Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank has informed that indigenous toy-making will be introduced as a theme in Kala Utsav to encourage students to explore and develop a variety of local toys. Dr. Nishank also called for initiating puppet show in Kala Utsav for secondary and higher secondary students.
 


LEARNING FROM HOME/WITHOUT CLASSES/ BASICS

In India there is a living tradition of indigenous popular toys produced by craftsmen and artisans- have two broad categories: one are the static, figurine-type, craft toys include dolls and figurines of gods and goddesses, men, animals, birds and themes related to our day-to-day environment, made in clay, wood, metal, leaves, bamboo, paper etc, using established craft techniques

and the other is dynamic, moving and sound-making mela toys; reveal in their structure a dose relationship with the basic principles of science and technology ;find the application of: the basic laws of gravity and equilibrium, levers and inclined planes, the concept of centrifugal forces, energy transformation, the concept of sound, optical illusion.

        These toys reflect  the local cultural ethos and  are created in a regional context. Moving puppets depict a warrior in Rajasthan while a similar paper puppet is made to depict a dancing ghost in Bengal

Ettikoppaka,   a village in Andhra Pradesh ,is famous for its age-old tradition of sparkling colorful wooden toys and objects. toys are made of soft and fine grain ‘Ankudu woods’. The toys are given shape with the help of turnwood machine. Zero emery paper is used to smooth the surface of the wood. Then colored lac is applied on the wood, which spreads uniformly due to the heat. After applying colored lac, the wood is polished with keora leaf, which contains silicate and fatty acids. Stones are used to blend the colors. The black color is obtained from haritaki fruit. The yellow is rendered by wild turmeric, red from zafran while green is made by mixing indigo and wild turmeric. Ettikoppka has GI (Geographical Identification) tag registration since from 2004.

Channapatna city is famous as “Gombegala ooru” (toys town) in Karnataka. the name itself suggests what it is famous for- wooden toys. toys are made of a specific type of wood called “Aale mara” (Ivory- wood).

Raghurajpur heritage craft village is in Odisha, 14 km away from Hindu pilgrimage town of Puri. Raghurajpur renowned to produce different varieties of handicrafts. This is the only village in India, where each family is engaged in one craft or the other such as patta paintings, palm leaf engravings, papermache toys and masks, wood carvings, wooden toys, cow dung toys and so on. Raghurajpur a place where arts and crafts have reached its stage of excellence.