A True Story :)
There was a certain teenager that spent a good quantity of her time watching her younger siblings. She wrote songs for them, made up funny stories and would make them toys out of various household items. One day she made one of her younger brothers a whole civilization made entirely of dried beans. Each bean had a family of beans it lived with and they all had bright, shiny, nail polish eyes. The dining room table was converted into a bean community with roads and houses, a school and a hospital. There were pinto beans and lima beans, big beans and little beans and they each had a life of their own in their magical table top world. They even had ‘pet’ beans, the bean equivalent of dogs and cats, easy to spot by their nail polish stripes and dots.
The little boy played with his beans for weeks, carrying them around in a bulgy little sock when they were not having adventures in their table town... or on one of the rumply country side lands found in messy sheets... or under the murky recesses of the couch.
One day a family with children came to visit. The little boy shyly asked one of them if he would like to play with his bean people. The new boy looked at him oddly and said that he might like that, and the child ran to get his collection. With a flourish he dumped his little friends out onto the living room floor. The visitor looked down at the pile of little dry objects and frowned.
“Those are just BEANS!”, he said with disgust and turned away from the little boy.
The teenager watched her little brother peer down at his treasures, doubtfully, as his face turned scarlet red. She frowned as he knelt in embarrassment and scooped the beans back into his pathetic little sock. She swooped down to help him and said with much conviction,
“That poor, poor boy! Just imagine how boring our lives would be if we did not have the power to make beans come to life!”
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Dear Friends,
We believe that art has a very real value in people’s lives and especially in the lives of children. We believe that play is a form of creating and we feel that our creations for children are designed to entice them into playing.
You may say, “ My child does not need any more toys!” ...and we agree. Children do not need more toys, what they need are thought provoking toys and we have worked to design those kinds of playthings.
Think about the kinds of toys a child might have had a hundred years ago. Did those toys already have complete, pre-ordered lives and stories that the child saw on television? Did they already have assortments of sound effects produced by the push of a button? Of course not, children used their imaginations to make up their own stories, sounds, movements and adventures. They used to play with sticks and stones, corn cobs, rag dolls and blocks, things that they could make themselves... things their parents could make for them.
We feel that play is a child’s work and that toys are the tools of play. Children need toys that inspire them to imagine, think, pretend and create. If your child has a million toys and still chooses to sit in front of the television maybe he or she has the wrong kinds of toys...
We think all children should have the power to give each of their toys a story. We believe every child has the power to ‘make beans come to life’! Wouldn’t you like for your child to have that gift?
We feel our products help develop a keen imagination and promote creativity. We work toward designs that are simple, endearing and begging for our children to give them life. We feel that children need these kinds of toys. We feel that adults need these kinds of tools to teach their children the wonder of love, life and imagination. We hope that you have enjoyed our little sermon... :) Now go out into the world and think, express, create and grow! It’s never too late to play!
Sincerely Yours,
The Zephyr Art Team
“Banjo” A monkey made by Arowyn Bailey from a Zephyr Art 3in1 pattern.
(Photo also by Arowyn Bailey :))