I'm so happy I found this place! This is not the fake "Amish-made" stuff at the back of "Country…read moreLiving" magazine, or on infomercials for fireplace surrounds. These are REAL, beautiful Amish handmade/handpainted wooden farm set pieces. (I had the same animals as a kid!)
Maple Shade Toys is in a small building on an Amish farm in Kirkwood, PA (Lancaster County). The family has various enterprises here, and the Maple Shade Greenhouse is the main business, so you should look for that, and park in the Greenhouse's lot. I added photos to show where the toys are located. You can pop your head in at the Greenhouse to ask where to go. Help yourself to what you want, and pay at the Greenhouse register. The Amish don't take credit cards, so it's cash or check only. (*My Yelp rule is to take a star off when a business doesn't allow cc, but in this case it's a religious reason, so I don't feel fair docking them a star.)
Currently, Maple Shade Toys is open every day until sunset. You can call ahead to confirm hours (717-529-6001), but you will need to leave a message and get a call back, because the Amish limit their phone use. Benjamin Fisher is the family member who makes the toys. He normally returns calls in a day or so.
They have a decent stock of toys on hand, ready made. They were out of cows when I was there, so while stock is normally good, you might want to ask ahead if there is something specific you need.
There is a lot of detail on these toys, the vehicle wheels turn, even the steering wheels on the tractors move! They have barns, holding pens, freestanding animals (all types for a farm), hay bales, tractors (old fashioned red Farmall, or John Deere), hay wagons, carts, flatbeads, wheat rakes, harvesting devices (sorry not sure what it's called), etc. So many intricate options to let your little one play farm! The tractors and the rigged horse teams are wheeled and ready to haul! There are simple eye hooks on the various attachments, which are all interchangeable, so your little one can match up whatever with whatever to get the job done!
Prices were extremely reasonable. Tractors are $11, cart attachments ranged from about $5.50 to $12, depending on size and intricacy. Huge barns were only $34! Animals are all under $2 each (most $1.20)! Holding pens with real working gates and latches were under $17!
Another plus for me, handmade means folk art as far as I'm concerned, and when my son is finished playing with these, they will adorn Mommy's bookshelves as decor, to age, and be worth a lot more when he's older! But even if they don't make it that far, they are great to stimulate imagination and fun for now!
My son is just growing into these toys. I hope he enjoys them as much as I did as a kid. I think the simplicity provides enough stimulation for a satisfying sense of farm, but requires them to muster more imagination than the bells and whistles of mainstream plastic farm sets. To me, this is a valuable method of learning creative play.
