Our Wood: Made by Nature

Hand-painted wooden toys are special. Each one has its own unique grain line, its own little face, its own character.

Our toys are made with solid woods, made by nature. We mostly use ash, which is an absolutely stunning hardwood. The play bases are made from solid birch ply.
Ash is a light coloured wood that varies in colour from very pale yellow to grey. It has a “sweeping” grain line, a bit like water swirls. Birch ply is a solid plywood with some long, light, beautiful grain lines. It is a bit heavier, giving it the sturdiness and solidity wanted in a play base.

There are sometimes knots in the wood. Knots are not a defect, but a natural part of wooden toys. We do make sure that the knots are positioned in good places, not on a figure’s face for example. You will also sometimes see tiny pinprick holes here and there, but these are hardly visible and once again, a normal part of the wood. These beautiful markings are all made by God in His creation.

Unique and Individual

When we hand paint our animals we seldom use patterns. We use our artistic instinct and paint each little figure with love. Each figure we make is unique and no two toys you purchase from Good Shepherd Toys will ever be exactly the same!

Safe for your children

Each figure is finished with a natural, non-toxic oil to nourish and protect your wooden figures.

We use Danish oil from both Liberon and Rustins, which are food safe oils.

Our paints (which are under the oil) are also lead-free and completely safe.

General Care

When your figures get dirty from play, they can easily be dabbed or wiped clean with a soft, damp cloth. You don’t want to be using any cleaning agents, or to be rubbing hard on the figures; a gentle wipe or dab should do the trick.

Kids love to dunk things in water! Although our toys should not be left soaking and are not generally suitable for water play, the odd dunking won’t harm them. Simply leave them in the sun to dry for a few hours and they will be just fine.

Wooden toys are not indestructible. Although we make every effort to cut each figure on the strongest grain line, and adjust our patterns for strength, the figures could break if dropped from a height onto a hard floor. This is especially true for the delicate designs, like our bird range. more solid figures are pretty strong and can take quite a thrashing.

Should your little one (or you!) accidentally break one of these precious figures, don’t panic. A few drops of wood glue and your figure can be almost as good as new. Wooden toys should last generations, and a few scars will not remove anything from the joy they give.

We recommend that you oil your figures every few years – or sooner, if you see a lot of wear on them from playing. You can use any food safe / food grade natural oil; cutting board oil; or bee’s wax.