Chances are, your toy area doesn’t look quite like this but if you had to do it all over again, wouldn’t you choose only pretty wooden toys? The playroom would look like an Ikea showroom, right? I know our kids love to play with wooden toys – especially the Melissa & Doug collection we’ve accumulated. If you’re shopping for little ones this holiday season, we’ve rounded up some great ideas for you!
(in the photo: cool but expensive Grimm’s shape and sorting set)
Our favorites
Our favorite toys have an appealing aesthetic (a fancy way for saying they aren’t an eyesore) and encourage open ended play. Building toys are always going to be fun for kids, plus teach essential skills. Learning to stack and create with blocks teaches kids to be little engineers. In addition, creative play is another way for kids to learn essential skills through fun. Kids love to “sell” and make up stories and scenarios. Toys that encourage open-ended play teach them social skills and to be creative. Our kids LOVE the Melissa & Doug ice cream set, a wooden kitchen, and the play grocery store.
Pretty Wooden Toys
- Hey! Play! Wooden Lawn Bowling Game in Multi : striiiike!
- Maxim& Pre-School 75-Piece Wooden Bucket Blocks : blocks are always popular
- Melissa And Doug Melissa Doug& Sushi Slicing 24-Piece Wooden Playset • Melissa & Doug : oh, how fun!!
- Melissa And Doug Melissa Doug& Wooden Backgammon Checkers Game • Melissa & Doug : for older kids, checkers and backgammon are fun games
- Puzzled London Tower 104-Piece 3D Wooden Puzzle : may be challenging but fun
- Melissa And Doug Melissa and Doug& Architectural Standard Unit Wooden Blocks • Melissa & Doug : blocks are the best
- Puzzled Styracosaurus 41-Piece 3D Wooden Puzzle : such a cool way to learn about dinosaurs
- Puzzled St. Petersburg Church 705-Piece 3D Wooden Puzzle • Church’s : would look great on a shelf once assembled!
- Wooden Appliances, Coffee Maker • Pottery Barn Kids : so cute!
- Begin Again Toys Animal Parade A-z Wooden Puzzle :this looks like a fun one to stack and put together
- Melissa And Doug Melissa & Doug& Wooden Make-A-Cake Mixer Set • Melissa & Doug : I know our kids would love this
- Magicforest Wooden Toy Doctor Kit : doctor’s kits provide hours of play
- Classic World Wooden Toy Carpenters Set : this one looks like so much fun!
- Tegu Travel Bugs Jet Plane Magnetic Wooden Toy : these magnetic wooden blocks are popular
- Garden Vegetables Playset • Hape : always fun to chop
- Cupcakes Playset • Hape : cute for a kitchen
- Rock & Rhythm Band • Hape : percussion
- Playfully Delicious Wooden Shopping Cart • Hape : our kids love to stroll with strollers and shopping carts!
- DIY Dream House • Hape : a cute set
- Pound & Tap Bench • Hape : may be a little bit noisy to the delight of your children