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Making Baby Gifts Out of Wood
My cousin appears to be aiming for recognition as “the world’s most generous uncle.” He has already purchased all sorts of baby clothes for the niece that he is expecting in April. Now I have learned that he is also making a special baby gift.
My cousin discovered in Middle School that he loves to work with his hands. During his sixth grade year, his favorite elective was woodshop. My aunt loved the name of his woodshop teacher—Mr. Woodman. She also loved the fact that his grades improved during the quarter that he had woodshop.
My cousin felt that a baby gift that he had made out of wood might qualify as a personalized baby gift. Still he wasn’t sure what to make until he talked with my aunt. My aunt had an idea for a gift, but what she had in mind could not be found in any store. So if my aunt could get her older son to make what she wanted, then she would just need to buy baby gift-making items.
My aunt had gotten the idea for her imagined gift by playing a baby game. My aunt has told me that when her sons were between 9 and 12 months of age, then she occasionally asked them to stand, resting their hands on the seat of a kitchen chair. As they looked at the chair back, my aunt would slide her one hand down the side of that chair back. As her hand got to the bottom, then she would tap her fingers on the chair.
My aunt wanted my cousin to design a chair-shaped object out of wood. She then planned to drape two different cloth panels over the back of that “chair.” Her idea called for one cloth made of flannel and one cloth made of Velcro. My aunt planned to cut-out from both Velcro and from flannel a group of letter and number shapes.
My aunt has told me that she has examined many baby catalogues. She claims that not one of the baby gifts that she has seen comes close to anything like what she and my cousin plan to make. Unfortunately, it is now too late to give this personalized baby gift as a baby shower gift.
Of course, since this gift would be for a 9 to 12 month-old baby, there is still time to perfect this very special gift. When finished this item should help a young baby to learn about the two different types of adhesion. The baby would discover that some items stick to the flannel, and other items stick to the Velcro. This game would require the baby to do some sorting, grouping together the things that stick to the flannel and the things that stick to the Velcro.
My cousin told me that he had searched the online baby gifts, checking to see if he could find an item that resembled the learning tool that could he and his mother hoped to create. He insists that there is nothing like it on the market.
The more baby stores that I go into, the more I believe my cousin’s claims. I can find no store with a baby toy that allows a baby to discover that not all things stick together in the same way. I am eager to see my cousin’s finished product, and I am especially eager to help his brother’s daughter to play with the flannel and Velcro letters and numbers.
Let’s see, I guess the right time for that game would fall between early January and late March of 2007. During that period, I will have to schedule classes that could allow me plenty of time for playing with the wooden toy my cousin is making.
written by Sue Cher