part of children\u2019s lives, wonders Subid, a civil engineer who is trained in Product Design at IIT Delhi. His Ahimsa toys, based on Gandhi\u2019s principle of non-violence, speak of play in a gentle way so as to not stir even a leaf.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ahimsa toys are similar to toy innovator Arvind Gupta\u2019s toys from trash. But while Arvind\u2019s toys teach science through everyday objects, ahimsa toys are all about \u201cfreedom, self-reliance, and sharing\u201d. \u201cChildren do not need toys,\u201d feels Subid, who has written Ahimsa Toys (Thannaram publications), a book with step-by-step instructions to make the toys. \u201cAll they need is freedom to play,\u201d he says. \u201cFor them, every activity is play, and through that, they learn life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Subid feels children can play endlessly without any object to keep them engaged, only if adults do not interfere. Ahimsa toys show that the greatest of joys can come from the simplest of things. \u201cMy focus is not science experiments,\u201d says Subid. \u201cChildren are fed up with science,\u201d he adds. The focus, is rather on \u2018unlearning\u2019. \u201cMy philosophy is that children come from heaven; we only have to observe them to learn from them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To Arvind, the best toy is that which can be used over and over again. \u201cTake Lego, for instance,\u201d he says. \u201cIt is a great toy, but sadly, is not accessible to many children.\u201d His toys from trash teach children not just science, but show them the immense possibilities ordinary materials hold. \u201cAn old CD, with a marble stuck in between, makes for the greatest top,\u201d says Arvind. \u201cIt keeps spinning for two minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Newspapers too are fun to play with. \u201cA dozen types of caps can be made with them,\u201d says Arvind. \u201cLook at your own garbage bin and not at what the Chinese or Germans or Americans are making,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The market is filled with loud and flashy plastic toys that create a racket, states Arvind, speaking of \u201cexpensive products that come in boxes more expensive than the toy itself\u201d. He adds, \u201cWhen children are happy, there will be peace in the world… And for children to be happy, we need to make toys affordable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n