An article on children's wooden toys up to the present day. The author points out that archaeological finds show typologies still current today and that wooden toys have been made since Egyptian times. Bruegel's 1560 painting of children playing also provides evidence of a number of different types. The author also discusses and illustrates carved and hand-painted toys from the Alpine valleys of Bavaria, Thuringia and Val Gardena, which were widely disseminated in the 18th and 19th centuries, sold at the fairs in Nuremberg and Leipsig, amongst others. Both hand crafted and industrially-made toys are illustrated.