🐸My Etsy Sh🌎p🐸

Saturday, April 4, 2015

My Big World 2015 etsy shop

 This week, my plan was to complete 2...maybe 3...new playscape play mats for my etsy shop.  www.mybigwold2015.etsy.com  But there was sickness in the nanny house and I volunteered at my daughter's school.  I also road tripped to see my daughter at college.  Best laid plans, right?  I completed 1.
Completing One was disappointing but...I was able to just concentrate on adding so many tiny details to this one.
 There are so many ways to play with these playscape play mats.  I had a ton of fun this morning, staging different ways which a child might play with this.
 This Lakeside play mat has a 3 dimensional leaf boat.  I have never done a lake playscape or a boat before, but I love the way that it turned out.  This play mat is wool felt approximately 15 inches by 15 inches - not huge, so you could take it along in the car or to a restaurant or to a playdate.
 Gardens have been a part of every play mat that I have done so far, because my late Grandma Helen loved working in the garden.  I have many, many fond childhood memories beside her in the dirt talking, laughing, planting, weeding, picking.  The gardens on the play mats are a little more whimsical than Grandma Helen's, but I think she would have enjoyed them just the same.
 Whether it be tiny Japanese eraser hamsters, Safari or Schleich, or Papo animals, Lalaloopsy, Hello Kitty, dinosaurs - whatever your child is into...they can play on this play mat.
 These photos show all the tiny stitches and itty bitty mushrooms.  Each play mat takes me 6-8 hours to make, as they are all hand stitched.
 A Playscape is a landscape for imagination. "Imagination is more important that knowledge." - Albert Einstein
 I have been in the early childhood education field for 20+ years and know that children learn through play.  They need time to just play, to be creative, to let their imaginations run wild.
 Where will their imaginations take them?
 On a boat ride in a leaf on a lake?  On a picnic beside the lake?  A walk in a whimsical garden?
Have a fun and playful day
Mel

2 comments:

Lindsey said...

I don’t think you should be disappointed in only completing one playscape for your Etsy shop, I think it turned out amazing, and it looks like a lot of effort went into completing it. I was wondering if this would be a fun/safe weekend DIY for me and my two kids (aged 4 and 6). From your experience, do you think they would enjoy making a playscape or just playing with it? Thanks in advance!

Melanie said...

Hi Lindsey,

I enjoy both making them and playing with them, too. I make them for my Etsy shop which is taking a short break until Feb. 1st. Thank you
Mel