Wooden Airplane Play Set

Wooden Whittle World Toy Vehicles

• What: Melissa & Doug Whittle World Vehicles
• When: 18 months and up
• Why: Durable, wooden fun
• Where: Amazon

Although I didn’t love Melissa & Doug’s dough shaping toys, I love their Whittle World series of vehicles. We got our first one, the airplane and luggage carrier set, years ago for my first child. My third child still happily plays with it more than five years later.

The chunky wooden people run larger than the population of people toys with brightly painted colored outfits. The airplane set came with five people of both genders and varying skin tones, as well as the airplane, baggage carrier, and a vehicle that can attach to either of the other two. Our people have stood the test of time, despite my son’s propensity for chewing on things, and even one rough mauling by the dog. Even more impressively after all this time, on a good day I can still find all the people and bag accessories.

The wheels roll smoothly on any surface, and the vehicle connections can be used by even the littlest hands without frustration. The airplane’s wings fold up, which I love. That means it takes up less space for storage, and kids also love to put the wings up and down.

I would get any vehicle in this set without hesitation. While the Whittle World name has fallen out of fashion, you can still get a lot of the same toys listed under wooden, though fewer of the vehicles come in sets. The airplane no longer comes with the extra baggage carrier and cart to pull it, but it still includes four wooden people and four suitcases. Other options include a train station, school bus, farm, fire truck, commuter bus, and a cargo ship. You can also purchase additional people to populate your world.