I was so taken by the lovely wooden toys that Bee posted last week. Toys of such a high quality command a high price though! I started to wonder if I could make some wooden toys myself. I found some fabulous resources for raw wood toys. All of these are a fraction of the cost of their finished counterparts. And by buying them raw, you are able to control the chemicals that you use to finish your toy. Here are my favorites if you are in the market for wooden stackers, sensory play/infant-friendly items, wheels, and pretend food.
Inspiration: Grimm’s Rainbow Stacker & Grimm’s Waterwaves
Buy: Big Stacker Rainbow with Cloud ($7.50) // Big Stacker Water Element ($7.50)
Inspiration: Grimm’s Colored Set of Small Bowls
Buy: Birch Bowls ($6.00 for 3), Birch Eggs ($3.99), 5 Wood Rings ($12.00)
Inspiration: Haba Baby’s First Train – Lokmock Train and Building Blocks
Buy: Bus with Peg Dolls ($9.50), Canoe with 2 Peg Dolls ($3.90), Pine 2 Seater Car ($5), Wood Toy Train Engine ($2.47)
Inspiration: Haba Play Food Ice Cream Cone
Buy: Paint Your Own Wood Sno Cones with Bowls ($10), Mushroom Toadstools Set of 12 ($9), Make Your Own French Macaron and Bon Bon Set ($11)
I was so inspired that I ended up selecting a mini rainbow stacker, birch cups, and birch eggs for Scribble. Perhaps when he gets older I will get some of the more complex stackers and the precious peg-people bus and canoe!
I am planning to use food dye and natural beeswax to finish my pieces, and will have them done for Scribble to open on Easter morning. I will show you my progress when I am finished!
Do you have any resources for inexpensive, high quality toys?
GOLD / wonderful apricot / 22276 posts
What a great idea, I want to do this!
grapefruit / 4671 posts
Wow, great idea1 Hope you post a DIY when you are done finishing them.
GOLD / nectarine / 2884 posts
@plantains: I’m actually doing them as we speak and am having really astonishing success! I will post ASAP….still waiting for the bowls to get here….
grapefruit / 4671 posts
@Mrs. Sketchbook: Excellent!
bananas / 9357 posts
I want to do this! Such a neat idea. I look forward to your DIY post!
blogger / wonderful cherry / 21616 posts
Love this idea!! And the peg bus is too adorable! Love it!
I really want to try my hand at making dyes myself out of food like spinach, beets and blue berries
blogger / wonderful cherry / 21628 posts
Great idea!
wonderful clementine / 24134 posts
I love the idea of wooden eggs for Easter!!
hostess / wonderful watermelon / 39513 posts
Great idea and post!
blogger / pomelo / 5361 posts
I’m so excited to see how they turn out! Please keep us posted on making them.
GOLD / nectarine / 2884 posts
@Thehistoryofus: I actually didn’t even think of it as an Easter thing until I started dyeing them and then I was like, oh duh. I mostly used Easter as an excuse to buy new toys, lol! But this will be much nicer than the usual pastic ones (not that I don’t love a good chocolate-filled plastic egg, but yknow…!)
honeydew / 7968 posts
Ooh can’t wait for the DIY!
squash / 13199 posts
Love this. I cant wait to see the finished products