TOYS! TOYS! Everywhere!

Any mom who has been in an online mom’s group or any group that discusses children for that matter, has almost certainly witnessed numerous posts like this: “Help! Our playroom is a disaster, how do you organize yours?” Or “Is it just me, or is this what everyone’s front room looks like?” Insert photo of children’s toys everywhere throughout the front room. The struggle is real… for sure.

With children comes stuff, sometimes it feels like lots and lots of stuff. So how do we decide if a toy is worth purchasing? The first step is actually having this thought to begin with. Right??? It’s pretty easy to buy children toys. You want them to have the world, so do their grandparents and everyone else in their life.

I have to first say, I have an obsession with wooden toys. It started the first time I ever set foot in a Reggio Inspired classroom. My very first thought was “Every child should have this! I want this! This is amazing! These beautiful environments really make you want to be creative and that’s what we would want for any child, yes?

If you’ve never seen first hand what a Reggio inspired classroom looks like, here is just one of many beautiful examples:

Reggio, Montessori, and Waldorf schools alike are all intertwined in being known for offering natural and wooden materials for children to use. There are differences in philosophy when it comes to these schools, but certainly similarities when talking about materials. What my favorite part about Reggio inspired environments is, is the use of loose parts, recycled materials, and beautiful items for children to use.  There are a million other reasons why this Italian philosophy really speaks to me but this is a post about toys and materials, so I’ll save my “I love Reggio” rant for another post, another day.

So, let’s talk about some of my most favorite toys/materials to use that both qualify for completely awesome infant AND toddler toys. Whether you are a parent that has multiple children, is planning to have multiple children, takes care of other children, (you get the idea) it’s awesome to have toys that work for all age ranges which helps cut down on the amount of toys needed in the shared space.

My top favorites:

Little Saplings: Insert swoon emoji here. Gorgeous wooden toys made in Utah. My son seriously learned the whole alphabet from looking and pointing at the block alphabet letters before the age of two. Plus side is they have both upper and lowercase letters on each block. Also worth noting, I love the rainbow blocks, lacing shapes, and peg board. The stool is the cutest and most practical thing ever as well.

Plan Toys: Large manufacturer, but well known for their wooden toys for all ages and very reasonably priced. I purchased many of these items second hand and they are perfect. I thought long and hard about what to get my son for his second birthday that just passed and this is what I decided on. The Plan Toys water blocks. Not only can they be used while building with other block sets (like the Melissa and Doug Standard Unit Natural Block set) they also are true to color and when placed in front of each other, make secondary colors. So. Freaking. Cool.

Holztiger: I’m obsessed with these EXPENSIVE hand crafted, well worth it, wooden animals. They are beautiful, quality toys, that infants can look at, chew on safely, and toddlers and preschoolers love to incorporate into imaginative play and building. They are fantastic. Throw in some loose parts materials and see how your child comes up with different imaginative play scenarios.

Papa Don’s: Oregon made quality wooden toys. I love, love, love, the ring stacker. We have owned this stacker since my son was around 9 months and he still uses it today.

So, these are some of my favorites, but the point of this post is to encourage all adults who have young children to consider beauty, quality, and functionality, in the toys they purchase for children in their lives. In the post coming up, I’ll talk about all the ways to incorporate recycled and loose materials into your child’s play spaces. It does not need to be expensive to create a beautiful, functional, child’s learning environment. Just purchase less and use more of what you already have. Save your packing paper, cardboard, and glass jars, for the next post!