Experiencing shaping “to he” and nipa palm leaves in Nha Trang

Since March 2025, local people and tourists in Nha Trang City can experiencing making traditional crafts such as shaping “to he” and nipa palm leaves and writing in calligraphy at Tohe Art & Craft Nha Trang (49 Hong Bang Street).

It takes only around 5 minutes to make simple products

According to Le Kim Nhut, manager of Tohe Art & Craft Nha Trang opened its doors to local people and tourists in the beach city of Nha Trang in March with the aim of showcasing unique traditional handicrafts in the city and providing an additional place for people to experience cultural characteristics of Vietnam’s rural areas in the center of the city. Visiting Tohe Art & Craft Nha Trang, visitors can wear traditional costumes of 3 regions of Vietnam and posing for photos, learn to shape "to he" (toy figurines made from glutinous rice powder) and nipa palm leaves into various toy animals, and learn calligraphy. Through these activities, both local people and tourists can learn have a deeper understanding of Vietnam’s traditional culture.

Nguyen Van Yen (Phuong Sai Ward, Nha Trang), who has dedicated over 30 years to the craft of making “to he”, instruct the visitors to Tohe Art & Craft Nha Trang to create this toy.  To he is a traditional animal-shaped toy of Vietnamese children. Traditional “to he” is made of rice flour, which was prone to damage’ therefore, artisan Yen uses dried clay to make the products more durable and long-lasting. The captivating appeal of “to he” is the imaginative shaping process. Yen skillfully transforms simple clay into various shapes such as animals, flowers and leaves. Under his guidance, visitors can create their own “to he” in around five minutes.
Besides “to he”, visitors can learn to make animal-shaped toys and flower-shaped toys from nipa palm leaves. Nipa palm leaves are bought from Mekong Delta region and can be preserved for around 20 days. Yen and some other artisans at Tohe Art & Craft Nha Trang meticulously instruct visitors on how to smooth, fold and weave the leaves to create fish-shaped, butterfly-shaped or rose-shaped toys. As said by Yen, people can make a toy by themselves within two or three tries. “People enjoy the experience of making their own souvenir to take home,” said Yen.

Fish-shaped "to he"

Tohe Art & Craft Nha Trang is opened to visitors from 8:30am to 11:30am and from 1:30pm to 4:30pm every day. Since its initiation, Tohe Art & Craft Nha Trang has received many groups of tourists from South Korea and Russia as well as and individual visitors. Geller Anastasia, Russian tourist, really enjoyed her interesting experience at Tohe Art & Craft Nha Trang. She wore Ao Dai to pose for photos, learned how to make “to he” and toys from nipa palm leaves, and learned calligraphy.  “I will bring the products home to decorate my house,” said Anastasia.

Le Kim Nhut, manager of Tohe Art & Craft Nha Trang, hopes that through teaching visitors making Vietnam’s traditional crafts, introducing some rural cultural features and Vietnam’s traditional costumes, etc., Tohe Art & Craft Nha Trang can help introduce the traditional cultural values of Vietnam to tourists during their time in Nha Trang.

Chau Tuong
Translated by H.N