Wooden toys aren’t just wonderful to look at – they also happen to be an excellent choice for parents who want to provide fun and engaging toys that will keep children entertained and play an important role their development.
Here’s why it’s worth buying wooden toys for children.
1. They’re versatile
Wooden toys often have an open-ended design that creates endless possibilities for play and education. It’s common to find wooden toys in geometric shapes and classic colours that are well-suited to a wide variety of play activities. This can fire up your child’s imagination and keep them interested in their new toy far longer.
Wooden blocks are a perfect example of this. These toys can be arranged and stacked on top of each other to form various shapes and structures.
Even simple actions like holding, lifting and dropping wooden blocks can give toddlers feedback on their physical environment and help them develop motor skills.
2. They’re educational
Teachers and homeschoolers like using wooden toys for educational purposes. Although commonly associated with fun and play, toys facilitate learning in many ways. According to Family Therapist Carleton Kendrick, toys and games that encourage creative play help children process information, make sense of the world and take stock of their thoughts and emotions.
Kendrick also makes a distinction between open-ended creative play, which can be done with wooden toys that fire up the imagination, and reactive play, which is often done with video games and computers, as the former is more likely to stimulate a child’s creativity and imagination.
With homeschooling on the rise in Australia, parents who want to be more involved in their child’s education must have the right tools if they are to do a better job of it. Wooden educational toys will be some of the most useful tools for homeschooling and keeping children entertained at home.
Teachers Choice offers a wide selection of teacher-approved educational toys that can be used in both the school and home setting. Visit our shop today to find your child’s new favourite.
3. They’re timeless
A new toy is introduced to the market just about every other day. Plastic toy trends come and go, but wooden toys have a timeless quality that will keep your child interested past the gift-giving season. Whether it’s a toy train, rocking horse or colourful building blocks, wooden toys are children’s classics that will never overstay their welcome.
Buying wooden toys also leads to less waste, as you and your child are no longer chasing after trendy toys that simply add to more clutter in the home, or worse, end up in the landfill as soon as a shiny new toy hits the market.
4. They’re durable and high-quality
Wooden toys, particularly those made of hardwoods like maple, are highly durable and less likely to produce splinters, making them an excellent choice for toddlers who like to drop, toss and put toys in their mouths.
Exceptionally made wooden toys have great longevity and can be handed down from one sibling to another, making them a great investment for frugal and practical families compared to cheap plastic toys that fall apart after a few drops and need to be replaced constantly.
5. They’re better for the environment
Unlike plastic and electronic toys that aren’t biodegradable and are difficult to recycle, wooden toys are made of natural, biodegradable material that can be repurposed when no longer in use. Some are even made with reclaimed wood that is more sustainable for the environment. This means that wooden toys are less likely to crowd our landfills, making them an excellent choice for families that want to transition to sustainable living.
There are more benefits to buying wooden toys but you don’t have to take our word for it. Browse of selection of teacher-recommended educational wooden toys to see how they can change your life – and your child’s – for the better.