Malaysian father makes wooden playsets for his two kids during the pandemic

From the time he was a young boy, Loh has loved making or fixing things around the house. Photos: Loh Jon Ming

Two-year-old Luke Loh and his brother Levi, one, haven’t been to the playground since the lockdown was enforced more than six weeks ago. Thankfully the boys can still play indoors, with wooden playsets that were all custom-made by their father, businessman Loh Jon Ming, 32.

The boys – who live in Subang Jaya – are never bored at home.

And that’s because dad has transformed their living room into a mini playground where they can romp around and play with their handcrafted wooden toys which includes a slide, colourful building blocks and a Pickler triangle, an activity toy on which children can climb and slide on or crawl under.

Luke (left) and his cousin Samuel are always thrilled to play with the handmade wooden playsets.

Among all the toys that Loh’s made, the boys love his handmade cube the most. The cube is a square box-like structure of which two sides are cut-out circles, while the other two have ladder rungs.

“My boys love to ‘pretend play’ in the cube – the imagine they’re camping under the stars, or that they are in a tunnel or a car. Levi enjoys climbing and testing his physical capabilities. He also really likes the Pickler triangle and slide and can play on them for hours, ” shared Loh.

Loh is happy that his sons love playing with the toys he’s made. He believes in the Montessori teaching method, that encourages children to engage in exploratory play that engages all their senses.

“Wooden toys have some weight to them and they give children tactile stimulation that other materials don’t. Wood is also a highly sustainable material. Unlike aluminum and plastics, it does not have to go through manufacturing processes for the raw material to be made into something usable.

“Apart from that, a well-made wooden toy can be passed down for generations and still last, as wood can practically last lifetimes if kept indoors and is properly coated to prevent disintegration, ” explained Loh.

During the pandemic, many parents are extra vigilant about how much screen time their children have, especially since lessons have been predominantly online in the last 15 months.

Blocks help children learn to increase attention span and develop self-esteem.

Many worry that children could develop Screen Dependency Disorder, a modern-age health challenge where children get too hooked to tech gadgets.

To avoid this, many parents have had to find creative ways for the children to fill their time.

Loh wants to ensure that both his boys get to enjoy their childhoods during this pandemic, with minimal screen time. And one way, he hopes, is by messing about with his handmade wooden playsets.

“By just watching fast-paced animations or short vlogs, children don’t get to use their hands, learn to build things from scratch or use what is around them to innovate or find new ways to do things. Even their posture suffers because of the long hours of sitting in front of the screen. That is why playing with toys is a crucial part of a child’s play.

“A healthy balance between screen time, indoor play, outdoor play and face-to-face conversations is what children need. Tech devices are not evil – they are actually a gateway to the vast world that is changing and evolving every second – but they should be used in moderation, with discernment and filtration for a child to get the most out of it, ” he said.

Loh is the co-founder of the award-winning Epic Collectives, a social enterprise that builds homes for orang asli communities.

The toymaker

Loh is no stranger to woodworking. He is the co-founder of the award-winning Epic Collectives, a social enterprise that builds homes for orang asli communities. In the last nine years, Loh has worked closely with architects, engineers and contractors, and he’s helped erect over 150 homes for orang asli villagers in Selangor, Perak, Kelantan and Johor.

With so much experience designing and working on homes, it could be assumed that building wooden playsets would be like child’s play for Loh. But there are challenges, he explains.

“Making the playsets are challenging. It’s pretty tough to get perfect squares from wooden blocks. For the Pikler triangle, the challenges range from sourcing the climbing rungs at an affordable price, to getting quality plywood that is flat and has minimal manufacturing defects like cavities and inconsistent face veneers, ” he explained.

Loh also creates live edge furniture (incorporating the wood’s natural edge into the design) using felled council wood and uprooted trees.

Luke can spend hours playing on the Pickler triangle.

He puts lots of thought into both the design of his builds as well as the wood used, especially since the playsets are for children.

He looks into tiny details, such as ensuring the finishing he uses complies with either the European standard EN-71 safety requirement for toys or the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations.

Each building block is hand sanded and routed (to produced finish edges and shapes) piece by piece to ensure the corners are smooth, rounded and safe for children.

Loh’s interest in handmade products goes back to his childhood where he’d tinker with things around the house and help with minor repair works.

“Since young, I’ve loved to dismantle and assemble things around the house. I was mentored by my grandfather, who loved to fix thing. He always had a way to make things more practical for the family. My grandfather taught me, among other things, how to use essential hand tools to create furniture using scrap wood that we would find around the neighbourhood.

“While I majored in accounting and finance, I’ve always loved to make stuff and I’ve made a bar table for my dad, and a coffee table for my mum. After getting married and having two children, my wife and I were inspired to make wooden blocks and indoor climbing sets for the kids, ” shared Loh, who worked as an audit associate before co-founding Epic Homes in 2012.

Last November, Loh started a small Subang Jaya-based business specialising in crafting wooden playsets such as building blocks, Pinkler slides adjustable footrest for a baby chair, and rock climbing holds.

He draws from the skills he’s developed from building homes but also learns new woodworking techniques from video tutorials on YouTube.

“I follow many woodworkers and creators on YouTube. I probably began watching woodworking videos in 2013, and since then, I’ve tried and tested different techniques along the way.

“Today, it is pretty easy to research how to make something and buy the required tools. I don’t foresee myself going for any courses in the future, as there is so much content online that I have yet to tap to master my work, ” explained Loh, who goes by the handle @jonthemaker on Instagram.

Brothers Levi (left) and Luke are often occupied with the wooden toys and blocks.

His designs are Scandanivanian-inspired, characterised by its simplicity, minimalism and functionality. As he doesn’t have a design background, Loh turns to social media platforms like Pinterest and Instagram for inspiration.

Loh uses different locally sourced wood, including nyatoh, semangkuk and white meranti.

“Nyatoh is used for baby chair footrests because it is considered a medium to hard density wood and has an immense grain variation. It is a reddish-brown wood and is perfect for bringing warmth to the home.

“For the wooden blocks, pinewood is used as it is not too heavy and dense which may hurt a baby or toddler if, say, a block drops on their foot.

“Pine is also pretty easy to work with and doesn’t cause the sandpaper or saw blades to get blunt too quickly.”

Even though Levi and Luke can’t play outdoors during the lockdown, Loh uses the playsets to teach them about nature and the environment.

“Just by looking at a piece of wood, we can share so much about sustainability, the oxygen we breathe, the insects that live in a tree, or even the tree that Parameswara sat under when he founded Melaka, ” he concluded.