Are Wooden Toys Worth The Money?

Nobody is really sure what the very first toy was. Archaeologists, who tend to know about these things, say that there is ample evidence that the oldest toys that have been found so far have been made of wood.

Sometime around the eighteenth century, German woodworkers had begun to make a variety of simple wooden toys and sell them to the general public. Traveling salesmen would take the toys around the continent and if a customer showed a great affection for the toys, the salesmen would take personal orders back to the toymakers. It wasn’t long before the very life like animals and dolls became popular all over Europe.

As time marched on, wooden toys became more and more elaborate and sometime in the nineteenth century intricate wooden toys like dollhouses, theaters, jack in the boxes and wooden trains were being sold by the cart loads. While the materials used in toys have grown invariably more complex and less natural in the modern market, children and parents alike still show great affection for the simpler wooden toys though it is becoming harder to find them. Even the traditional wooden alphabet blocks have started being manufactured out of plastic.

Wooden toys are much better for children than plastic toys. Not only is it better for children to handle natural products, wooden toys are better for the pocket. Those wooden blocks are nearly indestructible.

Often it is the wooden toys like the simple wooden puzzles put together by toddlers that parents choose to stimulate cognitive development and motor skills. If you’ve ever been hit by a wooden block (that used to be yours when you were little), that has been chucked at you by a very enthusiastic toddler who is simultaneously shouting the letter that just left his chubby fist, you will know that wooden toys often work on all the levels of which they were intended.

While the rarity of wooden toys has made them more expensive, they are well worth the money. After all, don’t you still have some of the wooden toys you played with as a child?

Gary is an authority on wooden toys and runs the UK's premier traditional toy shop, Monkeyshine where you will find a wide range of toys for children.