The UPS truck showed up with several large packages that need to be signed for. We waited eagerly for dad to open them, since they were addressed to him . What could they be? No one was having a birthday.

Soon dad came in from the field and quickly opened the boxes to display a scroll saw and belt sander. He made room for them in the shop and taught my brother and I the safety rules. We took turns learning to use them, breaking a few scroll saw blades in the process.

A few days late another box arrived. This on was full of wheels and pegs of all different sizes. In the bottom of the box was a book full of wooden toy patterns. We spent the next few months working with dad to create wooden toys for all of our cousins and siblings. He did the cutting and gluing, while we sanded and polished. It was a Christmas I will never forget.

It never ceases to amaze me at how loved wooden toys are. My children have several, and these cars get taken everywhere. They are always out, being zoomed across the kitchen floor or off of the coffee table.

The wooden cars are the first to be sold when the game has a car lot in it. They are the first choice of something to bring when we travel.

Some days it is the Automoblox that get drug everywhere, the mix and match parts being exchanged to make new and different cars.  Some days it is the simple homemade ones with their natural finishes.  Other days, it is the simple little one that they have had for years that go zooming all around the house. 

Recently I asked my almost four year old what he would like for his birthday. He ran to his room and came back with a favorite wooden car, stating, "More of these!"

Wooden toys would make an easy gift! I went on a quest to find a source of wooden cars that were different from the ones we already had. I wanted something that would add to their games, increase the imagination. I wanted something different from what I had found before.

I also wanted something durable, knowing that what ever I got must be ready to go from the garden to the bathtub, and last generations!

Looking over my children's toy supply, I realized that they had very few trucks, other than Tonkas. I searched and found that there are a number of smaller scale wooden trucks available. Now, the question is: Service vehicles or construction equipment?

As I searched on-line, for the perfect gift for my four year old, I was struck by the bright colors and variety of the construction equipment. The games such toys would inspire!

Already my boys love to build roads in the garden and on the carpet, drawing lines with their hands. What would they do if they had road building equipment?

I can just imagine them working together to design four-lane highways through the cities and little country roads that lead off to farm houses and barns.

 It wasn't until I thought of barns and farms that tractors came to mind. 

These delightful little tractors all feature moving parts.  The trailer is detachable, while the forklift and bulldozer move up and down.  Now what child doesn't like to scoop and dump?  What farm is complete without such equipment?

I think I will get grandpa to build a new wooden barn!