It's free and fun to play with your hands—kids make their own toys: Tigger Eats Big

This summer, André spent most of his days at home, and I would prepare some craft materials for him to use his creativity to make whatever he wanted. The more he did it, the quicker he could use available materials to make toys for his little sister.
(Halloween extended reading:)

Over this summer, he made many toys all by himself—thinking them up and crafting them on his own. Many of the finished products made me see this five-year-old boy in a new light. I even thought about setting up a studio for him to design toys, letting his wild imagination run free.

One time, André asked me, “Mommy, I remember when I was little, I had a toy where you could feed Tigger. I think my sister will love it too. Can you buy one for her?”

I replied, “We can’t buy that anymore. Why don’t you make one yourself?”

So we went through the boxes we had lying around and found a cardboard box of just the right size. André immediately took it happily and started drawing Tigger on it. Many people ask me, “Does André draw from a template? Because his drawings look so good.” But actually, he draws entirely from memory—he rarely uses templates.

This time, the Tigger he drew with his little hands also looked incredibly lifelike. He paid attention to every detail that Tigger should have, and I had to admit even I couldn't draw Tigger that well.

But André still felt it wasn't realistic or perfect enough, so he added a yellow tail for him.

Then he thought for a moment and added a few stripes to Tigger’s face before he was finally satisfied. His attention to detail in creating art really humbled me.
(Recommended reading:)

While André was working on the Tigger mold, I used promotional newspapers from the supermarket to make food for Tigger.

I glued pictures of food onto corrugated paper and then cut them out according to the shapes to make them more sturdy and durable.

When André saw the finished food, he asked me to wait a second. He took a recycled ziplock bag, drew Tigger on it, and said, “When my sister is done playing, she can store the food inside!”

Isn’t André’s 100% handmade “Tigger Eats Big” toy making you want to place an order?

When Momo woke up from her nap, she ran straight to the backyard to see what we were doing. When she saw Tigger, she immediately started playing with it.

She had so much fun—feeding Tigger and then taking the food out again to feed him some more.

Every time Momo plays house, she puts Tigger next to her, waits until she cooks, and then feeds him. This toy is perfect for toddlers over one year old. Next, I’ll share two more amazing toys that André made:

Once, André made a simple pizza puzzle for his sister to play with. That was super creative—I never thought a five-year-old boy could come up with something like that. You really don’t need to buy puzzles; just draw a picture, divide it into a few pieces, and you’ve got a puzzle toy.

Momo also loved that puzzle, and her brother would demonstrate and explain how to do it.
(Recommended reading:)

This is another toy André made for his sister, called the “Bird’s Nest.” He made it using discarded Styrofoam and cardboard. The mother bird on top can be separated and fly on her own, then fly back to feed the baby birds. I personally find it quite fun, but his sister wasn’t as impressed—ha ha.