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Ostheimer Wooden Toys
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A History of Ostheimer Wooden Toys
Walter and Adeline Ostheimer began the forerunner
to today’s Ostheimer Wooden Toys company in 1939. As today,
their toys were based on the theories of Waldorf Pedagogy and
Anthropsophic ideas. With the advent of cheap plastic toys, the small
company was quickly put out of business in 1948. In 1957 the
Ostheimer’s were urged to reopen their workshop. Since that time,
the company has grown in popularity and is now known internationally
for its superb quality and artistry.
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The Craftsmanship of Ostheimer Wooden Toys
Each Ostheimer Wooden Toy is handcrafted in
Germany. As each craftsperson adds his or her own personal touch to the
figures they create, each one becomes an original. Each piece is sawed
and carefully sanded to achieve Ostheimer’s typical soft-edged
form. The pieces are painted using nontoxic transparent, water soluble
wood stains. These colors allow the natural surface of the wood to
remain visible. Color is applied with up to six consecutive
coats, each one done by hand. The colors are treated with walnut oil or
shellac to give them the greatest possible durability.
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Ostheimer Wooden Toys and Imaginative Play
Your child’s imagination will breath life
into their Ostheimer figures, in a way that only he or she can.
Each figure is designed to capture the typical form and movement of the
animal, person or object. Their form and color are purposely kept to a
minimum so that your child’s fantasy world is preserved and so
that their own creative imagination inspires their play. It is
important that children’s toys possess an open-ended quality.
When children have toys modeled after a television or movie character,
their play is imitative, not imaginative.
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A Word from Margarete Ostheimer
“Play is at the very core of a child’s
life. It is the way children learn about the environment, the people in
their lives and most of all about themselves. Toys are the tools
of creative play and with the right toys, a child can have not only an
entertaining, but an enriching experience.
“Ostheimer Toys, with its history steeped in
the progressive Waldorf school movement, is a company that has always
believed in creating toys that are true to the nature and soul of
childhood. If play, indeed, guides a child’s life into
adulthood, then the toys should be designed with integrity and
meaningfulness.”
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Copyright 2004-2009 by Dandelion Summers
No part of this website may be reproduced, in whole or in part, in any
form without written consent from
Dandelion Summers
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