Given the financial hardships faced by many Egyptian households, some parents can no longer afford to buy their children toys. For this reason marionette puppet maker Hala Anwar has set up a workshop to help children and their parents learn the art of toy-making by recycling unwanted objects. Now that the Eid Al-Adha is approaching children can make their own toys instead of buying them. “I started my workshops in Beit Al-Sinary a year ago, but at first they were not about toy-making as I was making theatre dolls or marionettes and drawing on glass and paper. Then I decided to teach children how to make their own toys by recycling objects in special workshops,” Anwar said, adding that this could help children develop craft skills as well as save their parents money. It was difficult at first to learn the necessary skills. “I love dolls and always wanted to learn how to make them, but at first I did not know where to learn about it as there is nowhere in Egypt dedicated to teaching this kind of art. However, eventually I found some workshops, including Ebtehal Mustafa for toy-making and Kayan Marionette for marionette dolls,” she said. Anwar was soon inspired to start her own workshop for making toys. “After the courses, I decided to work on my own and organised two marionette workshops before deciding to work on toy-making in general in the make-your-own-toy workshops.” In each workshop Anwar tries to teach the children something new. “I teach children how to make dolls with cups, ping-pong balls or wooden spoons. I teach them to use anything they do not want at home, like empty plastic bottles that can be used to make dolls for example,” she says. During the school term school children join the workshops, whereas during the summer parents come with their children or orphanage children join the workshops. “Up till now I've only been working with children, but I intend to do so with adults as well in the near future,” adds Anwar. For now the focus of Anwar's workshops is making dolls out of different materials, but she plans to develop her workshops to teach children how to make other toys as well. Anwar explains how to make a doll out of a wooden kitchen spoon. “For this you need a wooden kitchen spoon, plastic eyes, a bit of knitting wool, a pair of scissors, a glue gun, a red felt-tip pen and a black felt-tip pen, a piece of thick white string, and coloured creased paper like that used to wrap exercise books,” she explains. “First you take the wooden spoon and then you stick the eyes on the serving side of it. If you do not have these you can always draw the eyes with a felt-tip pen or a pencil. Then you draw the mouth with a red pen and the nose and eye features with the black pen. After that, use the wool to make the hair by wrapping it around your hands until you have many layers and tying it from the middle with another piece of wool. Use a pair of scissors to cut the loops at each end. Then stick it to the edge of the spoon, or rather to the head of the doll. You can lengthen the wool to the length you want the hair to be, and you can even plat the hair and tie it with a piece of string or coloured paper that suits the dress of your doll.” “After that, cut a piece of coloured paper you have to hand and wrap it round the handle of the spoon and tie it with a piece of string and you have a dress for the doll. Alternatively, cut a piece of paper in the shape of a t-shirt and shorts or a suit and stick that on instead.” The spoon can be replaced by a plastic bottle using the same technique, Anwar says. Anwar does not use special tools in her workshops, but this does not stop her from being creative. “I don't use special tools, but instead tell the pupils they can use anything at hand that will help them make a good toy,” she says. She also has some tips for those hoping to make their own toys. “Collect any unwanted objects at home and bring them along to the workshops,” she says, “as they could turn out to be useful in making toys. Don't worry if the toys you make do not look like the ones bought in shops. The important thing is to use your imagination. Parents should aim to let their children use their hands as this can boost their self-confidence,” she adds. “Above all, children should use their imagination to generate interesting ideas.” DIY Other tips on making hand-made toys: A sock dog: To make this you will need: a pair of socks, preferably in two colours; a pair of scissors; a felt-tip pen; black thread and white thread; a needle and some pins; cotton or polyester for stuffing; a piece of cardboard. Method: Take a sock and put it on a table inside out and heel side up and draw two upside down “u” shapes on the neck leaving half a cm between each “u”. Then sew the two shapes and cut the space between them, which should leave a hole wide enough for the stuffing. Then cut out the tail of the dog in the shape of a rectangle and cut out the head (preferably the part of the sock that covers the toes), ears, nose (preferably the heel) and two other legs (in the shape of the aforementioned “u”) from the other sock after drawing them on a piece of paper and repeat the same pattern except for the ears and the nose. Use the pins to mark the places you need to slip stitch together. For the eyes, use the buttons and stitch the details of the nose before sewing them on. A plastic bag kite: To make this you will need: a plastic shopping bag; thin string or tooth floss; seven straws, preferably ones without bendy ends, four for the spine and three for the spar (the cross-piece); a pair of scissors, sticky tape. Method: Fit the four spine straws into each other by pinching each end of one straw to allow it to fit into the other straw until you have a long section. Then do the same for the cross part. Use the tape to stick the connections together. Cut the ends (the handle and the bottom end) of a plastic bag leaving one side uncut. Then use a pen to draw the shape of a kite on the bag to make a sail. Cut it out, leaving a part for the keel which is in the shape of a right-angled triangle and some parts to make the tail. Then use the tape to stick the frame of the kite to the sail. Tape the keel to the spine (the middle of the kite). Then tie a piece of string 1.5 times longer than the length of the kite to both sides of the cross-piece, leaving room for the keel, and tie the main string to the centre of it where it meets the keel and tape all the sides of the keel with the string. Use a pencil to make a reel for the kite string. For the tail, cut some long strips from what remains of the plastic bag and tie them together to make ribbons and tape them to the end of the body of your kite. A pom-pom teddy bear: To make this you will need: a glue gun; two plastic googly eyes; a black felt-tip pen or marker; one large light brown pom-pom; one medium light brown pom-pom; four small pom-poms and four even smaller ones; one small white pom-pom and one smaller one; and a black bead.
Method: Stick the medium pom-pom to the large pom-pom which will be the head and body of the bear, respectively .Then attach the four small pom-poms to the large pom-pom to serve as its arms and legs. Stick the white medium pom-pom to the stomach of the teddy to serve as the belly. Then stick two of the smaller pom-poms to the head to make the ears. Stick the small white pom-pom to the face to make the nose and the two other smaller brown pom-poms to make the feet. Stick the eyes to the face and the black bead to the nose and draw the features of the mouth with a black pen. If you have a pink or red ribbon, you could use it as a tie for the teddy.
