Child’s Play

A child’s desire to play is universal. Toys help fill insatiable needs for motion, sound and fantasy.

Designer toys stimulate imagination by re-creating the Real Thing--remote-control cars come complete with raised-letter tires, spoilers and shocks. Handmade toys usually lack such details.

But a child is resourceful. So, a wire steering wheel on a bamboo pole enables Moroccan boys to proudly “drive” their painted trucks, leaving tracks in the dusty streets of Tangiers.

In Nicaragua, there’s the tlaka-tlaka, a toy of tethered wood or plastic balls.

Homitono Rivera and Carlos Mendez turn ball bearings, scrap lumber and whittled branches into a noisy skateboard--affirming that the best toys grow from a child’s ingenuity and passion for play.