www.thetoymaker.com/2Toys.html

 A familiar scene during the holidays is watching the younger kids getting as much fun out of the box as they do with the present. Older kids are exempt as they're jaded by peer pressure and advertising. And they go out of their way to annoy anybody older than 30. If you've got a color printer and a little time, here are a bunch of simple paper toys you can print out, tape together and delight your youngsters. Pinwheels, popup cards, and even a theater can be found.

 

 

Bernie Rhinerson

 

July 26, 2004

EDUCATION

 

The Toymaker

http://www.thetoymaker.com

 Costa Mesa parent Marilyn Scott-Waters offers a free collection of toys children can print out and make for themselves, such as a pinwheel or a bug box. "It is my wish to amuse and delight," she says on her site.

 

 

ARTELLA MAGAZINE

 

 TheToymaker.com is Marilyn Scott-Waters' world of paper toys and other delights. She provides free patterns for making all kinds of wonderful things. A real online gem.

 

 

 

Web watch

 

By KEVIN SAYLOR

December 17, 2004   

 

Paper party: Make toys the old way

 What's on the site: Create toys from paper

 Bottom line: Who needs Santa's workshop, anyway?

www.thetoymaker.com

 

 

Parents love to tell you how much harder their childhood was than yours. Surely you've heard the cliched walk-to-school story. Apparently, adults used to walk 50 miles to school, barefoot, through fields of nails and broken glass, uphill in both directions, while bloodthirsty wolves nipped at their heels. And your parents didn't have toys. They played with clumps of dirt and rusty doorknobs. It was a hard-knock life indeed.

 

Fortunately for your parents and thanks to the Internet, they can finally toss out those old toys and construct colorful new homemade gewgaws. At Thetoymaker.com, children and parents alike have access to free folding-paper toys of all sorts. Make paper playthings, holiday cards, valentines, sun boxes, baskets, bags, origami, ephemera and more. All you have to do is pick your favorites, print them out, and battle to fold the patterns correctly.

 

Toys and paper products range from the easy to the difficult. There are butterfly baskets, pop-up unicorn boxes and old-fashioned pinwheels. You'll also find an Advent calendar, a candy cane bag and an elf ball, perfect for the holidays. Kids from 1 to 99 will delight in awe and wonder at these vivid toys.

 

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Buell museum's exhibit provides 'dreamy' fun

 The Geometry Toy Factory - a happy world of paper toys by artist Marilyn Scott-Waters  - is the primary treat as the Buell Children's Museum opens a new exhibit, "Dreams You Can Count On."  There's plenty more to amuse, entertain and teach, but it's the skills and fun that  Scott-Waters' paper cutout toys convey that make the new museum exhibits  extra-worthwhile. Youngsters will have the chance to cut out and fold the simple designs, glue them together and make toys.

 

 

Marilyn Scott-Waters

 

Buell museum's exhibit

provides 'dreamy' fun

 

By MARVIN READ

THE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN

 

The Geometry Toy Factory - a happy world of paper toys by artist Marilyn Scott-Waters - is the primary treat as the Buell Children's Museum opens a new exhibit, "Dreams You Can Count On."

 

There's plenty more to amuse, entertain and teach, but it's the skills and fun that Scott-Waters' paper cutout toys convey that make the new museum exhibits extra-worthwhile. Youngsters will have the chance to cut out and fold the simple designs, glue them together and make toys: simple, attractive and downright creative.

Marble Mice

 

At the heart of the Scott-Waters toymaking activity are patterns from her book, "The Toymaker," that allow kids to make boxes, spinners, a little mouse that rolls around on a marble, a tooth-fairy gazebo, a tiny bus, a box to hold bugs or pebbles, a bear wagon, a puppet theater and much more.

 

"My goal is to help parents and kids spend time together making things. For the Dreams You Can Count On exhibit, I created paper toys for kids to color and make. The museum will also show samples of paper toys that I have made for my Web site ( www.thetoymaker.com ) and book," Scott-Waters said.

 

"About five years ago I started working at home and making little peep boxes, paper pop-up cards and toys in my spare time. Then I would literally stuff them in a bag in the closet where they weren't doing anyone any good. So, last year, when my husband asked me what I would like for an anniversary present, I asked for Web hosting so I could build a site to allow people to download the paper toys." The overall museum exhibit is held in coordination with the Crayola Dream Makers program, based on lesson plans from the national visual-art standards and the principles and standards for school math from the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.

A Dream Theater

 

Donna Stinchcomb is curator of the museum, which will host the current exhibit through May 28, and which features programs that make the facility an excellent site for school tours.

 

Admission to all the Sangre de Cristo Arts and Conference Center, including the children's museum and the Helen White Galleries - with their documentary photography, Rembrandt prints and a variety of paintings and other media by local artists - is $4 for adults and $3 for children. Schools may schedule age-appropriate tours for $2 per student, with additional opportunities available for artist-in-residence workshops in theater, visual arts and creative movement for an additional charge. Students in districts 60 and 70 are prepaid.

 

Call 583-6217 for more information on booking a tour, lunch arrangements at the Kid Rock Cafe, lesson plans and state standards.

 

Museum hours are 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. For more information, call 295-7200.