Sarah’s Silks from Bumblebee Toys { Review }

When G-Girl was about two years old I was searching online for age appropriate activities and I started reading a lot of buzz about playsilks. I read about what a wonderful multipurpose toy they were, and how they fueled the imagination and the senses.  I loved the concept, so I started looking around to purchase some.  In the end, I figured why did I need to order playsilks from online when I could just give her scarves and get the same end result?  I asked my mom for some of her old scarves, and dug a few out of the back of my closet, rounding things out with a couple of used one from garage sales and the Salvation Army.  So G-Girl has over a dozen scarves in various sizes and patterns.  While she does play with them they never panned out as the super toy that I thought they would be, most often she uses them as tablecloths or bedding for her dolls.

Then a few weeks back Bumblebee Toys sent us a lovely purple playsilk, made by Sarah’s Silks, and I discovered why playsilks are actually way better then scarves.

Welcome to Purple World!

They are the perfect size. The playsilk I received is a generous 35 x 35 inches, far larger then any of the scarves she was previously playing with. It’s not too big, as to be unwieldy for her. It’s just the perfect size for a little one. Just big enough for her to hold with her arms outstretched. The larger size means it can be turned into far more things, and used in far more ways. Everything from a cape to a dress, to a curtain for a puppet show.

They are made of real silk. A very thin, see-through, breathable, fabric. It lets the light shine through when the cloth is thrown over something. G-Girl loves to hold our purple playsilk over her face and look out through it, turning the world purple.

Our playsilk is so very light and airy. It weighs next to nothing. I love the way it moves when you wave it, and when you toss it in the air, it flutters. It is also super soft. The texture is very inviting. The baby loves to finger it and rub it against her face.

I love the quality.  The hand-hemmed edges are fantastic. I also like knowing that the dyes used to create the playsilks are non-toxic. I enjoyed checking out the Sarah’s Silks website and discovering that they follow “better then fair trade practices”.

Baby-G entranced with the soft silk cloth.

G-Girl is also quite enamored with our new playsilk, which she calls  her “be-anything-do-anything cloth“.  She has come up with some pretty bizarre things to do with it. Things that would never ever occur to me. And that’s the beauty of it. The playsilk really does seem to promote open ended, free form play.

A “purple snail birthday cake” that G-Girl sculpted by laying the playsilk on the ground and scrunching it just so.

Bumblebee Toys has seventeen different colours of Sarah’s Silks available for a rather reasonable $12.95 a piece. They recently posted a suggestion on their Facebook page which I thought was simply brilliant.  Instead of using fake grass in your kids Easter basket line it with a playsilk.  What an awesome idea!  I am so doing that this year. Bumblebee Toys also has an excellent deal on right now, where if you order $25 or more worth of toys they will throw in a free green playsilk (while supplies last).

Disclosure – I received a free playsilk for review purposes. My opinions are my own and were not influenced by the company, or by the free product received.