The toys you play with when you're a child are always different from those your children will play with. Over the past few generations, the toys played with in general have changed immensely. Today's toys are all made of plastic, with hundreds of movable parts and flashy extra pieces. They are electronic and noisy, knocking over your coffee table and keeping you awake at night. As cool as today's new toys are, they're rather obnoxious, and they don't tend to last very long.

There was a time though when toys were much simpler. They were hand crafted, made of carefully cut and whittled wood to last a life time and still be passed on. If you remember the wooden toys your grandparents gave you, you know that they were as tough as they came and that no simple drop from a couple stories up would destroy them like today's plastic toys.

Why not then consider giving your children wooden toys today, those classic hand crafted toys that won't break and offer just as much stimulation as any modern toy. It's a great purchase, and not only will it be a mainstay in their toy box, because it won't break in three weeks, it will be around for generations, as an heirloom, should it be kept around.

Handmade wooden toys come in all shapes and sizes, from the classic wooden train sets to the exciting cars, planes, and helicopters. Any of the high flying or fast racing vehicles your child might want can be hand cut from wood. There are dozens of different styles and models as well, toys that will not look the same as some other wooden train, and offer the choice to purchase more of them in the future. The beauty of hand crafted toys is that they are always a little different.

Wooden toys are not solely vehicles and machinery though. You can find hand crafted wooden games as well such as tic-tac-toe, or building blocks. You might remember your classic Lincoln Logs, but these are even better, hand crafted wooden blocks that will not break under the pressure of a young child's imagination.

There are toys available for children of all ages, from the youngest playing with a clacker, to your seven year old daughter playing with her hand made wooden doll cradle, to your sons staging an epic battle scene with their wooden fleet of trucks, cars, and airplanes.

The joys of handmade wooden toys is that they will be around for a lifetime, forever bound by the sturdiness of their design. They are fun and entertaining, but practical as well, and best of all, not beeping and flashing at three o clock in the morning.