Here's an inexpensive toy I made for my 2 1/2 year old son Josh a couple of weeks ago: a wooden crane. It only took a couple of hours to put together. Like a lot of such mechanical toys, you can put a whole lot more time and creativity into making it better, but this version is just a plain one. Here's what I did.

1) get a 1x8 board and cut a piece about 7X10 inches. Doesn't have to be precise. Sand it well. If you look carefully at the photo, you'll notice two things different from what I describe. One, I have two boards, one atop the other. And two, they are 7" square. I put a lazy susan between them so it would swivel, but on hindsight, that probably isn't very useful, as I also have four casters on the bottom, and they handle turns better than using a lazy susan. Keep that out also makes it a good bit simpler. Also, mine being 7 inches square makes it more unstable (front to back) than if I had made it about 7x10 inches.

2) Cut two 6 inch lengths of 2x4, sand well. Clamp them together temporarily and drill three 1/2 inch holes as seen in the photo. In hindsight (again!) I would place both of the holes towards the back up closer to the top of the 2x4 blocks, rather than just one. YOu'll notice that one is further down; I keep having to reattach the string to that one (wouldn't you know), and it is quite difficult to get to it, being so far down inside the blocks.

3) Get some 1/2 inch dowel and cut two lengths of 7 inches and one of 4 inches. The four inch one will be the front dowel (I left it 7 inches in the photo, but it should be shorter). Drill a small hole through the 7 inch ones near the middle of the length big enough for the string to be passed through. Sand well. Also sand the parts of the 7 inch dowels that will be inside the blocks a bit more so they will turn easier.

4) Cut two lengths of 1x2. One is for the boom of about 20 - 24 inches. Mine is about 23" and is a little top-heavy when the boom is all the way out. Cut the other length of about 11 - 12 inches to be the back vertical support. Drill a 1/2 inch hole near the bottom of the boom so the dowel will pass through.

5) Now assemble the various blocks and find something to hold them together while you permanantly fasten them together. You can use either wood screws, using a small drill press to predrill the holes, or you can just use nails. You'll need to fasten the two 2x4 blocks to the bottom piece and fasten the two 2x4s to themselves and the back vertical support. The boom will swing on the dowel that passes through it.

6) Add some small eyelet hooks as in the photo. There are two different strings; one to raise and lower the boom and the other other string to raise and lower the hook on the end of the boom.

7) Add four small casters to the bottom of the bottom board. I didn't add any varnish or paint, but just left it as sanded wood. Add strings and a hook (I made one out of a short piece of coat hanger and smoothed the ends) and you're through!