Housewives do not follow a particular pattern when making cloth tigers. What they come out with depends on the material available. However, there are some basic rules that they stick to, namely exaggeration and variation of the animal’s features, particularly the face. Cloth toy tigers are varied in shape, and they may have one head, two heads, or even four heads.

The cloth pouch is another popular plaything and can also be used as a handy container for aromatic herbs.

Wooden Toys and Others

For boys, a big lure of temple fairs are the miscellaneous wooden portfolios of ancient Chinese weapons that are hung and displayed in toy stalls. They will pester their parents to equip them with a broadsword or a spear, and of course, a mask is also necessary. Meanwhile, toddlers can be seen proudly dragging their wooden toy carts fashioned into various animal images. Those in the shape of birds even have wings that flutter with the rolling wheels.

Such wooden toys and masks are usually rough in workmanship and relatively inexpensive, so parents are mostly ready to give in. The "ladle" masks are more exquisite. They are made of halved gourds, which are traditionally used as ladles, and are painted with gorgeous patterns. They were first created for worship ceremonies, so their decorations are more abstract and grotesque than theatrical masks. Many rural residents in Shaanxi used to hang ladle masks on their doors to scare away evil spirits.

The ancient Chinese also invented many other toys by using materials that were handy, such as straw and syrup figurines and shuttlecocks made of feathers. They were no less fun for children, and probably adults as well, than today’s high-tech toys.