Megaphone

I found such joy in making and playing with these megaphones. They are so simple to make, you just need to roll a big cardboard or paper in a cone and cut off the end so they are flat. Little bit of glue to hold it all together and a peace of string for easier carrying. Done before you know it! My only recommendation is: make them big!

I was amazed and surprised at all the ways kids play with these. They apparently can be hats you hide under, bazookas, clubs, traffic cones you run around... If you find some more applications, let me know.

And remember - being loud can be important - especially for those kids who are quiet by nature. Exclaiming to the world you are here is a joy. Support this in your kids, and share this joy with them. We all enjoy our peace and quiet, but there needs to be a place and time for LOUD and VISIBLE! Cheers!

Be creative. Send me photos of your creations, I will publish them here. You can also share your creations with us on our facebook page www.facebook.com/mogu.toys

DIY mogu sleeves

For all you DIY lovers - here is how to make your own pair of MOGU sleeves! If you don't yet know what these are, check out the story at indiegogo. If you are a fan of free, outdoor physical play - you will love these.

Material choice 

    I have tried quite a few different materials, and suggest following:
 - Go with lite materials, because 1. they fly better, 2. kids will get hot wearing them. Yet, not too lite, since they will need to indure a lot! But when choosing where the line between the two is, rather choose lite than durable - trust me on this one.
 - Find something that feels good to touch. All sensory experiences contribute to the play experience.
 - Choose bright colors. Visual experience plays an important role. If you have several kids playing with sleeves in different colors, it's festive.

    We are using a muslin blend. Not all natural, but soft on the skin. Cotton is a bit too soft - falls more that it flies. Linen a bit too heavy. Satin too sensitive even when it's heavy. Silk is too expensive. Tulle gives an interesting result - but has a synthetic feel. I am hoping to go with some silk-cotton blend in the future if we can afford it.

    Once you have chosen a material, the rest is simple! :D

    Naturally I encourage reuse of materials. Turning an old dress you don't ware any more into a pair of sleeves perhaps? We couldn't do this for serial production, but I can't wait to see your creations!

Size and cut

 

    Cut is very simple. It is a plain rectangle - longer side will be the length of the sleeves, and the shorter side is double of how wide they will be. Recomendation: size 63 x 18 in (160 x 46 cm) fits most kids from 4 to 6 years old - and for parents 80 x 18 in (200 x 46 cm) is ok.

  

    All straight lines, so you might not even need to cut it - depending on your choice of material, you can just tear it to peaces! And I recommend tearing because it's a lot of fun :)

    Once you have this rectangle - you make a cut down the middle of each side - about 16in (40cm). This will form two ribbons at each end - that you will use to tie the sleeves together when they are worn. Do the same thing at both ends, so it doesn't matter how you turn them when you put them on. And the side that is left free to fly, also flies more nicely when it's split like this.

Now for one important detail! When you sew the two longer sides together to form a tube - that is the sleeve - leave about 20in (50cm) free at both ends. Or, about 4in (10cm) - longer than how long you made the first cut (mark A on the scheme). Why is this important? The side where the suture is will be down and go under the armpit. The other side, where we made the first cut, will go on the shoulder. This way the sleeves will rest on the shoulders. If you make both cuts - upper, and lower - the same length, sleeves will fall of the shoulders. Hope I explained this clearly. It is simple, but easy to miss.

Once you connected the longer sides together - sleeves are formed - and all you need to do is hem all the edges. If you use tulle, or another material that doesn't need hems, you are done!

However! If you do need to hem the edges - you will run into a tricky spot, at the end of the first (shorter) cut. We solved this by sewing over this corner on the back side. See picture below. You get a very nice and tidy end this way.

Now that the sleeves are done, you can get some fabric colors and decorate them together with your kids. Or add some ribbons at the ends. Ribbons can be good at both ends, for both tying and flying! Our first prototypes had ribbons - you can see them on MOGU toys facebook page. Be creative, explore, and send us images your creations. I will share them on the blog. I would also love to hear your opinion on the MOGU sleeves, as an idea, once you give them a try.

If you like the idea of MOGU sleeves, or if you would rather buy a pair than make one, visit us at indiegogo. Campaign is running for only 18 days more, and if you get on board now, you can get your MOGU sleeves by Christmas.

Happy sewing! And happy playing! Get back to us when you give them a try - your feedback is priceless!

Thank you!

MOGU sleeves

     Hello, I know I have been away for a while, but I have been cooking up something nice! I have always wanted to start a production of toys I design, and here is the first step. I have created MOGU toys - a name behind which my creations can come to life. (Mogu means - "I can" in Serbian), and with a hand picked team, we launched a campaign on INDIEGOGO to raise funds and start the production of the first toy - MOGU sleeves.

    MOGU sleeves are a simple plaything that empowers free and open play. They inspire movement and awaken imagination. Perfect for outdoor play and group activities. Made of soft, lite and colorful materials, they are both visual and tactile incentives. Above all, they are just loads of fun to wave about!

    Inspired by a form of traditional Chinese dance with long sleeves, and by my own dancing experience in the practice of 5Rhythms, through which I am finding the joy of connecting deeper with my true nature - which is - as for all of us - always in movement - with wings wide opened.

    Are you curious? What does it feel like to take these wings for a spin? See more about the project on indiegogo and share whit us what you think. And if you like what you see, help support the project by donating or spreading the word. Thank you!

  

Business card people

Stack of old business cards quickly becomes an army! 

Yellow versus white - go!

 

Star of Patience

Usually when I make something for the blog, I need to make it again to photograph the creation process (the first time around it is impossible because I don't know what I am doing :). But not for this one! Because it takes quite a bit of patience to complete it (hence the title). So once is quite enough for me, thank you. 

All you need is some scrap materials to cut the triangles from, and to fill the star in the end.

Choose your favorite geometrical shape, in this case the base is a icosahedron, with a spike added to each face. If you want to reduce the amount of patience needed, go for the tetrahedron perhaps! Then you see how many triangles you need (60 in my case), and cut them out. For reference, I made them with 5 cm base and 7 cm high. Then you saw together pieces to form the spikes, and this is the easy part, because you can do it on the sewing machine. Once you have the spikes, the fun starts :D because you need to hand-stitch them together, and it takes a while... After you fill it and close it, you might want to additionally  straighten the points where 5 spikes meet. 

Good luck if you try this, hope you have better supplies of patience than me ;)