Simple Puzzles for Toddlers - Part 4

When making one puzzle, keeping track of the pieces is not a problem. However, when making a batch of them, you must keep track of every part and which tray it fits.

 Why? Because when you are cutting puzzles on a scroll saw, no two puzzles are precisely the same. If you don't keep the puzzle pieces together, somehow, there is a high risk that they will not fit together.

Handmade Wooden Toy Puzzles Cut and Numbered To Keep The Pieces Together

The only way I know to keep track of them is to either bag them or mark all pieces. I don't particularly appreciate dealing with the bags, so I number the sections. If you look closely at the photo, you will see that every puzzle piece and the tray is numbered. They also have numbers on the back. If I were to dump them all into a bucket and shake them up, I could still put them back in the right place.

 See the completed puzzles at the links below:
Toddlers Puzzle, Rooster, Chicken
Toddlers Puzzle, Butterfly, Very Easy Assembly
Toddlers Puzzle, Bunny Rabbit
Toddlers Cat Puzzle

Simple Puzzles for Toddlers - Part 5

I don't use spring clamps very much. They are not adjustable and always seem to clamp too hard or too little. Plastic spring clamps will slip easily out of place. I have tried to develop some way to make the jaws less slippery, but I have been unsuccessful so far.

Handmade Wooden Toy Puzzle Ready To Glue Up Butterfly

For clamping the backs onto my handmade tray puzzles, the spring clamps are almost perfect. They have just the right amount of pressure and no slipping. One of the best things is that they don't take up much room. When you are making a lot of puzzles, you can easily stack them while the glue cures.

 Best of all they are cheap. These spring clamps cost about $1.00 each at Harbor Freight.

 See the completed puzzles at the links below:

Toddlers Puzzle, Rooster, Chicken
Toddlers Puzzle, Butterfly, Very Easy Assembly
Toddlers Puzzle, Bunny Rabbit
Toddlers Cat Puzzle

Simple Puzzles for Toddlers - Part 3

When making tray puzzles, I like to make the tray backs from tempered hardboard. It's flat cheap and sturdy enough to do the job. This is the last I have been able to find locally that is smooth on both sides so I may be looking for another material for my puzzle tray backs.

I always cut the backs for my puzzle trays a little larger than the puzzle and then later trim and them to size. This makes it much easier the glue up.

I cut this batch on my scroll saw. I didn't have a factory edge to run against the bandsaw or table saw fence and since they were oversized intentionally, there was not any reason to have a perfect edge.

Handmade Wooden Toy Puzzle Tray Backs Made From Tempered Hardboard

See the completed puzzles at the links below:

Toddlers Puzzle, Rooster, Chicken
Toddlers Puzzle, Butterfly, Very Easy Assembly
Toddlers Puzzle, Bunny Rabbit
Toddlers Cat Puzzle

Simple Puzzles for Toddlers - Part 2

I'm making these from a premium pine board purchased from Home Depot. This is not the construction grade lumber. It's what Home Depot call appearance boards. It's clear S4S with no knots. Not the cheap stuff. I'm using it because this is what I had on hand that was the right size. I cut the board into 3-1/2 inch squares for 21 puzzles. Enough five sets of four with one extra.

I put blue painters tape on each square. I do this to make removing the patterns easy. The blue tape will peel off without leaving any residue. I have tried gluing the patterns directly on to the wood, but it just makes a mess that I have to clean up with mineral spirits.

The patterns are applied to the tape after spraying the back with 3M 77 spray adhesive and rolled with a rubber roller.

Entrance holes for the scroll saw blade and the eyes are then drilled. I like to drill the entrance hole at a point where three or more lines come together to help hide the hole.

Handmade Wooden ToyPuzzle Ready for the Scroll Saw

Simple Puzzles For Toddlers - Part 1

When my grandson asked me to make these puzzles. I wasn't sure he would like them. He is able to assemble larger more complicated puzzles large puzzles with more parts. I was wrong he likes these puzzles a lot, but not as much as the dinosaur puzzles I made for him

Handmade Wooden Toy Butterfly Tray Puzzle For Toddlers

These are ideal for toddlers three years and older. These puzzles are much easier for small children to assemble than the typical stand-up puzzle you see everywhere. The trays make them easy to store, help the little ones and mom to carry them and keep track of the pieces.

Handmade Wooden Toy Rooster Tray Puzzle For Toddlers

They are not designed to stand alone, but if you are careful you can do it. My grandson does this.

Handmade Wooden Toy Black Cat Tray Puzzle For Toddlers

Handmade Wooden Toy White Rabbit/Bunny Tray Puzzle For Toddlers

Which Finish Should I Use On My Toys?

It's not a simple choice when you intend to sell them or even give them away. You have to consider the age of the person the toy is designed for. There are several finishes to choose from when finishing wooden toys.

• Drying Oils
• Non-Drying Oils
• Polyurethane
• Shellac
• Paint

There may be others, but these are the ones I have used.

If I am making a toy intended for a child under three years old that puts everything in their mouth and likes to chew on things No finish at all is probably the best choice. These toys should be very simple and made from woods like hard maple. Although ti its used by many toymakers, I would not put any sort of oil on these toys.

In my totally unscientific testing, I find that kids will almost always go for the painted toys. I have seen a few exceptions to this, but not many. Where the kids get to look at the toys, the painted toys may rule the day. If selling online adults are usually the shoppers. They seem to like to see the wood grain, but not always. I have had customers tell me that they prefer the rustic look. Then there is what colors to use. If you want to sell your toys, you have to pick colors that someone you do not know will like.


For kids three years old and up, my target market. My rule is anything but non-drying oil finishes is good. All of the finishes are nontoxic when cured.

In my online store and in social media that gets the most views is a pine bodied hot rod finished with shellac. It is rapidly overtaken by a pinewood car finished with polyurethane. Being sure what drives these things is very difficult. In this case, I think that the photography may have something to do with it. The difference is quite significant. Within the first week, it passed the longstanding top listing that had been there for more than a year.

32 Ford Sedan Hot Rod finished with amber shellac, and a bit of acrylic paint is the current leader for the last 12 months in my Etsy shop.

A Hot Rod 27 T-Coupe is the up and coming challenger poised to overtake the leader after only a short time.

My top five listings are a mix of polyurethane, shellac, paint and unfinished toys. I know this is not really a scientific method, but I work with the data that I have. Recently I posted a link to a painted car I was making on my Pinterest board. After the posting, my Pinterest views went up by more than 300k. I have a suspicion that this one will upset the apple cart. How did I pick the colors? I didn't, my grandson picked colors that I never would have chosen.

Wooden Toy Car - Bad Bob Motors Coupe - Amber Shellac - Green - Yellow

Confused yet. I am.

My current take on all of this is that it depends. I work a lot with pine. If the grain looks nice, I will use polyurethane. Otherwise, it will get paint or shellac. When I make custom orders, I make extras. Just in case one is damaged or broken I have more than one and I don't need to start over. Sometimes one of these will have some beautiful grain. I will save that one to finish with polyurethane. Playsets pretty much demand paint. Toys made from MDF always get painted. I never apply any of the wood blocks I make and would not use any kind of finish on blocks.

Finishing toys are difficult. You may find that finishing is the most time consuming and difficult part of making toys.  It's a complicated issue. I have only touched the surface of.  I have more posts planned to discuss it.

Using PVC For Toys

This is a copy from my post in the ToymakingPlans.com Community Forum on using PVC.  Some of this will apply to any tubing, Not just PVC. If you want to see the whole thread click here.

Wooden Toy Space Ship Using PVC Tubing

 

My one safety concern about using PVC pipe is the size of the hole. No round hole in any toy should be small enough that a finger can get stuck in it. If a child gets their finger stuck in a round hole it can cut off the blood circulation and possibly cause the loss of a finger. Kids are going to put their fingers in a hole. If PVC pipe or any small tubing is used on a toy there needs to be a plug in the hole so it is not deep enough for a child to get their fingers caught in it.  This means that the pipe/tubing must to large or short to get a finger caught or filled with a plug.  I got this from the testing document published by the Consumer Product Safety Commission. I have almost stopped using round holes in toys because of this.

I would not hesitate to use PVC a toy if I had a suitable safe use for it that wood wasn't good for. One of my grandson's favorite toys is a bucket full of short 3/4 inch PVC pipe and a bunch of fittings. I made this for him after watching him fascinated with some PVC pieces he found in my Aquarium junk box. He is four now and has been playing with these since he was two. PVC has sharp edges but this is easy to fix with a bit of sandpaper. He doesn't put them in his mouth. Never has that I know of. Is it safe? All of our water flows through PVC.

Working with PVC provides some challenges. It's slippery so you need to be extra careful to hold it securely. You can cut it with a saw but I don't do this unless it is too big for the  PVC cutter. The PVC chips go everywhere when cutting it with a miter saw. There must be son static electricity. The PVC chips stick to everything. PVC Bends easily when warm. If you heat it enough it can be bent to just about any shape you want. I have made handles out of it by heating in the pipe an oven and bending it to shape on a form. Once it is cooled it will retain the shape.

PVC cutting tools are cheap. Harbor Freight sells one that works well so long as you are careful to keep everything straight and square while you are cutting. The Harbor Freight blades are soft and the edge bends quite easily, With careful use, it works well.  It costs $6.99 for the Harbor Freight tool. Better quality tools run in the $35 range.

Gluing PVC to PVC requires a solvent-based glue. It cures very fast you only have a few seconds of working time. With PVC pipe, I like to dry fit and mark all the parts so I know where to align them. A Sharpie pen works great for this. I have never tried it but I don't think PVC would work well with wood glues. You will probably need to use epoxy to glue it to wood.

Will I use PVC for making toys? Probably not. Using PVC would add complexity to the build. More parts mean it takes longer to build and costs more. If you're selling your toys you will need to sell it for a higher price. There might be some reason to use it but I today I can't think of one.