Wooden toys, once a mere twinkle in the eye of a wood carver, have held their appeal and charm over the years.

Catherine Raynor, of Morin’s Fine Furniture and Refinishing in Lewiston, said that she has seen a trend toward wooden toys and children’s furniture over the last 10 years. In fact, Raynor makes trips to Lancaster, PA and Amish country throughout the year to purchase wooden toys for the showroom and she takes orders from people who want specific items in time for Christmas. She is currently restoring a customer’s baby doll high chair as well as another family’s wooden plane, wagon, and tractor.

“People like the idea of passing on wooden toys to the next generation. Wooden toys have character and have stood the test of time. They hold memories and stories for sharing,” said Raynor. “Wooden toys can be repaired. How many times has a child come to a parent with a broken plastic toy that can’t be fixed? I remember saving plastic kitchen sets and toys for my grandchildren and now I realize they aren’t at all what I want to pass on to them.”

Cheryl Cloutier, of Lewiston, says her love of refinished wooden toys is sentimental.

“I had a rocking chair that was mine as a child and I had it re-finished for my grandchild. Now Cathy is refinishing a doll high chair and I ordered an Amish-made baby carriage through her. I thought they would make a nice set, the rocker, the chair, and the carriage.”

Wooden toys needn’t be heirlooms, however. Companies, including Melissa & Doug, offer a wide range of wooden toys that may become the heirlooms of tomorrow.

Laurie and Shawn Rousseau, of Kennebunkport, have two daughters, Sophie, age 4, and Whitney, 16 months. Among the girls’ favorite toys are the Melissa & Doug wooden castle with wooden characters, a wooden birthday cake, and a dollhouse and schoolhouse, also wooden, from Pottery Barn Kids. “We love the Melissa & Doug toys,” said Laurie. “They are simply better quality products; they last longer and are made with better materials. As a mom, I think wooden toys are more appealing to the eye. I just like wooden toys better.”

Susan Hilton, of Warren, who has two children, Charlotte, 5, and William, 3, agreed. “I like wooden toys for the kids because they look like something Santa and his elves really could have made, which is magical. They are made from natural materials and when they are no longer played with or broken I don’t have to concern myself with the environmental impact of filling a landfill with non-biodegradable plastic. I also am concerned with the impact of making plastics. Wooden toys are simple, quiet, and when the kids play with them you can see them thinking and using their imaginations.”

Laurie St. Pierre, owner of Percy’s Burrow in the Auburn Mall, carries a full line of wooden toys and sees how children engage with them right in her store. “We have a whole kitchen set up in the store and the kids love to play in it. We have wooden pots and pans, wooden cupcakes that

can be decorated with markers then wiped clean to decorate again,” stated St. Pierre. “We carry predominately wooden toys, specifically Melissa & Doug, though we also have Roy Toy, a version of the old Lincoln Logs, that is Maine-made .”

Previously, St. Pierre’s customers had to travel 30 miles to Augusta, Freeport, or Brunswick to find a good inventory of Melissa & Doug toys. Today, she said, her customers tell her she has one of the largest selections of wooden toys they’ve seen. St. Pierre’s inventory also includes wooden train sets, work benches, and, in time for Christmas, 12 styles of wooden dollhouses for construction and decorating. “We can also special order items and have them here in three days,” said St. Pierre. “And we can help parents and grandparents select toys that are developmentally appropriate for a child.”

Whether an heirloom or newly bought from the store, wooden toys certainly have play appeal. For parents, it may be a wooden toy’s charm or durability. For some, it may be their “green” factor or simply that wooden toys are produced in the U.S.A.

Perhaps, however, it is, as St. Pierre has witnessed in her own store, the wooden toys beckon a child’s imagination. In a child’s midst, wooden blocks become castles and bridges that take them to far-off lands and wooden kitchens and cradles set the stage for a child’s story to magically unfold the play.

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