Play silks?

[Tabrett]

I keep looking at these and like the idea. What makes them so special compared to a blanket or towel to play with?

 

Is a 7 year old too old for play silks? All the magazines show preschoolers playing with the silks and not elementary aged dc.

 

What age do kids stop playing with them?

 

Is there a particular brand that is better than another? What size is best?

[Karen in CO]

My girls have these and would love more. We've had ours for about 6 years and a few are starting to be tattered. I think theirs are 30x30 inches.

They are lighter than towels or blankets and can be tied to things. They are soft and floatie. They feel wonderful next to skin.

 

I'm not sure when kids stop wearing them. My dd10 wore one to her ps enrichment school tied as a sash for dress-like-a-pirate day.

[yellowperch]

I resisted buying these for a while, mainly because I thought old scarves and squares of fabric would work just as well. But they don't.

 

The silks are lovely, beautiful, inviting. They are for young hands to manipulate--tie, drape, etc. The colors and the fact that they go together aestheticly (spelling?) (unlike my old mismatched scarves) appeal to children.

 

My daughter is six and she uses them the most, but my 8 and 10 yo dss have been known to dress as romans in them or use rubber bands and bean bags to turn them into torpedos. DS4 and DD6 will spend lots of time wrapping beanie babies and dolls in them, and spreading them out as magic squares and designating them as their respective islands. A blue one is a lake for the dollhouse people to swim in. A green one is a tea party table cloth. And so on.

 

They were a gift from a grandmother who lets me do the shopping. I bought them from a Toy Garden and I jsut got their standard set of 12 standard sized scarves.

[RainbowSprinkles]

I'm planning on getting some soon! I think I will go for the 35X35 size ones.

[Annie]

You can do them much cheaper if you buy plain silks and dye them yourself. It might be a fun activity.

 

Here are directions for dying them with kool-aid:

 

http://www.make-baby-stuff.com/play-silks.html

[Guest Cindie2dds]

We have really enjoyed ours. We bought Sarah's silks from http://www.bellalunatoys.com two years ago. My youngest has one wrapped around her in my avatar.

[helena]

My 11 and 9 yo daughters still play with them. The games change, but fabric stays! :D

We actually have hand me down pieces from saris and retired costumes (auntie does Indian dance). We also buy a yard or two here and there from the fabric store.

Light and flowy (silk) is easy to work with (tie, drape, run with, hang, etc), and it feels wonderful.

Now that mine are a little older, they like to turn them into costumes. I now buy them velvets, lengths of lace, tulle, and all the other wonderful fabrics. It's also really helped them learn the different names of fabric, and their nature. I encourage you to buy the better quality fabrics. It doesn't take long for them to know the difference in quality (and natural vs synthetic).

 

Blankets and towels have a cozy magic, they're just different..

Silks in particular have a movement to them which are calming and imagination inducing.

Edited December 20, 2010 by helena

[Bird Girl]

You can buy blank silks (white colored) from http://www.dharmatrading.com/html/eng/1741-AA.shtml?lnav=scarves_silk.html

 

These ones are sturdier than the Sarah's Silk brand ones, and much less expensive. You can dye them with food color and vinegar, or kool-aid type drink mix. There are many instructions online.

 

They are my 8 year old's favorite things.

[SonshineLearner]

Sarah's Silks are nice :) Just don't get the ones that are like cheesecloth. My girls tied them, but you can use other clip type things to hold them together.

:)

[Punchie]

They're popular in our house. What they're used for runs the gamut from ghosts to princess hats to dresses... We have Sarah's Silks, and they are a bit no the thin side. I can tell where the fabric is kind of warped from being stretched and pulled. I bought some through a co-op from Dharma Trading Company (still in the pkg so I can't attest to quality). I am going to dye them in sev days w/DD4.

[Mabeline]

I am think of buying some for my niece. How many should I buy? thanks!

[Paige]

I just dyed some for gifts with a friend of mine last week. They were extremely easy to do and we had so much fun! I wish we had more scarves to dye. We used kool-aid and I also bought some black dye from dharmatrading to make one for my son. The kool aid was good for pinks, blues, greens, and orange but I'd buy real dye for the purple one next time or maybe try food coloring and vinegar. The purple kool aid turned like an eggplant purple first and then when I washed it, it changed again to more of a midnight blue. My kids are 9, 6, 6, and 3, and they all love them! Even my 9yr old son finds many uses for them! I made them for my niece and she'll be getting 4 big ones and 4 little ones.

[In The Great White North]

The 30 x 30 ones are great for dress up but the dc really liked the 3 yd long one I dyed them. You can buy the silk by the yard from Dharma. We used indigo, which smells, but is lots of fun because it is green in the pot and turns blue in the air. They used them for tents/forts for years. Silk is better for building than blankets because it isn't so heavy. I have lots of memories of having piles of encyclopedias holding up a blanket on a table come tumbling down on me because the blanket was so heavy. Silk doesn't have than problem.

 

My dc didn't like the cheesecloth either.

[JennyD]

I bought several of the 35x35 silks a couple of years ago and we dyed them with food dye (and just for the record, I am SO not an artsy/craftsy person so if I could do it, you know it was ridiculously easy). They are in constant use, although my oldest is only 5.5. I am actually going to get a few more because I think that these are just getting too grubby and they don't wash well with the food dye.

[Halcyon]

Is the best place to get these dharma trading? I found some on etsy that i thought were beautiful. About 8 dollars each.

[abbeyej]

We had a set of 6 45x45" solids and a couple of rainbow-dyed ones. My children used them for EVERYTHING for years. And yes, the float and texture of real *silks* makes them different from anything else you could possibly use.

 

A Toy Garden has relatively inexpensive silks. Sarah's Silks are a lighter weight silk and tend not to last as long as some of the ones from Dharma Trading that you dye yourself or get from WAHM sources.

 

The 45" ones were great, but if I had another set of small people, I'd get some other sizes as well...

[Punchie]

For the ladies who dyed using food coloring - is it the same principle as the kool-aid? Dye + vinegar + hot water?

 

We have only 36x36 at the moment. The ones I bought to dye range from 12x12 up to 45x72. I've seen some lovely wahm ones on hyena cart in the past if you don't want to dye them yourself.

[sleepymommy]

We've had several for a couple of years now and I'll admit, at first my boys weren't to into them, but now, especially lately they've really been playing with them a lot.

 

They get turned into capes, teddy bear blankets, decoration, etc. I also use them on our nature/seasonal table.

 

I bought colored ones for a great price at Thai Silks.

http://www.thaisilks.com/

 

And some absolutely GORGEOUS tye dye ones from The Color Farm.

http://www.thecolorfarm.com/

[sleepymommy]

I am think of buying some for my niece. How many should I buy? thanks!

 

We have about 8 of them in various sizes.

[In the Rain]

My girls are 9 and 6 and still play with them regularly. FWIW, we don't have real silk. Ours are a silky weight synthetic, which was what I could afford 8 years ago when I made them.

[Mabeline]

We have about 8 of them in various sizes.

 

Oooh, thanks. I was gonna buy all the same size, but now that you mention it, different sizes would be more fun. Thanks!:001_smile: