African Toys

I was debating my next topic for this post and I was thinking about writing about childrearing in Tanzania, typhoid or khat but then I saw some of the kids next door with their toy cars. This is what I want to write about. I have actually saved my last four or five plastic bottles so I can try it myself :D

Watch this video and see for yourself http://vimeo.com/34563622




One thing I'll bring back to Sweden is the brilliant ideas people have even though they have nothing. Furniture can be made out of scrap metal and wood, toys about of pretty much anything. Yesterday as I was running local boys were playing soccer with soccer ball made out of densely packed plastic bags. We were also approached by a man trying to show us a toy he had made. It was a colorful thing that looked like a little man attached to a  long stick and when you push it in front of you it looked like that man was running/cycling. Awesome! Brilliant! Other children use of old bicycle rims and push them forward with a stick. small pieces of old tire can also be used for making sling shots or arrow and bow. I think I have posted a picture from an orphanage I visited and this toy car was made of a small paper box where plastic caps are used as wheels. Add a little string and you are able to pull it. However even the simplest things can be valuable. At the same orphanage rubber bands where as precious as gold. You should have seen it. The kids went nuts when one of the volunteers where handing out rubber bands.

It kind of reminds me of my childhood when we made animals out of pine cones or small towns for our toy cars using anything left by my dad in the garage. Stones, sticks, a board and small pieces of wood would be made into houses and bridges. Cleaning out the attic at my parents' house I actually found those again. What a great time we had making those.

Let me show you some more pictures of African toys: