Ever wondered how to make wooden toys for kids at home? We started with teethers and rattles, and there was one tool that was particularly helpful!
As one of his first toys, my son had a wooden rattle fish
I must say that at that point I had not held a saw once. Well, maybe I did hold it to express awe… But that’s about it. I was a complete novice. But my husband made a few animal-shaped cutting boards for us, so I thought he could give me an insight on how I can start. That’s when I saw a scroll saw for the first time.
What Is a Scroll Saw?
It may not be the most popular tool for doing renovations, but it is a wonderful tool for a crafter. The scroll saw has a thin blade, designed to cut tight curves. If you think of making wooden toys for your children, get one – and your life will never be the same because your list of projects will suddenly grow ten times longer. The scroll saw allows one to make an endless amount of intricately cut wooden designs, but also make straight and quick cuts. It is very simple to learn to use a scroll saw, and even though at first it might seem a little intimidating, all you need to remember is to keep your fingers away from the blade, which is the same as when you use any saw – or even a kitchen knife.
Scroll saws are not very expensive. Look at these two: our scroll saw looks more like the one on the left
An even cheaper alternative to a scroll saw would be to get a frame saw with blades
How to Make Wooden Toys
1. For making a wooden animal, sketch a silhouette design on a piece of card stock and cut it out with scissors. You can search for animal silhouettes on-line. Pick the ones that have fewer details.
2. Transfer the design onto a wooden board with a pencil. Last time I bought my wood at a local lumber mill, which was a very exciting place. You can look for a local mill, or get boards from a chain store, like Home Depot. That’s where I often get my wood. A little bit on different woods…
For making toys, you will probably want to get some hardwood, since they’re less likely to chip and break. Here are some of our favourites!
Maple: Has a light-yellow colour (a rabbit on the picture above). One of the most readily available woods you can find in the stores. Perfect for making toys in many regards, but a little hard to cut, compared with other woods.
Walnut: Has a dark-brown colour (a dog on the picture above). Comparatively soft and easy to cut. More expensive than oak, cherry or maple.
Cherry: Has a light-brown colour with a red tin (a kitten on the picture above). Often has a beautiful curly figuring. Prone to burning when you cut tight corners.
Oak: Has a light-brown colour, similar to cherry, but doesn’t have the same figuring. Soft and easy to cut. Cheaper than the rest of the hardwoods listed here.
3. Back to cutting! Turn the scroll saw on and slowly cut the design.
4. Once the design is cut, sand all the edges to give the toy a comfortable grip. For this one project a piece of fine sanding paper would work, but if you plan to make more toys, you might consider a hand sander.
5. Finally, I lightly brush pure tung oil on top. I only use 100% tung oil because it is food-safe. The oil gives the toy a satin finish and protects the wood from oxidizing too fast.
A few of my friends had new babies recently, so I made more wooden creatures as gifts for each of them. Knights and princesses, dinosaurs and of course, modern animals! Some of them have holes inside for the ease of holding, and others don’t. As I found out with my son, wooden animals later become the perfect occupants for sensory bins and Waldorf-inspired activities. As soon as your child is ready for pretend games, the animals can start interacting with each other, frolic in coloured rice and go for a swim in the water bin.
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More wooden toys?
Simple wooden robot from blocks
Thank you for reading!
These are so cute! I love all the wooden toys you make. A wooden castle would be another great idea
Thank you, Anna! With my husband the armourer, I think we will have the castle for sure. :) Budster has just gotten into his first knight book too! The Knight and the Dragon by Tommie dePaola.
Love them!!❤ I just ordered a scroll saw off Amazon and I am already obsessed and I havnt even tried it out yet.
Your idea will be one of my first projects.
Thank you
a wooden castle.. or a toy house.. I love your blog by the way!!! It’s beautiful!!
Thank you! I will do both. Probably, the doll house will be first. :)
Planets! For space themed learning.
When I read your suggestion to my husband, he got very interested. It might be a great toy. Thank you!
A chess set would be cool for you to make!
Thank you. That can be a very interesting project!
I love these! I want to make some for my kiddo.
a toy train set!
I love these wooden teethers, so neat! How about a wooden manatee?
That would be something! :) Thank you, Betsy.
I think shapes would be interesting, like circles, squares, triangles, hearts, stars, etc. They’re adorable!
The alphabet would be helpful for learning and decoration.
I am making a name puzzle right now. Not the whole alphabet, but a start. :)
A dinosaur! Aren’t these the cutest things EVER?!! I love wooden toys :)
So cute! A dinosaur would be adorable!
I love these! Anything fairytale inspired would be great for me!
So cute!!! A bear panda *_*
Rafflecopter: gemma
Hi! What about a carrousel?
Perhaps a collection of 3 pigs and their houses…… Rhyme story stuff. That would be cool.
DOREEN LAMOUREUX
Love these rattles.
a tooth!
i’m new follower
i like your blog
Simple interlocking jigsaw pieces would be nice for a toddler.
a fox :D thank you very much
You are so talented. I’d love to see you make a rainbow :).
Chess set would be great!
I’d like to see a butterfly.
I am fond of teddy bears and owls!
Thank you for the chance!
ksyshenka(at)yahoo(dot)com
dinosaur would be adorable!
A toy train set
I like the Fox with the Heart the best.
A castle- super cute
A doll house :)
I like to see a wooden castle for my little princess
We love wooden puzzles!
A hippo.
A gnome and a fairy, and Alice from Alice in wonderland
You are an inspiration Liska!! Love the rattles as well as the puppet theators!!
One of those thing that you leave somewhere then they pop up.
Why don’t you sell these in your etsy store? I would be interested in buying a few of these from you. I am too scared of wood cutting tools to make myself. I love the fox, long necked dinosaur (brontosaurus?) and the dragon. :)
I’m so inspired by your site! Is a scroll saw easy to learn to use? I sew a lot with a sewing machine, but I have never used a scroll saw and would love to learn. . . I goggled about and some posts are very discouraging around the web!
How do you get all the different natural colors on your wood toys? Are those stains or just the natural color of the wood? Thanks!
Just the natural colour of different woods! It’s really amazing how different they can be. Waxing or oiling them often intensifies colour too. We usually use maple (light yellow), cherry or oak (reddish brown), and walnut (very dark brown). Sometimes aromatic cedar (dark red/purple).
Hi! These are amazing! I just bought a scroll saw to attempt to make similar toys for my one year old. How do you make the hole in the middle? The only way I could think to do it seems like it would take an hour lol. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Hi Sarah,
Scroll saws are great fun! I hope it will work out well for you. The hole in the middle is just made with a drill (1″ forstner bit). When there is a heart, it’s two holes made with a drill (1/2″ forstner bit), then the blade from the scroll saw is slipped inside of those two holes, and the tip of the heart is cut with it.
I’ll be happy to help with more advice if needed!
How do you get the darker looks? Thanks!
It’s just different wood. Darker wood is oak here if I remember correctly. Cherry is good and walnut is really dark.
Beautiful! How did you put the rattle inside the shapes? Thanks!