Welcome to my etsy shop – Red Barn Toys!

How Red Barn Toys came to be: I spent my childhood summers in my grandpa's wood shop, helping craft a rocking horse, go carts, and utensils. My grandma wanted me to go with her to the ceramic painting studio, but I was fascinated by taking chunks of wood and transforming them into fun and useful items. A few years later I helped my mom when she taught mobile woodworking classes for school kids. My first two teenage jobs were as a clerk at a bead store and aide at a preschool.

While I continued to design and craft jewelry, I pursued a career in child development. My experience includes teaching at preschool and elementary levels, obtaining a Master's degree in human development, joining a community college faculty, and overseeing the early childhood programs and exhibits at a children's museum. In all of my past jobs I was always thinking up new toys and activities for the kids I worked with – sometimes I made them myself and sometimes I sought out others to help me achieve my vision.

The birth and growth of my own children continued my struggles to find the kinds of toys I wanted for them; toys like the one's I helped my grandpa craft as a kid. Simple wooden toys! Toys that provided just enough of a provocation to excite the children into actively exploring the toy to it's fullest. I discovered that my mom had an old scroll saw in a red barn behind her house and decided to just do it all myself. Using my knowledge of child development and the inspiration of my own children's play I create wooden toys that are practical, educational, fun and help expand your child's imagination through play!

It has been such a heartwarming experience to create beautiful toys for a larger community.

I strive to buy supplies from other small businesses that source, mill and make materials in the US. My Toys meet CPSC safety requirements.

Thank you for stopping by and supporting handmade items and small businesses!