In factory workshops, elderly-oriented wooden toy products roll off production lines and eventually enter the daily lives of overseas seniors. Leveraging cross-border e-commerce platforms, wooden toy companies can directly respond to global consumers’ needs and feedback, enabling more precise product development and innovation. In Yunhe County, Lishui City, Zhejiang Province, wooden toys are rapidly “going global.”
Yunhe County is known as the “Hometown of Wooden Toys in China.” The county has more than 1,100 wooden toy manufacturers, with products sold to over 80 countries and regions worldwide. It is China’s largest base for the research, development, production, and export of wooden toys, accounting for 40% of the global wooden toy market share.
“In 2019, when we participated in the Guangzhou Elderly Expo, we realized the vast potential of elderly-friendly products. Since then, we have hosted elderly wooden toy competitions in China and launched the production and development of senior-oriented wooden toys,” said Ma Dafei, Chairman of Zhejiang Mimi Toys Group Co., Ltd. (Mimi Toys), in an interview with China News Service. According to him, nearly 70% of the company’s products are exported. While the global children’s wooden toy market is stabilizing, the elderly toy market still represents a promising new blue ocean.
On September 17, residents tried out elderly-oriented educational wooden toys. (Photo by Zhou Jian)
Games such as “One-Shot Victory” (pitch-pot), “Hit the Target” (ring toss), and “Fishing for the Moon” (skill ball) were featured this May in a unique online elderly wooden toy friendship competition between Yunhe and Shizuoka Prefecture in Japan. Eighteen senior contestants from each side joined the fun, with the amusing and challenging events drawing rounds of laughter.
At present, Yunhe is integrating the wooden toy industry with elderly care services, creating an innovation-driven industrial chain focused on cognitive health and entertainment. Many local companies are increasing investment in R&D for elderly-oriented wooden toys.
Mimi Toys has already developed more than 100 senior-friendly wooden toys, including digital puzzles, stone-throwing games, and memory chess, which are exported to countries such as Germany and Japan. “We are now working with universities to develop ‘Wooden Toys + AI’ products. Through cameras, the toys can record seniors’ usage experiences, and AI can generate analytical reports on reaction times, memory, and other data. The project is expected to be launched by 2026,” Ma Dafei said.
Beyond tapping into the global silver economy, in recent years, more and more Yunhe wooden toy companies have ventured abroad through cross-border e-commerce.
At Zhejiang Yunchuangxiang Cultural & Creative Co., Ltd., collaborations between Yunhe wooden toys and well-known IPs such as “Journey to the West Monkey King,” “New Arrivals at the Palace Museum,” and “Sanxingdui” have produced popular themed products. Meanwhile, items such as birthday cakes, tableware sets, and children’s dressing tables are neatly displayed.
“Since October 2023, our team has partnered with Yunhe toy manufacturers to design more than 300 wooden toy products, many of which became bestsellers on cross-border e-commerce platforms. For example, this children’s dressing table set—featuring wooden lipstick, perfume bottles, and hairdryers with a high degree of realism—has been very popular among overseas consumers,” said General Manager Meng Jie. She added that by combining traditional culture with wooden toys, they are also helping more Chinese IPs “go global.”
According to Chen Longfei, Deputy Director of Yunhe County’s Bureau of Economy, Commerce, and Technology, the county now has more than 230 wooden toy cross-border e-commerce enterprises, with over 20 new added this year alone. “We are building a cross-border e-commerce product selection center, which is expected to be operational in November. It will connect e-commerce platforms with more than 200 wooden toy factories, helping enterprises expand their global market reach,” Chen explained.
On September 17, workers assembled wooden toy products. (Photo by Zhou Jian)
Statistics show that from January to June 2025, Yunhe’s self-operated wooden toy exports reached 283 million yuan, up 6% year-on-year. In the future, the story of how “a piece of wood” entertains the world will continue.
Declaration: This article comes from China News Service Lishui, Fu Feiyang.If copyright issues are involved, please contact us to delete.