This was fluffy wire that could be bent and twisted to make different animals. It was one of my favorite toys to play with because it was very nice to the touch and easy to work with. At the end, beads would be stuck in to form the face. Even if you messed up or didn’t often do handcraft, the result would still be very cute because the thickness of the fluff could hide the wire very well and you didn’t have to be very exact with forming the shape. At the time, I bought a kit to make a white baby seal and followed a video tutorial on how to twist the wire. It was actually slightly challenging because I was given a very short length of fluffy wire, so I had to bend at the right lengths to make the proportions right. The good thing was that I could undo everything and start over as many times as I wanted. It was also fun to see the animal taking shape from start to finish.
I think that drawing and playing both involve exploration. Both are activities that require you to learn by doing, because there’s no way that understanding the actions theoretically will cause the activity to happen exactly as you imagine. When playing with physical toys, one becomes accustomed to tactile, visual, and aural stimulation (textures, colors, sounds, etc.) that physically cannot be replicated solely by imagination. Thus, the element of unexpectedness and randomness are also incorporated in both playing and drawing. When you draw, you have an ideal image in mind of what you would like to create or express, but figuring out how exactly to express what you want takes exploration and trial and error. The gap between what you want to convey and how to convey it requires mental work. Likewise, playing toys or with games involves a gap between your understanding of how the toy or game works and how you expect to interact with it vs. how it actually acts and reacts when one plays with it. In all cases of drawing, toys, and playing, I believe that
I would define Toys as objects that can be interacted with that provide enjoyment or entertainment, and these interactions as Play. Broadly thinking, anything can be purposed as a toy, even if it wasn’t made for that purpose. Some children are entertained by sand, rocks, and sticks, and they are repurposing these basic things to be their toys. The creativity and chance involved in thinking about how to interact with something or someone is the stimulating part of Play.