The Prophet ﷺ sent word on the morning of Ashura to the villages of the Ansar, "Whoever has started the day eating should complete the rest of his day, and whoever has started the day fasting should continue fasting."She said, "We used to fast on that day afterwards, and we would have our young children fast as well. We would make toys for them out of dyed wool, and whenever one of them cried for food, we would give him the toy to distract him until it was time to break the fast."
أرسل النبي ﷺ غداة عاشوراء إلى قرى الأنصار: من أصبح مفطرا فليتم بقية يومه، ومن أصبح صائما فليصم، قالت: فكنا نصومه بعد، ونصوم صبياننا، ونجعل لهم اللعبة من العهن، فإذا بكى أحدهم على الطعام أعطيناه ذاك حتى يكون عند الإفطار.
Bukhari reported it in the Book of Fasting (960), and Muslim in the Book of Fasting (1136), both from the hadith of Bishr bin Mufaddal, who said, our teacher told us, Khalid bin Zakwan told us, from Rabi bint Muawwidh bin Afra, who said, and then she related it. The wording given here is Bukhari's. In Muslim's wording it reads, "And we would make them a toy from wool, and take it along with us, so when they asked us for food, we would give them the toy to distract them until they completed their fast."The jurisprudence of this chapter, it is permissible to make images of girls, animals, and other such things for children's play, and this is treated as an exception from the general prohibition against making images. Qadi Iyad affirmed this and attributed it to the majority of scholars, as Hafiz mentioned in Fath al-Bari (10/527).I say, this view is preferable to the position of those who say that the ruling has been abrogated, because the prohibition against making images and statues is understood to apply to reverence and glorification, which can lead to shirk, as happened with the Jews, the Christians, and the disbelievers of Makkah. The lawgiver therefore forbade it as a preventive measure against such paths. As for making images and statues for the purpose of play, this is contrary to the notion of reverence and glorification, and reconciling the texts is preferable to ruling that one abrogates the other.Likewise, scholars have permitted the making of images for educational purposes, such as in medicine, geography, the apprehension of criminals, and other legitimate purposes, none of which involve anything forbidden.