Article Written By: Gecko
Before I discovered the diversity of the fair trade product range, my perception was that it consisted of simple food products and wooden carved animals. Nuts, tea, bananas and sugar or carvings of dolphins not have any relevance to finding unique gift ideas for me or my children.When I did stumble across fair trade and its array of hand crafted products, I realised the range offered something much more. I found giftware that is not mass produced nor made from plastic. Instead, I have found some good quality, finely handcrafted and brightly painted fair trade gifts for children and adults alike.As a result, I would like to share my top 5 fair trade gift ideas for children with you since like me, you may be searching for a children s gift that is perhaps handmade and a little different from the normal.1. Jigsaw Puzzles: My first idea is the gorgeous range of chunky colourful jigsaw puzzles made in Sri Lanka from rubber wood. The designs include brightly painted jigsaws in shapes of crocodiles, dragons, elephants, parrots, dinosaurs and caterpillars. Each piece either has the alphabet or numbers bringing in a fun element for children to fit the pieces together while learning about letter or number sequences.2. Animal Pencils: My second idea is taken from the lovely selection of fair trade pencils each of which have a small carved animals attached to the end. Every kind of animal can be found in the range. For example there are dogs, cats, frogs and cows to tigers, monkeys and elephants. I feel that because of their novelty factor, these could be a good gift for encouraging children to practice their writing.3. Animal Magnets: These come in various shape and sizes including fish, lions, cats, dogs, leopards, giraffes, turtles. Not only do these have an educational factor in animal recognition but they are so beautifully handcrafted that they look superb in a bedroom attached to a bookshelf or a desk.4. Animal Money Box: A good practical gift idea for children encouraging them to save their pennies, the handmade wooden animal money boxes are available in designs such as giraffes, cows and zebras. Again, they are hand carved and painted in wood and look super on a bookshelf of desk.5. Musical Instruments: This gift idea has an educational aspect to it with instruments such as frog drums. This is a miniature drum with a stick attached with a nylon thread. When you pull the thread taut and twist the stick rapidly, the drum will emit the same noise as a frog calling. Similarly, there is a percussion instrument that is a frog shape carved from solid wood. When you run the stick up and down its backbone, the 'gribbit, gribbit sound of a frog can be heard.As I have illustrated, the fair trade gift range for children is quite diverse and each idea I have given has a reason for my mention. Both my children have one of the above that I have purchased over time because I would like them to appreciate products that are handmade without the plastic packaging that so many children s toys or gifts seem to be wrapped up in.
This Article Has Been Published on Thu, 15 Sep 2011 and Read 209 Times