Ricky Is Crafty!

[jeshyr]

Status report for your general amusement ... this may be a lot funnier to those familiar with Steiner/Waldorf education.

Number of Steiner-type flannel dolls finished to give to friends with newborns: 2

Evidence:


For the record, this has been my main "carry around when I go out and sew while waiting" project for the last little while. This is relevant to the following statistics.

Number of people who have spotted me sewing these and asked if I was a Steiner kid: 1

Number of people who have not recognised the nearly finished dolls as dolls and asked what my "cushion" was for: 1

Number of people who have asked when I was adding the "face" or exclaimed sadly over the lack of defined features: 7


Fun had while explaining why my cushion was a doll, or why my doll had no facial features: PRICELESS!

I am tempted to start making felt gnomes now, just for my own amusement as people react to them...

Comments

[jeshyr]

Partly what Jai said in that things you don't specify the child will imagine while playing and although kids do sometimes in imagination play imagine toys into situations that are contradicted by the way the toys are formed (eg: firefighter Barbie) it's less common.

In these particular dolls they're designed for small babies too, so they're unlikely to be used much for imaginative play and more likely to be hugged and chewed on and such - hence they're made to be tactile and snuggly rather than visual (and without anything that could be chewed off, etc.)

[acelightning]

it's been demonstrated that even the youngest newborn infants will smile at anything that vaguely resembles a face - a circle with two dots for "eyes" is enough to elicit this response. so i'd expect even the most non-representational dolls to have at least the suggestion of eyes (embroidered on with thread, so there are no pieces to come loose), to evoke that social response. (note that, as with "Hello Kitty", a mouth is not required.)

[jeshyr]

Expectations sometimes meet reality, I guess! :)

[acelightning]

apparently some basic social responses, such as smiling at "faces", are hard-wired in the human brain. i wish this didn't explain the popularity of "Hello Kitty" :-(

[jeshyr]

I know some basic social responses are hard-wired, but I don't think that's relevant to imaginative play with toys that's all!

[acelightning]

i think it's just that i, personally, find the "faceless vaguely humanoid" design more than a bit creepy :-(

[jeshyr]

Ahh. .. that's a different issue. I don't find them creepy at all ... I wonder what's more common?

Cheers,
r

[acelightning]

that particular design falls into my personal uncanny valley. (i wonder why it's so important to me?)

*hugs*