Colourful, imaginative, practical and sturdy toys; just what parents want for their children and, with the aid of this book and just a little woodworking experience, any reasonably practical person can make them - mums too. Making toys at home gives you the confidence that they are built to last and safely constructed, with the bonus that personalised details can be added, like your little girl's initials on her Doll's Bed or Doll's House, or your son's name on the Removals Van.

Effective though the toys are, their construction is kept as simple as possible; for many just a fretsaw and a hammer are used and for the more complicated dolls' houses a fretsaw, hammer, drill and file are needed. The written instructions are accompanied by scale drawings, plans for the accessories and figures, step-by-step drawings of construction details and tips on painting and finishing off each project to a high standard. All the toys are illustrated in colour. The author pinpoints possible pitfalls before they occur and provides methods of rectifying them where necessary.

The toys are cleverly designed so that they perform more than one role: Master Mover's Removals Van can be used to move the Doll's House furniture; the animals in Noah's Ark double as a jigsaw puzzle; the soldiers in the 3-D Jigsaw Castle can be used to defend the other castles also; the same Cowboys and Indians can feature in the Wild West Fort, the Cowboy Town and the Mississippi Riverboat. The wide range of toys will keep any parent usefully employed and the children blissfully happy.