Our story
Made by Sam Whitaker, Siloam Springs.
I taught kindergarten for eleven years, which is a long time to watch what children actually play with. It is not the thing with the batteries. It is the block that fits in a hand, the puzzle that comes apart and goes back together, the truck that survives being dropped down the stairs.
Hollow Tree Toys makes those things from maple and birch offcuts, mostly from a cabinet shop in Siloam Springs that would otherwise burn them. Every piece is cut on a scroll saw, sanded until it is soft enough to teethe on, and finished with beeswax and jojoba. When something is colored, it is colored with plant dye and then sealed; most of it I leave the color of the wood.
No paint, no plastic, nothing with small parts for the little ones. I test everything on the nephews, who are thorough.
