Were you to study the history of toys and games throughout the ages, you will find that most of them were created from wood. This held true until just after WWII. Then cheaper raw materials and mass production, meant that wood soon gave way to plastic. Although there are still many people who enjoy trying to tackle a wooden puzzle game.

For most people this seems to take them right back to their childhood. Many a child's first toy has been those hand sized, brightly coloured square blocks made from wood. Relatively inexpensive, and nothing for a youngster to hurt themselves on. Many parents still have these blocks lurking at the back of a toy cupboard.

From wood blocks it seems a fairly natural progression to jigsaws made from the same material. The first jigsaws are little more than shapes which requite the child to refit them in the matching recess in the wood board. It then progresses to the more familiar form of jigsaw. All of these puzzles help the young child to learn, and will also improve the hand/eye coordination.

Another common scenario for children during the school summer vacation was staying with the Grandparents. Now Grandparents do like to spoil their Grandchildren and try to make their stay as enjoyable and as much fun as possible. However it doesn't take much for the weather to mess up all of these carefully made plans. Luckily Grandparents are very adaptable and get round this small problem by retrieving your parent's old toys and games.

Most children will also want to complete something that they know that their parents struggled over, and it also causes a sense of closeness. Due to the material it will have lasted well over the years. Perhaps a small piece is a slightly different texture or colour to the rest, maybe your Grandfather had to create that bit to replace a lost piece.

Many people feel that young people are only interested in computer games these days, yet surprisingly there seems to be quite a healthy market for these more traditional items. Today things have progressed, and thanks largely to modern manufacturing items no longer need to be carved by hand. The materials used are all of the highest quality, but now they are made much faster.

Many of these games and puzzles are designed to be equally frustrating and entertaining. This is most definitely true when used in reference to the 3D items. They are whole and complete when you get them, so you know that completing it is possible. All starts off well, and then gets more and more baffling. Despite the bafflement there is a real sense of accomplishment when you finally manage to complete everything properly.

Some of these have survived unchanged in design for hundreds of years, whereas some are relatively new. Some names are familiar to many, as everyone seems to have played the Towers of Hanoi. Others are not so familiar, such as the Soma Cube or the Burr type items. Whatever your age when you see someone attempting one of these, you want to have a go at your own wooden puzzle game. Be warned they can be quite addictive.