Toys for generations

January 15th, 2010

Wooden toys that had previously belonged to and been played with by parents, aunts, uncles or even grandparents are a lovely gift for a child. This is one of the advantages of wooden toys; that they last, are sentimental and never go out of style.

The same cannot be said for some types of plastic toys, which may be carefully put away when children grow out of them in hopes that a new generation will enjoy them one day, for example when grandchildren arrive. Then when the toys are retrieved from the attic and unwrapped, it is found that the plastic has degraded and the toys are no longer brightly coloured and fun, but fit only for throwing away.

Short of being hacked up or set on fire, this doesn’t happen to wooden toys. They may need a bit of tender loving care in the form of a good scrub and maybe some new varnish or modern non-toxic paint, but the toy will be just as ready to play with as it was when it was put away all those years ago.

The same is true for wooden toys that are bought for children now. They are durable and do not break easily and will continue to give pleasure for years to come.

Here with us at My Natural Wooden Toys you can find traditional wooden toys and puzzles. Whether you choose the natural look or brightly coloured wooden toys, you will find that your children love the feel of wood and the look of the wooden toys and can’t wait to play with them.

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.

Wooden toys and counting

December 23rd, 2009

Not all children find it easy to learn how to count and thus parents sometimes have to come up with quite inventive ideas to help. Here at My Natural Wooden Toys we have delightful wooden toys that can be used as counting games. We have animal shaped abacus toys and traditional style dominoes that you can use to count with a small child.

Helping a child to learn doesn’t have to be a hard grind for either of you, parent or child. Using the wooden dominoes, for example; you can count them all up into a pile with a small child, seeing how many it takes until the tower starts to wobble, then the child can have the fun of knocking them all down again. Once they are scattered round the floor it is easy to encourage your child to count them all up one by one as they collect them together for the next go. They will not even realise that they are learning, which is sometimes the best method for maintaining their concentration.

Once they feel more at ease about the idea of numbers and counting, you could move onto the wooden toys that have an abacus in them. By this time they will enjoy the experience of knowing they are learning as they say with you one, two and three. Before they even know it, they will be counting accurately and easily. They will probably never realise how much their wooden toys or wooden puzzle did to help start them off with their education.

This association between wooden toys and subconscious learning is one of the reasons for our popularity here at My Natural Wooden Toys, so why not invest in your child’s future?

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.

Problem Puzzles

September 7th, 2009

We know that the most important years of a child’s cognitive development are the early years. Without doubt, puzzles are an absolutely ideal way to teach them the joys of problem solving and the wonderful feelings of achievement that come from completing a puzzle.

After all, something instinctive in all of us makes us want to accomplish, and it’s no different for your tiny loved ones. Wooden puzzles are an ideal way to give your child the intellectual stimulation he or she desperately needs. Nourishing this in the formative years is a great gift for later in life.

A broken puzzle need not stay a broken puzzle

We believe that like us, most of you will pack away a puzzle having completed it.  Whilst adults may be quite delicate when it comes to putting together and separating puzzles, the truth is your children aren’t likely to be.

So we’ve made a variety of specially designed wooden puzzles available to you. Think about it, no more breakages, safer to use and still hours of fun. Pieces of our wooden puzzles are excellently crafted from high quality wood made to withstand just about anything your child can throw at it, or throw it at!

You can choose a memory game to help with development in that area. We also have a maths and picture puzzle available. Give your child the chance to become the next Da Vinci and choose all three. So go on, invest in your child’s future. They’ll thank you for it later!

My Natural Wooden Toys

September 1st, 2009

Traditional toys like wooden trains, rocking horses, abacuses or a wooden puzzle really do have a timeless appeal – there is even evidence that children in Ancient Roman times played with wooden toys.

Handcrafted, environmentally sound and without sharp edges, these toys are enchanting a whole new generation. Wooden toys also have a very strong educational value. If you’re looking for preschool toys which will give a child a head start with their learning, traditional wooden toys are ideal. And we all know that preschool toys have a crucial role to play in stimulating children’s imagination and emotional development, and in helping to develop any number of skills which will set them up for life.