When Lydia was two, we bought her an Easter present that turned out to be the perfect gift: a set of colourful play scarves.
Play silks are a popular item in Waldorf education, so I became interested in them when I was exploring the philosophy of education, which I find very appealing.
I looked into getting real silks, like the authors all recommended, but couldn’t bring myself to spend the money. (Real silks will run you up to $15 a piece. For a single square of fabric.) I’m all for natural materials, but in this case, I didn’t know if they’d get that much use, and I wasn’t sure they were any more durable or enjoyable than a synthetic fabric.
When I found this set of silky polyester play scarves on Amazon for $30, I decided to give them a try. (This was two years ago).
What a wonderful purchase they turned out to be! They’re beautiful, durable, versatile, and have a wonderful silky feel. They’re suitable for boys or girls.
Here are three reasons play scarves are the idea Easter gift:
A set of scarves makes an entire Easter hunt.
The set I purchased contains six brightly-coloured scarves. Boom. Hide them all separately, there’s your Easter hunt. No need to buy anymore junky treats or presents.
The bright colours seem just perfect for spring.
(We had crappy weather that year, as we do most years, and had to do our Easter hunt indoors.)
They will get lots of play for many years to come.
Lydia still uses her play scarves almost every day, two years later. They act as capes and skirts for herself; blankets for her dolls; and sometimes backdrops for her toys (the blue scarf becomes a lake; the green scarf becomes a meadow.) They can become the roof of a tent or fort. In warm weather you can take them outside and throw them in the air to watch them float and dance to the ground. They are the most versatile toy I’ve ever purchased.
They fuel the imagination.
So many toys available around Easter have such limited functions (e.g. plush bunnies and chicks) or fuel the gimmies (crappy registered character toys, candy-wrapped collectible figurines, etc). As I explained above, scarves have endless possibilities for play.
So after two years of love and use, and with many more to come, I highly recommend a set of play scarves as an Easter gift (or anytime gift, really. They just seem so perfect for spring).
P.S. These would totally be suitable for a preschooler as well. They just might be a slightly harder sell, since by this time they’ve seen Kinder Eggs and Elsa Barbies and whatnot, and may have certain expectations for Easter presents.
P.P.S. This year, at age four, I’m getting my daughter a good umbrella and a colouring book.
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I have made several sets for my kids and for gifts. They are our go to first birthday gift. I get the silk scarfs blank and hemmed from Dharma Trading co ($3 ish for the 24″ ones I think) and dye them with Kool-aid (simmer on stove until the color is absorbed). I did some tie dye with bigger ones too that made great big capes for preschoolers.
Ooh, this sounds lovely. I wonder if there’s a source like that in Canada?
I always look for silk scarves at thrift stores for this! Often they have a print but the girls don’t mind that for their imaginative play. I’ve also found some beautiful saris or skirts that I’ve repurposed that way😍. Great Easter gift idea!
Yay! Love this idea. I made our 1 year old foam letters for the shower that spell out her name and ” you are loved” for Easter this Year. I made them for some friends kiddos too with “John 19:30” as well, references when Jesus says “it is finished.” Happy Easter, dear ones.
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Great idea! Felix’s occupational therapist highly recommends foam letters for the bathtub. :)
I love play scarves. My son is 8 year old now and we still sometimes take them out when we do some night-time dancing in the front room. Apparently, they’re also great for practicing Ninja moves! :-)
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Interesting. My daughter’s godmother gave her one for Easter last year (she was three), and she never plays with it. It eventually made its way to the dress up bin and got left there. It’s a very pretty pink and purple scarf but aside from twirling with it a few times when she first got it, she doesn’t play with it. She much prefers to build with blocks or use blankets for pretend play.
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