"Modern Elf," Prof. Margaret Berrio, Discusses Benefits of Homemade Toys with Chicago Tribune

December 19, 1982

December 19, 1982, Greencastle, Ind. - "Margaret Berrio, 40, teaches child psychology at DePauw University and her husband Mark, 49, teaches civil engineering at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute. They are modern elves of a sort," reports today's Chicago Tribune, noting the Berrios "have been making toys from junk for years."

The couple, reports Charles Madigan, "have a creative eye for plastic bottles, chunks of wood, pieces of plastic and a range of other objects you could find in almost any garbage can." The toys that Berrios create from discarded items "may not be fancy, don't talk and don't need batteries, but show the spirit nonetheless ... What they have found, after years of toy-making -- first for neighbor children and then for their own daughter -- is that children seem to appreciate something made more than something purchased, particularly if the adult spends time making toys with the child."

"What we have seen time and time again is that the child appreciates the time spent making the toy with a parent more than the toy itself," Margaret Berrio tells the Tribune. "That's what they remember."

The article notes that Professor Berrio recently held a toy-making seminar for unemployed parents in Greencastle, which attracted 40 couples. "She and her husband are currently working on a book, Making Toys with Children, which emphasizes the value of spending time constructing simple toys from common household objects," writes Charles Madigan.

Dr. Berrio adds, "Children whose contributions to toy-making are respected show remarkable creativity, embellishing and improving on toy ideas they come across and inventing their own toys." It encourages children to realize an object may have many potential uses, what psychologists call "transcendence of constraints."

Margaret Berrio was featured in a December 2 Boston Globe story on homemade gifts. The professor was also cited in the September 1980 issue of American Way magazine, and in a 1976 Indianapolis Star article.

Berrio joined the DePauw faculty in 1975 after teaching at Indiana State University. She earned her B.Mus. from Oberlin College, the M.A. from Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville, an M.S. from Tufts University, and the Ph.D. from Indiana University.

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