The Value of Wooden Toys

March 17th, 2010

A big argument against wooden toys is that they can appear to be more expensive.  Many parents opt for the plastic alternatives instead, thinking they are saving money.  However, is this actually a false economy?  The lifetime value of plastic toys versus traditional toys can be very different.  Plastic toys have often been designed to have a limited appeal to children.  They will have been designed to focus on one particular developmental stage.  The manufacturer will be keen for you to then move onto the next toy to suit the next learning phase.

In addition to this, plastic has less durability than wooden toys and will often not withstand the onslaught of babyhood to toddlerhood.  Although a plastic toy may cost less it will entertain your child for less time and is more prone to become damaged.

Children are more likely to become attached to traditional toys.  The classic wooden puzzle will quickly become a firm favourite.  These simple pre school toys are intrinsic to the development of a child’s mental and emotional capacity in the early years.  You may choose wooden toys such as pull toys or farm animals for example, to stimulate their ability to create.  Wooden toys often have an educational element – wooden building blocks are a fine example.  The tactile nature of wooden toys encourages children to learn via touch in a way that stimulates imagination and creativity and will take them smoothly from baby to pre school age.

At My Natural Wooden Toys we have a range of traditional toys that will remain firm favourites for many years to come.

Are Wooden Toys more Suitable for Children than Plastic Toys?

January 3rd, 2010

Currently in the toy market, the vast majority of toys offered for sale are made from metal and plastic.  However, there is a growing market for natural wooden toys, but what makes these wooden toys so attractive?

Most toys are subjected to a vast amount of safety testing and standards.  Safety is a big issue for parents, particularly because babies and small toddlers explore with their mouths.  Absolutely everything will be inspected in this way,  so when it comes to buying toys you want to be sure that they haven’t been painted in anything toxic and there are no small pieces or sharp edges that could cause harm.

The inherent charm of wooden toys is that they are often simplistic in design.  They have large but smooth and tactile surfaces to touch, grab and hold, and are these days painted in child-friendly paints.  Children and babies can become acquainted with their new wooden toys intimately without fear of swallowing parts or coming into contact with undesirable substances.

From an environmental point of view, many plastic and metal toys unfortunately end up in the landfill.  Due to our throwaway society and the short life span of many plastic toys on the market, they are difficult to recycle.  However, wooden toys are often designed to take a baby or toddler through several stages.  The classic wooden jigsaw or wooden building blocks will take them on towards preschool.

At My Natural Wooden Toys we have a charming range of wooden toys to choose from.

Christmas Gifts

November 26th, 2009

For lots of people, there are many happy memories of playing on the floor with mum or dad or grandmas and grandpas on Christmas morning. Memories may be of train sets or wooden puzzles or farm sets. What unites them all is the happiness of the time when everyone joined in to make it a wonderful day.

The best part is that, when you have a small child in the family, it can all be repeated again as an adult. Once again, from the other perspective, you can indulge in the fun of all those toys that you remember meaning so much to you. So what could be better than bringing pre school toys or traditional toys you remember from your own childhood? Not only will you be able to spend that precious time with your small niece or nephew or grandchild, but you will give them wooden toys like pull toys that will become part of their memories. All those toys you remember are here at My Natural Wooden Toys, from wooden rocking horses and wooden puzzles to pre-school toys and pull toys. You can find dolls cots and animals or, for the construction minded toddler, wooden building blocks.

Christmas gifts of wooden toys mean so much, not only because of the pleasure of giving and the fun of receiving, but because these toys become part of the fabric of family life. In addition to this, wooden toys last so well that you may well be able to compare the new toys with the ones you have saved from your childhood.

Enjoying Time With Wooden Toys

November 24th, 2009

There is nothing children love so much as playing with toys. We all know this but sometimes even the most patient of us find that the games that small children play have a tendency to become repetitive, and it is difficult to maintain interest in the game for as long as a child does.

So, anything that makes it more enjoyable for us as adults too is welcome, and being able to share in playing with wooden toys is such an advantage. Instead of gritting your teeth and carrying on, you can really enjoy spending time with your toddler as you appreciate the pleasure of natural wooden toys. They have something that plastic simply can’t compete with and the touch and feel of natural wood is enjoyable in itself.

We at My Natural Wooden Toys know all about this and our wooden toys give delight to small children as well as their parents and carers. Just knowing that you are playing with a material that has probably been used to make toys for children for as long as people have been around makes it even more special. Wooden toys have been around for hundreds of years and bring back happy memories for many adults.

Being able to appreciate the quality of the wooden toys and their construction as well as the soft natural feel of the wood makes any game with a little one more enjoyable. Enjoying playing with your small child is the best way to spend your time.

Wooden Toys For Any Occasion

November 18th, 2009

It’s lovely to meet up again with friends or with work colleagues whom you haven’t seen for a while because they’ve become parents. If you don’t have children of your own though, it can feel a bit daunting as you wonder how you are going to keep a baby or worse still, a toddler amused enough to give you and their mum or dad a chance to catch up with all the news.

Here at My Natural Wooden Toys, we can offer all sorts of wooden toys that would be ideal for just this. You may not have ever thought of buying wooden toys for babies or toddlers but it’s not a bad idea to have some kept in a cupboard somewhere to bring out on these occasions.

Wooden toys are always popular with little ones and with their mums and dads; and for a visiting child, the wooden toys you have are so much more exciting than anything they have at home, just because they are yours and so different from their own.

Even if you don’t usually have anything to do with the world of babies and toddlers, you may find that browsing our website and looking at the traditional toys brings out the child in you, and you find yourself having a spell of nostalgia before making your decision about which wooden toys to buy.  Your friends will be delighted at your forward planning and thoughtfulness and you will be well on course for an enjoyable reunion.

Indoor Playthings

November 12th, 2009

As it becomes obvious that autumn really is here – even if there is a short burst of an Indian summer just as all the children go back to school – so the thoughts of parents and child carers turn to how to entertain the children once it is too cold to spend much time in the garden or park.

Small children have lots of energy as everyone who looks after them knows, and when they can no longer use up their energy in running around outside, something else has to be thought up to keep them occupied.

So here at My Natural Wooden Toys, we have wooden puzzles that are a wonderful way of gaining their attention. Small children love wooden toys with their natural feel, and really enjoy playing a game with wooden puzzles along with an adult.  Memory games with pictures or numbers are a good way of encouraging language and counting skills, all in a game that doesn’t feel like learning at all.

Wooden toys that are building cubes are another entertaining way of spending time with a small child and helps them to develop their fine motor skills, as well as learning the names of pictures on the cubes and, of course, most importantly, having fun.

Once a small child is feeling entertained and amused by wooden toys, they are likely to find that they are not missing the outdoors world as much as you might have expected as the fun of indoors can match the excitement of outdoors.

Walks With Pull Toys

November 10th, 2009

Once small children start walking, their world opens up and they can discover so much more about everything around them. It’s exciting as well for mums and dads as their baby turns into a small person who is learning so much more.

However, one of the downsides of toddlers is how quickly they can get tired of walking and all parents learn to dread the sight of up-stretched arms and the following wail of “carry me”! One way we have found of avoiding this at My Natural Wooden Toys is to have pull toys that take a toddler’s interest and keep them happy as they walk.

Watching their animals on a cart or sailors on a rail will engage their interest and help to avoid their realisation that, actually, you and they have walked quite a long way.

Pull toys are attractive to small children as they can control them, which isn’t true for a lot of a toddler’s life. You can add to the interest by chatting about their pull toys as you go – about what the sailor’s are thinking about on their trip to the High Street, or how the cow family on their cart are enjoying the visit to the supermarket. Your toddler will gain confidence in walking with pull toys as they will be enjoying the experience and will find that they have walked farther than they thought they could. Then, when you arrive home, you will find that your little one is tired out by the long walk with their pull toys, and you get a chance to have a cup of tea while they sleep.

Be Kind to the Planet, Buy Wooden Toys

October 22nd, 2009

Whenever you enter the home where there are small children, you will be guaranteed to see an arsenal of toys and gadgets strewn across the house. Every room, and even the garden, will be littered with them. Children’s toys have increased massively in choice and variety and they are made from various materials from plastic to rubber, synthetic fibre and wood.

You may find that no sooner have you bought the latest gimmick toy, your little one has become bored of it or has simply developed beyond its capabilities. In this throwaway society in which we live, toys are part of the problem and having children can make being responsible to the environment very difficult. However, wooden toys are making a comeback and are a great choice for both saving money and saving the environment.

The most iconic of wooden toys is the wooden rocking horse. This classic toy has been loved for generations allowing both girls and boys to tap into their imaginations and have fun rocking away. The wooden rocking horse has evolved these days into various forms from a wooden bike, to a rocking dog to a wooden ladybird. The options are endless and are appealing to children who have learnt to sit up and walk, well into toddlerhood.

Wooden toys aimed at school-age children help to develop creativity and imagination by creating something new. The timeless wooden block set allows children to stretch their imagination building cities, mazes and towers. Wooden puzzles can help children to understand where things fit, for example, on a map of the world.

Wooden toys will hold their look and appeal for generations in your family. For a beautiful selection of timeless classics and new ideas, have a look at what we have on offer here at My Natural Wooden Toys.

Learning with a Wooden Puzzle

October 20th, 2009

The simple wooden puzzle has been entertaining generations of children for hundreds of years. These traditional wooden toys were originally made by painting onto a piece of flat wood and then using a jigsaw to cut up the piece of wood into interconnecting pieces.

In 1760 the first commercially made wooden puzzle is recorded as being made by John Spilsbury. These puzzles were designed as being educational and the designs were of maps. He used these wooden toys to teach children geography. As his pupils fitted the pieces together they would naturally become familiar with the different countries and continents.

These days, many modern puzzles are made from paper but when choosing puzzles for young children, wooden puzzles have a lot of advantages. The most basic is that the large pieces are easier for a child to handle. Large three dimensional pieces are easier for small hands to manipulate and are often designed to show animal or human shapes.

As educational tools, a wooden puzzle can help young children develop sound motor skills and develop their ability to problem solve. They will also learn about the people, animals and other images that are on the jigsaw. Doing a puzzle helps the brain to develop deduction, reasoning, logical thought and the ability to analyse, which is why even in adulthood jigsaw puzzles hold their charm. On a physical level they improve hand-eye co-ordination and develop spatial awareness. However, one must not forget that all this learning is often an unnoticed process by children. For them, a wooden puzzle simply means hours of fun.

To see our range of wooden toys contact us at My Natural Wooden Toys.

Wooden Toys Remain a Firm Favourite

October 14th, 2009

The love for wooden toys is making a huge comeback as parents look for toys that are environmentally friendly and offer simple and effective means to help their children through the developmental stages.

There are so many reasons to opt for wooden toys. One reason they are starting to become a firm favourite again is their sheer variety. There are so many forms of wooden toys available, from wooden puzzles to pull toys, to wooden carts and cars.

The next reason is that they are well suited to child development. They stimulate pretend play and a child’s imagination in a way that plastic toys cannot. The simplicity and tactile quality of these toys stimulate children of all ages to let their imagination run riot. They improve a child’s thought processes and motor skills by allowing children to play simple games. The classic wooden blocks toy is still recommended by child development experts today as it can be used to create counting games, motor skills and in their bright colours and smooth textures stimulates a young child’s senses.

As gifts they are also beautiful and both parents and children will adore them. By looking after the wooden toys they are robust enough to be handed down from sibling to sibling and their classic designs remain safe for children of all ages.

For a wide selection of wooden toys that will stand the test of time with their endless charm and appeal, contact us at My Natural Wooden Toys.