gift suggestion/inspiration (for toddler-ish child?)
 

In response to a recent post (responding to a lack of Mother's day
posts), I'm sharing a photo of my most recently finished project.
photos.yahoo.com/andynewhouse
I made it for some friends who have a 1-year old - we're going to his
first birthday party in a couple weeks. Anyway, I wanted to make
something relatively simple yet vaguely educational. I ended up making
this toy/puzzle - stacking triangles, squares, and circles. Each shape
is 3/8" smaller in diameter or edge length than the one it sits on.
All the smallest shapes are soft maple, then red oak, walnut, cherry,
and finally white oak. Base is maple, posts are 3/8" walnut dowels. I
liked the contrasting colors, and had scraps of all of these. The most
interesting part for me was making a circle-cutting jig for the bandsaw
- I'd read about them a few times, but hadn't needed one until now -
fairly simple, yet very effective, even for the beveled cut on the
round end of the base.
Finish is a couple coats of dewaxed shellac, then a buffed carnauba wax
topcoat. All non-toxic, food-grade "ingredients".
I'm not exactly sure about the ideal age range for appreciating this -
he might have to wait and "grow into it", but for now, at least it's
nice blocks with rounded corners.
Hope this can provide some inspiration to others,
Andy