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Handcrafted goods are a staple of south central Pennsylvania, and Lancaster County is especially crafty. Step foot in any one of the region’s brick-and-mortars selling handcrafted goods, and you have all the proof you need.
Nestled just up the road from Conestoga Valley High School between Lancaster city and Bird in Hand lies Clip Clop Toys, an unassuming toy shop that unlocks a world of play when you open the doors. Clip Clop Toys crafts wooden toys with no plastic parts or batteries—all in the name of open-ended play.
You may have heard of the term “open-ended play” in the context of Montessori education, a theory that popularized in the early 20th century and became a part of mainstream upbringings in recent decades. But for John Lapp, second-generation owner of Clip Clop Toys (a brand under the Lapp’s Toys company), that concept of open-ended play came about independently, and it wasn’t until the last decade he really put words to it.
“The open-ended play, if you can create that, is where the lasting play value comes,” says Lapp, covered in paint from decorating wooden toys fresh out of the woodshop.
Take Clip Clop Toys’ own manual forklift toy, for example, which has no crank. Lapp says, “While us parents would think it’d be really cool to have a crank to do everything, and the child would as well, that’s all the child plays with. If you take that away and force him to actually play with the toy, he’ll be more liable to become more creative with the toy. And that’s more open-ended, that doesn’t stop.”
As he speaks, Lapp is in the midst of ideating a new toy, a type of long-handled forklift called a Pettibone. He talks about how he’ll make it—thinking about how it could extend up three stories (by scale, of course)—and you can tell he has an analytical way of thinking. He generates these ideas for toys and works backwards to unearth the best way to create them, willing to try new techniques if necessary.
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It’s that mindset that helps him and his team create toys like the Marble Pyramid, a three-foot tall obstacle course where marbles can race down any number of hurdles (stairs, slides, whirligigs, what have you). Its booming presence, a playground for the little engineer, manages to stand out in a toy room full of planes, trains, dollhouses, and the like.
Before the toy shop took a hold on him, Lapp grew up on a dairy farm, but he didn’t feel like that path was for him, so he started working part time at Clip Clop Toys when he was just 15 years old. While he never quit, he did work other jobs for a period of time. By 2008, Lapp was all in and had taken over the business that his family first began in the 1970s.
In many ways, the shop is the same today as it was back then. While the location is different, certain legacy styles remain (the Heritage Car Roller and Heirloom Marble Roller, for example, are original styles). Many, many new styles have come to fruition since then, but the dogma of manual toys has stayed consistent, as has the mission to create lasting play value that sparks wonder in children.
Over the last 25 years working for Clip Clop Toys, Lapp has watched his surroundings change, develop, evolve. More businesses and more buildings have come to Lancaster, which helps the economy thrive, but it also says something about the Amish-owned company’s ability to hold firm to its roots. Lapp says, “You can be part of the race or you can watch it go by.”
For Lapp, coming up with new toys has become easier since having his own son, now four years old. He can see how he plays with toys, what kind of behaviors certain features trigger, and how to cater to that deeply rooted imagination.
Naturally, the months leading up to the holiday season are the busiest for Clip Clop Toys. Fortunately, Lapp and his team have something to fall back on: a real knack and passion for what they do. He says, “If you can build something you believe in, it keeps you coming back.”
Perhaps that’s precisely what children feel when playing with their own Clip Clop Toys.
Visit Clip Clop Toys at 2220 Horseshoe Rd, Lancaster, or shop online at clipcloptoys.com.
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Clip Clop Toys
2220 Horseshoe Rd, Lancaster, PA 17601
IG: @clipcloptoys
