Peter Huebner wrote:
In article ,
says...
Hi!

As a new grandfather, I would like to make wooden toys for my
grandson. Does anyone have any suggestions for suitable books or
internet sites for toy ideas and / or patterns?

TIA

Ian

About the best wooden toys I've ever seen ( and used, I got one of
these sets when I was about 3 y.o. and it was still in use when I
was
10 or 12) are simply wooden blocks and plates, with holes drilled
and
connected by wooden dowels (some with heads) that I could use to
build gazillions of my own wooden toys.

You make him a set of these (I suggest beech as a material, doesn't
need finishing) and he should get many miles out of it.

this webpage shows the principle:
http://www.nix-als-spielen.de/matador-klassik.htm
... the one I had was a lot more primitive than that though. Well it
was 50 years ago! The fact that they're still made and going strong
suggests something good to me.

Feel free to email me if you want a closer description of the basic
parts. (see message footer for address)

Now _that_ is _sweet_.

If one is going to make such a set, I think it would be clever to make
it with the same hole spacings and diameters as Meccano parts, then if
the kid has Meccano (and Grandpa, you make _sure_ he has Meccano or
Vex--Vex is Meccano that died and went to heaven) then he can combine
the two.

--
--
--John
to email, dial "usenet" and validate
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)