[lizabird]

I see LOTS of people mentioning playsilks. I think these are square bits of silk fabric, like a scarf of handkerchief... Can someone please explain to me what you do with your playsilks that makes them so much fun?

Just wondering... feeling the need to be enlightened about playsilks ...

 

[AngelBee]

I think they are weird....but my kids

them.

They use them for dress up, baby blankets, doll dipes, slings....you name it!

 

[cks321]

If you go to the 1.00 fabric section at Wal mart you can find tulle and chiffon and all kinds of stuff if you can't afford real silks...(they are expensive) They're great for any kind of imaginative play.

 

[HokieMum]

Paige loves her silks. She has some "real" playsilks (mama-dyed from Dharma Trading) and also some old scarves that my grandmother gave her.

She plays peek-a-boo, dresses herself up, sometimes she just strokes the textures, she waves them in time to music (her current favorite thing to do with them!) makes a bed for her dolly...when she was younger she even teethed on them.

Somedays she picks up a silk and looks at if as if to say, "what sort of entertainment will you be today?" :LOL

 

[cyncyn]

DD has a variety of scarves and receiving blankets that she uses to wrap up dolls and teddies, drape around her as costumes, flutter in the air or make forts.

Any piece of fabric can be used for make believe but soft or silky fabrics are favorites.

 

[mcsarahb]

You can also get great scarves at Goodwill or other thrift stores - often veeeery cheap. My dd is still a little young for a lot of imaginative play, but she loves to play peekaboo or pretend to be asleep under them.

 

[quaz]

My sis and I had a bunch of white curtain sheers when we were young. We must have played with those things for years. We made princess dresses all the time from them. I was easily in my early teens and still playing with them.

My 2.5year old and 15m dds... well, we had some silk curtains that we were no longer using. They LOVE them. My 15m dd has been playing with them for at least 4-5m.... They roll in them, they cover their heads and walk around like ghosts... (the two girls were doing that this evening)... we've made forts, gowns, etc.

They thing with 'playsilks' or anything of that sort, they are so non-specific ,they make great pretend toys. And from the above, they obviously transcend age.

I may pick up some cheap smaller sheer fabric for my dd's bday.

Tammy

 

[3 Little Monkeys]

my girls LOVE their silks! They have been:

dresses
capes
peek a boo covers
doll blankets
sleepytime loveys
leash for the dog (stuffed)
curtain for "stage"
sling

and many other things I am just not coming up with right now.

 

[simply me]

My kids love their playsilks!!!! It is funny becasue i never knew what they would see in them but......

hats, scarves, parachutes for their dolls,capes, skirts etc!!!

wish icould have so much fun with a plain peice of silk :LOL

 

[celestialdreamer]

Hope I'm not hijacking the thread, but what age is good to buy them for? My dd is just almost 13 months, so I'm guessing she's a little young for them now.

 

[alliegad]

What size are these playsilks that the children love? All different sizes? Do you guys just have sort of a box of differnet sizes and textures?

 

[chicagomom]

We have all sizes, from long skinny scarves to beach wraps. Things larger than that are hard for the kids to handle, and so don't get used as much. Goodwill/garage sale scarves can also be clipped together to make bigger ones for roofs, tents etc.

 

[lisalou]

This past weekend thinking about the mention of playsilks, I dug up some old scarves I had. A silk rectangle one and a sheer rectangle and a sheer square. DD loves them. She's 21 months. She does a lot of what's mentioned here and with the sheer ones she loves putting them over her head or over mine and then feeling my face or hers. Especially the beeping of noses. I think it's the new texture over something familiar esp with the sheerness you can still sort of see what you're grabbing. So while a 13 month old might not start dressing up in them or using them for slings or leashes, they might really enjoy just the feel of them and feeling something familiar through them.

 

[lizabird]

I have some scarves that I've had for costumes and such and I put them out where DS (18 mos) can see them, but he has NEVER had any interest in them. As I'm reading through your comments, it looks like everyone's DC is a girl... are there any boys out there that have fun with playsilks/scarves?

I can definitely see as he's older and into building forts, that they might be fun for decorating the fort, but I wonder if there's something about being a boy that he's not interested in these, or maybe he's just too young still. He has *just* taken an interest in hugging a little soft doll and teddy bear, so there's a bit of his feminine side peeking through!

-lizabird

 

[gridley13]

I bought a huge lot (about 30) of scarves on ebay and have also found them really cheap at thrift stores. We love them!

 

[2+twins]

My dd's both

playsilks (they're 19 months & 4 1/2 years)! We have a ton of them. They use them first and foremost as capes (playing superheros is a big one). Also as skirts, togas, dresses, horse tails (I roll one up and tuck it in dd's pants or panties - lol), caves, water in the ocean, the sky, wrapping for presents (she has me tie a stuffed animal inside then she gives it to me as a gift - gotta love her!), etc. The list really goes on & on. They're beautiful & lots of fun.

 

[2+twins]

Quote:

Originally Posted by alliegad What size are these playsilks that the children love? All different sizes? Do you guys just have sort of a box of differnet sizes and textures?

We have several different sizes. Most of ours are 44x44" but we also have 35x35" and a couple 8'x2' I think.

 

[nikirj]

I've been letting my kids help dye their own and it has increased the interest dramatically.

We have a big one that is green; it is usually just grass when there's a picnic but it has been a cape or a tent as well.

We have a bunch of little ones that are all kinds of things. Some other posters covered some of those possibilities. If there's anything that surprises me about having little ones (mine are 5m, 3, and 5) it is the HUGE number of original ideas that they come up with, things I never would have brainstormed in a million years. (Doll underwear? Teddy-bear sling? Superhero web-target?)

I do have a boy and he does love the playsilks. He uses them differently from how my daughter does, but this may be his age rather than his male-ness (he is 2 years younger). My daughter tends to arrange intricate scenes (making picnics, building a booth and pretending she is a vendor at the farmers' market, travelling saleswoman, etc) but he tends to do things that require less arranging, using them as hats, scarves, capes, simple tents, things like that, although he will play along with the more intricate games my DD devises.

 

[TortelliniMama]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lizabird As I'm reading through your comments, it looks like everyone's DC is a girl... are there any boys out there that have fun with playsilks/scarves?

My ds enjoys his playsilks. He likes to play peekaboo with them, and he *loves* to dance around with them. He likes to toss them up in the air and have me toss them up or at him. He also likes for me to tie them on his (either as headscarves or just around his arm/leg as decoration). The other day, he decided he wanted to pretend it was cold and snowing in the living room, so he wanted help to put his jacket on and to tie a playsilk around his head. He's just 21 months and not doing a huge amount of representational pretend play, so those are the main things he does with them. I don't think he would play with them as much as he does if I hadn't modeled using them first, but I wouldn't expect that to be different if he were a girl. (It's really a lot of fun to dance wildly around the house with them. Sometimes I end up continuing even after he's lost interest! :LOL )

 

[rainbowmoon]

my ds loves his playsilks. some are just silk scarves and some are actual dyed silks. his current favorite is a rainbow one. he loves to make piles with them and move them back and forth. also throws them around and a game where he acts like he is a bull and will run into it..we have also made forts for him with the kitchen chairs and he loves peek a boo (since about 6mo) he always takes them out and if I put them in their bin he is sure to take them out within minutes :LOL