I wish it were acceptable for grown ups to play with toys (get your head out of the gutter, Stacy). Picking out, making, arranging, and playing with Brooks’ wood toys is probably way more exciting to me than it should be! And when it comes to baby toys, I’m a fan of the finer things. Problem is, my wallet isn’t. As much as I would LOVE to stock Brooks’ toybox with all of Grimm’s beautiful wooden block sets, I would have a hard time justifying that kind of expense! Back when we were expecting (and when we had two salaries), I pulled the trigger on a few of Grimm’s block sets and love them dearly. Probably more than Brooks ever will to be honest. But the more I’ve handled them, the more I have noticed how easy it would be to reproduce myself. So in true @inspo_messydesk fashion, I impulsively ordered all the things that day and made it happen over the weekend!

When it comes to toys, I value quality over quantity. I used to cringe at the thought of having dozens of plastic, flashing, singing toys fill my home. For a while I accepted this as my fate but then I realized that, just like I don’t have to give my 8 year old a cell phone, it doesn’t have to be this way! You may see this as selfish, and in no way am I shaming anyone who is delivering a joyful childhood to their babies in the form of plentiful plastic fun, but there are a few reasons that I do my best to resist it. Here they are:

Reasons I Prefer Wood Toys Over Plastic

1. My own sanity. Our babies are growing up in our home, yes. But our home is also the place that my husband and I foster our relationship. It is also the place where I relax and enjoy conversations with wine in the evenings. It is also the place where I seek tranquility and productivity while the baby is napping. I believe it is important to keep my house an image of what makes me feel good, and to me, dozens of plastic toys are a stressful eyesore. If I’m going to look at toys all over my house, I want them to be something I don’t hate looking at! Is that selfish? Sort of, but that’s just how I feel and you better not try and mom-shame me for it!
2. To encourage imagination. In my opinion, we (as a society) have trained our children to be easily bored. Babies are just as entertained by empty water bottles as they are by cell phones, but somewhere along the way they begin to expect to be entertained by the things they play with instead of using those things to create entertainment.  If the only toys I gave Brooks were the kind that had working buttons and made noises and flashed lights, he would begin to find the simpler toys too boring. I want Brooks to learn to entertain himself and use his imagination! If I give Brooks a plastic toy car that makes its own battery-run engine noises, he doesn’t need to make them himself! (Please understand that I don’t find anything wrong with such plastic fun toys, Brooks does have some and it’s nearly impossible to avoid them completely! I just personally try to limit them and encourage Brooks to play with the simple things). 
3. Wooden toys are heirlooms that last a lifetime. When made well, such wooden masterpieces will last forever and make wonderful generational hand-me downs! For example, Brooks has a wooden rocking horse from his grandpa and I think that is just about the coolest thing ever. I would LOVE for the block sets I make Brooks to one day be enjoyed by my grandchildren.
4. The Ocean. I’m a recycler. I hate the idea of plastic floating all over the sea. I prefer wood to plastic in all of my home goods and utensils for this reason, so naturally I hold these same standards to the toys I fill my sons room (and house) with!
5. They are so cute! I genuinely love the way a nice wooden toy set looks. It makes me want to be a kid again! So if they inevitably end up in the middle of my living room overnight, I’m not going to hate it! In fact, I’ll probably be playing with it on the floor with my coffee before the baby wakes up…

Now that you know WHY I have such a preference for wooden toys, I’m going to share with you how I made my colorful wooden peg doll and stacking houses set! For Brooks’ first birthday, I have a goal of making him a handmade wooden block set. I plan to pull out all the stops for this project – from selecting the wood source to cutting, staining, and sealing the wood – and viewed this peg doll project as a practice run. I didn’t expect it to turn out as well as it did. Y’all… this was too easy and fun to ever allow myself to drop the dough on a fancy name brand wood toy set again! Here’s how it went down:

DIY Wooden Peg Dolls and Stacking Houses

Materials: (ALL of these are found on amazon and I’ve added links to each!)

Wooden peg dolls (unfinished) – $8.99

Wooden stacking boxes (unfinished) – $26

Liquid water color (non-toxic) – $7.99

Water-based natural wood sealer (full size) – $26

 Paint Pens (Optional for faces) – $18

Foam brushes/ Sponge (variety pack of 20) – $6.96

Fine Sand Paper + Wax Paper for Drying

Items used (all linked above)

My first little practice peg doll (ended up making the rest sans lines)

How to Make the Wood Peg Doll & Toy House Set

1. Sand wood to your liking. Some of the peg dolls were a little coarse so I decided to smooth them up beforehand! The boxes especially, sand those suckers up to make them splinter free and so the stain goes on smooth!

2. Prepare your stain – grab a shallow bowl and start with yellow. Pour your yellow water color into the bowl and dip your sponge, then begin to work your way around the doll, pressing the sponge into the wood and directing the stain to the desired coverage making both the “clothes” and “hat”. Work slowly and below the line you desire because the stain will bleed up (or down for the hat)! Saturate wood with enough stain to achieve desired vibrancy, then set on wax paper and allow a few hours to dry! Stain the boxes as well.

To Achieve bright rainbow of colors by mixing dye:

Start with Yellow and for each new doll/box add a few more drops of red to make orange, then completely red, then magenta, then purple. After purple, rinse/wash bowl and sponge and mix yellow/green to make a lime green, add more green to make a deep green, and then add blue to make shades of teal. The shades are really up to you, but it works best to start with the light warm colors and work your way to the cool ones, saving greens for last.

3. Add Faces (optional). Once dry, use your paint pen to draw a face on your dolls if you’d like! I think they look good with or without, and the Grimms set (my inspiration behind this DIY) is faceless.

4. Seal the COLOR ONLY (coat #1). This part is tricky, so be sure to follow my directions exactly. Also, I gave a Video tutorial on how to do this on my Instagram (saved on my highlights titled “Peg Dolls”) – I recommend that you watch this before doing it yourself! I will do my best to explain, but to visualize it is best!

Basically, you are going to need to seal the color dye with your natural wood sealer into the wood before you seal the un-painted parts. Since the recommended wood sealer is water based (like the non-toxic dye), the color will bleed into the unpainted portions of the dolls if you brush the entire doll at once. So, work your way with the sealer on a foam brush very carefully around your dye lines, brushing down and allow this to dry completely (2 hours). This will lock the color in to the wood before you go over the entire doll with your wood sealer so the color won’t bleed! The boxes are entirely painted, so you can just brush those all at once and let them dry. Although, you’ll want to start with your lighter boxes first because the colors will bleed onto the foam brush on your first coat!

5. Seal the entire thing (coat #2). Now that the dye has been “locked” in to the wood, you can comfortably go in and seal the entire doll all together! I would do a test on part of the doll first to make sure your color has been set, if not, repeat step 4. If doing boxes as well, go ahead and give those a second coat too! Again, allow 2+ hours to dry on wax paper.

6. Add your final seal (coat #3). If this were any other project, I would stop at a 2nd coat (maybe even a first). But since I am making this to be chewed and slobbered on by my baby and kids for years to come, I want to make certain it is sealed well. Tedious, but a fun project and worth the effort! Seal a third and final time and allow to dry on wax paper.

7. Cure for one week. Again, a step I would skip if it weren’t going in my baby’s mouth. But since it is, I’m checking all the boxes! Allow your toy set to “cure” (sit out in a well ventilated area) for at least a week to give the wood time to fully absorb all the color and sealer.

8. Admire and Play! My favorite part has been watching Brooks reach for these little guys – he picks them out of a crowd of toys and it makes me so proud to see my hard work being loved by him! Scroll to see some photos of the finished product!

There you have it! A beautiful and super budget friendly alternative to the crazy expensive masterpieces you find on a fancy online toy shop! If you’re a toy snob like me, give these a try, I promise you’ll love the process just as much as the product!

For more on motherhood (or what I’ve learned from it so far), check out a few of my other favorite posts! Baby-Proofing your Marriage, My Breastfeeding FAQ’s, Establishing a Consistent Nap Schedule, 10 Things I Didn’t Expect Postpartum, Baby Product MVP’s, Prepping for Baby with Freezer Meals, and more!

Wishing you all a FUN FULLED weekend! Go play with those babes!

Kelsie