Simple Wooden Toys To Make

Wooden baby rattle made by Peter Lewis

This baby rattle made by Peter Lewis using bits of wood left over from other projects.

Read more about how you can make one too.

Tumbling Clown

I found this image one day and decided it would be a simple scroll saw project and fun to make as a gift. Something like a desktop toy.

Sometimes with a tumbling toy like this, the clown rolls along a pair of parallel bars.

I wanted something that would cause the clown to roll back and forth, so I replaced the parallel bars with two pairs of elliptical shapes.

One shape is slightly flatter than the other.

Also put a pair of wooden beads to keep the clown on track, as well as to provide a bit more traction as the toy clown spins up and down the slope.

Pull Toy Dog

Free scroll saw woodworking pattern to make a pull toy. 

For this pull toy, I made the base in the shape of a bone, cartoon style.

Rainbow dragon

Here is another simple wooden toy you can make with bits of scrap wood.

Here I have used food coloring to paint it. The wheels are cut from 32mm dowel fixed onto 6mm dowel axles.

It is part of my scroll saw animal puzzle patterns you can download for free, nix, nothing nada, not a cent.

Pull Toy Bumble Bee

Scroll saw pattern for a bumble bee pull toy you can make,

The wings go up and down as you pull it along.

Follow this link for the full size print ready PDF pattern.

Pull Toy Bear

Another pull toy you can make using your scroll saw.

Based on what appears to be a well loved vintage toy.

Follow this link for the full size print ready PDF patterns.

Boy on trike

Here is a homemade wood toy you can make using a scroll saw. I made the plans based on a series of photos from an auction site.

The description included the overall size of the toy, which is quite small. I tried make to make one to this size, and found it quite difficult, so I made another set of plans at three times the original size.

As happens with a lot of my projects, I start off with much enthusiasm, and as the project progressed, the enthusiasm wanes.

So, the plans for what I have managed to do so far have been made available.

Ramp Walking Toys

How to make a toy that moves without batteries.

Read the article about my attempt at working out how ramp walking toys work.

Includes free print ready templates you can download.

I have tried to work out how a ramp walking toy works by extracting stills from a video of the walking wallaby.

Wooden Toy Wheels

How to make wooden toy wheels with treads.

I have three options shown here.

Step 1

Step 1

I start with two roughly square blanks.

Draw a circle to the diameter of the wooden toy wheel you want to make.

Draw lines at 30 degrees to mark out where to drill the holes.

Drill a hole at the center for the axle.

Step 2

Step 2
A simple jig I made to mount he drill guide at the required angle. Two boards hinged at the joint so I could change the angle.

If you are going to use a drill press, the setup will be very similar.

Now, I have to make a left and right hand wheel blank.

Drill two holes in line with where the drill bit meets the base board.
The distance between the holes is the same as the diameter of the circle.
The work piece is mounted on the right hand dowel.

Drill the holes one at a time, rotating the wooden blank at an angle of 30 degrees.

Step 3

Step 3

The process is repeated on the second wooden blank mounted on the left hand dowel.

Step 4

Step 4

This is where I cut the blanks with my scroll saw, making sure to cut on the outside of the line.

Step 5

Step 5

I have thought of at least 4 ways to assemble these wooden toy wheels.

Option 1.

Line up the treads on the left and right blanks. This option will show up any slight mismatches on the left and right sides.

Option 2.

This is pretty self explanatory. As the saying goes, if you can’t hide it, make a feature out of it. Rotate the wheel blanks so that the treads line up between each other. This way will hide any minor misalignment.

Option 3.

Maybe you want a wheel that is slightly wider than the others. For example, most of the trucks I have seen have wider wheels than the front steering wheel. Simply add a wooden disc between the two wheel blanks.

Option 4.

Same as option 3, make the diameter of the wooden disc smaller than the wheel blanks. So, instead of a ridge along the middle, there is a groove.

I have yet to try this option.

step 6

Step 6.

This is the setup I use to clean up the rough edges of my large wooden toy wheels.

The green represents what I would call a bench hook, and the blue reprents the wheel.

I have placed a dowel in the bench hook so that I can rotate the wheel while sliding the jig back and forth along the face of the disk sander.