Often the question arises for parents and teachers: should boys play dolls? Is this activity a deviation in sexual development? What games should children play?
Doll Games for Boys
In fact, it is important not what toys the children play in, but the semantic orientation of the classes. After all, if boys play dolls, but use them in plot-role games as warriors, workers, testers, astronauts, athletes, then talking about any violation in the psychological development is ridiculous.
Children, inclined to writing, enjoy playing personally invented stories in which both adults and children appear. Therefore, they definitely need dolls-boys, girls, aunts and uncles, grandparents, and possibly even fairies and evil sorcerers.
Future men position themselves in games of themselves and as doctors, teachers, police officers. And this is not a complete list! By the way, it’s quite normal when the boy plays “in the family”, posing as the head of the family. Such games help in the future to create the right relationship between spouses, children and parents.
Doll Games for Girls
Most girls prefer games where they play the role of mothers. And since families have not only daughters, but also sons, dolls boys are sometimes necessary. Otherwise, the game life is different from the real one.
They also love story-based role-playing games, where they have to play the role of hairdressers, educators, doctors.
But most of all, girls adore dressing up their dolls. They can change their outfits for their daughters a hundred times, comb and style their hair, wear necklaces and bracelets. And if earlier mainly dolls were female, today Keny, Dima, Vanechka, Deniski also appeared on sale. Toys doll boys imitate children of different ages, from infants to adolescents. You can even find representatives of different races. Also sold in toy stores and clothing for boy dolls.
What if it is the future Carden, Yudashkin or Coco Chanel?
Games with dolls develop the talent of fashion designers in children. Coming up with different styles, many try to realize their plan, cutting from the shreds of fabric the most unthinkable models of dresses for their dolls.
For a long time in the Soviet Union, the theme of men's fashion did not exist at all. Mainly discussed issues of fashion trends in women's clothing. Today, this stereotype is broken. The situation has changed dramatically. And even children try to dress up their doll boys beautifully and fashionably. Who knows, perhaps already now, in childhood, the talent of a fashion designer wakes up in them? And playing with dolls is the first step to fame?
Paper doll
What to hide, now not everyone has the opportunity to buy high-quality toys, beautiful fabrics. And not everyone knows how to use a needle and scissors. What to do if, in spite of everything, I really want to create models of clothes?
Well, there is a way out! A paper doll boy is an opportunity to realize the talent of a male fashion designer. The drawn image of the baby and cut out in silhouette will completely replace the real voluminous doll. But outfits you can invent the most diverse! It’s enough to have a little pencil and scissors.
Clothes for a paper boy doll
For those who like to dress up dolls in all kinds of exquisite dresses, manuals for making dolls and costumes are offered. Or you can buy special sets.
They already have a paper doll-boy with clothes. To the proposed outfits, you can later add hand-made models.
Today you can find silhouettes of not only dolls, but also costumes. Children are encouraged to color them on their own.
You can even make an applique, combine the outfit using velvet paper, foil, silk fabric. Those whose imagination does not fit into the usual framework can even stick pieces of fur, sequins, rhinestones on paper outfits, weave colored belts for their dolls.
The most important thing is not to forget to make rectangular protrusions of paper on the shoulders of the clothes, which will bend back and hold it on the “body”. For fastening hats, a slit is made in them in the middle, into which the crown of the doll is inserted.
Workshop on making a boy doll from paper
If it is not possible to print a template found on the Internet, you can draw it yourself. This workshop will show you step by step how to make a doll-boy. Even those who do not have the talents of an artist can do this.
- First, two arcs are drawn on a sheet of paper - these will be the upper eyelids.
- The lower eyelids also have the form of arcs, but less curved.
- Now you should draw an iris, pupils and cilia - it is very simple!
- The nose can be made in the form of an oval without a small segment at the bottom.
- It’s not difficult to portray a smiling mouth.
- The arc below - the lower part of the face - is half the oval. On the sides, two more small arcs will become ears.
- You can do any hairstyle for the boy. Below the chin, we outline the neck.
- We make the shoulders straight. Draw a little lower two vertical lines - the sides of the child. The baby’s body can be a little narrower than the head. This departs from reality, but gives the doll a loveliness.
- The baby's arms can be opened wide, as if for a hug. So it will be easier to do outfits for him.
- Draw panties and upper legs.
- We draw shoes for the boy.
- Now it remains only to paint the figure in those colors that the artist likes best.
Double-sided cardboard doll
Being able to draw paper flat one-sided figures and make outfits for them, you can move on to more complex ones. Let our figurine not just lie on the table, but stand. And she has not only the front part - from the back you can also admire how the suit sits on the figure.
How to make our doll-boy stand on the table? The kid’s pattern is already drawn by us. Rather, its front end. We need to make another asymmetric pattern and color the dorsal part accordingly. That is, instead of a face, you need to draw hair.
Now both halves are glued together, and the legs themselves are inserted into the supports - two cardboard strips (one for each leg) with cuts in the middle. Each strip is, as it were, put on a boot, setting perpendicular to the figure itself. In this way, the stability of the doll-boy is achieved.
Clothing is also made double-sided. You can cut each side separately, and then glue both parts on the inside with narrow strips of paper.
If the hands of the boy doll are lowered down, then the front shelves of the outfit (halves) can be connected to the back just on the outer sides of the hands, as shown in the sample.
Hats are also made bilateral. You can glue them on the sides and put on the boy’s head. And you can cut a double part by folding the paper in two layers. The bend should be on the top of the head. But then the hat will fall off his head. Therefore, it is worth considering a way to secure both halves. This can be achieved if small projections are made on the sides of the cap on both halves, which need to be wrapped around the head: the back is forward and then the front is back.
Cardboard doll with moving limbs
It is very interesting to play with figures that can move. To do this, you need to make a movable connection in the elbow of the little man’s hands, for example, screw a screw with a nut.
You can pierce the connection with an awl, and place holes on both sides of the button. When stitching both buttons with a needle, the thread should be pulled exclusively through the puncture. As a result, the hand will be freely bent and unbent - buttons will not interfere with movements.
Do the same with feet. A movable joint must be made in the knees, in the hip joint, in the shoulders, on the neck. Now the little man can really walk, crouch, raise his arms, shake his head. Just a miracle, what a doll! The boy who made such an acrobat with his own hands will be very proud of himself. And at the holidays you can arrange whole performances with moving little people from cardboard.
Furniture and houses for paper and cardboard dolls
If desired, you can make for your wards not only clothes. If you play, then for real! And in the real world, all people should have houses with furniture, dishes, and plumbing.
Consequently, together with children, it is possible to make a cot, chairs, tables, cabinets, a sofa, armchairs, a bathtub, a refrigerator, a computer, a TV, and other items necessary for life for paper and cardboard dolls.
It is very important to encourage children to make toys for themselves with their own hands, to develop their imagination, artistic taste, and teach modeling. If a boy makes furniture for his dolls and builds houses for them, even from cardboard, if he plays a fireman’s doll, who, returning home after duty, changes into home clothes and bathes his kids in the bath or in an outfit goes for a walk to the park, then his parents are probably not tormented by the question: is the child developing psychologically correctly?
And even if the boy suddenly reaches for shreds, picks up scissors and a needle, or begins to selflessly draw outfits to paper dolls, there is no reason to worry. From ancient times fashion designers and tailors were considered male professions.