Stuffed animals and blankets are often attachment toys for children, providing comfort when needed. These items are also important for some autistic and neurodivergent individuals, helping them form strong bonds and offering relaxation and unwinding. For children attending forest kindergartens or living in remote woodland communities, attachment toys often include natural objects like sticks, tree branches, willow rods, plant roots, and chestnut seeds. These "toys" promote a truly recycling economy and offer the best understanding of life and death in nature, teaching children to care for their environment and belongings. They also represent the archetype of toys and serve as mediums of art — the first drawings were made with a stick on sand.
In the artistic research project Attachment Toys, we aim to showcase a spectrum of such "nature toys" and draw parallels with the rapidly growing world of fast-consuming toys. The latter tend to serve only one function and fail to offer a complex way to discover reality and create intricate structures/objects for expression of ideas. In contrast, sustainable, nature-found toys provide a flexible, time-based medium for infinite exploration and creativity.
This is a long-term project in collaboration with several forest kindergartens across Europe.
