| Many people love to work with wood and when | | | | royal anniversary or birthday. |
| they do it is called Woodworking. Woodworking is | | | | Educational wooden toys, like wooden alphabet |
| anything that involves working with wood in any | | | | blocks, appeared during the 1700's in England. By |
| way, whether it is carving, painting, sawing, or | | | | the 1800's, humble wooden toys became more |
| anything else. It has been done as long as man | | | | elaborate and intricate. In addition to miniature |
| has been on the face of the earth. The first man | | | | animals and dolls, elaborate and decorative |
| did make weapons out of wood, so this involved | | | | dollhouses, fire engines, trolley cars, decoratively |
| carving. Early man also made crude statues from | | | | painted soldiers, wooden trains that could be |
| wood that were to help the tribe win the favor | | | | moved along grooved tracks and |
| of the animals that they were going to hunt; and | | | | jack-in-the-boxes became popular. |
| later to please the gods which they believed in. | | | | The 1900's saw a huge growth in the American |
| Wooden toys have been objects for children's | | | | toy industry. Charles H. Pajeau and Robert Petit |
| recreation since very earliest times. Archeological | | | | invented Tinker Toys in 1914 with many different |
| excavations and discoveries have located | | | | toy sets of spools, rods, spokes, and sticks. |
| different types of wooden dolls from as early as | | | | Children could build their own wooden toy |
| 1100 BC. Ancient Greeks, Egyptians and Romans | | | | kingdoms of people, animals, vehicles and buildings |
| made miniature versions of all the things they | | | | using these wooden accessories. |
| were using in wood. These were obviously play | | | | John Lloyd Wright created Lincoln Logs in 1916. |
| things for their children. Some of these toys were | | | | These wooden accessories went a step further; |
| miniature animals like crocodiles with movable | | | | you could create an entire town with them. |
| jaws, carved horses, wooden dolls, chariots and | | | | One of the world's largest producers of wooden |
| spinning tops. | | | | toys, Brio (Toy Directory), have an annual |
| Production of wooden toys for sale started as | | | | production of more than 3.5 million cars, trains and |
| early as the 1500's in Germany. German artisans | | | | trucks today. This is even more than the annual |
| started selling their toys across Europe. Initially, | | | | car and truck production of the Ford Motor |
| European royals placed orders for such toys to | | | | Company of the United States. |
| commemorate any special royal occasion like a | | | | |