The Great Indian Toys (Baby’s Cry Whistle)

India has a great tradition of making whistling toys- handmade by Paper, Tree leaf, Bamboo and now even by casting Plastic. 

I found this simple and funny whistle at Gorakhnath Temple during my recent visit to the Gorakhpur City. 

I named it The Baby’s  Cry, and here is a short video that I've personally got for you to enjoy and appreciate this one of the Great Indian Toys.

The Tangram - A Puzzel and a Friend

Tangram, one of the most amazing puzzle & game, is a set of seven neatly cut plane pieces of wood, card board or plastic that are put together to form interesting shapes. Playing Tangram is to make tangram figures and the challenge is to use all the seven pieces without overlapping to create the figure.

A set of wooden Tangram with case 

I remember the excitement when I first read about the tangrams and I made a set  for myself from teak wood and got it polished from a friendly carpenter. I found Tangram  excellent for  developing  the sense of geometry and  a great fun for a curious mind  (I've actually introduced it to many of my students, and 10/10 they all loved it ! ).

The best thing about these seven pieces is that it allows you to create lot of amazing figures and once you innovate a new figure, let’s say a House or a Cab, you can pass it to your friend as a challenge to recreate the same using the seven pieces also called the tans. So this 'easy to keep in pocket'  Tangram is a recreation and a 2-D dissection puzzle as well. Here are some suggestive figures for you to enjoy making them as puzzle.

Homemake a Tangram for yourself :

Although the Tangram is now easily available at Toy stores  here is an low- cost paper cut method of making Tangram at home:

make a Tangram for yourself and if you are creative enough you can create an new figure and add it to the ever increasing number of Tangram Figures worldwide !   

You may also follow these web-link to explore more about the Tangrams & enthusiasts’ groups :

http://www.fun-stuff-to-do.com/tangrams.html

http://puzzlingtangrams.com/
http://tangramonline.net/
http://newportjuniorschool.blogspot.in/2010/11/tricky-tangrams.html

The Inspiration for The Toymaker blog

 

We personally admire the work of Arvind Gupta - the dedicated science popularizer, writer, and a real toymaker who has been a lighthouse for us and now is the inspiration for the Toymaker Blog. This blog is dedicated to such toymakers and all the curious children of the world who are less - privileged or deprived from the formal education but are creative enough to make their ways through 'learn by doing.'

 

"I still recall, as a child in India I used to watch Arvind Gupta on Doordarshan and wonder how his magical fingers create toys from trash."

Inspired by his work, and my interest in collecting & making toys, this blog is to share the joy of learning by doing.

In my little ways I'll soon be posting interesting blogs on Toy & Puzzle making,

and also about Tangram, Origami, Phillumeny and more....

I'm looking forward for your valuable comments & suggestions.

You can personally write to me at : manishpathak2008@gmail.com

Keep Creating the Joy of Learning,

Manish Pathak