Yes! You can be a Toymaker! BridgeWood Toymaker ‘Love Letter’ kits were designed to be easy enough for complete beginners to make beautiful toys for their loved ones. Follow our short ‘Toymaking Basics’ video tutorials to learn the tips and tricks to make toys easily. And don’t worry. Your Toymaker kit also contains the tools needed to quickly fix mistakes.

Can you make toys?

Yes! You can.

Great question! And we have two great reasons.

Safety. And Quality.

Let’s start with safety. When it comes to children’s toys, safety is a MUST.

Yes. You can get cheap, unfinished blocks at the hobby store or online. You can get paint at the store or use what you already have in your craft room at home. But before you do, ask yourself these questions:

• Has every tool and toy component been tested for chemicals or toxins?
• Is the wood safe for mouthing babies, or is it a soft wood (like pine) that will leave splinters in your baby’s tender gums?
• Some woods are naturally toxic; is it a safe, approved wood for children’s toys?
• Does the paint have toxic pigments that a mouthing child could ingest?
• Are the glues and materials in my crafting supplies clean and free from toxins?
• Does the paint give off volatile organic compounds (VOCs)?

When you use a Toymaker Kit, you KNOW that every single item is safe and can be used to create toys. We have done the research, consulted toy-safety experts, and had the toymaking supplies tested so that you can have peace of mind making beautiful and SAFE toys.

This leads us to Quality.

The Toymaker is not a ‘cheap craft.’ Every component was carefully curated with quality, durability, beauty, and longevity in mind.

The wooden blocks are made from the highest quality, tight-grained hardwoods, and carefully hand-inspected for beauty. Every wooden block is hand-sanded and given a softening chamfer, making the toys more comfortable for tiny hands to hold.

The toy-safe paint is creamy and luscious, and the colors are BridgeWood’s secret recipes. You cannot find these beautiful, toy-safe paint colors ANYWHERE except BridgeWood, and this student-grade paint gives you a wonderful, artistic experience.

Your toymaking tools can be used hundreds of times before they will start to wear down. We’ve used the same excellent tools to make thousands of toys, and they are still going strong!

If you were to source your own similar quality tools, wood, and paint; and spend the time researching toy safety to make safe playable toys, it would take you over a month, and you would spend over $800. We should know. That’s what it cost us when we started creating toys without a Toymaker Kit.

If you take the time to make heirloom Love Letter toys  for a beloved child, you want to use the BEST. Your homemade toys will last for generations of playtime with normal use and care. That is only possible with high-quality paint, wood, and sealer, and that is precisely what you get in the Toymaker Kit.

Oh! And remember! You only have to buy the Toymaker Starter Kit ONCE.

So long as you keep your toymaking tools separate and clean (Remember, safety first!), you can repeatedly reuse your tools and stencils to create beautiful, long-lasting toys at significantly lower prices.

You and the little ones you love deserve the best. With the Toymaker Kit, that is precisely what you get.

Fixing mistakes is easy! The great news is that, with wooden toys and silk screens, you can choose to either completely start over from scratch or make small changes to fix tiny mistakes. Your Toymaker kit comes with sandpaper and a detail brush, which you can use to fix almost any slip-up.

We made some videos to show you tips and tricks for quickly fixing mistakes. Check it out these easy-to-follow tutorials and move forward confidently, knowing you will do great.

This answer depends on how complicated you want to make your toys and the size of your Toymaker kit.

For very simple projects, the 9-block Love Letters kit could take a complete beginner 4 to 6 hours to make. Similarly, a 36-block kit will take around 8 to 12 hours.

But most folks will find they want to take more time, adding more color and images to their toys. In this case, a beginner should prepare to take at least 6-8 hours on their 9-block Toymaker kit and 10-15 hours on their 36-block Toymaker kit.

Experienced Toymakers can finish a complicated 9-block Love Letter set in under 3 hours and a 36-block Love Letter set in under seven.

If you are hosting a ‘Block Party’, expect that it will take each person thirty minutes to do two simple blocks. That estimate includes the instruction time to show your guests how to use the silk screen stencils and presumes they only make simple patterns.

Note: These times do not include the recommended drying time for the sealer. Although thin coats of sealer will be dry to the touch within fifteen minutes, we recommend at least 72 hours before they are gift-wrapped or stacked to avoid sticking and paint transfer.

Absolutely! BridgeWood Toymaker kits are great to do either by yourself or with your loved ones! Your Toymaker kit has enough tools for one person, but if you want more folks to join the fun, check out these brush packages. That way, everyone has the chance to make beautiful toys.

Date Night: A perfect activity for you and your special someone.

Family Time: For spending quality time with the ones you love the most.

Party Pack: Whether it is a baby shower, ‘Girls’ Night In,’ or holiday celebrations, hosting a ‘Block Party’ is a great way to bring people together!

Any age!

Your colorful DIY toys will be great for newborn eyesight development.

They will be great for tiny babies grasping and stacking skills, which helps to refine motor development. Babies also start absorbing important lessons, such as volume, weight, and sound, through playing with these educational toys.

They are wonderful for teaching toddlers colors, numbers, and letters. And for building castles and towers!

Older children can practice spelling and reading with their Love Letters.

And don’t forget the love notes, inspiring thoughts, and silly messages that teenagers and adults can leave for each other around the house!

Note: We do not recommend that small children place the finished toys in their mouths. Although the toys are completely safe, their tiny but powerful teeth can scrape off the paint. We recommend that you play with the toys with your small child, using them as an educational toy to help their little brains grow. Remove the blocks when they start to mouth them.

Yes! And… no. BridgeWood kits are designed to be an adult craft and can be used by children six years old and up. But it is up to you, as the adult in their life, to decide whether they are ready.

Every child has different capabilities at different ages. Ask yourself these questions when deciding whether your child is ready to make their own toys. Do they have good eye-hand coordination? Can they sit still to listen to the directions on the ‘How-To’ videos? The paint is designed to last for many years; are they responsible enough to immediately clean up paint spills or messes? You know your kiddo! What is the right answer for them?

For young children, we recommend sitting next to them and making your toys together! You will be building memories as you create beautiful things together. Someday, they might find themselves playing with those same toys with their children, telling them about the happy day they spent making them with you.

Wouldn’t that be amazing?!?

Want more tips? Check out ‘How To Make Toys With Children‘!

Embrace the ding! That mark is not an imperfection. That dent on your homemade toy is capturing a memory of happy playtime, laughter, and making memories with loved ones.

The only way your Made-With-Love toys will remain perfect is if you place them high on a shelf, out of the reach of children. They won’t be built into rainbow castles. Paint won’t be scraped away by tiny teeth. They will stay pristine. Yes, they will be beautiful. But they also won’t be filled with the memories of playtime and laughter.

If you let children play with your Made-With-Love toys, their edges will start to wear, a patina from little fingers will begin to appear, and the paint will slowly get scuffed away. They may not look ‘perfect’.

But every dent, ding, and scrape will be a memory of your loved ones laughing, playing, and learning together. Treasure it! A life well lived is a beautiful thing!

That said, if the dings from playtime bug you, you can quickly fix them. Take out your detail brush. A stroke of fresh paint and a swab of the sealer should get your toys looking tip-top once again