Are Vintage Toys for Kids?

I know many of us out there are still kids at heart, yet sometime around the age of twelve we lost our desire to "play." That is, the voices that pop into our heads, shoot down our arms and burst out of the toy in our hand disappear. The stories we construct fall away. The elaborate relationships between Barbie and Little Miss Makeup fade. All we are left with is the desire to display, to make pretty and to stare at. In essence, our ability to play does not last past the tweens.

But for some of us, the old pleasures of play are resurrected through the children around us. My two girls are endless story factories. They can sit for hours and dress dolls, make up intrigues and set up houses. I have often tried to sit down and join them but I can not stand it for more than five minutes. The voices are lost to me.

As a grown-up collector I often think back to the story lines I created with my toys, and the memories are so sweet I want my children to have the same experience. Years ago I decided I would let my children play with my vintage toys. I have heard many a discussion on message boards about letting kids play with collections and there are several concerns brought up from things getting lost and destroyed, to safety issues.

Letting your kids play with a vintage collection is purely up to the collector. Several factors must be considered:

1 - Is the child responsible when they play with their current toys?
2 - Is the child old enough to treat them gently?
3 - Is the child truly interested in having a good play, or are they they kind who like to dump things out, mix things up and get things messy?
4 - Does the toy contain small, breakable, or dangerous parts?

Babies eat bunnies!

My two girls have always been very gentle with my vintage toys, and so I have allowed them to play with them. Now that they are older they understand how to keep small parts from getting lost but I have a few rules.

ANGEL'S RULES FOR PLAYING WITH OLD TOYS:

1 - Stay in one contained spot at one time. I keep them in one place, away from the dog. They are not allowed to take the toy out of that place.

2 - They cannot bang the toys together, throw them on the ground or remove any clothing.

3 - No small parts for small kids.

4 - They must ask my permission before they play.

5 - They must tell me when they are done.

6 - They must put everything back exactly as they found it.

Over the years we have had few incidents. I can't really remember any toys getting broken but a few got mixed up. To combat accessory mix-ups I began to print pictures of the toys and keep them in the baggie where the toy belongs. That way when the kids are done playing they can see exactly which piece goes where (psst . . . it helps me remember too!)

Ultimately, it is up to you to decide weather your kids are trustworthy enough to treat your toys with respect. I personally have enjoyed watching my kids create new memories with old toys.

Fairy Winkles Collection

I decided to take a picture of my complete Fairy Winkles collection. I am missing a few variants, but these are basically all the sets. I didn't take photos of the sets open. That task will be for another day.

Toy Dying Tutorial ~ How to change the color of your plastic!

I got a couple of extra fairy winkles in the mail today and I thought that instead of reselling them or trading them I would dye them and do a little tutorial.

You can find Rit dye at any grocery store. Look for it in the laundry soap section. There are a variety of colors. For this purpose I chose brown because I wanted to make a few African-American Fairy Winkles.

Other supplies you will need:

* A junky pot
* A junky set of tongs
* Rubber gloves
* A paper plate
* Masking tape (if there is hair)

Fill the pot with warm water and stir in your dye. You can use liquid dye (slower acting, but better results) or powder (packs a punch but can often end in splotches). The amount depends on the shade you want. Start with a little and work your way up if you are unsure.

Turn the stove on medium heat and let is simmer for about five minutes. I don't know if letting it boil helps or hurts it. That merits further exploration.

Since this little guy has hair, I want to protect it by wrapping it in masking tape.

Time to dip!

Now turn the stove to low and stir! Stirring the figure guarantees even distribution.

 After the item reaches your desired shade, plop it on the plate. Be very careful at this stage. If you let the dye pool in any crevices it will splotch! Put it under cold water immediately!

Depending on the toy, you might have to let it dry for several hours. Since this guy was not hollow and he was small, it only took a few seconds.

Here's the little guy next to his twin. As you can see the wings got darker but they shimmer just the same!

Now, I went ahead and dyed the two other fairies the same. But they were so small I used a tong with holes.

 As you can see the small ones went way dark in the wings and hat, but that's okay! Of course you can protect painted parts with hot glue (just glue on the parts you want to preserve, then pull off after the dying process is finishes) but it would have been really hard to do that with such small pieces.

Look at the cute camouflaged fairies!

 This little guy was dyed "wine."

Not really sure if I like the way this guy turned out. Oh well, you win some you lose some.

Remember to dye only the soft kinds of plastic. No hard, polystyrene plastic. You can another dye job custom of mine here.

I am about to wrap up the Fairy Winkle posts soon. I am getting ready to fill my white shelf full of Moon Dreamers!

Fairy Winkles mysteries close to being solved!

Thanks to Zuse on the Ghost of the doll forums some of the Fairy Winkles mysteries have been solved!

The purple Hide 'n Play Jewellery Box turns out to be a recycled mold for the Littlest Pet Shop Teeny Weeny Families. They also used the purse and the address book, as seen here:

It's funny that I used to have these sets when I was younger and I hadn't picked up on that!

Zuse offered another insight as to why the address book has two different covers. Fairy Winkles were an international toy brand, sold overseas to places in Europe. That imprint is known as Folly Magic. It is possible the book with the fairy pictures rather than the word "Address" might have been marketed to non English speaking children. Here is a photo of a Folly Magic playset:

Thanks, Zuse for your insights! Now I don't feel like I have to go find that purple flower pot!