Directions to Make Wooden Toys

You can make block sets, dolls and puzzles from wood scraps.

Wooden toys include construction toys, pull toys, dolls, puzzles and skill toys. Classic, name-brand construction toys began life as pieces of shaped scrap wood that could be stacked, interlocked or connected. Pull toys often resemble real-world animals and objects. Dolls and their accessories usually require one or more play spaces, such as dollhouses or activity centers. Puzzles and other skill toys challenge children to use problem-solving skills. Dolls and blocks are the easiest wooden toys to make.

Things You'll Need

• Scrap wood
• Various diameter dowel rods
• Table saw, jig saw
• Drill press
• Variety bit set
• Coarse through extra-fine sandpaper
• Letter and number stencils
• Wood burning kit
• 1 ceramic floor tile
• Bright, nontoxic paints
• Clear acrylic sealant
• Wooden peg-style clothespins
• Fine-point watercolor brushes
• High-gloss black, pink, brown and cream acrylic paint
• Foam egg cartons
• Cloth
• Yarn
• Wooden golf tees
• String
• Large-hole wooden beads

Instructions

Construction Toys

1. Cut scrap wood into various block shapes using a table saw or jig saw. Shapes should include triangles, rectangles, squares and arches. Cut 1-inch diameter and larger dowel rod into disks, 1/2-inch to 3-inch thick, to make circular and cylindrical blocks.

2. Make eight evenly spaced marks around the circumference of the 1/2-inch-thick disks.

3. Secure each disk in your drill press. Drill 1/4-inch diameter holes into the disks, 3/8-inch to 1/2-inch deep, at each mark.

4. Cut a 1/4-inch diameter dowel rod into 1-inch through 12-inch lengths, making at least eight of each length for each disk.

5. Have children help sand all the blocks using coarse through extra-fine papers in that order. Explain to your child that you have to fold sandpaper into thirds, accordion-style, with one of the gritty faces out and the other two facing each other.

6. Place the gritty face against the wood, with your fingers on the sandpaper and your thumb tucked, while holding the block in your other hand. Demonstrate how to rub the sandpaper over the block, with the grain of the wood.

7. Stencil letters and numbers on 36 cubes, repeating each vowel and letter, except h, x, q and j, at least twice. Use your wood-burning kit to outline each letter or number on each block.

8. Have children use bright, nontoxic paint to embellish all but one side of each block as desired. Allow the paint to dry overnight before painting the remaining side of each block. Avoid getting paint in the holes in the sides of the disks by pushing short dowel rod sections into each hole while you paint. Remove the rods before allowing the paint to dry.

9. Apply clear acrylic sealant to each block and allow to dry overnight.

Dolls

1. Mix a variety of flesh tones using high-gloss acrylic paints in pink, black, brown and cream, in the sections of a foam egg carton.

2. Paint the heads of the clothespins using all of the flesh tones at least once per peg. Push the feet of each peg into a block of craft foam to keep it upright while it dries.

3. Use a fine-tip watercolor brush to paint your doll's face as desired.

4. Make clothes for your dolls, using cloth scraps, yarn and other miscellaneous craft supplies. Wrap or tie the cloth around the clothespins. Glue cloth in place as needed.

5. Embellish each doll with bead strings, lace, ribbon and other trims as desired.

6. Create hair from string, yarn or fake fur strips as desired and glue it to each doll's head.

Tips & Warnings

• Educators as early as 1798 classed building blocks as educational toys. Maria and Richard L. Edgeworth, authors of "Practical Education," called building blocks "rational" toys. They argued that these toys taught principles of physics and gravity. Wooden puzzles are often used to teach principles of applied geometry and problem-solving.

• Woodworker Ron Hazelton explains that sanding against the grain leaves scratches that you will be able to see when you paint or stain the wood.

• Woodworker Lora S. Irish advises using a ceramic floor tile as a rest when the wood-burning tool is not in use, because the tool tip can heat up to 900 degrees Fahrenheit.

• Wear wraparound eye protection and a painter's mask, at minimum, while cutting or sanding wood.

• If children are going to observe wood cutting, all of them should wear wraparound eye protection, ear protection and a painter's dust mask, and stand at least 6 feet from the work area, off to one side.

• Place one or more fans in windows or doorways, pointing into the room, and at least one fan in an opposite window, pulling fumes out of the room.

• Do not allow children to operate the table saw or drill press, even with supervision.

• Wear leather work gloves when working with your wood-burning kit, and explain to children that they should always use appropriate safety gear as well, to protect themselves from burns.

• Children ages 8 and up should not use the wood burning kit without supervision at all times.

• Children younger than 8 should not use any heat-dependent tool.

References

• "Practical Education"; Maria and Richard L. Edgeworth; 1798
• Ron Hazelton's House Calls: How to Cut and Use Sandpaper
• Classic Carving Patterns: Wood Burning 101