Cryoow: Turning Kids' Drawings into Soft Toys

Product Review

(Daddy reviews)

You probably have tons and tons of artistic doodles and crafts hanging on your refrigerator door or walls at home which were most probably drawn by a child close to your heart. 

I should know - whenever Ash & Ayd get too bored with their books or toys, they would ask me for stacks of paper, pick up their pencils and draw and draw... picture after picture. And all their pictures are then plastered on the walls in house, in a messy sort of way. 

And during our clean-up-the-house-before-I-go-crazy rampages, I have often been guilty of tossing some of their drawings in the trash. Gulp. But I do put away some of the better masterpieces that they have conjured up, which I guess will provide the wifey and I an avenue to reminisce about their childhood when they have all grown up. 

Because our children only stay little for so long! So I would certainly like to have something to remember their younger days. Or even better… wouldn't any child love to have their drawings come to life?

So when Cryoow contacted me about making a plush toy out of one of my children's drawings, I was totally excited! The concept is pretty simple - just supply Cryoow with a drawing that a child had made, and they will produce a stuffed toy using the child’s drawing as the blueprint. 

Cool eh?

Ash and Ayd were undoubtedly sold on the idea, and they created their drawings (first photo above) in under 30 minutes. They then clamoured me to snap a photo of their pictures and send it to Cryoow immediately!

The usual production and delivery time takes about 3 weeks in total, but we got ours in about a week. If it took longer than that, I reckon I would have gone bonkers... because the 2 monkies were asking whether their soft toys had arrived EVERY SINGLE DAY.

So thank goodness the packages finally did.

Can I just tell you how sweet the surprise was on their faces, when they hastily ripped the package open?

They were both shocked and elated all rolled into one. Shocked, because the soft toys looked exactly like what they had drawn. Elated... well, you should know the answer to that.

I thought the attention paid to the details of the drawings was simply amazing. Check out the identical wiggly lines on the Red Ninja's torso and sword. Erm yes... that's Kai the Red Ninja - who seems to have taken a hard knock on the head - from LEGO Ninjago, in case you didn't realize.

But that is the best part of the concept isn't it? That the stuff toy doesn't have to be perfect. Because the drawing isn’t perfect. And that is perfectly fine.

Naturally, both Ash and Ayd fell in love with their creations immediately and openly declared that the soft toys would be gracing their mattresses from that very day. Ayd, in particular, was deeply enamoured by his soft toy - modeled after Crusher from the Skylanders Giants game - and took extreme care in handling it. LOL.

As for me, I will definitely miss all the scribbled drawings of my monkies one day when they have all grown up. So these soft toys really capture them in the moment, not to mention that it will make a kid feel incredibly special that he/she had a hand in designing his/her own toy!

Pop over to Cryoow's website to for more information and to see other puppets designed by kids. Cryoow is a small tailor company based in Bali, Indonesia that has been operating since 2004 under the name of Sumber Bali.

To order, just head on over to Cryoow (Scroll down and click 'Shop'), fill out your information and upload your child's drawing. It's as simple as that! A custom-made doll costs US$149 - of which US$5 is donated to support the underprivileged children in Bali - and the fee includes shipping by DHL to your doorstep.

Thanks Cryoow for the wonderful soft toys! Now all I have to do is to wait for Ale to exercise her rights and be more vocal in demanding one of her very own soft toy as well.