Imagine the Fun with Sarah’s Silks Playsilks

A friend and I were reminiscing a few weeks ago about our playtime as children. We were “wild child” types who ran around the woods, made up adventure stories, pretended we were lost in the forest, or invented dramatic re-enactments of Little House or Anne of Green Gables (without the clinging-to-the-bridge-pilings type of results that Anne got!).

We didn’t need much. An old dress of her mother’s. My mom’s old nightgowns. And we were princesses, fairies, pioneers, or pirates, even!

I’m excited to share my newest sponsor with you, because she’s all about being playful and imaginative! Sarah has created a beautiful company, Sarah’s Silks, simply by trying to help her son play. She kept providing colorful scarves and fabrics for him to be a turtle, a knight, or fly with wings! Soon Sarah was dyeing silk squares to give him more props to play with. “I discovered silks serve as wonderful props for almost any make-believe game. I began to think about my fellow Waldorf families searching for natural toys to enhance open ended play, and the idea evolved for a line of silk play items,” she says on her site.

Let me tell you a bit more about Sarah, the owner… she’s dedicated to her work, having actually traveled to China to learn how silk is made, even raising some silkworms herself! Did you know it takes 250 silkworm cocoons to make one playsilk? Her playsilks are hand-sewn by Chinese seamstresses, who because of Sarah, get to work at home with their children nearby!

Sarah’s Silks creates simple, open-ended toys that support growing minds. Developing inner creativity at a young age leads to higher levels of creative thinking in adulthood. When children’s inner creative life is nurtured, they grow into more well-rounded, stronger, and creative contributing members of our society, eager to bring their gifts to the world.

Sarah sent me three of her beautiful silks and a dress up garland to enjoy with my son – blue, red, purple – to touch these silks – it’s like newborn baby skin. The ultimate soft. Shimmering, gossamer, they float, ripple, flutter… you can be mesmerized feeling and fluttering them!

And then comes play! I am not as creative as I used to be, but still, my son and I have fun with these silks! We use the blue silk to play “ocean!” We’ll lay it on the floor or ottoman; he races to get his rubber ducks and sharks, and the swimming begins. Sometimes he wants to lay right on the silk and swim himself!

I make him pirate hats or cowboy kerchiefs, or a Superman cape…. one of his favorite things to do with his Sarah’s Silks is to wave them around to “make o’s” – he loves trying to draw a circle in the air and watch the silks spin round and round. So do I. And it’s amazing what kids will do with these silks – their imagination is far beyond mine – his cousins came over and they were finding a dozen new ways to use them, creating outfits and generally having a blast!

Play silks are versatile toys. Use them to decorate a seasonal themed table, for play kitchen cookery, as tents and tablecloths. Even make costumes for birthday, harvest or holiday parties and plays by using a few different colors – why spend tons of money on an expensive costume used once and quickly outgrown? Design your own costumes with a handful of play silks! (They’ll take up less room, too!). I also love Sarah’s suggestion to dye your own playsilks as a party craft that then becomes a favor to take home!

I’m already planning to pick up some more Sarah’s Silks, because I love them, I love the versatility, and I can’t wait to see what my child will imagine next!

BUY IT: Sarah’s Silks carries playsilks, dress up silks, silk toys, and other natural toys for imaginative children. Fan Sarah’s Silks on Facebook to enter to win a set of 3 playsilks and a garland, your choice of colors! Right now you can get a free mini star playsilk when you order. Just use the CODE: FAMILY

WIN IT: And…one reader here will win a set of 3 playsilks and a garland from Sarah’s Silks! Thank you, Sarah! (ARV $53).

DISCLOSURE: I was sent a product for use in writing this review; all opinions in this review are 100% my own!