Wooden Toys is the name retrofitted to the very first LEGO toys to be created, thus making them the oldest theme. The first toy was made by hand in 1932 and was exclusive to the shop owned by the LEGO Creator, Ole Kirk Christiansen.
History and Sets[]
Beginnings of The LEGO Group[]
The LEGO Group began in the workshop of Ole Kirk Christiansen, a carpenter from Billund, Denmark, who began making wooden toys in 1932. In 1934, his company came to be called LEGO[1], and expanded to producing plastic toys in 1940. In 1949, LEGO began producing the now famous interlocking bricks, calling them Automatic Binding Bricks. These bricks were based largely on the design of Kiddicraft Self-Locking Bricks, which were then released in the United Kingdom in 1947.
A profile of a LEGO duck
Products[]
A wooden LEGO duck
One of the first and best-known products released by LEGO in the 1930's was the Wooden Duck. The duck was later remade in LEGO bricks as 2011 LEGO Duck. Another well-known wood toy is Teddy Bill. However, there were many others.
Teddy Bill's truck
Horse and cart
These sets ended production in the 1960's.
End of Wood Toy manufacturing[]
As the plastic toys started gaining popularity in the mid-1950's, the production of wooden toys was scaled back. The few wood and plastic toys that remained were marketed under the name Bilofix in 1959 and all non-system toys were finally discontinued in 1960. On February 4, 1960, the LEGO department for wooden toy production was struck by lightning and burned down for the third time. After much consideration, it was decided to discontinue production of wooden toys and to concentrate solely on plastic toys. Therefore, the departement for wooden toy production wasn't rebuilt. As a result, two of the brothers, Karl Georg and Gerhardt, decided to leave the LEGO company and start their own separate business, called BILOfix. LEGO had produced at least several hundred different wooden toys and plastic toys designs since 1932. In their 28 years of production, none of the wooden toys were ever sold outside of Denmark.
Legacy[]
At the time, the distinguishing feature of the wooden toys was their high quality. The need for only the best is still found even in today's LEGO sets. The LEGO Duck, in particular, is a symbol of the LEGO company's early years. The wooden toys are displayed in toy museums.
List of Wooden Toys[]
O. K. Christiansen (1932 - 1934)[]
- 101 - bus large
- 102 - bus small
- 103 - bus small
- 104 - truck
- 105 - truck
- 106 - truck
- 107 - fire truck with ladder
- 108 - fire truck with hose
- 109 - crane truck
- 110 - sport car
- 111 - race car
- 112 - train large
- 113 - road roller
- 114 - tram
- 115 - airplane
- 116 - ferry
- 117 - ambulance small
- 118 - ambulance large
- 119 - locomotive small
- 120 - railroad cars
- 121 - piggy bank
- 122 - piggy bank
LEGO (1934-1960)[]
| Image | # | Set | Number of pieces | Minifigures | Price | Release |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 662/1 | Wooden Truck 6 | 1950 | |||
 | 6/1 | Chicken (ælling) | 1 | before 1950 | ||
 | 6/2 | Dog (Hund) | 1 | before 1950 | ||
 | S/8 | Chicken (Høne) | 1 | before 1950 | ||
 | S/8 | Cat (Medium) | 1 | Mid 1930's - Late 1950's | ||
 | S/8 | Wooden Lamb | 1 | |||
 | S/9 | Terrier (Hund) | 1 | before 1950 | ||
 | S/9 | Wooden duck | 1 | before 1950 | ||
 | S/9 | Wooden horse | 1 | before 1950 | ||
 | S/16 | LEGO Rooster | 1 | 1947 | ||
 | S/16 | Wooden Elephant | 1 | before 1950 | ||
 | Halvautomatisk | Legetöjspistol | 1 | 1945–1949 | ||
| No image | BILOfix | BILOfix | ||||
 | LEGO | "Clumsy Hans" | 1 | 1936 | ||
 | LEGO | Cat (Small) | 1 | Mid 1930's - Late 1950's | ||
 | LEGO | Covered Truck | 1 | 1940 | ||
 | LEGO | Duck | 1 | 1935 | ||
 | LEGO | Metal Buggy | 1 | |||
 | LEGO | Monkey | 1 | 1946 | ||
 | LEGO | Plank-side Truck | 1 | 1940 | ||
| No image | LEGO | Pony and Trap | ||||
 | LEGO | Tractor | 1 | 1949 | ||
 | Wooden | Train | 3 | 1935 | ||
 | Metal | Bike with Rubber Wheels | 1 | |||
 | Teddy | In A Cart | 1 | 1950-1954 | ||
 | Wooden | Abacus | 1 | 1949 | ||
 | Wooden | Cow | 1 | |||
 | Wooden | Crocodile | 1 | ? | ||
 | Wooden | Duck | 1 | |||
 | Wooden | Horse with milkcart | 1 | |||
 | Wooden | LEGO Cat | 1 | 1930-1940 | ||
 | Wooden | Lemming | 1 | |||
| No image | Wooden | Pig | ||||
 | Wooden | Pluto | ||||
 | Wooden | Ringfigure | ||||
 | Wooden | Truck 1 | 1 | 1932–1940 | ||
 | Wooden | Truck 2 | 1 | 1930–1940 | ||
 | Wooden | Truck 3 | 1930–1940 | |||
 | Wooden | Truck 4 | 1930–1940 | |||
 | Wooden | Truck 5 | 1930–1940 | |||
 | Wooden | Truck 7 | 1930–1940 | |||
 | Wooden | Truck 8 | 1930–1940 | |||
 | Wooden | Truck 9 | 1930–1940 | |||
 | Wooden | Truck Bus | 1930-1940 | |||
 | Yellow | Chevrolet "Bel Air" | 1 | 1957 | ||
| No image | 100 | Wooden sailship | 1 | 1935-1951 | ||
 | 500 | LEGO Klodser | 1948 | |||
 | Yo-Yo | Yo-Yo | 1 | 1932 | ||
| No image | Wooden | Clothes hangers | 1 | before 1946 |
References[]
Notes[]
- The wooden toys were handmade by Ole Kirk Christiansen and his workers.