Did you happen to notice that my site has changed recently? I decided to seek out some private advertisers. Companies that I find fascinating, wonderful, and unique. Companies that I could proudly display on my site and introduce to you.

Writing on this site is something that I absolutely love doing. I love sharing ideas, crafts, and activities that hopefully help you in your work with children. And the fact that I can help support my family financially while doing so is remarkable.

Each month I will be taking the time to write a post about some of the companies that are advertising with me. These advertisers were hand selected because I think you will really like them. The first of these companies is Golden Cockerel. You can click here to read all about these awesome Chalk Board Nesting Dolls

Did you have nesting dolls as a child? The beautiful Russian dolls that stack one inside another, almost magically? Well this company handcrafts those gorgeous dolls.

Golden Cockerel makes all sorts of nesting dolls, from the classic look, to animals, to firefighters. I really loved them all, but then I saw these. Chalk board nesting dolls!

With these dolls the activities would be endless. The fine motor and mathematical play, as in any nesting dolls, but the added open-endedness of chalk meant we could do anything!

And we have been.

These chalk nesting dolls have been fun for the whole family. Madeline and I have loved creating little people out of chalk. The boys have adored filling them with different treasures, and stacking them (and unstacking, and stacking and unstacking).

We have even used them to play with different emotions, putting mouths on the bottom portion of the dolls and eyes on the top.

And matching upper and lower case letters. This would be great for practicing a name too, and matching polka dots to their corresponding numbers.

The favourite thing has been adding them to the quiet bin rotation. They make such a pretty and inviting playful quiet time activity.

I love these nesting dolls for their simplicity, they are just so lovely and open-ended to enjoy.

Ben, who is 2, spent almost 30 minutes in his first play with them simply opening them all up and trying to put them back together. Of course little ones need to be supervised with these tiny dolls. My Ben isn’t much for mouthing toys anymore, so I was okay with him exploring them under watchful eyes.

Sam seems to love cleaning them off with a damp cloth almost as much as creating little faces, designs, and animals on them.

Madeline, who is 12, was showing a few of her friends them one afternoon, and those ‘big’ girls played with the dolls for a long while.

This is definitely a timeless toy to grow with little ones.

If you are interested in learning more about these chalk board nesting dolls, or to purchase them, head on over to Golden Cockerel!

I had the chance to ask Walton, owner of Golden Cockerel, a few questions.

“Why the name Golden Cockerel?”

I am a lover of literature and a big fan of Russian fairy tales.  I went off to Russia to answer an inner calling, and never expected to start a business.  So when Russia gifted me with an import business, I approached it with a healthy dose of fear and trembling, not sure where the powers of the business world might lead this helpless romantic.   Pushkin’s Tale of the Golden Cockerel struck me as the perfect story to keep in mind as I returned home from living two years in Russia with the weight of a fledgling business in my hands, a gift from Russia that, if treated properly, would continue giving to all. The Czar in Pushkin’s tale falls to greed and is undone by the power of the gift he received.  So I named the business Golden Cockerel and have done my best to remember my promises and honor my Russian colleagues.  Since 1993 we have succeeded in bringing countless thousands nesting dolls to new homes around the world.

“What do nesting dolls offer children as toys?”

“I used to have one of those when I was a kid!” is a phrase I hear all the time when folks walk into my gallery of Russian matryoshka dolls.  If you’ve ever had one, you never forget it.  There is something so appealing, so magnetic about the dolls that we are drawn to their magic.  How can so many dolls possibly fit into one?  We puzzle over this as children and adults.  Nesting dolls take us on a journey of wonder that lasts a lifetime.  Matryoshka connects us with the Old World, and a forgotten time.   Of course, the fun challenge of taking the dolls apart and putting them back together provides its own rewards, but it is the intangible magic and mystery of the dolls that really instruct us.

“Could you tell me about the other products that might be of interest to parents?”

The Russian crafts scene is rich and full of passion.  It’s hard to focus on only one type of item.  Our customers love our Christmas ornaments, lacquered boxes, carved Santas, and Russian jewelry, too.  The bear toys are a huge hit with kids.  These are the clever low-tech Old World toys where by swinging a pendulum, the bears become animated and do various things, such as play guitar, type on the computer, or go skiing.  They have a great deal of charm in this day and age where we’re bombarded with electronic gadgetry.  Finally, I’ll mention our Russian Imperial Porcelain—all sorts of animal figurines as well as tea wares.

Thank you for reading! I hope you have a lovely start to your week friends!