A DIRECTORY OF TOYS MADE/SOLD IN USA  *  TOYMAKER PROFILE  *
TOY SHOWS & EVENTS  * VISITORS' TOY MEMORIES  *  TOY HOW-TO's
TOY-RELATED ARTICLES and TIPS  *  CONTACT US  *  HOME

 TOY HOW TO's
If you have any tips or instructions of your own, regarding making your own toys, toy-related accessories, or toy repairs, please share them with others here. (We do not offer any remuneration for these, but will include your name, and if you wish, your contact information.)
We assume no responsibility for the accuracy, origin, or use of these tips, instructions, toys, or...

 

Extra Income Creating Wooden Toys
By: Douglas Puckett

Do you have a hobby that consists of creating small wooden toys like small cars, trains and other wooden vehicles?  If so you can monetize this hobby very easily.  There is a demand for these types of toys and there are even some bigger manufacturers that have gotten into the act.
If you're lucky, a larger toy company may buy your designs from you and produce them yourself.  You may be able to work out a royalty deal with them but this doesn't seem to happen to often anymore.
You could sell them on ebay, especially around Christmas.   I could see these going like hot cakes on there.  eBay is great for this type of merchandise.  You can either do the bidding process or you could set up your own online eBay store.  There are some charges with the eBay store method though.
Last but not least, you can draw up plans for the wooden cars and trucks and trains and sell the plans, either online or through magazines.  There are guys always looking for things to build and these could go over well.  It's a lot easier for us guys to look at what someone else has already done and use the plans to build it ourselves.  This saves us all time and we get the feeling of accomplishment building the toy.
These are just some of the things you can do.   To take it a bit further, create a website if you know how (or have a buddy do it for you) and feature your designs on the website.   Here, you will be able to also sell your designs, showcase your work and maybe get some extra work from
people contacting you.
There are just some of the ways to earn a bit from your work.  I'll be writting about more in future articles.
About the Author
Douglas Puckett: Author of Self-Help, Hobby and Home Business Articles and Websites. Visit http://Fotometry.com for more information. For Weight or Fat Loss Plan, visit http://fotometry.com/go/fat-loss
(ArticlesBase SC #785152)
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/ - Extra Income Creating Wooden Toys You can sell your creations at flea markets which is one of the more obvious places but if you don't have the time, you can sell them at small craft and hobby stores once you make a deal with the owner.  You can also possibly get your line picked up by a smaller home town toy manufacturer where you can negotiate a price with them.

Five Ideas for Creating Fun Wooden Crafts Out of Dowel Rods
By: Tricia Bratton

These people are wood crafters. They are followers of the older ideas that one can create their own toys, decorations, and furniture. These people can create great things with a simple wood dowel and a little work.  When a wood crafter looks at a wood dowel, they see a million ideas. These people are wood working aficionados. They see wood not as just wood, but as a medium to bring their ideas into reality. These people are artists and workers at the same time. Here is a sample of those great ideas that a simple round, wood dowel has created.

1. Beaded curtains. These curtains have a fine thread running from the wood dowel to whatever length is desired. The fine thread is then used to thread beads, creating curtain of the beads, hence the beaded curtain. These beads can also be used to create designs in the curtain by matching colors to a certain pattern.
2. Flag posts. Home owners and some apartment renters tend to decorate their homes on the inside and out with flags. These can be everything from silly flags used for solely decoration to the patriotic, American flag. No matter what flags are hung, the thicker wood dowels are most often used because they have such great strength and beauty.
3. Toy wands. Every aspiring princess and wizard of the day has to have his or her own wand. To meet this need, the wooden dowel can be utilized and decorated to match the personalities of the children while still making the toy affordable. Ribbons, feathers, and glitter can all be added to the wand to add to the individuality of the piece.
4. Yoyo centers. Yoyos are one of America's all time favorite toys. The simple construction of the yoyo, paired with the ease of use and fun actions of the yoyo all make it a classic toy. The simple wood dowel makes the perfect center in which to construct the yoyo and to attach the string.
5. Shelf railings. Shelves are a necessary part of life. Some of these shelves hold precious ornaments and heirlooms. Many times these shelves have railings on them. For those who are constructing their own shelves, the wood dowel can be used to make for an interesting and unique railing on the shelf.

These ideas are just the tip of the iceberg of ideas for the wood dowel. Imagine what you may come up with using only a little creativity and a wood dowel. You just might have that perfect idea for that perfect piece of art. You also might have the beginnings of the next craze in ideas and wood crafting.

Tricia Bratton is an aspiring artist and employee at craftparts outside of Fort Worth in Haltom City Texas, offering many products including wooden toy wheels, wooden toy parts, buttons and plugs and a huge inventory of unfinished wood parts for woodworkers and crafters. For all of your Wooden toy parts needs, check out CraftParts.

About the Author
Tricia Bratton represents Woodworks, Ltd, a 30 year leader in wholesale wooden parts such balls, toys,unfinished wood parts, wood craft supplies, unfinished wood turnings or hardware. They are located in the Haltom City, Texas, area and mostly cater to crafters & woodworkers. For more information on wholesale craft supplies, check us out on the web,For more craft ideas using wooden dowels

(ArticlesBase SC #614963)
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/ - Five Ideas for Creating Fun Wooden Crafts Out of Dowel Rods

Modern Indoor Games for Home Alone Kids

One of the realities of today's society is the pressure for children to stay home alone for a short time after school until a parent returns from their work. Every day thousands of children arrive home from school to an empty house. It’s estimated that over 60% of children are left home alone. It can be very challenging and anxiety filled situation for parents and kids. Even one afternoon at a dance class, sports practice or being at another kid’s house is not much helpful. Often this poses a challenge for the working parents to keep their children inside the home and busy. They want their kids to engage in indoor activities rather than going outside and playing. Indoor games are an easy way to keep children secure in the four walls of house. Some of commonly indoor games played are chess, carom, table tennis, video games, cards, riddles and marbles etc. which are less popular today and these games involves two or more kids.

What if the child is single and needs to play alone. There are number of online games available for the little kids to spend their lonely hours. Some of the most popular online games are like online puzzles. Adventures games, fun games, sports games, music games, racing games, mind games, action games. Some of the games available free online are jungle battle, snake dash, school dress up, jamps, turtle pools etc. If your children are inclined more towards creative indoor activities then you can help them with simple projects for puppet making, homemade toys, and instruments. There are also an endless number of craft projects to fill an afternoon, from the reasonably tidy; play dough, stencilling and the like, all the way up to pretty messy stuff like papier mache. If you can help and guide your kids with messier projects and set them up properly, then the 'mess factor' (and stress factor!) can be minimized and they can still have a great time. Otherwise there are some Modern Indoor Games for lonely kids that help to keep your kids safe and happy at home so that parents can take a breath of relief like:-

Got a Clue?

Mixed up mysteries with hilarious results will provide giggle time for 2 or more players. Compile a few short mysteries (look to kids' books for inspiration). Copy or type each story, leaving blanks for key words, such as a noun, a verb or an exclamation. Above each space write the type of word to be filled in. The players then take turns providing verbal entries to fill in the blanks and then read them aloud.

Ready...Switch

A modified "Rock, Paper, Scissors" wow powerleveling game but with more movement. In this game each player makes one of three gestures such as touching their nose, arms pointed up like a "Y" and arms crossed over the chest. Player one begins by calling "Ready...Switch!," at which point both players quickly make a gesture. If the gestures match, player one gets a point and starts the game again. If there is no match, player two begins. The first playerto get three points wins.

And the Wind Blew

Put your hot air to good use with this home made challenge game for 2 or more players. Two play this game you need 2 or more players, Table, Ping Pong ball. Players stand at opposite ends of the table. Place the ball in the center of the table. Begin by blowing the ball to keep it from falling off the table. Older kids can make simple adaptations for air hockey, using masking tape for the center line and goal boxes.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/computer-games-articles/modern-indoor-games-for-home-alone-kids-328080.html

About the Author

Learn more about wow powerleveling and how to play wow powerleveling game

 

 

Fun Kids’ Crafts & Toys to Do With Your 5 Year Old on Your Inkjet Printer
By: John C. Arkin

Kids these days may prefer to play with their computers, PlayStations, Xboxes or Nintendo Wiis.  Yes, even five-year-olds these days know how to use those gadgets, and many of them actually do.  However, a creative parent would be able to divert the attention of their little ones with the use of some paper and their trusty inkjet printer.
The trick is to create toys and kids’ crafts with your inkjet printer.  Here are a few ideas that you can use.
Jigsaw puzzles. You can download software that can create a jigsaw pattern on any picture.  Use this on some of your child’s favorite pictures and print them on matte paper using your inkjet printer.  Afterwards, you glue this pattern onto a piece of cardboard then cut it up to come up with the jigsaw puzzle pieces.
Coloring sheets. Some parents may think of coloring books as a bit old-fashioned, but they are still a great way of teaching children about colors, shapes and space.  Your own kids will no doubt enjoy them.  But you do not have to buy coloring books; you can just create coloring sheets using your own inkjet printer.  You can download coloring patterns from the Internet, or make your own if you are handy with photo-editing software.  Once you have printed out a bunch, hand them over to your kid along with a box of crayons and your child will be entertained for a whole afternoon.
Pretend food. If you are into baking customized pastries and cakes and if you have an inkjet printer that is dedicated to the creation of edible printouts, you can create pretend food for your kids.  It does not even have to be pretend food at all.  You can cook up your very own toffee or chocolate bar and wrap it up with your special edible inks. You can even use it to make a marshmallow wrap.
Scrapbooking. It is never too early to start scrapbooking, and you can teach your child how to make one using your inkjet printer.  Maybe instead of using actual photos, you can print family photos on your inkjet printer.  And then, you can give these printouts to your kids, along with materials used for scrapbooking that they will not choke on or injure themselves with, such as cardboard, colored paper and ribbons, and let them have a go at their own scrapbooking project.
“Rubber stamps”. Kids love playing with rubber stamps.  You can make your very own unique “rubber stamp” by printing a pattern or a figure that you want on glossy or smooth paper using your inkjet printer.  Once the paper is out of your inkjet printer, you can press the printed surface of this glossy paper on a dry and absorbent paper, and then you would have an imprint.  While this may not be practical for daily play, it could be a wonderful way of adorning notebooks and scrapbooks.
There are many ways that you can entertain your children using an inkjet printer.  You just have to be creative at finding these ways.

About the Author
This Article is written by John C. Arkin from PrintCountry, the contributor of Printer Ink Cartridges Articles. More information on the subject is at Fun Kids’ Crafts and Toys to Do with your 5 year Old on your Inkjet Printer, and related resources can be found at kids project with printer.

(ArticlesBase SC #637570) Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/ - Fun Kids’ Crafts & Toys to Do With Your 5 Year Old on Your Inkjet Printer

How To Quickly Design Your Own Doll Dress

It doesn't matter what type or size doll you have, you can easily design your own doll dresses following a few simple steps.
This article explains how to make a basic dress, that you can then use as either a sundress, or that you can crochet dainty ruffles on for a more elegant fashion.
First you will want to grab your doll, a crochet hook, some yarn, a pen and a notebook. As you crochet, you will want to make sure that you write down all of your stitches so that you can save your design in writing.
First crochet a simple chain until it's long enough to reach comfortably around the neck of your doll. I usually crochet my chains to be long enough to just reach around the width of the neck, then I add 3 extra chains to give enough room for it to fit neatly without being too tight.
Next, crochet 2 singles stitches in each chain, and there you will have your basic neck.
Now, place your neck on your doll, with the ends being centered in the back, and mark the stitches right underneath the arms by inserting small bits of yarn into the stitches. These can be removed once your arm loops are crocheted.
Double crochet to where the arms should be (the area you marked with your bits of yarn), and then next make a chain using the number of stitches marked previously with your bits of yarn. Now add 4 or 5 more chains to give a bit of extra room for the arms.
To gauge if you have enough chain stitches, you can pin the chain in place in the last stitch not marked for the arms, and see if the "loop" slides onto the arm easily.
Once you've gauged your chain, then double crochet in the next unmarked stitch to close the "loop" onto the neckpiece.
Now double crochet to the next arm area, and create a chain with the same number of stitches as your previous chain, close that loop as well, and then double crochet to the end of the neckpiece.
Now chain 3, turn and double crochet one row, while adding the same number of double crochet stitches onto the "loop" as you had for number of chains.
Chain 3, turn again and double crochet to right underneath the arm. If your doll has "breasts" then you will want to place your bodice on your doll, and mark the stitches that lay right over the dolls "breasts".
Note: If your doll does not have breasts, then just double crochet across.
Now double crochet to the "breasts" section of the bodice, and based on how large your doll is you will need to add a few double crochet stitches in the breasts area.
Typical fashion dolls only need to have 3 double crochet stitches added, in one stitch over the breasts.
Whereas larger dolls may need to have 6 stitches added into 2 stitches.
To determine how many stitches to add, crochet 3 double crochet stitches in the first stitch you marked, try the bodice on the doll and see if it fits comfortably. If it appears to be too tight, just add 3 more double crochet stitches into the next stitch, and so on until it fits well.
Double crochet to the next breast area, repeat the increased stitches, then double crochet to the end of the row.
Chain three, turn and double crochet back to the breast areas, DECREASE the same number of stitches to form the "cups" and double crochet to the end of the row.
If you have a rather large doll, then you will want to do a row of double crochet stitches before you close the "cups" to make sure that the cups fit snugly.
Chain three, turn and crochet one more row of double crochet stitches.
Now try your bodice on your doll, pinning it closed in the back, to make sure that it fits snugly.
If it fits, you've done a great job and can continue to the skirt. If it seems to be too tight in some areas, you will need to unravel and start again increasing stitches in those areas.
Once you get used to using this method, you'll find that you won't have to unravel as often as you may when you first start designing. If you do need to unravel, don't get upset. You're just now learning something new, and as with everything that you learn, practice makes perfect.
Once you have a snug fitting bodice, you will need to determine what type of skirt you would like to make.
First, do rows of double crochet until you get to where you would like the waist of your skirt to be.
Once your bodice is the desired length, then you will want to double crochet in each stitch across. This makes the waste form outward to fit over your dolls hips.
Now you can begin designing your skirt. If you want a skirt that flairs, then do a row of three double crochet stitches in each stitch across. If you want a tighter skirt, then do a row of one double crochet stitch in each stitch across.
Chain three, turn and double crochet in each stitch across. Now you can close your skirt into a circle by joining the edges together with a single stitch. Try your bodice on your doll again to make sure that it will pull onto the doll snugly then complete your skirt by crocheting it to the desired length.
Once you skirt is completed, you will have completed your basic dress. You now have a wonderful dress, designed completely by you, and as you can see it wasn't hard at all!
You can add sleeves by joining your yarn into the arm loops, and crocheting ruffles around the edges.
You can also add ruffles into your skirt.
Once you get better at designing the basic dress, then you can use other stitches to make fancy details and patterns in your designs.
Ad ruffles or single stitches around the neck for collars, or sew beads onto the necks for a decorative edging.
Before long you'll be designing your own doll dresses like a professional in no time!
Don't forget to always write your instructions down, and for ways to profit using the patterns you design then please visit the following URL to obtain your copy of "Profitable Crafts ~ Consignment Sales And Getting Your Projects Published".
http://www.daintywork.com/crafts/vol2main.htm

Maria Vowell is a published designer that has crocheted since she was 11 years old, who has successfully mentored literally hundreds of crafters, both online and off, and who has over 13 years experience at designing her own crochet patterns. Ms. Vowell also provides a series of manuals to help other artisans and crafters profit from their arts & crafts related sales. Learn more at: http://www.daintywork.com/crafts/volumes.htm

"Reprinted from Zongoo.com Daily Press & Consumer Information"
Zongoo.com Daily Press & Consumer Information