Wooden Baobab Tree – Small Hand-Painted Savanna Tree Toy

The Tree of Life

The baobab takes its scientific name, Adansonia, from Michel Adanson, the French naturalist who described it in the 1700s. There are nine kinds of baobab in the world: six grow only in Madagascar, two in mainland Africa and one in north-western Australia. They grow slowly – a baobab may wait twenty years before it flowers for the first time.

Across Africa, the baobab is often called the tree of life, because almost every part of it is useful. Fibres from its bark are twisted into rope and woven into cloth and baskets, its young leaves are cooked as a vegetable, and its fruit is eaten fresh or mixed into drinks.

Also available as a Large Baobab Tree. Build a savanna with the Small Acacia Tree and Small African Ebony Tree, and add the Realistic Safari Animals.

Height × Width × Depth: 25.0 × 13.0 × 1.8 cm (9.8 × 5.1 × 0.7 in)

All pieces are shaped from solid ash wood and hand-sanded to a smooth finish with no sharp edges. The crown is hand-painted with water-based paints, the trunk and base keep the natural grain of the ash, and every piece is finished with olive oil, which protects the wood against moisture. No plastics, no solvent-based finishes, no MDF, no veneers. Made in conformity with the European toy safety standard EN 71. Small variations in colour and grain are a natural part of handmade production, not defects.

A tree children recognise at first sight.

With its thick, bottle-shaped trunk and small crown, the baobab looks like no other tree – which makes it a wonderful way to talk with children about how plants adapt to heat and drought, and why a tree might store water in its trunk. In a safari scene, it gives elephants, giraffes and lions their landmark.

Inspired by Montessori and Waldorf principles, the baobab is simple in form and real in its details, with no batteries, sounds or buttons. It is light, steady and easy to move from one scene to the next.

Solid ash is dense and hard-wearing, and every tree is sanded and painted by hand in our workshop in Romania. Tree by tree, the savanna grows with the child and lasts long enough to be passed on.