Over the last few years I have noticed an  increased shift in my friends who are parents in relation to the type of toys they purchase their children or give to other children as gifts. Many of my friends no longer want to purchase plastic toys, or “licenced branded toys” but are making a deliberate choice to choose toys that enhance thier child's play rather than a toy that dominates or directs their play in to one singluar closed path.

Big brand stores produce advertising brochures that encourage us as parents to purchase for children toys with bold bright colours, made from plastic, often requiring batteries and that tend to make a lot of noise. The purpose of these toys is often to distract our children for a short amount of time; but our child will tire of these toys very quickly as the toy usually only has one purpose and can not be used in a variety of ways.

In our search for toys that will spark the imaginative play of our children and entice them away from playstations and the television we as parents are finding and understanding the benefits to be found in giving our children  wooden toys. A child with a wooden toy will engage in more longterm meaningful play compared to when they play with a colouful plastic toy.  Many wooden toys are designed to be simplistic in their design, thus requiring a child’s imagination to be involved to create the meaningful play. 

Wooden toys are also made with consideration in term of educational benefits.  Take a wooden puzzle for example.. Puzzles encourage children to build on their cognitive and problem solving skills - where does the puzzle fit? What shape do I place where on the board? The images used on puzzles are usually attractive but simple. Puzzles encourage fine motor skills as young hands and fingers manipulate the puzzle piece. The time shared doing a puzzle with a child can create discussion between child and parent - what animal is that? What sound do you think that animal might make? Which pretty dress belongs to which fairy? The parent becomes involved in the learning process of their child. When children are involved in solving puzzles they need to think in terms of spatial relationships, concepts that are the foundations for mathematical programs.

Wooden toys help to create an open ended play environment. Popular electronic toys often have a starting point and a single goal - to get to the end. But take a wooden toy in the shape of an animal and give it to your child. Add some pieces of blue or green material for the land or lake, gather sticks from the garden to build fences and trees. Your child has created the environment and now creates the story involving the wooden toy animals in the space. Discussion may occur between you, the parent and your child as to which type of environment the jungle animals may live or the farm animals, what sounds do they make, has the child seen these animals before, are they big, are they small? The childs’ play is very open ended, it started with the gift of the wooden toy but it has no end, the story stretches as far as the childs creativity and imaginatiion. These are the foundations for story telling and literature programs at school.

A beautiful wooden toy tea set will entice most children into creative play. The wooden toys becomes the dramatic prop. The child then enters into learning with this wooden toy. Problem solving occures - which toys to invite to be guests at the tea party? How many tea cups do I have in relationship to how many toys I can involve. The child becomes  the host of the tea party, directing the play and the focus. The child is involved in dramatic play, including aspects of counting, negotiation and story telling. Hours of focused play prompted by a wooden toy tea set.

It has been noted by researchers that a child's play with wooden toys is more focused, calm and quiet. Even wooden  musical  toys are not loud, wooden tambourines make a gentle sound, encouraging a quieter play with music. Wooden toy cars do not have motors, the child uses their own fine motor skills to move the car and if they want engine noises they create their own sounds - having to decide what is the appropriate sound for each car. Wooden cars are usually very simple and easy for small hands to manipulate.

It is important to provide toys for our that children that will of course entertain, but while our children are playing it is imperative that they are developing all of the important foundations for learning: motor skills, problem solving skills, language skills, creativity and imagination. Give your child a wooden toy as a gift and you provide the child with something more than just a new toy. You give them a toy that enhances their creativity and provides opportunities to learn along aside the journey of play. It is no wonder that many of my friends are making the choice to provide their children with wooden toys in preference to filling their cupboards with plastic toys.