This video is in German, but you can see the production process each Ostheimer figure goes through!

A History of Ostheimer Wooden Toys

Walter and Adeline Ostheimer began the forerunner to today’s Ostheimer Wooden Toys company in 1939.  As today, their toys were based on the theories of Waldorf Pedagogy and Anthroposophic ideas. With the advent of cheap plastic toys, the small company was quickly put out of business in 1948. In 1957 the Ostheimers were urged to reopen their workshop. Since that time, the company has grown in popularity and is now known internationally for its superb quality and artistry.

The Craftsmanship of Ostheimer Wooden Toys

Each Ostheimer Wooden Toy is handcrafted in Germany. As each craftsperson adds his or her own personal touch to the figures they create, each one becomes an original. Each piece is sawed and carefully sanded to achieve Ostheimer’s typical soft-edged form. The pieces are painted using nontoxic transparent, water soluble wood stains. These colors allow the natural surface of the wood to remain visible.  Color is applied with up to six consecutive coats, each one done by hand. The colors are treated with walnut oil or shellac to give them the greatest possible durability.

Ostheimer Wooden Toys and Imaginative Play

Your child’s imagination will breathe life into their Ostheimer figures, in a way that only he or she can.  Each figure is designed to capture the typical form and movement of the animal, person or object. Their form and color are purposely kept to a minimum so that your child’s fantasy world is preserved and so that their own creative imagination inspires their play.  It is important that children’s toys possess an open-ended quality. When children have toys modeled after a television or movie character, their play is imitative, not imaginative.

A Word from Margarete Ostheimer

“Play is at the very core of a child’s life. It is the way children learn about the environment, the people in their lives and most of all about themselves.  Toys are the tools of creative play and with the right toys, a child can have not only an entertaining, but an enriching experience.

“Ostheimer Toys, with its history steeped in the progressive Waldorf school movement, is a company that has always believed in creating toys that are true to the nature and soul of childhood.  If play, indeed, guides a child’s life into adulthood, then the toys should be designed with integrity and meaningfulness.”