Wooden toys have been around for thousands of years, and they are still on shelves today. So why wood? Here is what encyclopedias, forestry bodies and universities say about wood as a material, and what it means for wooden toys.
The short version
- Wood is a natural material that trees grow, and the US Forest Service’s Forest Products Laboratory calls being renewable one of its greatest attributes.
- Every piece has a grain, because trees add a growth ring each year in temperate regions, and wood can be sanded, finished and cared for over time.
- Wooden toys are among the oldest toys we know of, from Egyptian dolls to the toymakers of the Ore Mountains.
Why wooden toys? The short answer
Wikipedia defines a wooden toy as “a toy constructed primarily from wood and wood products.” That covers a lot of ground, from a simple set of blocks to a hand-cranked automaton.
People often search for “wooden toys vs plastic”. This article does not run that contest. It is about what wood is, and we make no health or safety claims here. A toy is judged by how it is designed, built and age-rated, whatever it is made of.
What is wood?
Wikipedia describes wood as “a natural, lignocellulosic material derived primarily from the secondary xylem of trees and other woody plants.” It is a natural composite, with cellulose fibres embedded in a matrix of lignin and hemicelluloses, and humans have used it since prehistoric times for fuel, tools, weapons and shelter.
Not all wood is alike. Wikipedia says the density of a wood correlates with its strength, and that hardwoods are not necessarily hard. Balsa is a hardwood, yet it is softer than any commercial softwood.
Renewable: what forestry bodies say
The Wood Handbook is the US Forest Service’s reference on wood as an engineering material. In its sustainability chapter, Robert Falk of the Forest Products Laboratory wrote that “One of the greatest attributes of wood is that it is a renewable resource.” He adds the condition: the supply can be maintained when sustainable forest management and harvesting practices are followed.
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) adds a point about carbon. In a 2016 report, Forestry for a Low-carbon Future, as covered by UN News, carbon in a wood product does not instantly oxidize. The report estimates that house framing can store carbon for up to 100 years, and a dining table for less than 30. Carbon goes back into the air when the wood is burnt or decays.
None of this makes a toy “green” by itself. Where the wood comes from matters, and the sources above are clear about that.
Benefits of wooden toys: natural grain, every piece grew
Penn State Extension explains where the grain comes from. In temperate regions, trees form growth rings on a yearly cycle, one ring per year. Each ring has two zones: earlywood is lighter and has thin cell walls, and latewood is darker and denser because its cell walls are thicker.
In hardwoods such as oak and ash, the boundary shows up as large open pores in the earlywood followed by much smaller pores in the latewood. Counting the rings gives a tree’s age, and ring width reflects how fast it grew. So the pattern you see in a wooden toy is a record of how the tree grew.
How wood ages, and why people repair it
Wikipedia notes that heartwood has become more resistant to decay through a naturally occurring chemical change, and that most of the phenolic compounds in wood have fungicidal properties that protect it from fungal decay. Wood also changes with use. On wooden furniture, Wikipedia’s article on patina describes a “sheen produced by age, wear, and polishing.”
Wood can also be worked on again. For wooden flooring, Wikipedia says that damaged areas can be sanded down and refinished repeatedly. That is about floors, not toys, but it shows a property of the material: it can be sanded, glued and refinished. Woodworkers have long used glues made for wood. Wikipedia mentions that a hide glue joint is easy to repair by heating the joint and adding more glue.
Old as toys themselves
Wikipedia says the earliest toys were made from natural materials such as rocks, sticks and clay. Egyptian children had dolls made from stone, pottery and wood, and “the oldest and perhaps most common construction toy” is a set of simple wooden blocks.
In the Ore Mountains on the border between Germany and the Czech Republic, wooden toymaking grew after silver mining declined. Local forests supplied the raw material, and the region is known for Christmas pyramids, nutcrackers and wooden figures. Wikipedia also records that early jigsaw puzzles, called dissections, were maps mounted on hardwood. John Spilsbury is credited with commercialising them around 1760. Cardboard puzzles appeared in the late 1800s but were slow to replace the wooden ones.
| Wood fact | Where it comes from |
|---|---|
| A renewable resource, when forests are managed sustainably | USDA Forest Products Laboratory (Wood Handbook) |
| One growth ring per year in temperate trees | Penn State Extension |
| Carbon stays in wood products while they last | FAO report, via UN News |
| Surface changes with age, wear and polishing | Wikipedia, Patina |
| Used for toys since ancient Egypt | Wikipedia, Toy |
What we would pick
Three wooden things in our shop show different sides of the material.
The Flying Manta Ray automaton is wood and thin wire. You turn a small yellow gear by hand and thin wires lift each wing in turn. Wikipedia explains that a cam converts rotational motion to reciprocating motion and dates cams in automata back to the 3rd century BC; we do not say how this one is built inside. It has no batteries. The page asks you to keep it dry, dust it with a soft cloth and turn the gear gently in one direction. The wires are delicate, so play together with younger children.
The Wooden Marble Run Kit is a build-it-yourself set of wooden parts, with ramps, bowls, a wheel and gears, in four models. It is wood with metal and plastic parts, recommended for age 8 and up. It has small parts and steel balls, so keep it away from children under 3.
For older builders, the Serendipity Cafe is a DIY miniature house kit, a tiny wooden world you build from pre-cut pieces, with a string of LED lights. One honest note: the pieces are a wood-based board (MDF), laser-cut and colour-printed, not solid wood. Wikipedia describes MDF as an engineered wood product: wood residuals are broken into fibre, mixed with wax and a resin binder, and pressed into panels. It is for ages 14 and up and has many small parts, so it is not a toy for young children.
Sources
- Wooden toy, Wikipedia: the definition of a wooden toy.
- Wood, Wikipedia: wood as a natural material from trees, a composite of cellulose, lignin and hemicelluloses, use since prehistoric times, density and strength, heartwood decay resistance, fungicidal compounds, sanding and refinishing of flooring.
- Wood as a sustainable building material, Robert H. Falk, Wood Handbook chapter, USDA Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory (2010): wood as a renewable resource, and sustainable forest management.
- Wood handbook: Wood as an engineering material (2021 edition), USDA Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory: the handbook’s purpose and its chapter “Wood as a renewable and sustainable resource.”
- UN News, 20 July 2016, on the FAO report Forestry for a Low-carbon Future: carbon staying locked in wood products, and the lifespans quoted for house framing and a dining table.
- What exactly are growth rings?, Penn State Extension: yearly growth rings, earlywood and latewood, and what the rings show.
- Patina, Wikipedia: the sheen on wooden furniture produced by age, wear and polishing.
- Wood glue, Wikipedia: hide glue joints being easy to repair.
- Toy, Wikipedia: earliest toys from natural materials, Egyptian dolls of stone, pottery and wood, and wooden blocks as an old construction toy.
- Wooden toymaking in the Ore Mountains, Wikipedia: the region, the decline of silver mining, local forests and typical products.
- Jigsaw puzzle, Wikipedia: early puzzles as maps mounted on hardwood, John Spilsbury around 1760, and cardboard slowly replacing wooden puzzles.
- Cam (mechanism), Wikipedia: a cam converts rotational motion to reciprocating motion.
- Medium-density fibreboard, Wikipedia: MDF as an engineered wood product made from fibre, wax and resin.
