Unlike many of my other collections, this particular one is a family effort, and happily, it’s one that my kids can actually touch for a change.

I am pretty sure it started with this one. I’m pretty sure it’s an ant. Or something.

A few years ago I was writing a magazine story about garage sales and one of the children I interviewed gifted it to me. I thought this was pretty nice of her, so I kept it. Ever since that time, wind-up toys have been making an appearance in my children’s Christmas stockings and decorating the tops of birthday gifts. It does make a really sweet little gift.

I particularly like this wooden one:

Collections are best when they are organized and out on display. I think they just have more impact that way. (After all, a collection isn’t a collection if it’s stashed in the bottom of a cardboard box… or is it?) I found a couple of secondhand Ikea knick-knack display shelves awhile back, and that’s where this particular collection lives full-time:

Every once in awhile my kids and their friends will pull them all out and get them going all at the same time. It’s wind-up chaos; cars running into dinosaurs and robots and chattering teeth and dancing squirrels. It’s quite the ruckus, but sometimes the best kind of collection is one that’s happy and bright, and a little more hands on… don’t you think?