Getting children interested in collectibles can be tricky. On the one hand, kids are natural collectors. They seem to enjoy acquiring sets of everything, from trading cards to Happy Meal toys to Legos. Plus, most children love stuffed animals and own dozens. But how do you encourage them to make the leap from acquiring stuffed animals to collecting soft sculpture? Perhaps these tips will help.
Explain
History: Tell the stories of Margarete Steiff, Theodore Roosevelt, and the Michtoms. Talk about the ways the World Wars affected the toy industry.
Materials: Kids are interested in “green” materials and might be intrigued by mohair, alpaca, hand-blown glass eyes, kapok, real wool felt, etc.
Design/artistry: Show them how every teddy bear is different. Talk about techniques like distressing, airbrushing, trapunto, needle sculpting, and needlefelting.
Share the reasons you love and collect bears and what the bears mean to you. Help them see that teddy bears can be more than just toys or decorations.
Engage
Take kids to shows. Let them see and touch the bears (carefully and with permission, of course). Introduce them to artists and encourage them to ask questions.
Make a bear with your child. Creative kids might connect with collecting through crafts.
Let them help clean your collection. Show them that artwork requires special care.
Create interesting displays for your bears or theirs.
Visit a teddy bear store.
Watch auctions on the internet. You’ll see a huge variety of work and show the kids that soft sculpture can command impressive prices like other artwork.
Visit artists online; some may be willing to correspond and answer questions about their art.
Page through magazines and discuss the photos. Ask your children what they like and dislike about various pieces and share tidbits of information from the articles.
Plenty of bears are based on characters in books. Read Pooh and Paddington, or find some of the old Roosevelt Bears books.
Focus
Make them meaningful. Kids seem most likely to keep stuffed animals that are meaningful to them, so give them bears to mark special occasions and accomplishments.
Limit the quantity of animals. Kids can become overwhelmed by vast quantities of meaningless stuffed animals. Encourage them to focus on the pieces they like best or have meaning to them.
Focus on quality workmanship and designs. Show children that well-made teddies are more likely to last and help them see the difference between inferior and superior designs — but respect their choices if they like a bear that you don’t. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Choose products from reputable companies with meaningful histories. The top plush toy companies have interesting histories and are often still family owned. Kids might be inspired by stories of fleeing East Germany, selling bears from a pushcart, making bears from Army blankets, etc.
Fun
Keep it lighthearted and entertaining. Hobbies are supposed to be fun. Despite this list of advice, don't overload kids with information or activities.
Safety First
If you think you're making headway with a potential young collector, keep safety in mind. While some children and many teenagers are mature enough for mohair bears with glass eyes, the majority should start their collections with child-safe bears. These bears are designed to be sturdy enough for play and unlikely to come apart or present a choking hazard. Child-safe bears don’t have to be dull, though — Boyds, Bearington, North American Bear, and Steiff, among many others, make exceptional child-safe products that appeal to adults as well as children.
Child-safe toys should be made of washable plush fabric. They should have hypoallergenic polyester stuffing, plastic joints, and plastic safety eyes (safety eyes lock together and generally don’t break and can’t be pulled out). Whiskers, claws, noses, mouths, ribbons, and other embroidery or decorations should be securely attached.
Displays
Many kids display their stuffed animals in big heaps on their beds or bureaus. Treating the animals more like art rather than toys might help kids view them as more collectible.
Install several rows of narrow display shelves on the walls. Out of wall space? Put the shelves above the door or window. Create a more casual display by using display squares rather than shelves.
Tuck animals between the books on bookcases. Sit them on bookends so the books don’t lean against the bears. Or, put the bears on top of the bookcase.
Save clean boxes in various sizes. Cut the tops off and, if necessary, cut down the sides so they’re all about the same depth. Stack them into a cubby arrangement, attach them with glue, staples, or brads, then cover the outside with contact paper or paint. Let kids arrange their collection in the cubbies.
Slip animals into a multi-pocket plastic shoe holder and hang it on a closet door.
Up-end an old fish bowl or tank over a single bear or display of bears to protect them from dust.
Use an inexpensive plastic collectible card box to display miniatures. Turn it on its side or end and arrange the minis on the “shelves” formed by the card dividers.
Check your local craft store for unfinished wood display boxes, shelves, and wine crates. Let your child paint them to match his room. Walk through the frame section, too — craft stores often have collage frames that will work for small displays.
Buy an old printer’s type tray at an antique store and hang it on the wall to display miniatures. You can often find them for less than $20.
Hear of a store going out of business? You can often get a good deal on the fixtures, so check to see if they have a display case that will work. Look for display cases in the newspaper’s classified ads and auction announcements, too.
On standard shelves, add height and interest to the display by propping the bears on boxes or blocks.
Note: Generally we don’t advocate hanging bears or other stuffed animals (such as from clothesline by an ear or by tucking their paws through netting). This looks cute but, over time, the stress on the fabric and seams can cause them to tear.
In the end, you may have to admit that your daughter or grand-daughter simply isn't interested in following in your arctophile footsteps. But with time, patience, and lots of hugs from you and your teddy bears, you may create a collector.
