Picking a toy for a child is never an easy feat, especially when you are trying to combine what is good for them (wooden toys, educational toys) and what they actually want because their friends have it. Of course it’s much easier with younger kids. They are still not as much friends-oriented, and therefore tend to like toys within a theme of their own choosing.
So, let’s say you have a boy who’s in love with cars and trains. You are in luck! Wooden cars and train toys are a staple of the natural toy industry! For example, you could find Automoblox toy cars in any nice specialty toy shop, and they look just like the real thing:
Gorgeous eh?
While Hero toys (a great German company, why are Germans so ahead of us in all things natural?) make fantastic wooden railroad systems for the future train-conductor in your family.
Just be prepared to give up the usage of your floor for the next millennia. Once these rail roads start spreading, there is no walking without stepping on something… (Unless, of course you buy a special designated table… Hmm… That’s a thought…)
And just check out this locomotive:
The same kind of logic applies to any conventional toy. Pretty much all of them can be replaced with higher quality toys made out of wood.
It’s a sign of changing times that even big box stores are beginning to carry quality wooden toys. Here all stores carry wonderful products by “Melissa and Doug”. They make quality wooden puzzles that for some reason really appeal to babies and toddlers. I don’t know why, but my kids are very adamant about learning about shapes through the big-knobed puzzle I got them on a whim. (No other system has done it for us).
Seriously, I know it looks basic. But when we are talking about one year olds handling these knobs it is a lot easier (and more intuitive) for them than trying to do the same with the tiny cardboard puzzles available elsewhere.
And if you want to take the whole puzzling thing to the next level, Melissa and Doug also have great wooden puzzles for the bigger kids, such as these chunky ones:
Or something like this, if you want to go really fancy:
And the beauty of these wood puzzles is that they can be dropped, chewed, thrown and walked on, and yet they’ll still survive…
So, in a nutshell, Christmas is coming sooner than you think – start planning your toy shopping!
