Wooden toys versus electronic toys.

[Charleville]

Regular readers of this site might recall that I have made a small number of toys over the past year for a couple of grandkids (toddler sisters). See some below ...

http://img.skitch.com/20091030-bg4m81ahx9bjcutik933tg7x3e.preview.jpg (http://skitch.com/charleville2/nr1at/page-1)
Click for full size (http://skitch.com/charleville2/nr1at/page-1) - Uploaded with plasq (http://plasq.com)'s Skitch (http://skitch.com)


...and I have often wondered if the toys really get used or whether I am just adding to the household clutter by giving the kids wooden toys.

This is especially curious to me because my grandkids seem to have every toy under the sun and many of them are really flash electronic talking things that make wooden toys seem awfully dated by comparison.


Well, I got a wonderful answer to my question today after this message arrived from my son ... "if you're ever thinking of presents, a hobby horse for XXXX would be my vote. The pink horse gets fought over sometimes."

On receiving that, I wrote, " 'Tis good to know that the toys get used. Does the frog get used? I was actually thinking that when I see the immense volume of toys that your kids seem to have, many of them being pretty flash things with electronics in them, that wooden toys might not hold much appeal for them indeed I might just be a nuisance by adding to your clutter by giving them more stuff."

To my immense joy, this is the response that I received, "The frog gets used a lot. He's even been taken to bed a couple of times...ouch. The frog and the horse are active toys and YYYYY makes up all sort of stories, like taking them shopping etc.The imagination gets used. The girls like the electronic stuff too but they're sitting-around type toys, which get tiresome."


What about that?!!!! :):):):):)


Awesome!


I had never thought of the difference between the wooden toys being "active" toys and the electronic gimmicky stuff being "sitting-around type toys, which get tiresome."


I usually try to make toys which have movement in them and for which a book like David Wakefield's is so helpful ...

http://img.skitch.com/20091030-kwcxpcn3e14t8yrqpmhtbmp638.preview.jpg (http://skitch.com/charleville2/b2g88/skitched-20090719-153845)
Click for full size (http://skitch.com/charleville2/b2g88/skitched-20090719-153845) - Uploaded with plasq (http://plasq.com)'s Skitch (http://skitch.com)



So the secret to making useful wooden toys in the ubiquitously electronic, third millennium is to make "active" toys that stimulate the imagination and get the kids moving.
:)


Life is good! :)




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[AUSSIE]

That is a wonderful story,and one I will remember for a very long time:2tsup:
I made a couple of moving parts toys.I gave them away and never thought of them again.
I will tread carefully and ask,How Are They Going.
I sure hope I get an answer like you got Charleville

[Billy]

Thats gotta warm the cockles of yer heart.:D

Electronic toys dumb you down I reckon:tvhpy::joystick::throw:
I sold some timber toys at a market a couple of years ago to a teacher from a special school and when I bumped into her a little while ago she said the kids were still playing with them and shunned the highly colourful plastic/metal toys for the timber ones. She thinks the "feel" of the timber is nicer for them.

I was wrapt to hear that.:2tsup:

Might even do some more for Nov/Dec markets & ebay for this Christmas.:rolleyes:

Good one Charleville:)

Cheers, billy:fireman:

[Waldo]

Wooden toys will last for many years and be cherished by the recipient, especially if it was a relation, as opposed to something plastic that has no heart and warmth.

I've got some special wooden toys made for me when I was a young little bloke both by my Grandad and Dad that I will always cherish. :2tsup:

[Old farmer]

Charleville, thanks for that beautiful story. I have been wondering the same thing but now shall press on.

[Sir Stinkalot]

Good story .....

I gave my nephew (3) a few timber toy cars for his birthday earlier in the year. He quite liked them first off but quickly took a shine to his new plastic fantastic transformer (car) ...... about two hours later the transformer was broken ..... the Stinkette was down visiting last weekend and Tyler had his toy cars out playing with them explaining how they were the mummy cars and his smaller matchbox cars were the babies. Don't know where the transformer is now!

[Sugam]

Thats a wonderful story and good on you for making such safe wooden natural toys for your family.

[Charleville]

Thats a wonderful story and good on you for making such safe wooden natural toys for your family.


Many thanks. I have only made a couple of new toys since starting this thread ...

http://img.skitch.com/20100731-j4m8qphgsmfbhusmt3wsmps991.preview.jpg (http://skitch.com/charleville2/dq666/page-1)
Click for full size (http://skitch.com/charleville2/dq666/page-1) - Uploaded with plasq (http://plasq.com)'s Skitch (http://skitch.com)


....but Christmas is coming and there has been a new grandchild born since then so I suspect that Santa's helper will be active pretty soon in the workshop. :)


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[munruben]

Great to see you are still making your toys. :2tsup:

[elderly]

I am not surprised your grandchildren love the toys you make they look fantastic. What sort of paint do you use and how do you apply it?
Cheers

[Charleville]

I am not surprised your grandchildren love the toys you make they look fantastic. What sort of paint do you use and how do you apply it?
Cheers


Many thanks.


The paint type varies.

1. The rocking horse was Satin estapol for the clear and acrylic for the black bits and Dulux gloss enamel for the green rockers. There is not much on the horse that is likely to be chewed.

2. The rolling toy was finished in lots of coats of shellac over food dyes from the kitchen. This was the first toy that I made after the rocking horse so I was unsure about what would be safe paint-wise for a one-year old and so stuck with shellac.

3. The pink hobby horse was done with spray cans of enamel labelled as being "child safe". My disappointment with that paint was the length of time that it took to harden after it had dried. I learnt from that experience to finish toys well before the handover to the child so that the paint can really harden.

4. The giraffe hobby "horse" was painted with acrylic paint.

5. The frog was done using the same green enamel paint as on the rocking horse rockers

6. The rabbit was done with satin Estapol with a white enamel tail.


It was only after reading a lot to ascertain if these paints were safe for kiddies that I used them.

It seems that pretty well any paint is safe these days once it has set and hardened.


Application is usually with a brush (except for the spray cans used on the pink hobby horse). I will usually lightly sand between coats with 400 grit sandpaper. I will usually apply at least three coats of paint. The last coat is usually pretty thin.


The author of the book, from which some of my patterns have come, finishes his toys with oil but whilst I do that with the boxes that I make, I prefer the toughness that a painted surface gives the toy. I fully expect that a few of these toys will find their way into the sun and rain at times.


The patterns for the two hobby horses were what I derived from cartoon drawings that I had found on the internet. The rest were from the book mentioned above. It is a great book!

Many thanks for your interest. :)
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[elderly]

Thanks for that. I am surprised that most of your painting was done with a brush it looks far to good. I really enjoy reading your posts they are filled with so much enthusiasm.
Cheers

[fozzy767]

so there is hope,i used to make chairs and always wondered if they were thrown away.i have given a few of my trucks away and wonder if they will be destroyed.thanks for giving me some hope.its often wondered if someone says those are cool or if they are just saying it to be nice

[Charleville]

so there is hope,i used to make chairs and always wondered if they were thrown away.i have given a few of my trucks away and wonder if they will be destroyed.thanks for giving me some hope.its often wondered if someone says those are cool or if they are just saying it to be nice


I have discovered that when I tell people that I have made a few wooden toys, it is usually the young mothers who get a bit excited and want to talk about how wooden toys are so good and what a shame it is that they are so hard to find these days.


I hear this story pretty regularly. When people ask what I do for a living and I say that I am retired. The next question is about what I do with my time. When I include woodwork in the list, the next question is usually what sorts of things do I make. When I mention wooden toys and describe the articulated frog amongst others, the eyes of the women usually light up. I guess that there must be a lot of fond memories out there about favourite childhood wooden toys - married to a lot of disappointment with contemporary plastic toys.


A friend of my daughter-in-law wanted to buy some from me a couple of weeks ago for her nephews and nieces but I explained that I just make them for my grand-kids and have no interest in finding myself a job, even as Santa's helper.


The real teller for me though is that my son actually asks me to make some. I would have thought that his home could not cope with having more toys so that tells me something nice about the value of my toys to them.

Perhaps it helps that I try to make them to a pretty good standard of quality which would not be possible if I were costing my hours.



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[STAR]

This is an interesting article. I too wonder how well received they are and if they get used later on.

It is one reason I try to go that extra yard when making toys so that they hopefully will stay in the household a bit longer than some of that plastic expensive crap from China.

An interesting thing though is now I am duplicating the T Model Ford Fire Engine that I posted on here A few guys at our Wood club often look at me and wonder why I spend so much time on the detail when after all it is only a toy.

This new fire truck is being donated to the Club to be given to a disadvantaged child in our community, so the effort as far as I am concerned is worth it, but not to all apparently.

ps.

As it is almost finished and being painted I will put it up here to compare with my previous effort.

Peter