Wonderful Wooden Toys for Each Age and Stage

When choosing a toy for a child, every parent tries to buy only the best and most useful, and what could be more useful than natural materials - more specifically, wood? Wooden toys are completely safe, and thanks to modern equipment, not only can cubes and pyramids be made from wood, but also elements for creating movable mechanisms too. Wooden toys really are such wonderful items for little ones, and in this post I'm going to share why.

Features and Benefits of Wooden Toys

Toys are usually made of natural wood such as birch, beech, and coniferous species. These moderately hard materials are easily cut and sanded and do not crack when working with them. Thanks to careful processing, there are no burrs on the objects, meaning that when playing with them, your child will not get a splinter and get hurt. For greater safety and an attractive appearance, the products are covered with water-based paint and a special varnish, which does not contain toxic materials, so they do not cause allergic reactions. Compared to plastic, wood is complicated to break or break. This makes them so much more long lasting!

How to Make the Right Choice?

The simplicity of the functionality of wooden educational toys helps to master the skill faster and to follow the path to creativity. An excess of functions is superfluous for a child's toy. The toy needs to have a specific purpose such as to train counting, to teach differences in colours, etc. Selecting a product for a certain age and individual characteristics is better. For example, small parts and larger / heavier toys are best avoided under the age of three.

The production of wooden toys must follow all the necessary requirements: a smooth surface, no sharp corners, and protrusions, food or acrylic paint, marking in the visibility zone, and the presence of certificates. As long as you buy from a reputable retailer you should be making a great choice!

Types of Wooden Educational Toys for Each Age

Up to a Year
Cubes and pyramids - these promote the development of motor skills, imagination, and co-ordination of movements. Wooden musical instruments such as rattles and xylophones are also a great choice. In general, the fewer the elements (3-4 maximum), the better the toy will hold the concentration and attention of a younger child.

1-2 Years
At the age of 1-2 years, painted products that develop fine motor skills and dexterity are allowed. From this age your child will know how to manipulate objects, and pronounce their first words and phrases. Simple puzzles would therefore be an excellent option - collecting figures from small squares teach logic and creative thinking. The difficulty can be increased with age. You could also consider a toy constructor of large parts for fine motor skills and imagination. As your child gets older, you can increase the difficulty and amount of parts in the toy.

2-3 Years
In the period from 2 to 3 years, the number of elements in constructors and puzzles increases again. Useful toys for comparison and classification by a common feature, colour, shape, and texture are a great idea. 

Sorters - a box with holes or a board with recesses where you need to insert a suitable element. Your child learns to think logically, identify connections, picking up details in shape, size, or colour. Fine motor skills and memory improve while playing.

Lacing - a large figure with several holes, where a cord with a solid tip is threaded. Or large beads of different shapes and colours are strung on a string. Both options help improve fine-motor skills, accuracy, and co-ordination of actions. Having mastered lacing, children will eventually learn how to tie shoes themselves.

3-5 Years
From 3 to 5 years old, your child gets more familiar with the world of numbers and letters. Items with an alphabet, a dial, and an abacus are welcome.

Busy-boards - various objects that are found in everyday life are fixed on the game board: locks, latches, windows, sockets, zippers, fasteners, etc. These teach your child to safely interact with objects from the adult world, motor skills, logical thinking, and attention retention.

You can also introduce more complicated constructors. These are a set of parts of different shapes and colours if the set is painted. This is a ready-made building material from which you can create anything: houses, castles, and whole towns. In addition to classic products, cars, and horses, wooden toy factories also produce sets of furniture for dolls, kitchens, vegetables, and other attributes. The key point is to teach children to play. And then the learning will accelerate, and the process will be fun. You could even introduce a mud kitchen to the garden and let their creative juices flow outside too!

Eco-friendly wooden toys are the choice of parents who care about the safety, harmonious and creative development of their child. And most importantly – teach children to play and engage with them. Only in this case, the toys, in addition to the entertainment function, will also carry an educational one.

Do your children enjoy wooden toys?

This is a collaborative post.