No sheep--or polar bears--were harmed in the making of this fascinating, old school Icelandic toybox and toy set. The little bone fragments and such are made of plastic:
In Icelandic farmhouses of yesteryear, children had a special hiding place for their treasures under their beds. In a Völuskrín they amassed their playthings, small toys made of an assortment of things that they found while playing or working on the farms. By setting their imagination loose, these tiny bones, bobbins and other strange things soon became important parts of an imaginary world. Sheep bones were the most common toys. The bones were meant to represent farm animals and each child had its own farm. The children went to great lengths to make their farms big and have many animals.See, Birkiland? Was that so hard?In Völuskrín these classic childhood treasures are to be found, lovingly remodelled by designer Lóa Auðunsdóttir. The Völuskrín is intended to promote and re-establish the original Icelandic toys for generations to come and introduce this heritage to children all over the world.
Voluskrin, cute little toy box with what passed for toys back on the Icelandic farm, $38 [birkiland.com]
And I thought Waldorf families were hard-core with the "all toys must be made of natural materials and be relatively unformed" bit: at least we don't make our kids play with sheep bones.