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There is a certain quaint charm that attracts me to wooden toys. The modern brightly coloured, Disney themed plastic play gadgets offers only a temporary moment of enjoyment and is usually forgotten as a new one takes it's place or is smashed to smithereens by an over zealous child. But wooden toys have a sense of longevity, infact I have some of my old wooden toys still clattering around, much used and much loved but still offering that certain charm. So I was extremely delighted to have been introduced in this segment of Mummy Travels to some real life toy makers.

Wood 4 Kidz is a private company run by Mr. and Mrs. Van Cuylenburg, started in 1975 the company was initially set up to export handicrafts, but later changed to the export of wooden toys, due to the demand in the field. Initially they only concentrated on exporting wooden toys, but the company was compelled to start supplying to the local market as the interest in the toys rose. The Wood 4 Kidz products are now available at the Good Market every Saturday, and also a real-life “Gepetto's” workshop is in existence in their residence in Kaldemulla, Moratuwa. Mrs. Van Cuylenburg says the toy production is more of a hobby now, after this many years in business and they are inspired to continue because of all the joy their toys bring to children.

What initially attracted me to the toys at Wood 4 Kidz, is their colourful and excellent craftsmanship. Extremely creative in the designs offered, the company uses rubber wood to make their toys, an environmentally friendly crop. MDF is also used in some of the bigger pieces that they make. The paints used are Lankem Robbialac paints which provides them with regular reports pertaining to the non-toxic paints used, that meets the international toy standards. Safety standards are also met when using little screws etc to complete the toy at hand. The novelty about wooden toys is that they can be adaptable to all ages, at Wood 4 Kidz, they offer a selection of educational as well as play toys.

There are pull along animals for the younger ones, to jigsaws and word puzzles for the older children. The toys available are typically for the 18 months to 5 years of age. Each toy within each age group offers the correct stimulation for the child of that particular age. With these specific toys hand to eye coordination coupled with reasoning are practiced and developed. From colour puzzles to jigsaw puzzles to great many other varieties of pieces, Wood 4 Kidz produces their toys with imagination being the key element. There are other novel items like play sets, where using their imagination the child can play garage or play town etc using the wooden toys provided.

Mrs. VanCuylenburg says that sometimes children opt for their wooden toys over their plastic toys since wooden toys are able to push the child into that extra level of imaginative play where they are the creators of their own stories, rather than the plastic toys which also come with inbuilt lights and sounds thus curtailing the imagination.

Wood 4 Kidz can make toys on demand, they also make made to measure toys for children with learning difficulties who just might need larger knobs for easier grasping etc. Interested customers can contact them through their Facebook page www.facebook.com/wood4kidz or www.facebook.com/kingdomtoyslanka. As a small cottage industry, their future plan is to make the wooden toys market larger in Sri Lanka. They also want their toys to be available to all children in every class and society. As an adult I was enthralled with the range of items Wood 4 Kidz had available, colourful, cute and beautifully crafted. But also being a parent I was happy to acquire a toy that would offer my children that extra mental stimualtion that they require. We wish Wood 4 Kidz all the success in their future endeavours.

By Mayuri Jayasinghe