Kay Bojesen Rocking Horse in Beech: A Toy Made to Be Ridden

Most wooden toys sold as design objects end up on a shelf. The Kay Bojesen Rocking Horse in beech is meant for the floor, for small hands on the wooden handle and a child's weight swinging back and forth on the rockers. This piece looks at how it is built, what living with an 86 cm long rocker actually involves, and how it fits into the rest of the Kay Bojesen Babies range.

A silversmith's idea of a toy

Kay Bojesen (1886–1958) trained as a silversmith and ran his own workshop in Copenhagen, producing cutlery and hollowware before he turned increasingly to wood. From the 1930s onwards he made the toys and animal figures that are now better known than his silver: the Monkey, the Bear, the Elephant, the Royal Guard. His working principle, often quoted, was that the lines should smile. Forms are rounded, faces are reduced to a few marks, and nothing is there purely for decoration.

Behind the friendliness was a firm idea about use. Bojesen's toys were meant to be picked up, played with and knocked about, not admired from a distance. The Kay Bojesen Babies collection, produced today by Rosendahl Design Group under the Kay Bojesen Denmark name, carries that thinking into pieces for the youngest members of a household. The product descriptions put it plainly: each piece is made to be handled, enjoyed and passed on.

If you already know the Monkey, our piece on the Kay Bojesen Monkey and the Danish toy tradition covers the same workshop history from the animal figures' side.

How the Rocking Horse is built

The Rocking Horse H56 cm beech measures 56 cm high, 86 cm long and 23.5 cm deep, and weighs 4.24 kg. It is made from lacquered beech, a dense, close-grained hardwood with a pale, even colour. Beech has long been a standard timber for Scandinavian toys and furniture because it machines cleanly, takes a smooth finish and holds rounded edges well. The lacquer seals the surface, so the wood stays light in tone and is easy to wipe down after sticky hands.

The design follows the Bojesen vocabulary rather than the dappled, saddled rocking horse of older nursery tradition. The head is a flat, softened profile with two pricked ears and a pair of dot eyes, and a round dowel passes through it to make the handle. Behind the seat a small curved backrest gives a rider something to lean against. Four splayed legs, braced by stretchers, carry the body down to two long, shallow rockers joined at the ends. There is no paint, no mane and no stirrups. The beech grain does the decorative work, which is also why the horse sits comfortably in a living room as well as a child's room.

At 4.24 kg it is light enough for an adult to lift with one hand and carry from room to room, yet heavy enough to feel planted when it rocks. That weight is a useful number to keep in mind if the horse will be moved often, for example from the nursery to the sitting room at the weekend.

Floor space for an 86 cm rocker

The 23.5 cm depth makes the horse slim, so it fits along a wall or between a bookcase and a window without dominating the room. The length is where planning matters. The base is 86 cm from tip to tip, and a rocker does not stay still: as it tips forwards and back, the ends of the arcs lift and drop, and a child leaning hard will move the whole horse a little across the floor. In practice you want a clear strip of floor noticeably longer than 86 cm, with nothing breakable at either end.

• Along a wall: place the horse parallel to the wall rather than facing it, so the rockers travel along the open floor instead of towards the skirting.
• On rugs: a flat-woven rug gives a quieter, smoother rock than bare boards; a deep pile can make the motion uneven.
• Near furniture: keep low tables, plant pots and floor lamps out of the line of travel at both ends.
• Between rides: at 56 cm high the horse sits at about the height of a low sideboard, so it reads as an object in the room when nobody is riding it.

Before a first ride, read the packaging and accompanying information for any age recommendation, and follow it.

Three finishes of beech across the Babies range

The Rocking Horse is the largest piece in the Babies group, and it shares its timber with smaller toys that use beech in different ways. Looking at the finish is a good way to understand what each one is for.

The Pyramid Tower Ø11 cm multi is made from painted beech. It stands 22.5 cm high with a diameter of 11 cm and weighs 0.5 kg. Six painted rings in red, blue, yellow and green stack in order of size on a central peg capped with a natural beech ball. Stacking toys like this are about sequence and colour, and the finished tower is a cheerful object on a shelf between play sessions.

The Rattle H3 cm beech goes the other way. It is untreated beech, 3 cm high with a diameter of 8.5 cm, and weighs 0.02 kg. A wooden ring frames a bar with a single bead at its centre. Leaving the wood bare keeps the rattle as simple as the material allows, which is the reason for choosing untreated timber for a piece designed to be gripped by very small hands.

The range also includes a hanging mobile in multiple colours, Ø23.5 cm and 47 cm high, weighing 0.19 kg. Taken together, the four pieces offer something to hold, something to look up at, something to build and something to ride.

Looking after beech toys

All three toys share the same care instructions, and they are short. Keep them out of direct sunlight, which will gradually change the colour of the wood and can fade painted surfaces. Wipe them clean with a dry, soft cloth. None of them is dishwasher safe, so keep them away from soaking water and high heat.

The lacquered finish on the Rocking Horse gives the wood a sealed surface, so everyday marks from fingers can usually be wiped away with a dry cloth. The untreated Rattle will darken slowly with handling, which is part of the character of bare wood. The painted Pyramid Tower is best kept away from radiators and sunny windowsills so the colours stay even across all the rings.

Choosing the Rocking Horse

The Rocking Horse makes sense when there is a child old enough to ride it and a strip of floor long enough to let it move. Its pale lacquered beech and reduced shape mean it does not need to be hidden away in a playroom, and its 4.24 kg weight makes it easy to bring out and put back. For a younger baby, the smaller Babies pieces are the natural place to start, with the horse as the piece that follows.

For more of Bojesen's animals, birds and figures in wood, see the full Wooden Figures & Sculptures collection.