Wooden Oak Tree – Small Hand-Painted Forest Tree Toy

The Oak in History

For centuries, people have relied on the oak. Its timber was strong enough to build ships – around 6,000 oak trees went into Nelson's flagship, HMS Victory – and the small round galls that form on its twigs were used to make black ink for writing.

The oak is also generous with its fruit. In a good year a mature tree can drop tens of thousands of acorns, feeding squirrels, jays, deer and wild boar through the autumn and winter.

Also available as a Large Oak Tree. Build a woodland with the Small Birch Tree and Small Fir Tree, or see the Oak Trees Covered by Snow.

Height × Width × Depth: 23.5 × 13.5 × 1.8 cm (9.3 × 5.3 × 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, branches 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.

The classic woodland tree, sized for small hands.

The oak is the tree children meet first in stories, songs and walks in the park, which makes it the natural starting point for a play forest. Its natural trunk and branches show the grain of the wood, and its green crown opens easy conversations about leaves, acorns and the animals that live around oaks.

Inspired by Montessori and Waldorf principles, the oak is simple in form and real in its details, with no batteries, sounds or buttons. It stands steady in any scene and moves easily from the farm to the forest.

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 forest grows with the child and lasts long enough to be passed on.