Au Natural Wooden Blocks Tutorial: DIY Gifts

As a mom of rugged little boys who would prefer to spend their days outside rolling in the mud (literally) I have seen countless amounts of broken action figures, monster truck mishaps... well lets just call it mass market toy carnage. I love to find eco friendly gifts (especially when they're handmade) they are versatile and can withstand the hours of the imaginative play. I found this tutorial from Life on Willowdale that inspired my own blocks. It's pretty simple but there are a few tricks you might find useful.

First pick out your wood.We had a few trees down from early spring storms- I wrangled up a limb or two and trekked back to the house where I then used some of my hubbys power tools to slice and dice the branches into various shapes and sizes. Tips I picked up from Amy's tutorial include:

• baking cut blocks at 200 degrees for 1 hour to kill any buggers 
• bees wax + olive oil finish 

 1 ounce beeswax + 4 ounce olive oil melt together on stove in double boiler- let cool to touch and rub on blocks! Easy peasy right?

I've seen these blocks hauled down the side walk on the back of a John Deere tractor and set up to protect the Playmobile Pirates. It doesn't matter whether your 2 or 6 or 32 the best part of playing with blocks is knocking them down, wouldn't you agree? For more great handmade gift ideas be sure to check out my Handmade Holidays Handpicked Gift Guide  you'll also find the ready to ship natural wooden blocks I featured in the boys edition from MonkeysOnTheRoof. 

Available now @ MonkeysOnTheRoof