Article by Bridgette Barrett

Independent Agent & Recruitment Manager for Tish Tash Toys

For over two decades, John Crane Ltd has been one of the UK’s main distributors of wooden toys and they have played a vital role in their resurgence. John Crane offers a wide range of products that allow children to use their imaginations and at the same time encourage children’s all round development.

John Crane Ltd is the UK distributor of PINTOY and Pin furniture. All of Pintoys products are manufactured using a sustainable source of rubberwood, from the smallest smiley rattle to the large workbench.

In addition to the Pintoy products, Northampton based John Crane Limited has now utilised their knowledge and expertise to develop the ‘Branching Out’ range of toys. This year, the existing toys have been joined by over 30 new additions to the range. Some of the most popular include the beautiful and sturdy ABC tray and the 50 piece wooden train set – a must for any child’s toy box. There is also the First Bike – based around the idea that children first need to learn to balance before riding a bicycle with pedals – and the ever popular Rainbow Cubes. Branching Out is a fantastic range of wooden toys that will last for many years, and is manufactured from renewable sources of wood.

John Crane supplies the George Luck range of wooden jigsaw puzzles to smaller retailers, toy shops, schools, nurseries and websites. George Luck has been going for over thirty years.The family business started in 1975, when George Luck, a pharmaceutical representative, began making simple puzzles for their two children Steve and Becky.

A smaller, but nonetheless beautiful, range of toys distributed by John Crane is made by GoGo. Manufactured in Taiwan, the colourful GoGo range aims to make learning fun, and includes the wonderful new Turn and Sort – a shape sorter with a difference in which children have to twist or screw discs onto posts in order to get them to stack correctly.

John Crane also distributes the high quality and colourful Tolo and Tolo Baby range of toys. Although not wooden, these products are manufactured from the highest grade materials and are designed with the aim of stimulating young, developing minds. The Tolo Rainbow stacker is an excellent example. This toy can provide children with hours of fun as they make – and knock down – towers, or use the individual cups to tip water or sand. Tolo also manufacture soft toys such as the extremely popular an ever so friendly Sneezy Dragon, with a squeaky nose and many other activities to keep an inquisitive baby amused.

This year, John Crane has added many more wonderful toys to their ranges. Their toys are manufactured with the environment in mind, and will stand up to the rigours of being played with by children. Most importantly, they let children’s imaginations run wild. Let’s hope that there are many more toys of this quality to come in the future. We stock a good selection of John Crane Branching Out and Pintoy products on our website www.tishtashtoys.com