African Toys – A Pictorial

We hope you enjoy these pictures of toys from Kenya and Ghana. They are a sampling of the pictures on the AfriGadget flickr group. The materials used to make these toys are scrap metal, tins, wire, and pieces of leather.

Wire Bikes

Ghana
Colorful bikes

Toy Bikes

Spray can wheels

Bikes

Red Dynamo

Tall Bike

Wire Motor Bike from Kenya

Wire Bike

Cars and Tractor

Tin Cars from Ghana

Toy Cars

From Kenya:
Wire Landrover

Wire SUV

Wire Tractor

Wire Tractor

Author: Juliana Rotich

African, Kenyan, Blogger. I am fascinated by solar energy tech, and the empowering, leapfrogging nature of technology for Africa.

29 thoughts on “African Toys – A Pictorial”

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  15. I like the last two toys and I’ve possibly seen them being sold outside Sarit centre in Nairobi.

    I did a quick patent search for wired toys and nothing close to this came up. Knowing American’s knack for toys, these toys have the potential to be commercialized.

    At a net profit of $1 per toy at walmart, they can make one a millionaire several times over. The down side is such a large scale production requires a huge investment. For that reason they should start small and see where it takes them.

  16. I’ve seen the twisted wire models for sale in many places. extremegeek.com used to sell them but apparently don’t anymore. I did a little googling and found “twisted warriors” at this site:

    http://www.kleargear.com/desktoppers.html

    Models sold for between $25 and $80 bucks. If afrigadget.com starts selling these in your store I’ll bet you and the artisans will do quite well. I know I’ll buy.

  17. Now if only the political future of Kenya becomes clearer, and the threat of tribal violence against Kikuyus settles once and for all, I can travel there to see my wife’s family once again.

  18. These are absolutely fantastic. I collected some similar toys on my trips to Africa but these are mind-blowingly creative. I want more! It is amazing what beauty can be created from so little.

    Char

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