Lou McLeod: 10 Most Precious Vintage Toys Still Worth Playing With

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Looking for some vintage toys? With today’s technology, most kids are opting on modern games that are readily available on their gadgets but read on and teach your child how to have fun the homesteading way!

10 Most Precious Vintage Toys Still Worth Playing With

You need to plant the garden, feed the animals, nurse the baby and that chicken coop has to get cleaned out sooner or later. But, you see your children that want you to drop everything and have some fun with them. What you need is more time, and traditional homestead toys seem to be the only answer. They are quick, simple, economical, and tons more fun than Nintendo or the “Net.”

1. Whimmy Diddle

To make this toy, you’ll want to chop and whittle three pieces of firewood. The main piece should be about seven inches long, and so should the rattle stick. The propeller should have a thin piece of wood about an inch and a half long by about a quart of an inch wide with a hole drilled in the center. To find the center, balance the prop piece on the blade of your knife. Loosely nail the propeller into a tip of notched wood as in the photo. The notches should be made on about 3 to 31⁄2 inches of the whimmy diddle stick. The measurements are not very important and do not have to be exact. The most important aspect of this project is the propeller that is very light and swings freely on its nail.

To use the toy simply rub your rattle stick quickly up and down the notched surface of the propeller stick which needs to be horizontal. The trick to making it work is by applying pressure along the sides of the propeller stick while you rub it.With practice, you can let the propeller alter its direction with just a slight change in pressure; it seems like it is magical. The firewood whimmy diddle is an extremely simple project and a good for those with responsibility, knowledge, and adult supervision to practice knife control. Good results can be had with forest-found sticks and commercial dowels as well.

2. Braided doll

Braided Doll | 10 Most Precious Vintage Toys Still Worth Playing With

image via usefuldiy

Wrap some yarn 40 times around a book or anything else you can use to wrap the yarn. The size of the object is unimportant, but a bigger book will make a bigger doll.

Tie with contrasting colors just in from one end of a bundle. It will create the hair. You can pick the length of hair by tying bundle closer to or farther from the end. Wrap the same color around a small object for arms 15 to 20 times. You want to tie contrasting color yarn tightly around the bundle from each end to create hands. Then, open up the body bundle at the center and insert arms. Tightly bind the part with contrasting colors over the chest and abdomen area. If your doll girl, you are finished. If you want a little boy, you should separate the pair of legs and bind tightly at the ankles.

3. Dollhouse

Dollhouse | 10 Most Precious Vintage Toys Still Worth Playing With

image via redtedart

I would say the dollhouse is one of the most precious toys that we can provide and allow our children to play with. It allows them to re-enact things that they have seen and heard at the home and that would help them putting their imagination to use and might able to give them a chance to take matters into their own hands, getting responsible at very early age. If you need help on how you could get started on playing dollhouse with you kid, the pointers below might help.

Get some furniture and dolls that you think would play a great role in your child’s character development.
Play games based on activities that taking place in your home, such as cleaning day, getting ready for school, eating a proper meal, birthday party, etc. Remember recreating children’s experience will help solidifies their learning and understanding of the life around them.
Come up with something extraordinary and highly imaginative
Move it around : Make sure all spot of the doll house are used or visited.
Redecorate and add something new : New characters, new style, and decoration that would highlight holidays or special occasion.

Learn how to build a dollhouse using a cereal box here.

4. Garden felt board

Garden felt board | 10 Most Precious Vintage Toys Still Worth Playing With

image via pinterest

This toy is a fun and simple project that you’ll wonder why you never did it before. Cut the piece of finished hardboard or plywood to the dimension of a full piece of felt and the size of felt often varies so you’ll have to check locally. Garden colors, like green or brown, for the board then cut out flowers, vegetables, plants, sky, the sun, birds, animals, barn or house, forest, or wild animals. It is amazing that even young children (one or two years old) love this project. By adding a frame around the board or putting on a different color background, this project can become significantly more elaborate.

5. Matching Memory Game

Matching Memory Game | 10 Most Precious Vintage Toys Still Worth Playing With

image via momtastic

I bet you kid can beat you easily on this game! Make a set and test your and your kid’s memory and for added fun personalized it with the happy faces of every member of your family. Find the full tutorial how to make one here.

6. Hazelnut babies

Hazelnut Babies | 10 Most Precious Vintage Toys Still Worth Playing With

image via oregonhazelnuts

You need to epoxy two Hazelnuts together and make ensure the light brown part of the nut lies where the face will be then let the nuts sit overnight. Cut felt of any color to one by three inches for the cloak and a piece of yarn or cord for the scarf. Assemble it so that they look like the photo. From here, a face can be added with the felt tip marker if desired. For older children, most of this work can be selfdirected. These make fantastic gifts and cute Christmas decorations. These are a fairly traditional Scandinavian craft, although today they are mostly of wooden beads, which work admirably as well.

7. Dominoes

Dominoes | 10 Most Precious Vintage Toys Still Worth Playing With

image via abeautifulmess

Who’s up for a game? I’m pretty sure you will still enjoy dominoes, given a chance to play again! Why not do it now with your kids and spend long lazy afternoons with them. This a perfect bonding game! Find the full tutorial here on how to make your own wooden dominoes.

8. Buzz Toy

Buzz Toy | 10 Most Precious Vintage Toys Still Worth Playing With

image via gutenberg

It is a familiar toy of all the traditional homestead toys. Many of us will have enjoyed button on-a string as a child at grandma and grandpas house. They are easy to make and take sixty seconds. You will need a 36inch length string or heavy coat thread, and a coat button of large size with two or four. Then that’s it; you are complete with everything. Grasp one end of the toy using each of your hands, fingers through the loops, and swing it until the cord is twisted. Rhythmically and gently, pull and let slack and repeat, when it don’t properly, the toy will buzzing, and the rhythm will keep going. If not, keep attempting. Rather than a button, use a 1/8inch plywood disk or heavy cardboard disk. The heavier the disk, the heavier the will be cord can be and the longer the spin lasts, so try experimenting.

image via gutenberg

Now with the chores are done and out of the way, the children happy and content, and it’s time for you to play. Try making or using toys and experience a very basic joy, both of playing and of providing selfentertainment.

9. Elephant Stilts

Elephant Stilts | 10 Most Precious Vintage Toys Still Worth Playing With

image via sheknows

Test you kid’s balance skills on this Elephant Stilts! It sure to be fun and seems like the circus has come to town. You can just simply make a set using tin cans and few of craft supplies. Make your own Elephant Stilts here.

10. Pull Toy

Pull Toy | 10 Most Precious Vintage Toys Still Worth Playing With

image via makezine

As a child, I was never alone because I am inseparable with my duckie duck pull toy that was handmade by my grandfather! Today make a beguiling classic wobble duckie pull toy that will trail at your kid’s heels on minor wheels. Learn how to make the classic wobble duckie pull toy here.

Still up for one more vintage toy? Let’s watch this video from TacticBoardGames.