SILKIES!!!!! I LOVE 'em!

Number one in my Top 3 Best Toys for kids? Besides a box and sticks? SILKIES! A staple of Waldorf play, these simple squares of colored silk are the most versatile, open ended, creativity-sparking toys on this green earth! Silk is such a dreamy floaty fabric so conducive to the delicate state of young children who are still hovering in the spiritual. As ethereal as it looks, silk is quite a strong material and lends itself so well to active use. The endless possibilities for transforming silkies with ones imagination include: a cape, a baby blanket, a curtain for a puppet show, draped wings or skirt, baby sling, a tent for small dolls, and dress-ups. You can use them with play stands or decorate your nature table with the coming season's hues reflecting the magical changes to nature. Placing rosie colored silkies over a baby's bassinet or draping them across their window has a soothing effect. Then you have Lo's take on silkies: She's used them as clothes for her stuffed animals, dancing, hammocks for dolls, "slidey-shoes"(tie them on your feet and slide around the floor!), gift wrap, food-green for salad and brown for porridge, lakes and meadows for her castles, and even fire for campfires and as the fire for her dragon(see Random pic post!) The possibilities of silkies are only limited by the imagination!

One of the cleverest ideas that Lo has had with her silkies was to make a basic doll with a hooded cape over it's head! She figured out that she could ball up a couple of silks in the middle of a third as a head and secure it with one of her hair ties. She then placed another silky around the doll's head and secured it with another tie in the same spot.

(Knot the corners to make hands and feet!)

She had a bunch going at a time-they were all over the house! This doll idea turned out to be a great simple gift idea for Lo's friend. I ordered 4 white silks from Dharma Trading. Lo and I then dyed 1 of them pink using Kool-Aid. Lo made the doll and used the pink silk as the hooded cape. We left the other silks white so that Lo's friend could dye them if she wanted to! I was SO surprised and touched by how much this little girl loved her silkie doll! One of the most popular gifts we have given and just so easy to make!

Another great place to buy play silks is A Toy Garden. Their silks are made of high quality 8mm Habotai silk, are home-dyed in the US. And I've found they are much sturdier and longer lasting than Sarah's Silks.

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of joining some moms and teachers in silk dyeing over at our Waldorf school. It was tons of fun and quite EASY! All the materials were, again, ordered from Dharma Trading. I was so inspired and am thinking of investing in some bulk silk and natural dyes to make silkies for my future ETSY shop.

Hint, Hint, nudge, nudge...Silkies make ROCKIN,' simple, yet such versatile gifts for the Holidays.

For our silkie disaster, read HERE!